Favorite Pittsburgh Runs #1

The Wild Wild West End

This route was born from my foray into politics in 2009.

My neighbor and friend Georgia ran for city council to represent the west end of the city. As I explored the district map, I realized just how little I knew of the area. While living in Mt. Washington in 2007, I had run in the West End, Crafton Heights and Elliott neighborhoods, but outside of that area, I was relatively unfamiliar, save for some trips through the Corliss Tunnel as a child. To help introduce her name to western neighborhoods, I planned to make a t-shirt bearing Georgia's name to wear as I ran through the area. The fun part was taking the district map and finding a way to maximize my travel and find a good longish route. What I came up with is a diverse and fascinating tour of Pittsburgh's forgotten neighborhoods that turned out to be excellent for running.
Note: I had become enthused with Esplen in 2008 when I saw this photo and story, but sadly it doesn't fit in the loop.

The start in the West End is a flat stretch through the valley between Elliott and Duquesne Heights until the climb up Steuben Street and Chartiers Avenue into Elliott about a mile in. Traffic can get a little tight early on Chartiers, but on the post-Lorenz downhill, the road widens and traffic disperses.

A right turn at the Comcast building takes you

through the Corliss Tunnel. As a child, I loved traveling through tunnels in Pittsburgh, and because the Corliss Tunnel was the most out of the way, I was drawn to them the most. I couldn't have passed through them more than five times as a kid, and tunnel is very short so they weren't long experiences. You face the Ohio River on West Carson Street and turn left and head west for a block until Glenmawr, a long climb that runs parallel to the West Busway and takes you into Sheraden.

Sheraden is the largest neighborhood in Pittsburgh's West End, annexed by the city in 1907. The once-stable, sprawling neighborhood has gone to seed lately, but decent housing stock is the norm, just in various states of decay.

While running down Ashlyn Street, Eric Shafer, Jo Rupp, Steve Garand, Brandon Gillingham and Greg Byrnes and I saw a teenage girl throw a brick at a boy across the street, but attempt no further assault. Turning down into Sheraden Park you can see some of the fields that bind many of the youth together in routinely strong baseball and softball leagues. A right on Fransisco brings you into the Sheraden Park co-op, with views through the trees of Brunot Island in the Ohio River and down into McKees Rocks.

Back onto Chartiers Avenue, you pass a few taverns on your right, Smitty's, Kron's Draught House and Molly O's Bar and Grille. The Googlemap represents each of these establishments with a martini glass, but I do believe if you order a martini at either place, your departure will be likely expedited by several burly gents.

A loop takes you around the Tuxedo Street skate park, and then hits Chartiers again. The route then descends past the Poale Zedeck Cemetary, associated with a congregation in Squirrel Hill, which is now full. Down the hill into Chartiers City and Windgap, two middle-class residential neighborhoods featuring the Remember When ice cream shop.

A left onto Windgap Road leads out of the city briefly into Ingram, by the beautiful Allegheny Valley School Patricia Hillman Miller campus in West Prospect before reentering the city in Fairywood, perhaps the most intriguing neighborhood in the city, as I consider it. The neighborhood has about 10 streets, with houses in varying states of decay, and few residents remain. I am still a little scared to venture onto Mazette Place...

The loop runs through almost all of the streets in the neighborhood, and the corner of Abordale and Fairywood Street is so remote that I doubt 99 percent of the city's population has ever been there.

Head straight into the Broadhead Manor housing project, abandoned in 2004 when Chartiers Creek flooded after Hurricane Ivan. It used to be the most dangerous part of Pittsburgh, and I'm sure there are squatters living there that keep it moderately dangerous, but on Sunday mornings they are rarely out and about. They're probably at church. Here's a taste of the dysfunction once abounded at Broadhead Manor. You've hit the lowest point on the loop and

will enjoy a few miles of flat but exposed running, so if it's a hot day, be ready for it. By that point you really start to feel like you're in the middle of nowhere. The valley you are in was rural until the end of World War II.

Coming out of Broadhead, you see the vitality and likely the future of Fairywood -- industrial real estate. I'm not even sure what all of the buildings store -- I know one is a food depot, another is UPS and a third is Roomful Express furniture. Head to the end of Beechnut Street and head off the road and turn left to run parallel to the train tracks that are part of the former Scully Yard.

Over a slight bridge and onto Napor Boulevard, you're now in Kennedy Township, I believe. Follow Napor under the Thornburg Bridge into Thornburg then across Steuben Street, in Crafton, back into the city.

The first time I remember crossing the Thornburg Bridge was in June 2001, when I got lost taking my then-girlfriend, Kelly, to dinner on Mt. Washington. I couldn't get over to the Route 51 South exit from 279 and took 51 North, where we hit an awful traffic jam. Trying to turn around in the West End, I made an illegal left turn and would up climbing Steuben Street into Elliott, Crafton Heights, regular Crafton and when I hit the bridge I realized it was time to figure out where in God's name we were. Eventually we got back on track, but for a long time the memory of being so completely lost in an area close to where I lived stuck with me and represented itself visually as the Thornburg Bridge.

In 1777, General Edward Hand built the first federal hospital in the new nation along the banks of the Chartiers Creek, near the fording between the Thornburg Bridge and Brodhead-Fording Road.

You run back to Broadhead Manor on the Industrial Highway, which is dramatically empty. It adds to Fairywood's post-apocalyptic feel of. It's really remarkable. Matt Ciccone discovered the same route as a high schooler, and my friend's boyfriend (who went to Langley) used to know people who would drag race there. It runs along Chartiers Creek, which my high school environmental science class studied. Someday, there will be a complete trail along the river, there there are a few miles of trail on the west bank.

There was a man on Broadhead Fording Road who used to be outside when I would run there in Spring 2009. He was a welcome change from the hecklers I ran into in the suburbs. He would ask me earnestly how far I had gone, if I was running the in marathon, and how far until I was done. I hope that man is still around. I doubt it.

In contrast to the rest of the neighborhood, Emerald Gardens is growing somewhat. A private company bought the former projects, Westgate Village, and is renovating them, and it seems to be the only growth going on there.

You're actually in a city at this point.

Shortly before the 14-mile mark, you start a long climb to Steuben Street. The next few uphills are pretty much a constant, but managable, climb. Clearfield street is hard to catch, so be mindful to look to the right up Windgap Avenue approaching Summerdale. There's a chain across the path, so look out! You disappear into a wooded path that makes you forget you're in a city. It's amazing. It's also very steep.

Throughout this stretch, you'll see middle-class homes and churches, with the occasional crazy man in front of the Middletown Road Baptist Church, who will ask you if you are interested in what he has to say. You are not. Trust me.

The climb up to Barr is kind of steep, but it's the end of any climbing you'll have to do. The last two miles on Noblestown are a long downhill, and it's fun to just let loose, especially when passing through West End Park. Crank it!There's a convenience store around the corner from the finish, and they stock chocolate milk. If you run early enough, you can get warm doughnuts in Elliott. A long hard run on this loop will satisfy you for a while, and if done right will leave your legs tingling.

For the most part, people I know don't spend any time in the area. When I had my going away party at the Obey House in Crafton Heights, most people said they had never been around there. I just love the variety that comes in this run, the long hills, the dramatic views, the 10 different neighborhoods, the fact that nobody knows where half of the places are.

I think one reason I enjoy this loop so much is that the area was pretty close to where I grew up, but I never explored it. I didn't know much about the area between interstates 376 and 79, and I didn't care. There couldn't be much there, right?

Considering how dangerous Broadhead Manor was, that's probably a good thing I didn't explore so much. To see that neighborhood reduced to near abandonment intrigues me, because the bad stuff that happened just picked up and left.

In 1998, Charlie Van Gombos and I decided to follow a pair of girls in their car after they bought some cigarettes (clearly underaged) and we wound up following them onto Noblestown Road all the way to the West End. Neither of us had a clue where we were- it was dark and that lent an air of mystery to the whole fiasco.

The neighborhoods' interconnectedness also adds a sense of adventure- a wrong turn on Berry will lead you to Langley High School if you aren't careful. There are fascinating views and spots all over the place.

It's a land of mystery, of which the nexus of it all may never be determined.

Favorite Pittsburgh Runs #2

Standard - this used to be the Beechwood loop until I realized that less than half of it was on Beechwood Boulevard.

Beechwood was the foundation upon which most of my eastern-centric running was based. This basic route evolved from my winter long runs in 2007, when snow or frozen ground made running on trails unwise. I tweaked it a bit. It used to start at the oval, wrap through Schenley, and looping down forbes to Morewood then Fifth/Penn all the way to Braddock and back on forbes before starting Beechwood. In retrospect, that was a lame loop- there was no need for all of that distance on Fifth.

Beechwood's appeal is that for most of its length, two bike lanes give you an off-sidewalk option. Miles two, three and four are pretty long uphills, so much that even when starting in the middle, Alex complained nonstop about having to climb. Mile four is a delightful downhill.

When Beechwood meets Browns Hill Road, the bike lanes dry up and you have to find a good opportunity to cross the street. The traffic rarely moves fast, but drivers are impatient here.

Crossing the Greenfield Bridge shortly before the sixth mile mark is usually ridiculously windy, but offers a nice view to the west down the parkway.

After that, you climb Greenfield Road to Schenley Park, up past the oval and tennis courts and down against lightly-trafficked one-way, winding road. After heading east on Panther Hollow Road and taking a left at the Bartlett Playground, you follow the Race for the Cure course at about its 1.75 mile mark. After a climb around Serpentine Drive, you head down through the gentle curves of the the Bob O'Connor golf course, and back up to Forbes and

Northumberland. When you hit Shady, it's a long downhill that you won't have to climb again. You can really enjoy it. Perhaps my favorite part, despite running through parks and all kinds of dramatic hills, is the short downhill on Emerson, close to the end of the run.

Favorite Pittsburgh Runs #3

Fox Chapel

Similar to Sewickley Heights- forested, hilly, and pleasant. There's little through traffic, so it's generally pretty safe.

I used to run a six mile loop from my dad's house, which took me around Squaw Run East on the northwest side of the Shadyside Academy campus and the Field Club. That route, however, passed a treacherous stretch near my family's church that worries me a little, with sudden turns, so I combined it with part of a loop I have run with my friend Jess. Turkeys are sometimes an issue...

There's little more to say about the loop than it is pleasant, challenging and you can extend it with several loops around Squaw Valley Park, which is delightfully flat and has a nice crushed limestone surface. The turns are a little tight for workouts, but the loop is 1034 meters long.

There's a short trail through the woods to the east, but it doesn't go much of anywhere. You can also find the Trillium and Salamander trails off of Squaw Run Road.

Favorite Pittsburgh Runs #4

Stupid 20- When I was approaching the Marine Corps Marathon (note, not training for it, because that would have betrayed my amateurish attempt at the distance) I dug my heels when people asked about my long run, saying I wanted to run the marathon simply based on my 5k training. Hans Rottman consistently and emphatically advised against this, saying I needed at least one 20-mile run to work on maintaining my form as I tired, lest I injure myself. I placated him, putting together this route. I erred before my run by not eating enough- my date the night before and I opted to skip dinner to get good seats at a play, and I went to sleep without any real sustenance, but that seemed not to matter, as I averaged 6:33s for the 20 miles. It was a nice rebound from the average race I had the day before in Hazlewood.

Looking back, I really enjoyed the stretch of this loop coming down Washington Boulevard toward Butler Street. I was listening to a Morning Edition story about Alanzo Mourning while I ran on the trail parallel to Washington. The weather was perfect, with a slight chill, and barely any traffic -- a feature that usually makes Sunday morning my favorite time to run. Butler Street can be busy, but not that particular morning, in fact, I'm hard pressed to remember many cars at all. The first stretch through Squirrel Hill was pleasant, too. The first few miles kind of blended together, but the climbing the hill passing CMU toward the end will take a lot to forget. As much as I disliked betraying my plan for the marathon, I enjoyed this particular run.

Favorite Pittsburgh Runs #5

Center Ave- Alex introduced me to this gem in 2008, the morning after the Run for Roch, as if I hadn't run enough hills the day before.
We ran from his house in Highland Park, through the zoo and across the Highland Park Bridge to Aspinwall, with a quick left onto Center. Then the fun began.
Center Avenue is amazingly steep, and is the first of the Dirty Dozen hills that Pittsburgh bikers tackle each Thanksgiving weekend. After s slight respite on some flat (or at least, less steep ground), your turn onto Guyasuta -- not as steep, but still challenging. Getting to the top gives me the best lug turnover, and the downhill on Pasadena is scenic and easy on the legs. With the extended Squaw Run Park trail serving as an unpaved sidewalk, the stretch along Fox Chapel Road is much safer now. The only truly unpleasant part is passing the Waterworks, because drivers generally aren't on the lookout for runners on the shoulder.
I eventually added enough to cobble it into a 15-mile long run, with a warmup hill on Mossfield. I did it the day after Martha's Run.

In 2009, I sadly did not join in the Christmas day fun because I ate before Alex was scheduled to go, but I still waited halfway up the hill for him, with some Gatorade. His approach up Center is documented in the above photo.

Favorite Pittsburgh Runs #6

Sewickley Heights
The home of Gary Young and his house guest Derek Bond, who ran the 1995 Sewickley 5k in 15:00.
North of Sewickley, the hills slow down your pace, but not your intensity. It's the local training ground for Hounds Jeremy and Jocelyn Cornman and the routine biking route for Matt Ciccone. It's no wonder Quaker Valley's cross country and track teams have done so well with a place like that to train. It's a bit of a hike from the city, but once you get there it's well worth it. None of the roads are particularly great shortcuts, so vehicle traffic is delightfully light. You can run down the middle of the road most of the time, if you are so bold. It does give the feeling of a long road race.
I first ran it in 2009 after driving back from New York for my friend Dave's bachelor party, which was fueled mainly by 4+ pounds of meat I ate two nights before at a Brazilian steakhouse. I was in Sewickley for Jocelyn's birthday party and had to get a run in before I ate anything and found this route suited me nicely.
The incline gets a little more serious after passing Hallaway Road, and by time you reach Beech Ridge Road on Campmeeting Road, it's getting tough. The downhill that comes with Backbone Road, however, is a smooth reward for all the climbing.
Cutting through Walkers Park is an option on the way back down hill.

Favorite Pittsburgh Runs #7

Secret
I ran this loop in early April 1998. One Saturday morning, all of the juniors on the track team were taking the SAT, so our road groups were fundamentally shuffled. I wound up with Doug Mitarotona, one of the hardest working all-around people I have yet met. I was a little worried, because without a meet that weekend, Doug was going to want to hammer, because he didn't waste a second that he could be working. We left with a few others in tow, and I asked him where we were going.
"It's a secret," he told me.
I knew I was entering a world of suffering when we ran up the path to Washington Road that I had previously only walked. This guy wasn't messing around! We started running a triple loop, which is hard enough when you aren't being pulled along by an achievement-driven maniac. Down onto Mt. Lebanon Boulevard and up Hoodridge. This lunatic who maintained a hyper-competitive schedule his junior year while playing soccer and running cross country and working part time. Clearly, he was a man who had no need for leisure.
He hammered himself into a top-flight runner his senior year, who outdistanced the first finisher from our arch-rival, North Allegheny's team at the WPIAL championships. I had been spared running with him throughout my first two years until now, and I was about to find out why he improved so quickly.
At some point, Doug decided to try to break me. I, being a precocious youngster of 15, didn't want to relent. I hung on as long as I could, as he took me down hills, seemingly only because we would have to go back up. Up Connor Road, down to the Galleria, then along the path through the park to the bottom of Sunnyhill. I think at this point, the rest of the group was far enough back that we had lost them, but I just kept trying to hang. Finally, I succumbed. I started to slow to a walk, but Doug rejected my surrender. He ran back down the hill and started jogging very slowly.
"Run as slowly as you have to, but don't switch over to walking," he said. "The second you switch, you've broken your stride."
So I started running again. I wish I could say I instantly felt a surge of pride and strength return to my legs. I didn't. It was worse than before. Oh God, why? I crawled along, each step of Sunnyhill getting a little steeper. I wish I could remember the relief I felt when I got to the top of the hill, but I was just too tired at that point. We turned down Beadling and I couldn't even enjoy that, because it felt like my body was still tied up inside. I think at that point I gave up all hopes of feeling good again and just pushed to stay with Doug (#133 at right) as he accelerated up Cedar Boulevard back to the track.
When we got back to school, we checked in with Coach A, who took one look at what remained of me- a sweaty, probably bleeding mess that breathed heavily enough to terrify an infant, he chuckled. He knew the medicine that I took. I don't think he gave a thought to the other runners in our group not making it back. The rest of the day was a blur, but the message stayed in my mind, my quads and my back to this day- If you hammer, you deaden the inconvenient pains that get in the way of seeing what you are truly capable of doing. After this, how could I not be confident enough to take on some of the best runners around?
It took me a few years to put everything together so that I could make the best use of what I learned from Doug that day, but the hammering run remains a staple of my training. I subjected a few underclassmen to it in my last two years at Mt. Lebanon, but it rarely took, even if they made it up Sunnyhill. I think something was lost in the retelling when I took the lesson into my hands. Doug had no such troubles.

Favorite Pittsburgh Runs #8

Argonne-Natrona-Karns
When I first started working at the Valley News Dispatch in 2006, I tended to run in Schenley Park and then drive out to the office. I didn't think there was any way the Alle-Kiski Valley could be more interesting.

For a while, I was right, but just because I wasn't creative. When I would work evenings, I would have to head out there before rush hour, but I'd wind up with at least 45 minutes extra to kill, so I started running from the office, along First Avenue into Brackenridge and then Harrison, where I discovered the wonder that is Natrona.

Natrona once housed most of the workforce for the Allegheny Ludlum steel mill in adjacent Brackenridge. It had so many Catholics that at least three churches thrived. Now....not so much. Population has plummeted, houses have fallen into disrepair, crime, for a time, ran rampant, though it had since cooled. I knew, despite the slightly lower-quality air around the remaining steel mill, that I wanted to make Natrona the centerpiece of any run I did around the area. For some reason, decay fascinates me, because you never know what is left over. I'd almost rather scavenge the irregular and slightly-singed merchandise at Gabriel Brothers than shop somewhere that I know I can find what I want. In addition to the historical treasures, the spectacle is just as fun. For instance, the photo at left. I befriended three young gents one day in 2007 while writing a story about Natrona. Mike, in the middle, has a Blackberry, despite his employ as a cook at the three friends' barbecue stand. Also, why isn't that guy in the background wearing a shirt?
I start in Natrona Heights at Pennsylvania Avenue and run along Broadview Boulevard to Penn St, down to Vermont and back up to Argonne Drive. The approach to Natrona down Arragone Drive is marvelous. You can see the tightly clustered houses surrounding the ornate church, St Ladislaus.

The route travels several mostly-empty streets that get barely any traffic. Federal Street features several Civil War-era houses, though recent fires have claimed several.

Moving onto Karns Road transitions the run from slum to a more rural, rolling setting. Slum might be harsh, but it's close. Karns Road might be my favorite segment of the run. Each step brings you closer to the northeastern edge of Allegheny County and its nexus with Armstrong County.

The turn up Oak Manor Drive, however, is a quick blow to anyone who wasn't expecting to have to climb back up the hill they descended via Argonne Drive. At the top of Oak Manor, you turn onto Freeport Road, which isn't great for pedestrians, but soon enough you can turn off into neighborhoods in Natrona Heights as you approach Heights Plaza and the end of the run.

The timing of this post happened to coincide with Oscar and Beth Shutt running up Oak Manor Drive today. Wacky!

Favorite Pittsburgh Runs #9

Freezing Highand Park Midnight Run

I showed up at the Pitt indoor track one Thursday night in February, hoping to get in a workout when the temperature outside was around 10 degrees. To my chagrin and delight, I found the Mt. Lebanon track team, among many others, using the track for a meet. I waited it out, and started to warm up, but was soon interrupted by the custodian, who said he had to close the facility in 10 minutes. Furious, sweaty and forced to go home, I waited for a bus in the cold and upon reaching home, I went out and ran in spite of the cold and the advanced hour. I could have come back after running five miles, or 7.5 miles, but instead I didn't turn on Staunton and ended up doing almost 13 miles. A medium long run at night is one thing in the middle of July. In February, it's something entirely different. But I wasn't terribly cold. Obvsiously, wind would bother me after a while when the sweat would build up, but I think I mentally and physically broke through during this run, and cold weather hasn't bothered me since, aside from some dry skin.

This loop had been a mainstay even before this miserable night, but it was a lot more fun after. And warmer.

Favorite Pittsburgh Runs #10

Duquesne Heights
While coming back from a month off following my May 2006 seizure, I was limited to running from home, pretty much, so I had plenty of time to explore Mt. Washington and Duquesne Heights. I managed to find some pretty good routes, both including and excluding the McArdle Roadway, and became excited about the prospect of training repeatedly on the hills.
Finishing a run up the McArdle Roadway, while it certainly makes you tough, got old quickly, and if I wasn't able to finish when I was still building my strength and endurance, I was in for a world of trouble, so I started running up and down the streets perpendicular to Virginia Ave, and found most of the time the hills were reasonable enough to justify running them routinely. And I did indeed run this routinely.
Plymouth Street is a bit of a doozy, though. There are a lot of turns, but none are abrupt. The course measures to just under 6.7 miles, but running extra laps around Chatham Village easily tacks on .75 each.
While compiling my list of favorite runs in and out of Pittsburgh, I consider them with little weight to scenery. They are dependable routes that are good for running, usually feature a variety of terrain and hold some personal significance to me. This loop meets all of those criteria, but as a bonus features a marvelous view as a payoff after five miles of relentless hills.