Come on a springtime run with me!

I mentioned yesterday that I recently took some springtime pictures of my every day running route. I cannot tell you how blessed I feel by having such a great place to run, especially in a central city. I just love, love, LOVE it. I'm going to take one picture from each season and put them together in one collage frame later this year. So, come run with me! 

First I run to the corner and round the block and head down the street behind mine. Here we go:

Over the course of the next mile I run through the business district that serves our neighborhood and two others. It is awesome. We can easily walk to restaurants of all flavors: American, Italian, Thai, Vietnamese, Persian, Ethiopian, etc. There are also a bunch of little shops. It's a huge part of what makes our neighborhood so great! Just shy of a mile I turn off the main drag and head down another residential street.

Not even half a mile down this street and I turn onto another, larger street through this neighborhood and start heading toward the park. As I run through here I can't help but get some Ke$ha in my head, since I'm lookin' down every alley (all the garages are behind the houses, with access by alleys that run between the streets). Nearly become someone's hood ornament even once and you learn.

Just a little farther and I turn into the park where I run on a nicely paved path and immediately start appreciating the flowers and architectural features.

I follow the path for a little over a mile (now about 3 miles from home) before I come to my favorite spot. It's a little higher in elevation than what's around it, affording it a great view of the lush, green grass, trees, and flowers. 

Part way through the next mile I pass a garden house (it's sort of part of the Botanical Garden, I think?), where lately on Saturdays I've seen lots of weddings. The path runs between the garden building and a small pond with lots of landscaping and sometimes some public art (like you see here).

From here I finish my loop through the park (about another mile, mile and a half), then go back through the check-every-alley stretch, then the residential area, back through the commercial stretch, then back into my own neighborhood. It's a 6.3 mile loop. 

Thanks for running with me! One other thing--I forgot to mention yesterday that last week was easily my highest mileage week ever, and it went really well! Almost read to taper!!