Day 1 February 5, 2008
Normally I run 40 minutes to an hour at about a nine and a half to ten minute pace. Okay, for you purists, this is more jogging than running. This severely limits how far I can cover on any one day to four to six linear miles. Running every block will require some backtracking and overlapping, but I hope to minimize this by planning each route rather than randomly setting out each time.
My first day’s plan of action calls for me to run to the nearest township border with Philadelphia and then run northwesterly through a neighborhood, Highland Park, that I lived in during the early 90’s.
I start out and run down a state road, called imaginatively State Road, to the edge of Cobbs Creek Public Golf Course and then turn right up Parkview Road, which is a much steeper hill than I remember. Steep hills are said to be good for building the muscles in runners’ legs, but my muscles are screaming that that only holds for young runners.
I run past the block that I used to live on and follow the route my sons walked thousands of time to Highland Park Elementary School.
I loop around Academy Lane behind the school and run the edge of Observatory Field. The Leisure Services Department, formerly known by the more sensible description Parks and Recreation Department, maintains this field as an athletic facility, but long ago it had a domed astronomical observatory of the University of Pennsylvania. The field sits atop the first hill rising out of the riparian plain of the Delaware River that Philadelphia sprawls along. There are great views of Philly’s skyline from West Chester Pike on this hill. Flower Astronomical Observatory opened in the spring of 1897 when Upper Darby was still rural and dark compared to Philadelphia. It was sited on a 100 acre farm and named after a Penn benefactor, Reese Wall Flower. I am also, though a much minor, Penn benefactor, also shy and also can’t dance.
Distance: 4.09 miles Time: 41 min Pace: 10:01 min/mile
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