#312: The Legacy Trail

I had a good long run/walk yesterday: about 5 1/2 miles on the Legacy Trail here in Lexington. This bike path opened last summer... not a good time for me to go exploring, but I wanted to do a long run on Saturday and since that's not a good morning to be tying up a treadmill in our little gym for an hour, I decided to take in the first weekend of Spring.. I woke up and checked the temp. 36°. Sad. Putzed around the house a little, hoping for a miraculous heat wave. It didn't come. At about 11:00, with the cold unchanged, I pulled on some layers and headed out into the Bluegrass Tundra for a little jog.

It's about 3/4 of a mile from my house to the two-mile marker on the trail. I warmed up with an easy walk there, then started my run/walk intervals. Well, mostly walk intervals. When sweat turns to ice on your face, you really aren't too motivated to get wet in a hurry. I walked out to mile 4, then turned around and ran intervals back. I'm not sure I accomplished much in terms of training, but it was a beautiful trip, in an arctic sort of way.

When I finally got home, my hands were stiff and numb from the cold. Need to dig out a pair of those brown jersey work gloves. I'm sure there are some in the basement. Mrs P was understandably not interested in my chilly caresses, so I took off the wet clothes, slipped on some dry clothes, and went to the office to write. Sadly, my fingers would not bend far enough to type. Gloves. Definitely. I one-finger typed my way to MapMyRUN and calculated that I had traveled 5.56 miles. Not bad for a shivering fat man. Once I could feel my fingertips again, I hopped in for a hot shower and felt better. I don't think I ate very well, though. I was pretty exhausted for the rest of the day. Most of the to-do list got bumped to Monday.

The trail is lovely. I got on at the Northside Y on Louden Ave. The course is paved, so it's great for bikers, walkers, runners, and anyone who doesn't use a motor to get around. I imagine someone in a wheelchair would enjoy the trip, too. There are mileposts every 0.2 miles, and a stone pillar marking every mile. It's still new, so there is plenty of landscaping and fresh planting going on. There are a few hills, but not many, and not too steep. Some of the scenery was sort of industrial, past parking lots and along the highway and such, but one stretch in particular winds down into the woods along Cane Run Creek. It is really lovely. Can't wait to see spring come out down there.There's a lot more of the trail than I ran. It actually starts downtown, and continues north through farms all the way to the Kentucky Horse Park. I'm not ready to take on the whole 12 miles just yet, but I intend to explore all of it over the next few weeks.

You know... once it warms up a little.

Peace,

Pennsy