Greetings from Wooster, Ohio.
But that is not from where I ran today. This morning we woke up in Cleveland. I booked a hotel on the internet because of a good package deal that included free tix for the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. Turned out it was in the heart of Cleveland Clinic, a sprawling medical complex about 4 miles east of downtown.
A little glimpse of a map is a dangerous thing. I saw that Lake Erie appeared within running distance. So when I headed out for my 60 minutes worth I went in what I thought was that direction. Anyone who's run or driven much with me knows I don't have much of a natural sense of direction. So when I make a few turns or veer off into another direction then that will lead me to think I'm going in one direction when I'm going in another. Then comes an inevitable moment of realization. This happened around 2.5 miles in when I found myself headed towards downtown on St. Clair. Then I headed down 72nd in the direction I thought was towards Euclid Ave and got another moment of clarity when I saw Lake Erie. At least I got the goal I set out for. At least now I was sure of the direction to go in and ended up finding my way back to the hotel after running 59:52. Total route is here.
It all underscores how running is a great way to explore a city. The slice of Cleveland I ran through was generally run down. It started through the 89 St. Historic District, with big old houses that looked to be in disrepair and bedecked with fire escapes and similar detritus that suggested they were cut up into apartments or functioned as group homes. But their potential was not hard to see, and they screamed to be gentrified. From there it was through some middle class areas around a park and then, after my turnaround at the lake, through block after block of dilapidated freestanding bungalow type housing which I imagine is hard hit by the foreclosure crisis.
After a visit to the R&R HoF and an hours drive south I'm now in a hotel in Wooster, watching the Olympics with the kiddos. Tomorrow is college day, where we check out the College of Wooster in the morning and Oberlin in the afternoon. Then its a long drive and we're home.
But that is not from where I ran today. This morning we woke up in Cleveland. I booked a hotel on the internet because of a good package deal that included free tix for the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. Turned out it was in the heart of Cleveland Clinic, a sprawling medical complex about 4 miles east of downtown.
A little glimpse of a map is a dangerous thing. I saw that Lake Erie appeared within running distance. So when I headed out for my 60 minutes worth I went in what I thought was that direction. Anyone who's run or driven much with me knows I don't have much of a natural sense of direction. So when I make a few turns or veer off into another direction then that will lead me to think I'm going in one direction when I'm going in another. Then comes an inevitable moment of realization. This happened around 2.5 miles in when I found myself headed towards downtown on St. Clair. Then I headed down 72nd in the direction I thought was towards Euclid Ave and got another moment of clarity when I saw Lake Erie. At least I got the goal I set out for. At least now I was sure of the direction to go in and ended up finding my way back to the hotel after running 59:52. Total route is here.
It all underscores how running is a great way to explore a city. The slice of Cleveland I ran through was generally run down. It started through the 89 St. Historic District, with big old houses that looked to be in disrepair and bedecked with fire escapes and similar detritus that suggested they were cut up into apartments or functioned as group homes. But their potential was not hard to see, and they screamed to be gentrified. From there it was through some middle class areas around a park and then, after my turnaround at the lake, through block after block of dilapidated freestanding bungalow type housing which I imagine is hard hit by the foreclosure crisis.
After a visit to the R&R HoF and an hours drive south I'm now in a hotel in Wooster, watching the Olympics with the kiddos. Tomorrow is college day, where we check out the College of Wooster in the morning and Oberlin in the afternoon. Then its a long drive and we're home.
posted by seebo | 9:16 PM
1 Comments:
Thank God it was Sunday morning. You ran through a very tough section of my hometown. Did you ever here of the Hough riots? And Cleveland Brown newbies are told to stay out of this high crime stretch. I run by the lake, but downtown by the Rock Hall, and also Edgewater Park.
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