This is a Bing map of my all time favorite run. Mostly because its so close to my house, but for other reasons, too. Erika and I call it “Two Bridges,” although I’m sure that’s what everyone else calls it too: it’s the Minneapolis and St. Paul park paths that run between the Lake Street bridge and the Ford Parkway bridge.
I imagine that some people get tired of running the same route, over and over, but I never tire of this one. I can practically run the route in my sleep. Even now, I can picture the granite cobblestones at the foot of Summit Avenue, the chipping limestone pavers at the west end of the Lake Street bridge, the stump on the bluff above the Ford Dam.
But even so, its always changing. Because I am on this route so often – I know I’ve run it 300 times at least – I notice everything. The buds on the branches, the falcon in the tree, the Gatorade bottle left by the path in front of Minnehaha Academy.
It’s also along the only gorge in the Mississippi River, a permanent geological fixture that changes constantly. There’s always something floating in it, although sometimes just ice. There’s a storm sewer outfall at the foot of Marshall Avenue that is an ever evolving canvas of graffiti. The river rises and falls against the concrete lip of the outflow, changing sometimes by just a few inches from day to day.
We didn’t even really realize this was here when we moved into our house in St. Paul. But it has, over the course of nearly two decades, become one of the defining amenities of our residence. It’s so easy to just slip out the back door and see what this slice of the world looks like. It is practically irresistible to pay it a visit, burn off 800 calories or so and churn out another six miles on the odometer.
Tim Nelson 