You gotta be stronger.

Downtown from Forest Hill Park

Seventeen runs in the month of January. Not a record, but close to it. Last time I was training for a marathon. This year I am just trying to stay one step ahead ... of everything, really. Also, the weather has not been a hindrance.

Distance: 3.58 miles
Avg Pace: 7:58
Duration: 29:08
Route: Forest Hill Loop

It's a mile there and a mile back, but worth it to run a mile or so through Forest Hills Park. From Forest Hills Blvd. and Lee I run around Duck Pond (many geese, two ducks) and past a playground into the woods where I cross over the high stone bridge which connects East Cleveland to Cleveland Heights.

I take a right to Sled Hill which provides a hazy view of the city (see photo) before loping around past the Great Meadow and out of the park.

It's a gently sloping run, with a few inclines but they are short.

DID YOU KNOW ..? Forest Hill Park was once part of the estate of John D. Rockefeller, who deeded the land to both cities in 1936, eighty years ago. It is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Also: the park is Forest Hill, the boulevard that runs through it is Forest Hills. Just learned that. It is confusing.

Temperature: 54°
Climate: partly sunny
Pavement: dry

Yes, I am concerned about global climate change. But it is very difficult to feel anxious about the future on a sunny day in the mid-fifties. Running in shorts is so liberating when you have had several runs in long pants.

Man, my all-weather running pants are, like, twelve years old. I guess when you wear something twenty times a year, for a half-hour at a time, they last. They have, however, been washed more than most items of clothes I own.

Anyway. Today, shorts!

Weight: 163.5 lbs. (+1.0)
Mood: positive!

A word on the playlists; at the commencement of any calendar year I cycle through one playlist a run for every year I have been in the world, including conception. This year I am celebrating 50 Playlists for 50 Years: 1967 - 2016.

1994 Playlist
You Gotta Be - Des'ree
Ruiner - Nine Inch Nails
Cherry In Your Tree - XTC
December - Collective Soul
B-Boys Makin' With the Freak Freak - The Beastie Boys
Mr. Bitterness - Soul Coughing
Funk Dat - Sagat

Seguing from Ruiner to Cherry In Your Tree sprained my soul.

Sources:
City of Cleveland Heights
Wikipedia