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In a message dated 3/20/2007 1:16:20 PM Central Daylight Time, djw@... writes:
"What is your favorite local running course/route? Why?"
The answer is as clear as the view is at the turn-around point of my favorite running route.
Here are the statistics...... 15 miles out and back on paved road, not a route for the "let`s go jog" runners, it`s got a bite to it, it`s challenging, it makes you sweat and hurt and curse and pray and in the end you are so very happy you did it.......a mile and 2 tenth down, a mile and 3 tenth up, half a mile down and 4 and a half miles flat. Then the road that`s gone entirely through a beautiful forest suddenly ends in a parking lot of a boat ramp at the North end of Shelby Forest, exposing the clearest, most breathtaking view onto the mighty Mississippi river, driftwood lining the banks and barges floating downriver.
Never ever do I turn back from there without first touching the water, splashing it into my face, sometimes taking off my shoes and socks and cooling my feet. Sometimes I stand there for a few moments, gazing into the distance, across, or down the river, savouring the beauty, letting it sink deep into my heart.
I have run there in the heat of many Memphis summers, it never gets too hot in the Forest because it`s always shady. I have run with icy winds blowing so hard that I had to struggle to make it up those hills, I have run there in the night time and early mornings, watched the sun rise, and late afternoons and seen the sun set.
There are many roads and trails just as or more beautiful, but this one is my very special and most favorite one.
Hilde Haynes
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