East End Runners

So many decisions could have been bad!

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Jan 1& 2 Runs: Starbucks/Commonplace

Since Sundays take precedence over holidays, meet at 7:00AM on Sunday, Jan 1 to run in the New Year. Gather at Starbucks as Commonplace will be opening later that day.
On Monday, Jan 2 you get to sleep in for a 1/2 hour: meet at 7:30AM in front of Commonplace.

A good number of people showed up for the Christmas morning run, including a few guests. The weather was mild and the streets quiet - perfect holiday conditions. We wandered through Squirrel Hill in search of outlandish decorations and inflatables and were fairly successful although next year we might have to send out notes ahead of time to remind people to turn on those lights.

We squeezed into Starbucks which was full of people looking for coffee and as usual we loudly discussed any number of things. It was a great way to start the day!



Monday, December 19, 2011

Dec. 25 run: Starbucks at Forbes and Shady

Next week, Christmas Day, we will start at 7 a.m. at the Squirrel Hill Starbucks (Shady and Forbes) since that is the only cafe that is open, and have an Noel-inspired run that will include lights, inflatables, pine trees, and possibly Santa on his way out.

Hopefully we will not have to deal with slipping and sliding over icy terrain as we did yesterday - though it was all a great lead-up to our visit to Penguins' Pond, the new ice rink on the South Side - which was filled with baby Sidney Crosby's zooming around at 8 a.m. Elaine also took us through the super new path in back of the Hofbrau Haus, with only a short incident of illegal trespass, and up a mysterious staircase that led to a remarkable view and the historic, newly refurbished Terminal Building, about which Elaine and Jonathan know a surprising number of things. Coffee was a draw, as usual, and the discussion turned Talmudic as regards the timing of runs on holidays, the proper frying of latkes, and the scheduling of visits to Costco.

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Dec 18 Run: Hot Metal Bridge for a SSide Tour

Meet at the parking lot by the Hot Metal Bridge (enter the lot at the foot of Bates St and make a left) for a run down the trail then back on Carson Street where we will look for displays of the holiday kind.

Run to the Runners meet at the Commonplace - be ready to leave at 6:20AM.  We will return there for coffee,

It was seasonably cold this morning for our traditional downtown holiday run. While the decorations were bright as always, they were almost outshone by the spectacular full moon which hung snow white in the dark blue sky as we began then faded to a misty gray in the dawn sky. This did not deter us from visiting all our regular places: the windows at the former Kaufman's, the creche in the Steel Plaza, the City Christmas trees. We added a few new sites, some of which sadly are temporary: Occupy Pittsburgh, the Civic Arena, Pittsburgh Freedom Corner which offered an expansive view of downtown and the Juvenile Court where Tom works.

Today's coffee banter covered beer for nausea, the history of Quinine, Gin and Tonics (you can see the connection there) and more I am sure.

Sunday, December 04, 2011

Dec 11Run: PPG Place for the Holiday Run

Next Sunday meet at the Tomb of the Unknown Bowler a.k.a. the skating rink at PPG Place, for our traditional trip around the downtown holiday sites.

There will be a run to the run from Phipps conservatory starting at 6:15AM.

What started out as a tour of Homestead ended up being much more than that - as someone commented, only Pam Murray could lead us on a back-country run in the middle of Pittsburgh. Right from the outset things were interesting as first one then many decided to take advantage of the bathrooms at the Courtyard Marriott. After gathering stray and late participants we ran on the always lovely riverside path taking in the maze and pump house along the way. Then, what looked to be a shorter path into Homestead, turned out to be an overland trek through one of those unexpected urban wild places ending in a trot by the rail-road tracks complete with speeding trains. We did eventually find our way into Homestead, the land of a 1,000 churches - no kidding, it seemed there were churches on every corner, one more ornate than the rest and several for sale (are you in the market?). It was a run that included something for everyone.

Virginia and Jan joined us for the ever lengthening coffee hour.