Aug 1 Run: Entrance to Frick Park and Reynolds and Homewood

Next week really will be a run in Frick Park - unfortunately I won't be here to enjoy it! Meet at the entrance by the traffic circle at the end of Reynolds.

Despite it being cooler it still felt sticky this morning - a little like moving through molasses. But good company and distracting scenery made the run palatable. We took a tour around car history, displayed on the little loop (known by various names) at the Hobart end of Schenley Park then headed down to the Wendy Bennett Trailhead. The Vintage Grand Prix workers at the intersection with Bartlett were a lot more spunky than I was feeling and were surprisingly nice - I seem to recall other years where there was far more stern warnings to get off the course. A dive into the cool green of the park did feel better and causing us to marvel once again about how beautiful these city trails are - almost as good as Alaska! Then up over the golf course and all the commercial hubbub around the race.

July 25 Run: Common Place Coffee on Forbes for Vintage Grand Prix Run

Officially changing the run so we can check out the cars at the Vintage Grand Prix. Meet at the "new" coffee place on Forbes.

On Wed, Jul 21, 2010 at 7:26 AM, <theresa.malmstrom@pnc.com> wrote:

At the risk of really messing everyone up, I thought I'd point out that the Vintage Grand Prix is this weekend and we usually try to take the run over into the "Fruit Loop" (as Elaine reminded me that it's called this morning) to see all of the cars and then down through Schenley.  Do we want to meet  at TCT or Commonplace to start and head over that way instead this Sunday?
-Teri

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Our run was so absorbing today that we forgot to choose a place for next week. Given that we have limited access to the parks once the days get shorter, I am proposing we meet at the entrance to Frick Park by the Art Museum and then take the trail down to Nine Mile Run and return - either to the Coffee Tree or to the start. Please suggest an alternative run if you have been desperate to see another part of Pittsburgh.

Today's run to the run turned out to be THE run when no-one showed up with a car at Tazza D'Oro. Luckily we were greeted there by Joanne who kindly modified the route to our wishes. We took a quick pass around the always refreshing Highland Park reservoir then circled back up (and it really is up!) the ever changing face of Negley Ave - from leafy green Highland Park, to more industrial although improving E. Liberty, to the foot of the Negley Hill. Given the heat and humidity, there was quick agreement to walk up the hill (no secrets between us). Just up the second rise a man was watering his garden. Elaine asked if he would turn the spray on us and that bit of water was all we needed to get us back to the Common Grounds Coffee House, which may be the new Sunday gathering place. The coffee is delicious and the shaded outdoor seating area is perfect for sitting and solving all problems, or at least discussing them, on these lazy summer Sundays.

Our Schenley run mapped

PtB kindly sent in the map of our run that starts at the Wendy Bennett Trailhead:
Now a historical document!

July 18 run - Tazza D'Oro - Highland Park

Next week we are going back to the Highland Park run, from Tazza D'Oro at 1125 N. Highland Ave. Not sure who's leading, but all will be made clear by 7:05 a.m.
Virginia says that the run-to-the-run will leave the Coffee Tree on Forbes at 6:25 or so.

Our run today was the tried, true, and lovely Schenley Park run on one of its most pleasant mornings - leafy, fresh, and bright. Various mysteries were solved or proposed: Luckily Tom showed up just before we set off, to clear up the one concerning whether or not he has a beard. A shoutout to Elaine in AK, who will have to help us with our puzzlement over how bear spray works. Also, why was the model #14 Mizuno Wave Rider such a dud when all the other years were great? And high fives for the new movie The Square, mysterious and thrilling. Finally, what is the inexorable force moving us from Coffee Tree to Commonplace Coffee across the street? From where we sent another shoutout to Cheryl - no mystery there, but a request for an email from Italy just for the fun of it.

July 11 Run: Wendy Bennett Trailhead

I have been remiss in my scribe duties due to a very long holiday weekend and a busy work week but Paula C (the brain) sent this nice recounting of last weekend's runs and proposed the Wendy Bennett Trailhead run for this coming Sunday. I am taking her up on her offer. Alas I won't be there but will be thinking of you as I prepare for yet another regatta in Washington DC.

It has been a nice couple of days of runs. Roye's run starting at Bakery Square had numerous points of interest winding through East Liberty redevelopment and Friendship. I didn't stay for it, but the Bakery Square CTR seemed to get a thumbs up from the running group. Today we had a pleasant run down through Chatham College campus and circling back along Beechwood, up to Linden Ave. We stopped to admire Wendy's impressive garden and then had coffee and conversation at the Common Place coffee shop in Squirrel Hill. We covered many topics including strategies for insuring teen-age drivers and providing them with wheels, Indian weddings and breast milk--just the usual narrow set of topics!

I don't think that we decided on a run for next week. Unless someone else tells you otherwise, I propose the Wendy Bennett Trailhead run.