Apr 1 Run: Commonplace - no joke

The group that ran last week must have been affected by a double runners high (from the run and from the route up Herron Hill) because a place for this Sunday's run was not chosen. We will meet at the "default" location - Commonplace Coffee on Forbes in Squirrel Hill. Perhaps someone will come up with a suitable April Fools route.

Mar 24 Run: Phipps for a Heron Hill Run

Meet at Phipps Conservatory for a run up to Heron Hill and a magnificent 360 view of Pittsburgh. There will likely be a run to the run from CommonPlace starting around 6:40/6:45 AM.

There were a few patches of stale beer and other less appealing patches on the sidewalk but the S. Side was quieter and cleaner than I expected. By the time we hit Carson Street, bars were cleaning up and swishing wash water out on the sidewalk (like Medieval times, Julie commented). We ran by another much larger group of runners who unexpectedly gave us a big cheer as we passed - perhaps they were amazed we were still running at our advanced ages? The return trip on the trail by the river was the best part - banks of daffodils in bloom and a new amphitheater area by the Hoffbrau house were some of the highlights. The weather was so unseasonable that we lingered, spending time looking over the Mon and the burst of forsythia blooming by the railroad tracks.

Boosted by injured reserved and coffee guests we filled up many tables at Commonplace. Thanks to Aimee for the delicious banana bread of which there was only crumbs remaining.

Mar 18 Run: Hot Metal Bridge Parking Lot for an early morning pub crawl

Meet in the parking lot on the downtown side of the Hot Metal bridge at the Pittsburgh Technology Center.As you drive down Bates Street - head straight into the parking lot and make a left. In celebration of St. Patrick's day we will see if any bars are still open on Carson Street. I don't think we are planning to actually drink but you never know!


We wound our way through the East End this morning checking out all the new (and old) restaurants that have been popping up in our neighborhood. It also involved three crossings of the bus-way including the new "amusement park" bridge between Ellsworth and the East Side parking lot. The bridges provided some fine views of the city in the bright morning sun. Given the time change there were quite a few runners and even though everyone did not stay for coffee you might not have guessed this given the noise level. The big news was the announcement and passing around of  Roye son's new book: Me and Earl and the Dying Girl How cool is that!!!

Mar 11: Bakery Square - DST BEGINS

Don't forget to move your clock forward an hour before you go to bed next Saturday night so you don't miss the Explore Exotic East End run. From Bakery Square we will visit some of the new restaurants popping up and also work in a trip across the new foot bridge to Ellsworth Ave.

It has been a while since the group has been reprimanded so it should not have been a surprise that the security guard at the Pennsylvanian Apartments (the old train station) told us to leave the rotunda area where we had been admiring the stonework because it was private property - but somehow it just does not seem right to limit access to one of the city's architectural gems... Still that did not take away from the rest of the run whose mysterious goal turned out to be a visit to the partly dismantled Civic Arena. Well, OK, that was not exactly uplifting but it was interesting. We also ran by a new (to me at least) public square across from Point Park on the Boulevard and Tom did not complain when we took a detour to see the Cell Phone Disco which we unfortunately could not activate since no one had their cell phone on them.. Thanks to Tom for the downtown tour.
PtB joined us for coffee and we were all glad to see she is healing up nicely from her running injury.