October 5 Run: meet at Biddle's Escape coffeehouse at Biddle and South Trenton, Wilkinsburg

Meeting at Biddle's Escape coffeehouse, Wilkinsburg, for a very special run arranged by Aimee.  Wilkinsburg Council Member and fellow runner Mike Lefebvre will lead our group around his neighborhood to show its highlights and new developments.  This is the second chance for anyone who missed this great run the first time (and I'm completely bummed that I'm going to miss it again.)

Speaking of which, I'm a little short on time these days, so will only say about last week's run that it was a gorgeous early fall Frick Park and cemetery run, that it actually may have been somewhere else but we were talking so much I didn't notice, that we delved deeply into existential questions like:  why are the electrical plugs in other lands all different shapes?, and that we were maybe the first to cross the starting line for the Great Race.  Kudos to all of you who both started and finished it!

September 21 Run: Commonplace Coffee in Squirrel Hill- someone will have an idea

Next weekend is up for grabs; nobody called it, so we'll just go with our default location at Commonplace Coffee in Squirrel Hill.  I'll be out of town, so it's up to all of you!

Yesterday we truly did come to grips with summer's end:  autumn mists covering Frick Park and long-sleeved jackets covering us.  We zigzagged around the park trails, coming upon the surprisingly large construction site of the brand new Environmental Center - remembering the time over a decade (!) ago when we came across the old Nature Center the very morning it had burned down - still smoldering at 7:20 a.m. according to the PG.

Just Cheryl, Judy and I at coffee (still delightful) so I'm tacking a few items:

• shout out to Jacquie in Iowa - thanks for posting the photos - we miss you!
• running group librarian tip for classics lovers:  thousands of books published before 1923 have a totally free Kindle version on Amazon, which you can then read with a free Kindle app on any tablet, phone, or PC - i.e. Babbitt, The Forsyte Saga, any Dickens or Trollope, etc. etc.  (I'm also mad at Amazon's monopoly practices, but this isn't sending them any money.)  Brand new e-books similarly for free from CLP of course.

September 14 Run: Blue Slide Park at Beechwood and Nicholson

We'll meet at Blue Slide Park at Beechwood and Nicholson, and possibly find a new route through Frick Park (or not.)  At any rate, we'll surely be surrounded by early signs of autumn.  Already!

If I might say so, last week's run was glorious.  From the brilliant chandeliers inside the William Penn, to the sparkling waters of the Mon, to the glowing gold of Steelers t-shirts for sale every 10 feet, we traversed new bike paths, crossed rivers, circled Heinz Field, visited the Mr. Rogers (bad) and the WWII (good) memorials, attempted to catch a train at the new Allegheny T Station, and viewed the gushing Fountain at the Point from at least 3 different angles.  The weather was perfection.

Back at the William Penn, we were met by several rather festive Steeler-watchers (one posing here with Sarah) and settled down in the Starbucks there, more elegant than most (but why don't they have real cups?) where we covered the following:

• How Pittsburgh has changed in less than a lifetime - 30 changes in 30 years
• Hearing loops
• Rose Garden in McKeesport
• KT Tape 
• Matchmaker Tova Weinberg, who famously said: "If the mother is Jewish, I don't care if the father is the pope."

September 7 Run: Meet at William Penn entrance downtown

Well, since nobody called a run for next week, I get to pick:  where else but dahntahn?  We'll meet at the entrance to my favorite hotel - the William Penn -

on William Penn Place (and have coffee in the resplendent lobby afterwards.)  But mainly - yes, it's that time again - we must run our magic circle around Heinz Field as a charm for the Steelers' opening day! Just call us...

Last week our two runs were East End specials with great back-from-vacation turnouts:  a drizzly but refreshing Frick Park foray and then somewhere around Squirrel Hill (not sure since I just showed up for coffee.)  A few of us on the DL inspired some talk about having a parallel bike ride - starting and ending at the same spot with the runners.  In fact it could be tried this Sunday - if some people want to show up with bikes and ride around on the trails for an hour - could be an interesting development!  RG never stops evolving.

Speaking of which:  a marvelous invitation from Jan - a running group trip to her peaceful forest cabin in the Laurel Highlands the weekend of Sept. 13 - just email her if you're interested - janetrw@hotmail.com.

Endorsements:

• Wholistic Acupuncture - for heel pain
• Almond flour at PennMac - gluten free baking
• Not using sexually explicit words in online Scrabble with strangers
• Yoga on Youtube - you can get almost any kind of class!