Running in the Suburbs

I'm not entirely sure how it happened, but somehow I was doing a very poor job running for several weeks and the Milwaukee Half-Marathon is now six weeks away. And grad school starts in two weeks. YAY!

To make some excuses for not running, it was really hot in July (and then it wasn't for several weeks.) BUT, during those weeks I went to two weddings and moved. And that was a lot of new stuff. I still went out for runs, but I had so many other things I'd rather do. And I have to get up earlier. So, yeah, excuses.

The other thing that's bugged me is that I can't quite find a running route I particularly like. The new apartment is nestled in between three very large roads, two of which are expressways, and the third of which is a major US highway.


In one direction is the mecca of all suburban shopping areas, filled with Meijer (that Michigan store), Target, Home Depot, and lots of fast moving vehicles. There are sidewalks, but you can't quite hear yourself think over the roar of tires on the roadway.

In the other direction is farmland. Its quiet, yes, but hidden amongst the spacious fields are subdivisions, and with subdivisions come cars. These roads do not have sidewalks, but they do have hills and narrow shoulders. Needless to say, I only chose this road once.

So I've struggled to find my routes. But I'm slowly starting to figure out the mileage nearby and find the quiet roads that are fun to run on. I'll probably need to to figure out how to get running into my new routine so that I take running clothes with me to class and run around campus or downtown Ann Arbor or along the river in town.

Regardless of where I go, the running will be challenging, but necessary if I'm to meet my goal of all the states. Currently I'm at 4. Wisconsin will give me 5. After that, I'm not sure where to head. Does anyone have any ideas? I'm contemplating Indianapolis in May, mostly because you get to run on the Indy 500 track. (Side note: I secretly like to think speed limit signs are for me. 'Hey buddy, the speed limit is only 25 through here, you'd better slow down.' I think running on a race track for 200 mph cars would be pretty awesome!)

One final note, you'll notice I've changed the format of my blog. I want to make it cleaner, more user friendly, and more interesting. Part of that means writing more on here, which I do intend to do, but part of it is me figuring out some of the functions of the site. Stay tuned for more changes as I figure them out. Mostly, I want this site to be the place I keep track of my races and progress towards 50. However, I also hope there is a bit about the changes happening in life, experiences in grad school, and of course, thoughts on Detroit and the urban landscapes. After living in Detroit for a few months, being back in suburbia is a bit of a rough transition, but as always, I will endure.