In my quest to combine my geekitude with my new running hobby, I’ve found this cool tool that allows you to create custom walking/jogging maps that will calculate the distance for you — the Gmaps Pedometer.
I could be like everybody else in Austin and simply go to the Town Lake Hike and Bike trails (errr— the Lady Bird Johnson Hike and Bike Trails now) — which is what I did yesterday. I’ll say this for the Town Lake trails — I have never seen more beautiful and more fit people all gathered together at the same time in my life. And most all of them were half naked and glistening with sweat.
But I prefer to exercise and run in more solitude — which is why I enjoy going to Commons Ford Park for hiking and running:
I used the Gmaps Pedometer to calculate my favorite 1-mile running loop at the end of the park (known as the Pecan Grove Loop).
Commons Ford Park is one of the lesser known parks in the Austin area, but it’s also one of the best.
It’s a 215-acre park along the shores of Lake Austin with groves of Pecan trees, some historic structures, hiking trails along creek-fed waterfalls, lots of foliage and hillsides, and several geo caches. Since few people seem to know about the park and because of the park’s unusual hours (Tuesday through Sunday, 1 PM to 6 PM daily. Closed Mondays.), there are usually very few people at this beautiful park.
I also prefer Commons Ford Park because it’s the closest park to my house and I can take my dog who can run off-leash (and we can stop so both of us can play in the lake).
We did something similar at work to promote exercise and competition. We all got pedometers and divided up in teams and are taking a virtual walk across America. The site is http://www.walkacrossusa.com/account/about
Hugh
Left by Hugh on October 6th, 2007 at 8:08 am