Hi Folks! So, I’ve been neglecting this blog for a bit. My last post, back in September of 2022, brought you up-to-date on my 487th RATS run, which I ran on December 28, 2021. (Ouch, that was a long time ago!) Today is February 7, 2023.
What have I been up to? I did a flurry of streets in the last week of 2021 but really changed focus in 2022. Instead of concentrating on streets, I concentrated on marathon training runs with City of Bridges Run Club. I ended up running four marathons in 2022. I also had the opportunity to do a 50 mile hike on the North Country Trail in Allegheny Forest and the popular 36 mile Rachel Carson Challenge.
I did finish about ten streets in 2022 and there are only a handful more that I’ll complete. Without more ado, I’ll catch you up on my streets runs, starting with RATS #00488.
December. Pittsburgh. The best I could hope for was misty streets and mild temps. That’s what I got on another journey into Sheraden. I parked down in Sheraden Park, down in the hollow. There’s a city pool here, long closed. I don’t think it was open in summer, either. The playground looked cool, though.
From the low park, I made a foray up into Sheraden on the left. I tried to reach a street by bushwhacking, but it didn’t seem promising so I went back to the pavement. I took Ashlyn around to Motor and Menges. Strava has two Menges’ streets, while Google calls them Menges and Slope. Only the blue signs know for sure, so we’ll see.
And the winner is…. Slope! Claps all around for Google! Good job labeling streets with the right names. So, in the above pic with the cinderblock; that’s the end of Slope, regardless of how far into the woods City Strides thinks the street goes.
This area is such a crazy quilt of hills and streets; and streets falling off the hills. In this picture, my cell-phone camera was actually level.
Moving on, I finished up Krewson Way, did the little knob of “West” Paudling Avenue and decided to run to the end of Sacramento. In previous runs, I had stopped short on Sacramento, thinking that it was just a driveway.
Much to my delight, Sacramento Street continued along the lip of the hill, past a mossy shed and around to the far end of Stadium Street. I had been to this end of Stadium Street before, but in the summer couldn’t get through the thick vegetation.
Now I found my way back to Chartiers Avenue, en route to finishing alleys like Alora Way, Cream Way and Condor “Road”.
Not a bad run, just a little over seven miles.