Run All The Streets

Catching Up in Squirrel Hill

One of Pittsburgh’s larger neighborhoods – Squirrel Hill South

One of Pittsburgh most beautiful neighborhoods – Squirrel Hill North

Today’s run was another group run. This time with Pro Bike and Run. It is a friendly group with neighborhood runners mixing with graduate students and Pittsburgh running stalwarts. Squirrel Hill is a large area, with rolling hills and relatively big houses. Squirrel Hill North has magnificent houses with stained glass, large porches and nice yards. Squirrel Hill South houses are typically smaller, but still relatively large. There are also many three to five story block-wide apartment buildings in Squirrel Hill South. Then there are people, lots of people. Walking on Murray Avenue, you will likely see young Chinese students and large Jewish families while hearing Russian, Spanish, and other languages spoken. I love this neighborhood.

For this run in particular, I was a little late. The group had already done their run preview and taken their picture and gone out in pace groups from faster to slower. OK, perhaps I was very late. Nonetheless, I got a map and made sure my GPS was ready then took off. It was already dark, but I knew the route and felt safe. Down one hill, up Beechwood Blvd to Forward, I was pouring it on to catch up with some of the runners. Then, as I’m passing the side of Taylor Allderdice High School, I see some blinking lights ahead. (BTW, if you want people to see you, check out these Tracers .) I eventually approach a group of runners as they’re turning onto Wightman from Pocusset.

And I stop here to mention that even if you’re pretty quick, the difference between you and a slower runner isn’t that much in real time. If someone is running a average pace of, say 10 minute/mile, and you running a very quick 7 minute/mile pace, but happen to show up ten minutes late, it’ll be over three miles before you catch them. These are all hypothetical numbers, of course, but the real point is, don’t be a pace snob.

So, I did finally meet up with some of my friends. They were chatting and making sure a slower newbie felt welcome. I caught up with their news, the new job, the work woes, the latest ski trip. But then, the hills relented and my legs took me away. Something was on my mind, pushing me on. I passed a couple of other runners before making it back to the store, our starting spot. In the store, Kim, the leader, the indomitable Kim, laughingly said she never sees me at the beginning of a run, but always afterwards. I like to catch up.

Point Breeze on New Year’s Day

Outline of the Point Breeze Neighborhood in Pittsburgh — Point Breeze (click on map for more info)

So, this run actually started in Shadyside and ran through parts of Squirrel Hill North, but followed most of Point Breeze’s borders. This “Resolution Run” was a group run organized by the Steel City Road Runners Club. Luckily for everyone who put New Year’s Eve to good use, it started at 11 am in the morning!

I have run with Steel City for a number of years and the crowd was friendly and festive. I was able to catch up with several runners I had not seen in awhile; from the Cincinatti ex-pat who’s always up for a quick one to a 20x marathoner I haven’t talked to in a year. My running peeps were also there. Running can be a very solitary sport. Group runs combat this with encouragement and camaraderie. You get the endorphins from the run, a positive social setting and a little bit of competition – it’s really a wonderful thing.

Group runs often bring out the fast runner in me. This day was no exception. As a running route, it starts as a speed demon’s dream. Penn Avenue is flat – perhaps a 50 foot elevation change in the first two miles. Forbes, along Frick Park and Homewood Cemetery is a more challenging, a 200 ft change in about a mile. But then you get a nice downhill along Shady Avenue for a strong finish.

Greenfield: Land of Hills

Map outlining of the Greenfield neighborhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. — Outline of Pittsburgh’s Greenfield Neighborhood
(Click on image for info about Greenfield.)

Today my running the streets of Pittsburgh takes a serious turn, Greenfield. On the map it looks innocent enough. Straight streets, not too many alleys. But, a naive non-Pittsburgher would be sorely mistaken. The streets are straight, but the topography is NOT! This means that most of those “straight” streets are going “straight uphill”! No, none are going downhill.

I started on the edge of Greenfield, on Saline Street. For the record, “Saline Street” is also the name of a street about a mile away at the bottom of the hill. Winding my way down Saline Street, I did a little up and down on Beechwood before going up, up, up on Bigelow Street. I am constantly amazed how, in Pittsburgh, street names are used over and over. There’s another “Bigelow” in Oakland. At any rate, this Bigelow Street forms the southern border to Greenfield. It steadily climbs to a crest from which you can see all of downtown spread out before you. Then it plunges down to Greenfield Avenue. Along the way you go from nice, manicured lawns and open spaces to Waldeck Street, a narrow, dangerous lane with a hairpin curve as it becomes idyllic Sylvan Ave. (Nothing idyllic about that street, except for the name.)

Sylvan Avenue is a cliffhanger which leads to the main drag of Greenfield Avenue. I slogged up Greenfield and then started winding up and down the hills. As the Strava data will attest, this was one big hill after another. One of my early favorites was Tunstall Street. A big yellow “No Outlet” sign adorns the exit onto Greenfield. Nonetheless, it goes straight up. Strava indicated a 23% grade, but I wasn’t so sure about that, so I checked around. Sure enough, it is one of the steeper streets around, even making this list of Pittsburgh steps. About halfway up the hill several tall, narrow, houses perch on the left side of the road (going up). I got to the top, noticed a muddy parking area and decided I had reached a private parking area. But did I??

I ran back to Greenfield Avenue and then up the next little street, Yoder. Yoder was another goat pathway perched on a hill. I’m happy no cars decided to come down at that moment. Yoder was longer, but more gradual, and rose above the houses on Tunstall. Sure enough, Yoder intersects Alvin “Street” – a stairway which led down to that muddy parking lot! That lot, on the map, is an official street! Ha! I’m sure this type of thing will happen again.

Then the run was a series of ups and downs and trying not to do the same street over and over. I’ve only scratched the surface of Greenfield. Greenfield, I will be back, hopefully with more synonyms for “up”.

Run All The Streets 0002: Greenfield Route from Strava

Esplen in the Winter

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esplen_(Pittsburgh)

Thanks for joining me! I started this journey of running all the streets in Pittsburgh by heading out to the neighborhood of Esplen. Esplen is a little community in a corner of Route 51 as it swings away from the Ohio River to cross over Chartiers Creek and go into McKee’s Rocks. Driving north on Rt 51 coming out of the Southside, I just put “Esplen” into Google Maps and let it direct me.

“Go North on Rt 51”
- check!
“Make the next left onto Tabor Street”
- Great, it’s at a light, check!
“Make a right onto Radcliffe Street”
- Hmm, I suppose, but check.
“Make a left onto Oak Way”
- Wait a minute, that’s just a little alley between some houses! Argh, I’ll do it THIS time.
“Make a right onto Harrison Way”
- WTF! No way, that’s an even SMALLER alley

At this point, I turned off Google Maps, drove to the next bigger street (Stafford) and headed toward a shopping area I had noticed across a low bridge. I was now out of the City of Pittsburgh and in the shopping Mecca of Mckee’s Rocks.

I crossed the bridge over muddy Chartier’s Creek and plunged into the streets of Esplen. There are some industrial looking buildings on the right and then the little houses of Esplen. It was a gray, cold day, just above freezing. Most of Esplen is flat, with a gradual rise in the streets as you go away from Rt 51 and away from Chartier’s Creek. The houses were mostly occupied. They looked to be two or three bedroom houses. Alleys are standard between all the roads and most people’s garages opened up on the alley. It was quiet. I think I saw two people, total, in that morning’s run. One section, Esplen Street and the alleys coming off of it, was dominated by the hill behind it and a railroad bridge which crosses the Ohio onto Brunot Island. Houses decorated for Christmas and ever-present Steelers flags lifted the gloom of the morning.

Rising above Esplen is the neighborhood of Sheraden. The streets going up to Sheraden are long and steep, Stadium, Arden and Stafford to name a few. Sheraden had nice views of the Ohio from Brunot Street. The streets continue to rise to the crest of a hill.

I ran slowly and took pictures. Only a few miles of running and I had done most of the streets and alleys of Esplen. Not bad for the first foray.

Running Route — Run All The Streets 0001: Esplen

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