#longrun – Run All The Streets

https://www.strava.com/activities/4987052124 — Route of RATS run #00385 from South Side to Fairhaven

On a bright Sunday morning in March, I undertook one of my longest RATS runs ever. I had a couple of goals. First, see how much of Beck’s Run Road I could traverse without getting run over and second, explore Fairhaven, nestled in the corner of Library Road and Saw Mill Run Boulevard, without getting run over. I was ramping up mileage in preparation for an April 50k.

First off, I decided to climb into the South Side Slopes in order to catch Parkwood Road, which I could take to Beck’s Run Road. While using East Carson is the fastest way by car, that whole ‘without getting run over’ idea convinced me the steps were a better idea. And of course, I would get to enjoy the great views.

Oakley Street has an impressive step-mosaic where it begins on Josephine Street. It does continue, however, for several more flights. I wonder about that handicap parking, though. It must be difficult for anyone with mobility issues to live in a spot surrounded by steps.

Approaching Oakley Steps along 27th Street

At any rate, now on the crest of the South Side Slope, the views were amazing. on breaks between houses, you could see across the Mon to Oakland, with the Cathedral of Learning prominently displayed. On the far side of the crest, the neighborhood forms a steep bowl, with steps on each side.

Once past Arlington Avenue, I made my way to Mountain Avenue and the long, one lane road known as Parkwood Road. On the left side of Parkwood, a ravine deepens and water drips down the cracking rock on its way to becoming a creek. Parkwood is blocked off about a tenth of a mile above Beck’s Run Road, due to erosion. Just before this, two small streets on the left are lined with houses. The creek has grown to a significant size by now and the city, I suppose, has built quite an impressive retaining wall to keep one house from falling in. It is very isolated, but the ten houses are all nicely maintained.

Once at Beck’s Run Road, I ran toward Paige’s Dairy Mart and then up towards Carrick. Even though it was a 40 degree day, people were lined up to get ice-cream goodies from that venerable establishment under a bridge. Beck’s Run is the name of the small creek alongside the road. The road is a major thoroughfare, but doesn’t have many buildings along it. The hills coming down are too steep to build on. The flat areas probably flood.

So, I made my way up Beck’s Run Road, then explored a little along Agnew Road. Not far from its intersection with Beck’s Run, there’s a heavily fortified water filtration plant.

I found one section of Beck’s run a bit too tight for running and went up Madeline Street instead. Crossing over Brownsville Road, I took Maytide to Saw Mill Run Boulevard. This is car heaven. Car dealerships of all shapes and sizes line the road. Luckily there is some thought to pedestrians, as there are walk signals. You just have to be willing to wait a long time. At least I could recover a bit.

Finally making it across, I came to the Fairhaven neighborhood. It is wedged between Saw Mill Run and Library Road. From this intersection, one lonely road and a set of steps lead you there. Once there, I was, actually, pleasantly surprised. Medium and large houses stood on large lots. The subdivision backs onto “Fairhaven Greenway”.

Hillview Street is steps in two sections, the one coming up from Saw Mill Run and another one, just slicing up the hillside between yards.

The far side of Fairhaven abuts Castle Shannon and Whitehall. I came down Elwyn Street and made my way along Transport Street, a half block behind Library Road. Transport Street had much more character than I expected.

At this point, I started heading back to the South Side. I went along Saw Mill Run until I could go no further. Luckily, a tiny section of steps became Dartmore Street and led me up into Carrick. From there, I just plodded along Brownsville Road and cut-through Mt Oliver along Amanda Street. I was surprised to find Amanda actually stopped and was separated from Hay’s Street by a barrier. It turns out Hays, at that point, is so steep, it is hard to even walk down. Still, those hilltops can see the downtown buildings peeking over.

With this, I made my way down South 18th, Mission Street and back to my car on the South Side. Whew, that was a long run!

I’ve been all over this town but never to Carrick. Today I’m changing that. For today’s run, I started overlooking Downtown from Grandview Park, did a grid of streets in Allentown and then plunged south to sample Carrick.

Grandview Park is a narrow strip of greenery high above the Monongahela River. From here, you can practically open the windows on the skyscrapers downtown. There’s not much there except benches to look at the view, a viewing platform to look out over the city and a little natural amphitheater, with views over the city. And all of them are grand! I’m not sure if all cities are like this, but Pittsburghers really like to look at pictures of Pittsburgh.

Tearing myself away from the view, I embarked on the grid of streets behind the park, high in Allentown. In spite of the proximity to the views and Mount Washington, this residential area is tight with small, rather shabby houses. I saw at least five houses with the blue “condemned” sign on them. Small streets disappear into the vegetation. Of course there are steps and boats here, too.

Speaking of steps, Emerald Street drops off the hillside and becomes steps on its way to Arlington Avenue, passing Canary Way en route. Arlington intersects East Warrington, with its small business area.

East Warrington is not a large street, but is usually busy. If you are vegan, you should stop at Onion Maiden. The food is excellent and the music is rocking! No neighborhood is complete without a Little Library, and there’s one here too, a few houses from Beltzhoover Avenue. Of course, everyone needs a laundromat every now and then. Here, “Splish Splash” is incongruously nestled on the first floor of an older red and pink apartment building.

While completing several streets south of East Warrington Avenue, I came across another “Project Picket Fence” site. If you’ll recall, that was a mid-90’s project by Mayor Tom Murphy to encourage communities to brighten up vacant lots. Here, while the picket fence is down, the lot is nicely kept.

From there, I found the source of Amanda Avenue, at its intersection with Manion Way. Amanda Avenue has a few street steps as it meets Arlington Avenue. I stayed on Amanda until it merged with Brownsville Road. (Not to be confused with Browns Hill Road, which is in another part of the city.) Here, Brownsville Road also forms a border with Mount Oliver, the independent borough entirely surrounded by the City of Pittsburgh. Just to make life interesting for dispatchers, there’s also a neighborhood in the City of Pittsburgh called “Mount Oliver”. It’s adjacent to the borough, of course.

In spite of the local differences in jurisdiction between Pittsburgh and Mount Oliver, there are few visual differences on that rather dirty, dusty street. Just the street signs; Pittsburgh’s are bright blue and Mount Oliver’s are a dusty green.

I continued to Noble Lane. In spite of its name, it is not a noble place to run. Where there are sidewalks, there are cars parked. Otherwise, you just have a narrow grassy, rocky path to navigate as the cars whiz by you on their way to Saw Mill Run Boulevard. Approaching Saw Mill Run, at least you get a nice view of the South Hills T-Line near Whited Street.

T-Line Bridge over Saw Mill Run Boulevard

Climbing out of the pit that is Saw Mill Run Boulevard, there are some more spacious residential areas. I made my way back towards Brownsville Road via Copperfield Road. At nine miles in, I was a bit disheartened to see the multi-block set of steps rise above me.

Copperfield Steps rising to Brownsville Road

Returning to my starting spot, I ambled along Brownsville Road until I hit Knox Avenue. Knoxville, along Knox Avenue is similar to Allentown, with undulating streets lined with houses and old three story apartment buildings. Ironically enough, yesterday I was listening to Malcom Gladwell’s book “Talking to Strangers” as he discussed the Amanda Knox case. Today, I ran on Amanda Street and Knox Avenue. Coincidence?

Tag: #longrun

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