Good morning! Today’s run was an easy run through the swirling streets of Squirrel Hill. The streets here follow the contours of the hills which makes for a much flatter run than in Greenfield, where contours are ignored and the streets are stubbornly laid out in a grid.
This part of Squirrel Hill has a mix of housing. There are older, huge houses up on Beechwood Blvd, with something like 5 bedrooms, innumerable chimneys, driveways (and likely to have tiny closets). There are smaller, mid-50’s split level houses with three bedrooms. There are a few avant-gard houses, with sharp angles and glass. There’s even a super-insulated passive house on Fernwald Street; apparently one of only 80 such houses in the United States, according to the Trib. There are newer McMansions concentrated on Rosemont Lane, with nicely manicured lawns which are truly loved by deer. One night I witnessed three deer lightly leap across a hedge and feast on the flowers.
This morning, no deer, just a few people running and walking dogs. My running companion had grown up in the area and had a story for every street. “That’s where my best friend in 7th grade lived. This street is pretty much a driveway. We used to hang out there! No, not the HILL!” Lastly was the prudent “No further, you have a big race coming up!” It was so true, too. A 40 miler on Saturday for which I was significantly under-trained. So this pleasant, pre-work run came to an end. This was a very efficient three mile run, covering mostly new streets.