This park is my nemesis.

It is the closest park to my office so it is the one I run the most. Right now it is under construction in several places. The track around the football field is blocked off in front so you can't loop around it while they have the football field completely torn apart. This will make adding mileage difficult in the next few weeks. Usually I park here in front of the football field, run around it a couple of times to warm up then hit the trails. Pictured above is the start of the trail that connects to the track.

This park is SUPER hilly. There really is no way to avoid them unless you just loop the track and that isn't much better than a treadmill except you are outside at least. From the start it is a descent which is nice to get you pumping but what goes down must go up and boy does it go up. Before you get to the next trail loops and cross sections you have to go up the hill I thought when I first started running I would never make it up. Unfortunately not running consistently has lead me to not be able to run up it quite yet again. I get to the first stump on the right (1/3 up) and I have to walk it. I'll get there.

There are tons of sketchy little unpaved trails off the main trails. I have ran down all of them.

They aren't maintained well and are mostly used by deer and teenagers skipping school

This is my favorite part to run. Once you crest over that stupid hill you loop around to the right, pass the cross trail on the left and go loop around this section, about .25 mile then back around to the trail now on the right and run down that to the next cross section of trails.

From there when I hit the bottom of the hill I head to the right. it is a very gradual up hill run until you get out of the woods and see the playground to the left. It is a little steep and long going around that turn but you can do it pretty easily and then its all down hill until you get back down to the cross section again.

This time I run to the right and through the tunnel. This is where s@*t gets real.

You usually have some good momentum going to make it almost to the top before your heart is pounding out of your chest, then it's a struggle. Keep going! Once you crest the top it is all down hill for a mile!

Here it gets weird. I ran this park for 2 years before I discovered another loop and more trails and even a lake! It is way in the back behind the baseball fields. When you run down that hill you just ran up follow the trail to the end to the parking lot. Now follow the sidewalk around the lot past the playground and turn in toward the baseball concession building in the middle of the baseball fields. When you get to the building run to the right and run to the end of the path and you will see a fence and this spot above.

Run down that switchback and down the hill then hit the looping trail going to the right. TRUST ME...don't run it starting from the left. it is way more fun from the right.

This is a nice pleasant downhill stint that doesn't kill your knees.

There is a fun little trail that will take you to a lake and if you follow it long enough to the high school. This is where the kids skip school and hang out.

Now if you keep looping around back up instead of running down that side trail you are going to hit a pretty steep hill. Once you get back to where you came in and head back the way you came, this is where the run sucks. That first little hill is so steep it knocks you on your ass! You now run up the switchback which feels like a relief compared to what you just did (even if you only walked it). From here run back up that gradual up hill from the baseball fields back around the playground, parking lot back to where the trail picks back up and then it starts to get steeper. It is not that it is so steep, it is that it is so long and you have just run 3 miles by the time you get over that hump. Then it is down hill, back through the tunnel and up to the right.

This hill is a cake walk by this point. When you get to the top run right. Now you get to run down Hell hill. I run it in a zig zag so my knees don't buckle. Now its up, crest, up, crest and up, up until your back to the football field track. I usually run the 2 loops again that I ran before I hit the tunnel and then I head back toward the football field. If I do that I get in 4 miles ( a little more ). When I get to my 5 mile runs I usually start and end by running 2 laps around the football field but that isn't an option right now. I will change it up from time to time and start and end at different places. This helps me trick my brain into not being bored with the same old park. There are much prettier places to run. The Suwanee Greenway is nearby and much more scenic but lunch is only an hour and factoring in drive time and a slower pace (for now) I don't have enough time to get that many miles in.

I hope these posts don't bore you. I promise they won't all be about running.

All shot with an iphone 6 plus