Today’s story begins with Adam and I doing a parkrun, which is part of an international organization that organizes hundreds of 5K runs in parks each Saturday morning. You register with the organization and get a barcode, and then you can get a time, an age grade, and recognition for your 5K effort, though it’s more about getting together with people to run than about racing. New York State has zero parkruns, but they are all the rage in the UK and the Vancouver area has several. So, after having fun at a parkrun on easy trails in a lovely temperate rain forest, we searched in Google Maps for a nearby track (as one does). Turns out there was one less than a mile away. This one, called the Centennial Oval, has a community feel, with brightly colored artwork about pollinators on the fence, and a shabby track where a sign asked casual runners to stay off the inner three lanes (this may have been to preserve what little life was left in this track for the nearby school’s use). There were a half dozen or so runners on the track of various ages, and a child on some BoomBox skateboard combo that looked like a lot of fun.
After running, we used Yelp to find breakfast nearby. Soon we were eating on a patio, enjoying Pacific Northwest smoked salmon Benedict and a Korean beef burrito from a restaurant whose goal was to be a neighborhood breakfast place serving “Canadian-style foods, some with Asian flair.” That seemed like it counts for “shop local” even if we are far from home.
Kids wanted to go to the playground this morning, and I was already in my running clothes from planning on my recovery day this afternoon, so why not accomplish both and do a couple easy miles on Northeast Elementary’s decrepit gravel track while they play? It’s horribly eroded, and quite the obstacle course from recess “equipment” (steeplechase?) but it’s 400m!
All our previous track efforts have actually been morning or afternoon runs that we haven’t gotten around to posting until night (and thus wee hours in Eastern time), but today we were off hiking with Tristan most of the day. We decided to go for a walk (no running after what we did all day) after dropping him off at his apartment, and headed to Kensington Park, which has a paved track. Like all the other tracks we’ve visited in Vancouver, it’s open to the public, and even lit at night. I could imagine some great night workouts on this track.
I spent the daylight hours today picking up “tourist points,” a longstanding tradition of Adam and myself where we believe that you can’t go home from vacation until you get tourist points. For example, having our photo taken with koalas at the Sydney Zoo was good to get us home from a month spent in Australia long ago. Today’s effort involved taking Tristan on activities like gondola cars in the mountains, Via Ferrata for Adam and Tristan, and a steep hike by a waterfall for me. After all this and dropping Tristan off at his apartment and saying goodbye to him, Adam turns to me in the car and says “do you wanna do a track tonight?” He has a slight “I dare you” tone, and the idea is like catnip except my feet are beat. Whatever. We can walk. The Kensington Track is only a mile from our AirBnB, so we figure out where to park and get on the track. It’s lit at night, well-marked for track meets, and generally well tended. A nice way to wrap up a lovely day.
too hot for me to run today, but I stopped by the Trumansburg track to check it out, and walk a mile on this beautiful track. For this holiday it was deserted, but easy to imagine all the blood sweat and tears for students striving for fast times
Had to run some errands in Cortland so I decided to stop at the high school track. There were 20 cars in the parking lot, but it was deserted except for some lone hurdles on the backstretch. The PA system was on as well, but just producing the static of a live mic. 2 geese families were grazing in the distance. This track is open to the public from sunrise to sunset.
So fun to see everyone’s different track photos! We spent the weekend in Lancaster PA, and I took my 6-year-old and 12-year-old to the Conestoga Valley High School track this morning for a quick challenge run before the long drive home. My daughter timed me as a backup to confirm my own timing, and my little guy had fun jogging around. It was a nice track in a beautiful location, and it was pretty hot but there was no wind to battle. I was feeling good and knocked 10 seconds off my time, yay! It was too hot for a ‘cooldown’ lap so we all hopped right back into the car, good and sweaty, and drove all the way home.
Our flight home from Vancouver was scheduled for 2 PM, but with needing to finish packing and leave the Airbnb, return the rental car fully gassed up, and be at the airport at least 2 hours early, there wasn’t really time for any major acquisition of tourist points. Instead, we went for Challenge points by locating Yet Another Vancouver Track and walking a 1600m (getting sweaty for a run might work for driving home in your own car, like @MWoods did, but it seemed problematic for a 5-hour flight). Today’s track, picked for its proximity to the route to the airport, was at Memorial South Park, and was an unusual one. It was short and wide, almost round. It was also closely surrounded by mature trees, giving it an intimate feel despite the wide infield.
It has been interesting checking out some of the many tracks in the Vancouver area. Most of these tracks have been part of large sports/community complexes, and today’s track, at Memorial Park South, was like that as well. Nearby facilities that I noticed were a charming looking artist-in-residence cottage (shown in photo behind sign), three playgrounds, a hockey rink, and several playing fields.
The Memorial Park South track is round and in a park-like setting with mature plantings, including some flowering trees that must have been wonderful a week or two ago, but were a little past prime today. Several groups of older people were walking on the track, plus one fit looking guy was running fast while pushing a jogging stroller. This track was a perfect stop on the way to the airport, and we just walked, since it was too confusing to get organized for a run while also getting everything set to fly.
I’ve been enjoying reading all the other track postings in this thread. Although we flew toward home today, we by no means exhausted the supply of tracks in the Vancouver area!
On our last day traveling, we woke up in Toronto. Given the temperature and the weather forecast, a track was first on the itinerary. We chose Regent Park in downtown Toronto with its two-lane Bruce Kidd track. Like the tracks in Vancouver, this track was part of a larger community park complex, which included a hockey rink. I was quite taken with the track-side townhomes, which were the ultimate home location for easy track access. Like all the other tracks we visited this trip, the track was not fenced or closed - everyone was welcome. It was already hot, so I ran about a quarter of the distance, running only where the track was shaded by trees.
Adam and I had scored the only parking spot obviously available, kitty-corner from the track, and directly in front of an espresso shop. We were happy to buy “breakfast” from this place, though Adam ended up with a tuna melt that included peas and corn, and my vegetable sandwich was more of a weird calzone. No matter, we got to eat something more substantial than what we managed during a long day’s flying yesterday. After that, we turned our car and our thoughts toward home.
Sure, it’s only two lanes and is a weird 5 laps to the mile, but if you have to live in a city, can you imagine how cool it would be to be only steps away from a track, like those apartments in the first picture below? If it were a normal 6- or 8-lane 400m track with competitions, you’d also have trackside seats to meets of all types.
As @tonya-engst said, don’t get a sandwich from the espresso shop on the corner by this track unless you want truly odd food. Who puts cooked peas and corn and spinach on grilled tunafish?
Lucerne, Switzerland. Went for a run along the lake this morning. We’ve been walking so much that I haven’t been able to get much running in, so I was a little concerned about my fitness. Alles gut though it seems. I ran past Richard Wagner’s house, who of course wrote Tristan and Isolde. I knew there was a track along my route, but it seemed completely fenced off. After a little snooping around, I found a gate cut into the bushes behind some sailboats. So in true Narnia-esque style, I slipped through the chain link portal to find myself on a run-down 300 m track. The setting was peaceful though. I cracked off a medium effort mile, and then headed back. Probably going to refuel with some pain au chocolat if history is any guide.
Prompted by Adam’s urging to post far flung Sweet 1600’s, this one took place in Basel, Switzerland. I thought it would be easy to find a track in this Swiss city of 170,000 but realized (once again) that sports, and sports facilities, are not school-based in Europe in general so that tracks and football/soccer fields, pools, etc. are generally built and operated by municipalities. I eventually located St. Jakob T&F Stadium about 2 miles from my location and headed over there late morning on a beautiful clear, warm day. I found the track fully occupied by a large group of middle schoolers doing some kind of relay competition. It was about 11:30am so I did a 3 mile warm up around the soccer and volleyball fields in the hope the kids would be done around noon. Sure enough, off they went for lunch and I had the track to myself. Put the Sweet 1600 down, not with any speed, but plenty of aplomb.
Went up to the Cornell track this humid morning in hopes that it might be unlocked. It was! (the only open gate was facing the Schoellkopf parking area.) It was open when I arrived around 9:45am, but there were signs around the field that use was restricted (I assume that applied to just the field). No one else was on the track, and I got to work on shaving some seconds off my 1600.
Didn’t take a track photo, but here’s my garden in bloom this morning!
Generally speaking, Cornell is very concerned about the soccer field and much less so about the track. It’s best to avoid the field entirely if you’re using the track, just in case someone comes in and is unhappy that your backpack or whatever is on the grass.
continuing my tour of tracks, stopped by the track at Candor High School. I mostly walked just to stretch my legs, since even after wrestling with my lawn mower this morning my calves are still tight after my Brookton run of a couple days ago. Then I swung through Candor to take in the sights
stopped into the Hi-Way Dairy Bar and bought myself an ice cream cone. it was a bit of stranger in a strange land feeling as it seemed like everyone else knew each other… driving away from town, people standing in a front yard waved at me
