the Way of the Turtle

RUNNING AGAIN AFTER TWO WEEKS (OW OW OW!)
9.5 Mile Run Along Genesee Valley Greenway
Sunday, March 19, 2006

Friends of the Genesee Valley Greenway (somewhat out of date)

After two weeks, finally got out for a run again. Decided to go with the Genesee Valley Greenway, a railbed southwest of Rochester that's been converted to a multi-use, mostly dirt-and-cinder trail. Why? Partly because it's flat, and I thought that might be a good way to break myself back in. And partly because the trail is very well-cleared, which meant I wouldn't be stumbling over too much when it got dark (which it was for about half the run.)

The Greenway has an interesting history (well... it's interesting to me, at least.) It mostly follows the route used by the Genesee Valley Canal from 1840 to 1878. One sign of this is the old canal prism which runs along much of the portion I ran Sunday night; another is the remains of a cut stone lock. Both give a feel for how small this canal was compared to what we're used to today. After that, from 1880 to the mid 1960's, the corridor was used by the Pennsylvania Railroad, running from Rochester to Orleans. In the 1990's work was begun to convert the corridor into a multi-use trail, in part to preserve and protect some of the history of the area. Since then New York State has acquired the corridor and the hope is that someday all 90 miles will be open for public use (currently there are between 50 and 60 miles open.) This info and more can be found in several of the excellent hiking and biking guides published by Rich & Sue Freeman at Footprint Press.

Overall it was a good run. One of the pluses to this time of year is the days are getting longer, and one of the pluses to Rochester is the sun sets about half an hour later than it does in Albany. So even though I started at 6 PM, I really didn't need my light for almost an hour. Ran the trail from Brook Road down to Canawaugus Park in Scottsville... unlike in the summer, when you'll frequently encounter runners, riders, and walkers along the trail, I had it totally to myself. Didn't even see any ATV's (they're not supposed to use the trail, but we all know how much good THAT admonition does...!) All in all it was a nice run on a chilly evening along a fairly pleasant trail.

The only downside was that it took me 2 hours to run 9.5 miles... I have a LOT of work to do before the end of May and the Nipmuck Trail Marathon. For that matter, I have a lot of work to do before mid-April and the Northern Nipmuck 16 mile Trail Race... (only a month away!!!)

-JMH