Let's see, I spent the first part of last week running in Indiana and the last part of the week running in Fort Worth. I've always been a fan of running out of town. I make it a point to never take a trip without my running shoes. I am telling you, if you ever want to experience a city like the locals, find a popular trail and hit the ground running.
I thought I'd fill you in on my Fort Worth runs.
First, the hotel gym.
Hotel gyms can be pretty hit or miss. I've seen my fair share of tragic gyms (I once ran on a treadmill in a closet-sized room that was shared with the hotel ice machine. It was kind of awkward when people would come in in their PJ's to get ice and have to squeeze around me). I've also been able to sweat in some pretty great ones too. The Worthington Renaissance's gym was pretty darn nice. I spent a good deal of time doing some pretty intense intervals. They also had some good free weight equipment that I used to spice up my strength training routine. My only two complaints of the gym were (and they are pretty much shared universally with every other hotel gym I've ever visited):
1. The pool - hotel gyms are almost always located right next to the hotel pools, which leads to a whole lot of people stopping in their bathing suits and testing out equipment. This might be one of the oddest phenomenon out there, but I promise you it is true. At almost every hotel gym I've worked out in, I've shared it with at least one or two people in their bathing suits and flip flops sitting on the cycle bike. Listen people, you will not lose whatever weight it is you think you need to lose before heading to the pool on that bike in those flip flops. Trust me.
2. The hand weights -
This is such a pet peeve of mine. Why are the weights always the super bulky old fashioned kind? Come on hotels, we women lift too. But when the weights are the size of my entire arm, it makes maneuvering them a little (a lot) difficult. It also doesn't help that the hand grip of the weight is as coarse as sandpaper, which as we know, is lovely for the texture of our hands.
But, I digress. My original point was that I spent some time in Fort Worth at the hotel gym. And can anyone spot what I forgot to pack? Needless to say, I had to air out my shoes every night.
On my last day in Forth Worth, I woke up early and headed to The Trinity Trails (with new socks in hand--err on foot). This trail system was recommended to me by some friends who live up there (big shout out to Drew and Blake for helping me stay well fed and then burn it off while I was up there!).
First thing I've got to say is, good on ya' Fort Worth!! These trails were awesome! Honestly one of the best city trails I've ever run. Well developed, well maintained, and well utilized (lots of runner waves along the way). There were even portions of the trail marked specifically for me:
My only disappointment in the run was that my mileage isn't up very high yet since taking my month off, so I didn't get to see as much of the system as I would have liked. You can see the trails are pretty extensive and I was only able to see a few miles before I had to turn around and run back. Now I'm looking forward to going back to run when I'm in shape enough to run significant mileage. It's always good to have fun ideas/goals to motivate you along the way.
More information about the trails can be found here: http://www.trinitytrails.org/
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You know a city is serious about setting up good spaces for runners when they paint a giant running shoe mural along the trail.
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