Running in Philly

I spent a few days in Philly for work over the last couple weeks.   While the results were great on the work front (one defense verdict, one settlement achieved on what we considered to be good terms), the fitness results weren't as great. 

I'm very good about getting my workouts in when I'm traveling.  Unlike some fitness activities like biking, swimming, weights or Zumba, running is pretty easy to do anywhere.  I usually pick a hotel with a gym just in case the weather is bad or the area seems too dicey, but usually I hit the streets wherever I am.  Even if it means running in some random suburbs, which I've done before.  And even if it means running hungover and full from too-rich restaurant food the night before, which I seem to do almost every time. 

Unfortunately, on my trips in the last few weeks, I did some dreadmill running. One of the runs on the schedule was a two mile warmup, one mile at 10k pace, one mile at 5k pace, and one mile as fast as possible, followed by a one mile cooldown. The thought of holding "as fast as you can" pace for a mile on city streets with traffic and unfamiliar territory did not sound appealing.  At least on days where I had to hit the 'mill, I made a point of going outside to run my cooldown, which was better than nothing. 

But at one point, I decided to blow off the run on my schedule and instead run 6 easy miles outside.   Well, it was supposed to be 6, but I found some amazing paths along the river behind the Art Museum (and the Rocky steps) and had a great run that extended miles longer than it should have (let's just say I scarfed down breakfast while hurriedly drying my hair in the hotel because I was gone way too long).

A few photos from my running in Philly in April. 

Ben Franklin:

A lighthouse-looking building along the river:

A view of Center City from the top of the Art Museum steps: 

Boats at one of the historic boathouses along the river:

Small park along the river: 

Statue before the steps to the Art Museum:

One of the beautiful running paths along the river; just past that bridge, the path divided into soft surface and paved surface: 

Another statue: 

Another statue: 

Looking at City Hall up the street from my hotel: 

The Rocky statue outside the Art Museum: 

A fountain in Logan Circle: 

Boats rowing on the river: 

City Hall (and the building that looks like the Pantheon in Rome and houses an awesome restaurant in the Ritz): 

A blurry shot of the Art Museum as I ran toward it: 

Historic boat houses along the river, each owned by a different university and many built in the mid- to late-1800s (and the running path): 

A view of boats on the river: 

The LOVE statue: 

More boat houses (and a woman who was running my direction and kept passing me when I stopped for photos, I considered seeing if she wanted to run together and chat, but I was stopping too frequently for pics): 

The Rodin Museum: 

The Art Museum: 

More boats on the river: 

Looking up at City Hall's courtyard: 

A Shakespeare statue: 

The Art Museum up close: 

A pretty church: 

Not a pic from the run, but one from mediation, looking out at Logan Circle and off toward the Art Museum: 

 

 

A few things to share.

 

First, I challenge any attorney to write a post like this using the word "statue" multiple times and to not have to retype it every single time because you typed "statute" instead.

 

Second, there are all kinds of national flags lining the road from approximately the "Love" statue until the Art Museum.  They are in alphabetical order but I was baffled.  The last flag was Wales, and then it went to Israel, and then it ended.  No Yemen, no Zambia, no Zimbabwe.  And why Wales?  If someone could explain the rhyme or reason, I'd appreciate it. 

 

Last, all the pics were on my iphone, so not high quality.  Sorry!