Running Shorts

Ross Park hosts one of Cincinnati's hidden gems: a crushed gravel track. When it comes to an extensive, linked trail system for soft-surface running, Cincinnati is pretty lacking. There are lots of small trails that are really good for little snippets of a run, but not a whole lot in the way of trails for the full distance of a run. Enter Ross Park. Now, every track is by default a soft surface, but there's just something more natural and primal about running on dirt and gravel. I think it's the steady crunch of the rocks underneath each stride that really does it. Ross Park is nestled right at the interchange of I-75 and the Norwood Lateral, in the city of St. Bernard. The track itself is tucked behind a baseball field and tennis courts, held off the highway by a concrete barrier. So it's not the most scenic area...but it's a gravel track! It looks short. Looking at it and running on it, I could swear it's not a full 400 meters; but accordingly to online m...

Stream crossing on the aptly-named Geology Trail Every time I run at Rowe Woods, I leave saying, "I need to come here more often." It's only a half hour away from my house (15 minutes if I'm leaving from Mariemont) and probably has the longest collection of trails within the I-275 loop. But then I remember that it costs $8 to get in (or $35 for a year's pass), and I don't know if I'd come often enough to make it worth the cost. That said, Rowe Woods has up over 16 miles of trails , all of which are well-groomed including many that are sidewalk-width (wide enough to run side-by-side with a partner -- a luxury you don't often get on trails). It is exceedingly hilly, which makes it tough to hold any decent pace, but for a run to go easy on the legs it's the perfect getaway within the city.