Forbidden Drive

I'm starting to get a little tired of the same old routes. Therefore, today I decided to drive up to Forbidden Drive and go for a run there. Since I was unsure of the distance, I just ended up running for 45 minutes. It didn't start well as I had to go to the bathroom again right before the run. Luckily, I found a portable bathroom and used it even though it wasn't in the best condition. I need to get this bathroom situation timed out better. Maybe I have to wake up earlier.

I started at Lincoln Drive near Main Street Manayuak. That portion of the path is hilly and paved. The start was actually very rough as it was all up hill. After going over a couple wooden bridges, which don't feel very secure, I entered the actual Forbidden Drive. It was once a road along the Wissahickon Creek, but it's been closed to traffic for a long time. It's nice and wide just like a road and makes for a fine path to run on.

There were a lot of bikers and walkers on there too. Trees cover the entire path so it's nice and shady on a very hot morning. Most of the road was relatively flat. I went the wrong way a couple times onto some other paths. There are horse, bike and hiking trails that off shoot the drive all throughout.

The one path was pretty nice, but I figured it could get muddy, (because it rained last night) so I went back to the main road. Just before turning around, I saw a nice uphill path. I decided to run part way up the hill and back down. The hills defintely gave me a nice workout and I'm quite sore as I write this.

When I got back on the drive, I returned to the car by following my original path. I hadn't even realized how steep the one incline was because I was enjoying the scenery so much when I ran up it. I felt pretty good throughout the run. I didn't push too hard, opting instead to focus on better strides and breathing.

It got a little difficult when I got back the Lincoln Drive portion. That has a lot of shade, but not as many trees as the actual drive. It also was a lot more hilly. I have to check on shoes. I'm not sure I should be running too often with my good shoes on trails. The drive itself is a pretty smooth gravel path. The trails coming off of it look intriguing and I'd like to explore them in the future. I might have to get new shoes for that.

This is definitely a great location and I look forward to going back. The main trail runs about 5 miles and I want to see the rest of it. It'll be good on long runs. Maybe I'll try it again this weekend. It's a beautiful path that reminds me of some of the nature areas which I can run in back home. It's really hard to believe that Forbidden Drive is actually located in the city. I'm glad I'm starting to find more unexplored areas of Fairmount Park.

Tomorrow is another easy 3 mile run. Things will get interesting once these shorter runs start hitting 5 miles or so. I think I'm going to go down and run the Schuykill Banks route. I haven't done that in awhile.

Speaking of Schuykill Banks, they have a nice concrete wall that they've recently poured at the entrance to that portion. I sure hope that the graffitti jerks don't get to it. They already ruined a wall on stairs right near there. That was the only shame of the Lincoln Drive portion of today's route. There was graffitti at a bunch of locations. It really ruins the nice atmosphere of the place. It's one thing if these thugs want to destroy their already run down neighborhoods, but why can't they leave nice areas alone. I'd love to throw them in the creek!