Runners keep pace with local trails

By Frank Bowie
Special to Score!

The Chief Ladiga Trail is an outstanding place to run and a tremendous asset for our community. Posts placed every half-mile make it convenient for those who want to keep tabs on the exact distance and times of their training runs.

Those wearing stopwatches with enough lap memory and recall can even keep track of the exact splits of each half-mile if they want to be that specific.

While most runners appreciate the smooth pavement of the trail, runners who choose to run on grass can use the long grassy stretches alongside the paved trail.

The Chief Ladiga Trail affords a great opportunity to get away from automobile traffic while running. The trail crosses streets at a few locations, however, and runners should be careful at those crossings.

The Silver Comet Trail (a similar paved trail) in Georgia avoids that problem by passing above and below many streets along its route. Maybe we could look into starting some trail overpasses and underpasses for the Chief Ladiga Trail also.

The Ladiga Trail is flat with only slight inclines at some locations. While this is great for runners wanting to keep close tabs on their time and distance, there is something lacking in terms of hill running, which is necessary to prepare for road races.

Some hilly road courses in our area without significant traffic include McClellan, Golden Springs and the northeast section of Jacksonville.

When running at McClellan, the best place to park is the parking lot near the Family Fitness Center. If you are not familiar with the area, it is best to run an out-and-back course and remember all the turns you take on the way to avoid getting lost. If you know the double out-and-back course used for the Anniston Runners Club Half Marathon, that can be a very nice course for training.

When running in Golden Springs, the best place to park is the Golden Springs Community Center. There is a 5K (3 mile, 188 yard) loop course which starts and finishes in front of the center with the start point, finish point and all turns clearly and permanently marked on the pavement.

In Jacksonville, the northeast area is officially defined as east of Highway 21 and north of Francis Street.

This area is undoubtedly best for avoiding the frequent traffic in other areas of the city. It has some nice moderate hills, with the option of including some steeper hills in and near the North Oaks area.

For those who like to run in circles while avoiding all traffic, Oxford Lake Park has a nice paved flat route around the lake. Three times around is two miles.

While the high school tracks in our area are typically closed to the public, the Jacksonville State University track is open. Lanes 1-3 are blocked for preservation purposes leaving lanes 4-8 for training.

For those running on the McClellan track near the old Miller Gym, be warned not to step on the track while it is wet from rain. The surface becomes slippery, but otherwise is good for people who like to run in quarter-mile circles.

For those who like to avoid hills as much as possible, the Chief Ladiga Trail is undoubtedly the best place to train.

Besides the Chief Ladiga Trail Half Marathon in December, the annual races in our area that are flat include the races at Elwell Park, Germania Springs Park and Jacksonville High School. Each of these locations hosts 3 or 4 annual races of varying distances out and back along the Chief Ladiga Trail.

Runners can easily keep up with the local race schedule at http://coosavalleyrunning.8k.com, which specifically lists races in our area only.