In Our Shoes: Our favorite places to run
Bill Lamers and his wife have a cottage on Chute Pond in the town of Mountain about three hours north of his home in the Town of Lisbon here, and now that he’s retired from teaching, he has the time to visit the cottage in spring, summer and fall.
It’s a runner’s paradise. There are three lakes within three miles of the cottage to run around. There are logging roads and forest fire lanes and ATV trails everywhere — and the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest is his backyard. The 67-year-old, training for his first marathon, loves to run among these trees more than anywhere else.
“Running in the forest allows me to run in solitude, something I really enjoy,” said Lamers.
Well, solitude. From people, yes. But he is not alone.
While he endures the deer flies that bite and dig into his skin, he will also enjoy the company of the graceful deer along his run. Or he will spot the flight-challenged turkeys, the swift red foxes and shy snakes just before they slither away.
And bears.
Bill sees bears on his runs.
“Two or three bears are pretty much a given over a season,” said Lamers. “They tend to take off at first sight, but one time I came around a corner and surprised one.
“It stood up and faced me. I raised my hands and gave a loud yell. If I could bottle the energy I had running back at that moment, I’d be an elite runner.”
Runners all have their favorite places to run. And when we’re not huddling up under a polar vortex or swatting away the state bird — the mosquito — we’ve got a web of fantastic routes to run in Wisconsin. Runner’s World chose 150 of the best places to run in the country, and Madison was No. 12 and Milwaukee was 37th.
Our team of first-time marathon runners-in-training takes advantage of some of the great places to run.
Wade Snowden will amble through the twisting, turning asphalt and cracked concrete of the East Side before he pushes on to the wind-whipped paths along Lake Michigan.
Stephanie Nottling likes the urban oasis. Remember that 40-degree downpour last Sunday morning, where the gray clouds were so heavy, thick and low, they kissed the rolling hills in Waukesha County? That was, by definition, a treadmill day, but not for Nottling, a nurse practitioner. She convinced two friends to run 6 miles along the Glacial Drumlin Trail, a 52-mile carless path that covers 10 towns in Waukesha County.
“I love running anywhere outside,” said Nottling. “It is very close to my house, fairly flat, peaceful and goes forever. There's also several coffee shop spots along the way that make it great for running with my group.”
When the weather cooperates, Ronnetta Watson likes to trade her indoor runs at the Pettit Center for a run on the Hank Aaron Trail, a continuous connection between Milwaukee's Miller Park Stadium and the Lake Michigan lakefront.
Chris Ponteri, race director for the PNC Milwaukee Marathon, knows the appeal of that route. “From Miller Park to Mitchell Park, which is the three bridges park section,” said Ponteri. “It’s got great views of the city and is very scenic for such an urban setting.
“I also love to run on Brady Street. It connects the Beerline Trail and the Oak Leaf Trail.”
Beerline trail? Well that’s a path from W. Capitol Dr. between N. Port Washington Rd. and N. 1st St. and E. Pleasant St. and N. Commerce St. This rails-to-trails line was "once used by freight trains transporting the ingredients for beer to some of Milwaukee’s famous breweries," according to the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy.
But sometimes, we just make do with our own neighborhoods. Grace Kassander explores Cedarburg.
“My favorite running place is anywhere that I can leave from my front door and come back home,” she said. “I am blessed to live in a community with sidewalks, an inter-urban trail and street lights. That may seem silly but when you run at 5 a.m., it's nice to have a little feeling of safety.
“When I get the chance to run during the weekend, I love going through new neighborhoods and exploring areas off the sidewalks. I rarely run the same long running route twice. My daily grind is usually the same, but the long training runs are mixed up a bit so I don’t get bored with the same scenery.”
Most of our runners hate treadmills. But Riley Enright doesn't mind them. In our climate, they’re invaluable to keep the runner going through the coldest, snowiest and iciest days. And for some runners, a treadmill is even comfortable and preferred — the pace is set, the run is controlled, less pounding on the joints and there may even be a TV for distraction.
But there’s nothing like a run outside. Very little deters runners from their favorite spot — even bears.
“Last summer I heard this sound like Santa coming down the road. It was a lady running down the road with jingle bells on her belt,” said Lamers. “She had run into a bear earlier so she now wears bells so they hear her before she sees them."
Lori Nickel covers sports and writes about health and fitness for the average person in her weekly Chin Up column. Email her atlnickel@journalsentinel.comand follow her onTwitter at @LoriNickel and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ChinUpLoriNickel/.