Ryan Ploeckelman co-hosts Ryan and Gretchen in the Morning on Q108

Last week we talked about what you need to get started with your new running lifestyle. So hopefully you got your new shoes laced up and are ready to hit the road.

Running around your neighborhood is a great place to start. That’s what I did when I started running. I drove around the block and calculated the distance so I knew how many times I would have to run around it to get in a mile. Eventually you are going to get tired of running in your neighborhood and are going to want to get your miles in somewhere else.

Here are a couple of places that I love to run around town:

The Greenway
The Clarksville Greenway is a paved running/walking path that is near Kenwood Elementary. There are two trailheads, one off Mary’s Oak and the other off Pollard Rd. Both of these streets are right off Peachers Mill Rd. past Kenwood. If you park at the Mary’s Oak trailhead you will have two miles of flat pavement with a great bridge crossing about a mile and a quarter in. This is a great way to start enjoying the Greenway. When you have had enough of that section you can park at the Pollard Road trailhead and run. This section is 2.6 miles and features two really great hills.

A great way to gauge your progress is to start at Mary’s Oak and just run a little bit further each time. Before you know it you will run the whole thing, which will be over 9.2 miles.

The back roads behind Beachaven
Right on the corner of Rossview and Kirkwood roads there is a Lutheran Church that has no problem with runners parking in their lot and running the great back roads behind the Beachaven winery. These roads are great to run on, and Kirkwood Road is a nice little winding road that will give you miles of mostly flat, mostly car free running.

There are a lot of side roads with great scenery that you can take off Kirkwood and go as long as you like. If you are training for a half or full marathon and need to get some long training runs in, this is the place for you.

The War Memorial Walking Path in Oak Grove
This is a nice little .75 mile paved loop that has a lot of shade. It is right by Valor Hall and it’s a perfect place when you start running to enjoy nature and not be too far away from your car.

I am sure there are more great spots to run around the area, so please leave your favorite running spots in the comments section. Next week we will go off road and talk about trail running. It’s like hiking, only faster!

RELATED CONTENT
Running with Ryan from Q108