CUF

29 Degrees. Cloudy with light snow falling.

Can I admit something?  I was not looking forward to this run.  Clifton Heights.  University Heights. Fairview.  Three communities, one neighborhood?  Hills that make my stomach turn?  I knew this would not be easy.  Plus, I had been up half the night watching the Honey Boo Boo Christmas Special and a CNN profile of Jodi Arias, so my general outlook was pretty great.

To make matters worse, I had Taylor Swift’s “I Knew You Were Trouble” stuck in my head.

Blah, blah, blah. Get it together!

As it turns out, CUF is dizzying—as expected—but in a way that is full of pleasant, and sometimes breathtaking, surprises.

 

 

 

We ran by an old coffee shop and beer garden:
 

And this adorable cottage house:
 

Then I had to run up Straight Street.  Donnie interviewed me with his camera phone before our ascent to ask how I was feeling about the challenge.  I’m grateful that the interview didn’t record because my response was more broad than classy and I don’t really want to put that out there.

 

It was a small miracle, but I made it to the top.  This photo is looking down at where we started, except you can't see the base of the hill because it is SO FAR AWAY. 

Next, we ran into Fairview park.  And how quickly my mood shifted.

The approach with its tall pines to one side reminded me vaguely of driving into Flagstaff, Arizona:

 

Then we discovered what must be one of the steepest of Cincinnati’s hillside staircases:

 

And then, this:

How can you feel anything but positive after looking out at the city from this view?

After taking in the view, we ran through some of the residential blocks.  Like in neighboring Corryville, many of the homes in CUF are student rentals beside well-kept single family houses:

 

What I love most about the CUF residential streets is their density and the corner stores and pubs which are so Cincinnati:

 

We heard church bells from the top of the hill as we passed the former Fairview Public School, which has been remodeled into a beautiful condo building.  Nearby, we passed three runners from the UC Women’s team, who gave us a friendly hello.

 

 

Next we passed Warner Street:

 

 

And then Probasco:

 

You all can picture what "Probasco" looks like on a street sign.  Probably not worth a photo.

After feeling some undeserved pride at our family names on the street signs, we turned into Bellevue Park.  The park structure is a FLW-inspired masterpiece by Carl Freund, who designed many of the Cincinnati park pavilions. I couldn’t help but hold my breath at the gorgeous building that made me think of a UFO landing in the snow.

 

And then another overlook:

 

I could have stood here and read this sign for ten minutes, but our route planner had Wikipediaed it ahead of time and was ready to move on.

Closer to the UC campus we passed the recently-remodeled Hughes High School:

 

 

 

And then the source of the church bells that we had heard downhill:

 

 

 

There is nothing like church bells in the snow, right?

Just before wrapping up we found this mural, which made me realize that I need very little in life to be happy:

 

Coffee.  A dog.  Running.  Donnie.  Pizza.  Okay, that last one is sort of beside the point, but still, my joys are simple.

Today I discovered that CUF is unique and would be very livable—its parks and proximity to downtown are so appealing.  Most of it is in walking distance to the Clifton Avenue shops and restaurants. I could probably do without the hills, but every neighborhood has its small negotiations.

Today I also discovered that wearing a felt hat in wet weather will create a hank in my hair that takes twenty minutes of manhandling to remove:

 

I'm laughing here because when I told Donnie I had a hank in my hair he asked what that was and I had to admit that I had no idea. 

Cue a haircut.  And a dictionary.

-Kayla

Race 52: Bockfest 5k (Kayla’s championship morning)

As soon as we heard about the Bockfest 5k and Christian Moerlein beer series, Kayla and I were ready to go. Two of our greatest passions are (1) beer and (2) running so this was right up our alley. Based on the early March date, we planned for the Bockfest 5k to be a “rust-buster.” After a long winter of training and no racing we wanted to figure out how fit we were. Bockfest would be my first race since the Columbus Marathon (October 21st) and Kayla’s first race since Thanksgiving Day. Kayla was especially excited, as for the first time she earned a spot in the Running Spot’s rankings.

Game Face

When we arrived downtown our first challenge was to find parking. Fortunately, I tapped into my parallel parking skills and landed this spot on Orchard. In hindsight, this was probably my most impressive athletic feat of the day.

 From our parking spot we headed across Main Street to the Bock Hall, which housed the Bockfest 5k registration and festivities. The logistics were great: we registered and checked our bags in just a few minutes. Making our rounds in search of free stuff, we stopped at the Bruegger’s promotional table and scored some coupons for breakfast sandwiches and coffee. Kayla also got a pre-race picture with this ram. Little did we know she would return to the beast as a champion.

Before

After

Despite my recommendation, Kayla usually only does a 10 minute warm-up; however, today, the frigid conditions inspired her to join me for the full 20 minutes. Over those 20 minutes we covered a good portion of the course, which featured a significant hill on Liberty followed by a nice descent to Central Parkway. Any course in Over-The-Rhine will feature a nice blend of classic architecture and new development--this course was no exception. Eventually, we looped back up Main Street and it was time to race.  

Donnie’s Race

My race was what those of us in the business call a shitshow. Going into Bockfest I decided I would be happy with any time under 16 minutes. I should have added a minute. As soon as the horn sounded, the cold air shot down my lungs, my legs felt heavy, and the leaders had a huge gap after a few seconds. I was just surviving out there, and I didn’t even do that well. I let anyone who was near me pull away without even fighting back and ended up in an uninspired 5th place.

Some of the positives from the race were the enthusiastic water station volunteers on Walnut, who shouted words of encouragement in the toughest part of the race. Kayla agreed that these volunteers put together an awesome stop, as she was equally energized by their enthusiasm. The second positive was getting to the finish line, so I could figure out how Kayla was doing out there.  Finally, running a terrible race always sets a nice low bar for the next performance.

 Kayla’s Race

As soon as I saw Kayla charging down the homestretch in first place, any residual disappointment from my own race was gone. She approached the finish with authority, and, most importantly, without another woman in sight. Recently, her stride has looked as good as ever and today she glided over the pavement effortlessly. The announcer called her name just a few feet from the finish line and then a few strides later she was officially champion.

Before I could get to her, a reporter pulled Kayla aside to snap a photo and ask a few questions. Next, she was whisked over to Channel 5 reporter Kyla Woods, for a live Tv interview followed by a taped segment. Kyla is Kayla’s favorite news personality, so, as this transpired, I knew it would be the highlight of her victory. Unfortunately, my phone was checked along with my bag, so I couldn’t get a picture. In typical Kayla fashion, she downplayed her running prowess, explaining that she didn’t run for a team, wasn’t a serious runner, and had not run in college. She did mention Run 52, so we may have a few new readers! She also, graciously, mentioned her coach.

Donning her “Champion” sash, Kayla received tons of congratulations as we returned to the Bock Hall. After retrieving our bags we used a couple of tickets to grab some cold ones and wait for the awards. As you can see my beer (Emancipator), pictured right, disappeared quickly.

When the announcer called her to the stage, Kayla collected her championship bounty:

Today was a nice break from our usual Saturday morning routine. Seeing Kayla win a big Cincinnati race was awesome. Although she doesn't like to admit it, she is an incredibly talented athlete with unbelievable drive.

We’re not sure what our next race will be, but we will definitely be at the next beer series race, which is the Little Kings Mile on May 3rd. In the meantime, we'll continue to make our way through the neighborhood roster. Tomorrow morning we’re headed to CUF for our 10th run.

Route #10: CUF

www.usatf.org/routes/view.asp?rID=508437 CUF is a jagged puzzle piece of a neighborhood made up of three sub-entities (Clifton Heights, University Heights, and Fairview). Like Corryville my experience in CUF has been somewhat unconscious. That is to say, I spend a lot of time walking from my car to class without realizing I’m in CUF.

For the second time we will start from Burnet Woods. This time the run won’t start until we’ve crossed Clifton and are standing at the intersection of Dixmyth and Clifton. This is the CUF/Clifton border. This is also the site of the Clifton Community Garden, which was the brainchild of John Hemmerle and Will Lambeth. The garden is a little landmark that I always note whenever I am on a run through Clifton, because to me it represents how individuals can shape their surroundings with a little commitment.

We’ll follow Dixmyth to where it meets MLK and then wind our way down a nice long hill. We’ll try to enjoy this downhill as later on we’ll have to climb one of the most challenging hills in the city. That aforementioned hill is Straight Street--the site of the annual Straight Street Hill Climb, which is held in the fall. In a city that is known for its hills, Straight Street is one of Cincinnati's prized possessions. This race is also notable because 2012 champion, Javan Lapp, is my friend, fellow training partner, and co-executive of the College of Law Running Club. Straight Street should provide for some great pictures.

The next notable site is Fairview Park, which sits on the hillside and overlooks downtown. I’ve run through this park but never stopped to take it all in.

Next, Warner street is a must see. It doesn’t just bear my last name, but it also serves as the site of my preferred law school parking spot. Also, there’s just something reassuring about coming down the hill and seeing your surname on a street sign; its way more comforting than seeing it on a cable box (Time Warner), or at the end of a Tv show (Warner Brothers Productions). 

After I’ve bored Kayla with my ramblings about the existential significance of street signs we’ll have arrived at Bellevue Park. Apparently, Bellevue was once the gateway to Clifton from Over-The-Rhine, as a set of steps lead up from Elm Street.

From Bellevue Park we will trace back along Warner and back up through the Fairview section of CUF to the finish. This weekend will also be our first Race 52, which will take place downtown at the Bockfest 5k.

Corryville (and Kayla's 30th Birthday!)

45 degrees. Cloudy.

Thirty.  This photo pretty much sums up how I'd been feeling about this day in the ones leading up to it.  Bewildered.

I started my thirtieth year the way I wish every day could begin—a half hour on Pinterest and eight cups of strong, black coffee.

At ten I drove to Mason to meet Jennie for a Pure Barre class. For my birthday, I had given myself the luxury of a day off work and I felt the rush of not working on a weekday. I took a picture of myself pretending like I was independently wealthy and could go to exercise class in the middle of the day any time I pleased:  

 

After Pure Barre I changed out of my yoga pants and into my running tights.  Donnie and I parked near Short Vine and took off.  Not ten feet into our run, Donnie shouts, “Crap I’ve got my shorts on backwards.”  Yes, he did:

 

We ran down Short Vine and were happy to see that Café de Wheels now has a proper restaurant with tables and chairs. I love the idea of food trucks for the flexibility and vitality they bring to an urban area, but honestly, they’re just not for me—I need to be seated to properly enjoy anything that takes two hands to eat. 

 

 

At one end of Short Vine is the Corryville Library—another Carnegie.  As Donnie mentioned when wrote the route for this post, Maggie and I once came to the Corryville Library during a summer break from college to attend an informational session for the Peace Corps. Obviously neither of us were cut out for this.

 

We ran through several residential blocks which are dense and lined with housing that is a good mix of turn of the century single-family homes and new student housing for undergraduates who want to be close to campus:

 

 

We passed the Highland Café where Donnie and I once attended a poetry reading in our more literary days:

 

And the Corryville Recreation Center:

 

Set back a bit from Martin Luther King is the award-winning Stetson Square development:

 

 

 

 

Note that here Donnie has turned his cap around to match his backwards shorts.

We passed several healthy-looking medical students crossing MLK to get from Stetson Square to the UC Medical School campus across the street.  On the corner is Frank Gehry’s Vontz Center for Molecular Studies, the form brilliantly alluding to the function:

 

We made a loop through the medical center, where I once received and subsequently talked my way out of a parking ticket. 

 

Donnie had a small park mapped on the route, but when we got to the spot, we found that either 1) our geography skills had failed us, 2) the park is soon to be something else, or 3) world's worst park:

 

Back on the other side of MLK, we were perplexed by this building and its advertisement for –wtf—“Aviation Medicine”?

 

I took Donnie’s picture in front of the old (before his time old) Public Allies building:

 

And then Donnie took my picture in front of the Corryville sign.  Notice how the dry winter has had the same effect on the landscaping as it has had on my hair.  Also, I learned this pose from Toddlers and Tiaras:

 

On Burnet, we ran past the bright, new murals in front of the school board building:

 

 

And then we made a quick loop through the triangle park before wrapping up our shortest Run 52 to date:

 

Back at home, we found that an intruder had broken into our apartment while we were gone and decorated our living room with a lifetime’s worth of photographs that showed my many looks over 30 years.  The good looks:

 

And the not so good ones:

 

Maggie had also left me a large Diet Coke, Big Mama’s new book, and my own pair of “Sparkly Green Earrings”:

 

Later that evening we left the city limits (gasp!) to visit the Rivertown Brewery in Lockland, where I was granted my wish of spending my birthday on a factory tour “like Mr. Rogers.”  

 

Although Mr. Rogers probably would not have worn his snakeskin booties.  Or made the tour guide take this photo:

In the end, I understood about 71% of what Randy taught us about the art and science of beer making.  This is pretty good because while I never scored so low in my actual art and science classes I also never had the distraction of a delicious “Unit 6” wheat beer or a spiced winter seasonal during the lecture.  

This was a great birthday and mostly made up for the dread I was feeling about leaving my twenties behind.   

 

At twenty I could not have guessed where the next ten years would take me and where they would not take me. I could not have imagined leaving New York, moving to New Mexico, then back home to Ohio.  I would not have guessed that a Midwestern city could hold me.  When I was twenty, Cincinnati didn’t tug at me madly like the places I imagined I would live:  Cincinnati felt gentle and familiar and I wanted something wild.

At twenty I did not foresee what running would do for my mind and my body.  At twenty, I plodded tediously on the treadmill—four miles in forty minutes a few days a week.  I was only beginning to understand that running could cure me of the hypochondria that kept me up at night, that it would give me confidence and focus.

At twenty Donnie and I had not met and when I thought about my future he was there in theory only.

But at thirty, this city is home and every evening Donnie and I run through it together. 

 

 Here's to the next 30!

 

-Kayla

Route #9: Corryville

Friday is Kayla’s birthday. So, naturally she wanted to go on a Run 52 to celebrate. The alphabet said we were headed to Corryville. Over the last five years I have spent a lot of time in Corryville; however, plotting this course led me to realize that my time in Corryville wasn’t really quality time. It was mostly parking my car and walking to class. What I didn’t realize is that Corryville is full of sites that serve, entertain, and educate Cincinnatians. On the entertainment front, we will start on Short Vine in front of Bogart’s which has made a recent resurgence after its heyday in the mid 90’s. Kayla never made it to Bogart’s during its prime; she laments that Dave Matthew’s Band never played there. Down the street we will see the Corryville Library, where I spent many afternoons with Public Allies in Friday training sessions. This library was also the site of Kayla’s one Short Vine visit before moving back to Cincinnati with me in 2007. It was here where she attended a Peace Corps meeting with Maggie. Thankfully, her placement in Africa never panned out!

At Staggerlee’s carryout liquor store, we will hang a right. Staggerlee’s is named after a St. Louis folk hero who is the subject of many blues tracks. The Corryville Staggerlee’s is notable because it represents the place where the university and the neighborhood intersect, as you will see people from both settings leaving with alcohol in hand.Heading down a nice hill on East University we will pass my former parking spot in front of a barber shop. Its uncanny availability made me feel like a VIP.When we get to Eden we will turn left. Here we will see Stetson Square, a sprawling complex across from University Hospital intended to serve as housing for med students and young professionals.Across MLK we will continue on Eden through the hospital development.  .

Still on the hospital grounds, we will turn onto Albert Sabin Way. As I was plotting this course I asked myself--who was Albert Sabin; I discovered that he developed an oral polio vaccine, and proceeded to feel like I should brush up on my vaccination all-stars.

On ASW we will pass a tiny park named for Maurice Levine, a groundbreaking psychoanalyst, who helped Cincinnati become a leader in mental health. Given the current state of community mental health, a landmark like this can be a great reminder of visionary leadership.Eventually, we will make our way out of the medical area to Burnet, which will take us back across MLK. On our left we will see Crossroads Center, which certainly echoes Levine’s legacy.

On Burnet we will pass two organizations dedicated to youth, ProKids and Cincinnati Public Schools. Around the corner on Taft the youth theme will continue as we pass the Mayerson Academy.Along Taft we will pass the Woman’s Club of Cincinnati, a new discovery for both of us. In addition to the interesting programming that takes place inside, the club appears to be architecturally significant as well.We will round the corner and pass Corryville Triangle Park, which sits at the intersection of Taft and Euclid. From there we will continue to check out the residential section.

At University at Highland we will come across Mecklenburg Gardens, a great place to grab a German beer.Our run will finish along Jefferson on the very western edge of Corryville before we finish up on Short Vine and continue on with Kayla's birthday.