Franklin Park...A Running Route Review

A couple months ago some of our friends visiting us from out of town and dubbed my husband Mr. Columbus because of his love and knowledge of the city. I guess that makes me Mrs. Columbus. As the newly self apointed Mrs. Columbus I've decided to offer a valuable service to my fellow Columbusonians (or Columbusites?), reviews of popular running routes. I'll try to have one per week from now on.

Franklin Park

The Good: Franklin Park is right in my back yard so I've done a good deal of training there.  It is a scenic location where there are always friendly faces around, no matter the weather.  I've even enjoyed a free bowl of stew after a 12 mile run in the rain at one of the gardens there. 

The Bad: There are hundreds of geese and ducks that reside in the Franklin Park ponds.  They come with a few hassles.  They don't clean up after themselves and though the park groundskeepers try to stay on top of it there is always a good deal of poop dodging to do.  The other downfall of this park is that it only has a mile loop with mile markers.  This can be a bit boring for long runs, but there are many other paths that will take you through the other gardens if you want to use a GPS app (like MapMyRun) to keep track of your distance.

This is the sign I taped to my Gatorade last week.  I'm pleased to report that it worked wonderfully!

The Ugly: There are some Gatorade thiefs in the area.  Both Sam and I have had our Gatorades stolen from this park on separate occasions.  Now that I've got my Fuel Belt back in funtioning order I don't have to worry about that anymore.  For those of you that haven't drank the Fuel Belt Kool-Aid (which is actually Gatorade) I've found that if I tape a note to my Gatorade bottle the groundskeepers and other park goers will leave the bottle alone.

Overall: This is by far my favorite spot in the city for a short run.

Franklin Park in full bloom.  The Franklin Park Conservatory sits in the background.