Earth Day

Yesterday, I ran in the Riverwest Trail Run on the East Side. It started and finished at the Urban Ecology Center. The run went along the Oak Leaf bike trail, through Riverside Park (behind the HS), across the Locust Street bridge, through Gordon Park and along the Milwaukee River. It was a nice route, although some parts along the river were pretty rough and primitive. But, it was a nice day for a run and it was a small crowd. Despite the small crowd, the race did sell out and I think registration closed early because of the record number of participants. I did the short route which was 2.75 miles and finished in 32:25. I was fine with that finish. I have nothing to gauge it to since I haven't done a trail run in 3 years. It's hard to compare this type of run to a road run because the terrain is so different.

The Urban Ecology Center is a pretty cool place. I wasn't sure where I could and could not wander, so I checked out the first floor and the buildings surroundings. It's basically a nature center that partners with schools in the area for programs and activities involving the Milwaukee River. It's located behind Riverside High School. The building uses some amount of solar energy. They had giant composite sites down the hill below the building. I'm not sure what they used them for. Inside, the bathrooms had a 2 flush option. The 1/2 flush was used for #1, and the full for #2. Good way to conserve water. Like I said, it was hard to know what part of the building could be explored, but it seems like a great resource in such an urban environment.