Nice Place to Run: The Lake at Lakes of River Trails South

Of all the places I run, I am pretty partial to the lake at Lakes of River Trails South, chiefly because it's out my front door.  Convenience is certainly the number one attribute for me, but it's great for a few other reasons, too.  One lap around the lake is right at a mile; it's actually a tad less, so if you want to run your best mile, you can tell yourself it's a full mile around and shave a few seconds off your time instantly.  I like to run intervals here because the surface is predictable--a wide, level sidewalk, with very few cracks, all the way around.

Besides all that, it's just pretty.  One side of the lake is lined with trees, and the side with houses has a nice hill up from the sidewalk to the houses.  The HOA put in some benches along the lake, picnic tables at one end, and recently added a volleyball court, tetherball pole, and a horseshoe pit.

I share the lake with a variety of water foul (you can see the Canada geese at the bottom of the picture above if you look closely).  There are some decent sized fish in the lake (eat them at your own risk), and a few years ago someone caught several ugly gar.  This morning I saw a beaver, and one morning a while back I was chased by a skunk.

So come for a run at our little lake.  Look for the overweight guy wearing Vibram Five Fingers, running really slowly or huffing and puffing through a set of Yasso 800s.