While weather nice enough to spend a few hours outside is sporadic this spring, on the off chance that my weather app does show it’s above 45 degrees, I’ll find myself wanting to go for a run. Given Ithaca’s weather, this isn’t too often — so to try to save time and gradually return to longer treks, I’ll usually find a route that’s around one mile. Enough to get my heart rate up and to see a bit of nature, but not so much that I’d end up walking most of it (which can also be super fun, but can feel like a misuse of time with so many assignments, projects and applications due). Here are a few of my favorite routes and tips for a quick, casual run.
Beebe Lake
This was my favorite route during freshman year — I lived nearby, so it was easy to just put on some shoes and go for a quick run around the lake. It’s beautiful, especially passing by the waterfall, and best of all, there’s barely any hills. This is also a fairly popular spot, which made me feel safer, especially as it got darker earlier. Finally, it’s easy enough to add on extra mileage: You can run into the Botanical Gardens, onto the path by the Sackett Foot Bridge or even just run around the lake multiple times (as I’ve seen when someone has lapped me while I’m finishing up my first mile). This is still one of my favorite routes, even though I barely run it now that I live on West Campus.
North Campus to Collegetown
If you’re on North Campus and craving a poke bowl, wings or any other Collegetown food, why not just run there? As the weather improved last year, I would take this route more and more often to get random snacks or foods I wanted. Now that I live much closer to Collegetown, I walk a new path along the Law School even more often and still appreciate seeing a bit of nature before getting my food. I’m definitely looking forward to living in Collegetown this fall, where this route will be just out my front door.
Adventure Around Campus
Running from your dorm to anywhere on campus can also be a fun route, especially if you find someplace new to explore in the process. The one time I joined Running Club for a run, we went somewhere southeast from Temple of Zeus, and even though I still have no idea where we ran, it was great to see a new part of campus. If you can rope a friend into doing this with you, it’s better to do this on a familiar part of campus so you’re not as worried about tripping over tree roots and can focus on getting to yap with your friend.
West Campus to Stewart Ave Bridge
I ‘discovered’ this route by simply opening up Google Maps and looking for a spot that was about half a mile away from my West Campus dorm for a mile round trip — a condition that the Stewart Ave Bridge fits perfectly for those living on West Campus. It helped that the bridge is over a beautiful waterfall, letting me see a bit of nature before heading back to my dorm. Google can easily lead you astray, like it unfortunately did to me when I ran to Ithaca Falls, and subsequently had to walk half a mile uphill back to my dorm. However, if you double check the elevation gain-loss (and not trust Google when it says the route is “mostly flat”), you can ensure the run is within your limits. This is my new favorite route now that my Beebe Lake route is farther, and it still lets me see some of nature’s beauty on a short run near my dorm.
Overall, I’d highly recommend a run (when the weather is nice enough), given how entrenched Ithaca is by beautiful waterfalls, trails and scenery. So if you ever have time and an itch to get your heart pumping (beyond just walking up the slope), find somewhere to run a mile away from you — there’s plenty of options.
Melanie Delfosse is a sophomore in the College of Human Ecology. She can be reached at md2262@cornell.edu.
