At that point in my running life I wasn't too adventurous. I stuck to paths I was familiar with and ran the same routes again and again. As a Marine and a creature of habit running the same routes repeatedly didn't bug me that much. It might drive some runners crazy but I liked seeing familiar landmarks and knowing every crack or hole on the path. I also wasn't doing too long of distances so the same paths weren't bad because I was out there for a shorter period of time. I regret that I wasn't adventurous enough to explore new paths often. The six mile paved trail was connected to Wildwood with all of its trails, and I never stepped foot in there once.
Although most of my short to mid range runs were done on the same paths I did try and find new paths to do my long runs on. One path I really enjoyed was the Maumee River Towpath. My cousin Mike and I had discovered the towpath the year we were training for our first marathon. The main part of the Towpath is about eight miles long and is composed of well packed, crushed limestone. It is possible to add about another mile and a half to the trail if you start further north, but it is paved all purpose trail and at the time I don't think was marked with mileage posts. The eight mile main section of the towpath was marked every half mile.
The Towpath follows the Maumee river and old canal for eight miles. The canal was used to transport people and goods from Toledo to Cincinnati, a 249 mile trip. The canal connected Lake Erie to the Ohio River. The path along the way is beautiful. It starts at a small crushed limestone circle with a drinking fountain adjacent a parking lot. The parking lot provides parking for those utilizing the trail as well as fishermen that drop their fishing boats in the water at the boat launch on the North side of the parking lot. There is a pavilion for picnickers and a small building with male and female restrooms. As you start down the path you enter the wooded area that runs along the river.
In the first quarter mile or so you run by a short road of five or six houses that are right on the river. There is an access drive that crosses the towpath which provides residents access to their homes. I loved running by those houses as I always imagined how nice it would be to live right on water like that, not to mention on a great trail for running and walking. Continuing down the trail the woods become thicker and you begin to feel more distant from urban society. The river remains to your left and to your right are the far backs of yards to large houses. Some of the houses have long decks along their second floor with large windows and sliding glass doors for views of the river.
Eventually the river snakes away from the path and there are cornfields to left. To the right of the path the land sinks into a swampy marsh like canal of trees, moss, rocks, and mud. In fact it is the remnants of the old canal that ran to Cincinnati. At this point along the path it is not very recognizable as a canal as there is not much water in it. Foot bridges span the more narrow parts of the old canal running from yards of houses that were not visible because of the thick woods to the towpath. Around the five mile mark the river starts to join the path again and there is small campground. There are a few bonfire pits and places to pitch tents. There is a small access road that leads to the house the property belongs to.
On one early morning run I recall three runners emerging from a tent on the small campground. I had already run 11 miles and had 5 left to go on my run. The runners had started down the path ahead of me and I decided I would try and catch them. I eventually caught and passed the three of them, but I was running at a pace I knew I couldn't sustain for the four or so miles a I had remaining on the run. I definitely did not want to have to live the shame of slowing down and having the three of them come running back by me after I had made it so obvious that I wanted to pass them. Luckily after about another mile they turned off onto a small trail and I was able to slow my pace and finish the run.
Once past the campground the path rises slightly and you are higher above the river and old canal. The consistency of the crushed limestone on the path changes around this point as well going from fine small pieces to larger chunks of rock. The change doesn't seem to make much difference on the feet but the sound of foot strikes on the bigger pieces of rock is different. I always enjoyed the change in sound as I do not normally run with headphones on. This part of the path I also call the "leaf corridor". Mostly because it has large trees that hover very close to the trail that during the Fall would shed an abundance of leaves covering the entire path. The trees also seem to form what I thought felt like a tunnel or corridor leading into a new world or dimension so to speak.
The corridor actually led to the opposite of a new world or dimension. It led to the old world. As you leave the corridor you enter a part of the metroparks that is set up to resemble a historic post along the towpath. The post has wooden buildings that were made to look like they were from over a hundred years ago. There is a canal boat docked near the building which patrons can purchase ride on. Along the canal there runs a path for mules to tow the boat upstream, to give patrons a taste of the real canal experience. In the middle of the buildings is an old pump water spicket. I would sometimes drink form it if I was really thirsty, but that water was not that tasty and I usually held out for the half mile to the end of the path where a drinking fountain sat.
After you pass the buildings the path dips down and you run underneath a bridge that crosses the canal. Once past the bridge the path rises and you again approach some historic looking buildings. The most interesting of the building is an old saw mill. The saw mill is kept in working order and visitors can watch how would was floated in and cut in the old days. After the saw mill the path turns to grass and dirt for a little less than half a mile and ends at Providence Metro Park. Providence has bathrooms and a drinking fountain so it is a great place to take a break and get ready to head the eight miles back down the path to the start.
The path officially opens at 7:00AM and closes at dusk, but Mike and I always hit the path much earlier than that. We liked to beat out the Summer and early Fall heat and finish our runs in time to get back home and watch some college football or take a nap. A lot of time we would start around 5:30 or 5:45 in the morning and it would be dark for the few mile of our run. One of the mornings we were running 18 miles and it was pouring rain. It was pitch black as we sloshed along the path and around two and half miles in we thought we had run off the path. We approached a large tree that had fallen and was lying across the path. It was so dark we were confused as to what it was and thought we had run off the path into the woods. After feeling around for a few minutes the sky lightened just enough to see what had happened. We eventually climbed over the tree and continued to run. That is my wettest run to date. It took me a little over three hours to complete the 18 miles and it was a torrential downpour the entire time.
One other trail I explored was the Wabash-Cannonball Trail. This trail is a rails-to-trails project meaning the trail lies on old railroad bed. The trail is a work in progress, but the part of the trail I ran is completely finished. The Toledo are part of the trail is actually two trails. The two trails start together and fork out shortly after the start. The two forks are not surprisingly name the "North Fork" and "South Fork". The North Fork provides nine miles of paved all purpose trail and the South Fork provides ten. I stuck with the North Fork and as I moved out of Toledo shortly after discovering this trail I never made it onto the South Fork.
One thing I noticed about the trail is how straight it was. Railroads tend to be super straight and when a trail get built on an old one it tends to be super straight as well. I thought being on such a straight path would be boring, but it seemed no different than any other run on a paved surface. Bikers love the straight trail as they can travel at high speeds and not worry about turning. The trail runs through all kinds of different property. Parts of the trail run along city soccer fields and parks, other part run behind farms and neighborhoods. Parts of the trail even cross through some newer housing developments.
I didn't do a whole lot of runs on that trail, but the few I did I enjoyed. I would start early in the morning as usual when the trail was pretty empty save a few early morning bikers. I would do out and back runs on the trail and would always pass by quite a few people on the way back in when it was later in the morning. There all kinds of people out: bikers, rollerbladers, runners, and walkers. One morning I was a little discouraged when I had about three miles left on an 18 mile run and a guy running the trail with a running stroller and his infant son passed me by. I realize that he was probably in his first or second mile of a short run and I had already done 15, but getting passed by someone with a stroller is always a little blow to the ego. The trail also crossed over a 15.5 mile boyscout trail about 6 or 7 miles from the start. I never was adventurous enough to explore the boy scout trail while I lived in Toledo, but interestingly enough I just completed a 50k (two loops on the trail) this past November. The dirt trail is mostly flat, very scenic, and extremely well kept.
In March of that year I accepted a job back near Cleveland, where I grew up and most of my family lives. I was graduating college that May and was getting ready to move back home. I knew I would miss the trails in Toledo as well as regret not exploring more of them, but I was excited to get back to Cleveland and revisit some running spots of my past as well as find new spots to run. I had signed up for the Towpath Marathon in the Cuyahoga Valley as well as the Columbus marathon which were on back to back Sundays that October. I planned on living with my mom for a little while to save up some money and pay off some debts I built up in college. I knew having a full time job and living at home would help my diet and in turn my running. I would have a much more regimented schedule than I did at college. I actually was quite excited about that as I knew it would probably help turn in one of my best marathon times yet that Fall.
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