Running in a Park

Apparently there are lots of reasons to run in a park — runners can avoid the traffic, the refreshing greenery everywhere, the encouraging vibes available because most other people are there for leisure and fun, the tracks are often time more well paved or at least basically maintained etc.

Unless one is living immediately next to a park, getting to exercise in a park can readily be a challenge. The commuting time by driving or running/walking eating up significant portion of the precious time and the conditions along the way could have spoilt all the fun available.

Comparing to many others, I am living comparatively very close to a major park in the city I live in. It is only 2km away by foot. Therefore, I can sort of “warm up” myself to job there and “cool down” by jogging back. The tricky part is that I will need to cross two major roads, including one trunk road with eight lanes. Crossing such roads mean they are not always available for crossing. Stop-and-wait for a minute or two would be common. Stop again in the pedestrian island for another traffic light to turn green would often be necessary. Such waiting indeed spoil the joy.

Making the experience even more like a challenge, is that all four viable alternatives need to go past the rather run-down inner town — not that there will be undesirable people loitering around because I would mostly be running early morning anyway, the problem is that the condition of the pavements are generally rather dangerous. A hole would suddenly appear anywhere and the uneven tiles could pose danger for major injuries especially during running. Any building entrances would simply cut off the pavement, hence there would be a step down for the entrance and a step up back to reach the pavement again.

Therefore, I don’t often go to the park. And since I dislike repetition, I would often keep my rounds limit to three or else my psychological reluctance would induce motion sickness for myself. No matter how painstaking it is outside the park, it is preferential for me to explore and observe variety of scenic changes despite the repeating scenes at the park may be a lot more appealing and comfortable.