As many of you know I just recently moved to Philadelphia from Chicago, and it’s been one hell of a journey in reinventing my life in a new city. From finding work to making friends and creating a healthy social circle to relationships to all other struggles associated with moving across the country. It’s been a huge struggle, but I feel as though I have found my stride among the chaos.
One of the biggest struggles that I have come to face here is an unfamiliarity with the way this new city is laid out. I have all but gotten to know the few neighborhoods where my friends tend to live and frequent, but there is so much of this city that is unknown and uncomfortable to me. The struggle there is that I’m not sure where is particularly safe for me to run yet.
It can be a really scary thing to go out on a run somewhere you don’t know! I got so used to my long runs in Chicago along the lake and through the beautiful neighborhoods back home. Unfortunately Philly doesn’t exactly rest on the same kind of large body of water for me to rely on for solace, so I have instead been running through those few neighborhoods that I was used to exploring and just running in circles. That is, until a friend reached out and suggested a running path that I hadn’t heard of yet: The Schuylkill River Path.
FINALLY! A beautiful and serene path in the middle of the city that ran along the river with views of the skyline and parts of the city with rich historic roots! My first run along this trail was incredible and gave me that feeling of “home” that I’ve been missing out on for so long here. I have a place that I can do my long runs and feel at peace the entire time without concern for safety or getting lost. It just took asking a friend!