Huntsville

Summary Data
Total Time (h:m:s)	1:00:42	9:19 pace
Moving Time (h:m:s)	1:00:42	9:19 pace
Distance (mi )	6.51
Moving Speed (mph)	6.4 avg.	8.4 max.
Elevation Gain (ft)	+182 / -184
Avg. Heart Rate	146 bpm	Zone 3.9
Temperature (°F)	70.4°F avg.	71.6°F high
Wind Speed ( mph)	S 11.5 avg.	S 11.5 max.

Start Time: 06:06:02 AM
Google Earth Map of Run

A humid and rainy day in Huntsville's aerospace research park. As I tried to map a route on the road yesterday, it seemed like a combination of new streets and farmland. Heading out from the Residence Inn, I found little remaining farmland and six-lane roads heading to corporate campuses. The area is pretty sleepy---for all of the corporate everything, the place is still desolate at 6am. Clearly a 9-5 world. Granted, most UC admins like myself do something like a 9-5 stint (or 7-5 in my case), but the UC world is 24-7 because the students, faculty, and researchers go all the time---and so the campus is alive almost all the time (OK, pretty sleepy on Sunday mornings). It just seems strange that equally big campuses with 15000+ employees would function so strictly on an eight-hour day.

This section of Huntsville seemed pretty unremarkable overall. Surprisingly, almost every section of these giant corporate developments had concrete sidewalks. Unfortunately, they were clearly installed at construction, no doubt according to city code, and they are not maintained. It is too bad. Asphalt would allow for a broader range of activities along this stretch and would have reduced cost (the millions spent on concrete alone is pretty shocking) both to build and maintain. Too many sections of sidewalk are pushed-up by roots, trees are not trimmed adequately, and none of this will change unless there is political will to hold the landowners accountable. And if you are not going to do that, why were they forced to make such a huge investment in concrete initially?

Just an observation, not a complaint. Running in the traffic would have been very unpleasant---and the run was honestly not too bad even on broken sidewalks.