Having to finish packing for my business trip to Saint Louis, I did not have time to get in my sub-6:00 am run. However, I did manage to get in 200 sit-ups and 30 push-ups before heading off to work.
Following my afternoon flight to Saint Louis, I could not wait to get out for an evening run. Consequently, after checking into my hotel, I started my run from Union Station (this site is famous for the photograph of President Harry Truman holding up the Chicago Tribune with that headlined, “Dewey Defeats Truman” on November 4, 1948) down Main Street. As I proceeded down Main toward the famous Gateway Arch, I ran by the old City Hall building which had a statue of General Ulysses S. Grant overlooking the grounds.
Before reaching the Old Court House building which is across the street from the Arch, I turned south and ran down a few side streets until I arrived at the new Busch Stadium which is the home of the Cardinals and hosted this year’s All-Star Game. In short, what an amazing ballpark! Due to the freeway, you could not run a lap around the stadium, but I ran around three sides of it and by the status of such legends as Dizzy Dean, Rodger Hornsby, Ozzie Smith, broadcaster Jack Buck (i.e., “The Voice of Summer”), and Stan “The Man” Musial. The latter baseball legend had a second and an enormous statue towering over the ballpark’s west entrance.
After enjoy the scenery of Busch Stadium, I ran down past the old Saint Louis Cathedral (the first Catholic cathedral west of the Mississippi) to the Gateway Arch where I took a lap around the colossus structure before running down to the banks of the cobble stone shoreline of the Mississippi River. For about a hundred yards I ran over the stony shoreline as the small waves from the Mississippi soaked through my Adidas running shoes.
Following the run along the great Mississippi I headed back up and through the Arch and over to the Old Courthouse where I discovered the infamous Dread Scott case was held. Having taken both a Slavery and Civil Rights course in college, it was a neat experience to run around such an historical site.
From the Old Courthouse, I ran north over to the Four Seasons hotel and did a lap around the Edward Jones Dome (home of the Rams) before running back to my hotel room. The total distance of the site-seeing workout was 6.3 miles. | 