{"id":313,"date":"2008-07-17T05:04:36","date_gmt":"2008-07-17T13:04:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/?p=313"},"modified":"2008-08-14T17:54:41","modified_gmt":"2008-08-14T22:54:41","slug":"midtown-greenway-recreational-mecca","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/2008\/midtown-greenway-recreational-mecca\/","title":{"rendered":"Midtown Greenway: Recreational Mecca"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n
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Image from Flckr<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

There are hundreds of miles of trails – maybe even thousands across the greater Twin Cities metro area. Some have no real purpose other than winding around, enjoying nature. Some serve as vital arteries of transportation and commerce. The Midtown Greenway<\/a> falls into the latter category.<\/p>\n

Cutting East-West through the heart of South Minneapolis, the Greenway is a major commuter artery connecting the Western Suburbs to the Mississippi River. It is also a three lane recreational mecca of sorts easily connecting with the chain of lakes, Midtown Global Market, West River Parkway, and a variety of other bike trails.<\/p>\n

Officially the “Midtown Greenway” is only 5.5 miles long but the trail continues on after leaving Minneapolis and Hennepin County. The Star-Tribune<\/a> recently reported that for the the quarter ending on June 30th that overall trail usage was up 30% and three-fold since 2003. From a running standpoint this means the trail is quite busy. I would argue that this facility maintained and advocated for by the Midtown Greenway Coalition<\/a> is invaluable as a paved trail for those who need paved surfaces to recreate.<\/p>\n

Living only 4 blocks from the Greenway and 6 from an entrance\/exit I use the trail for many of my runs and bike commuting to work.\u00a0 From a running standpoint it is extremely nice to be away from cars and to have a flat surface to run on – although it does get a little boring and repetitive.\u00a0 The trail occasionally has a dirt shoulder that I can run on to avoid the pounding pavement but you can’t count on being able to run there.\u00a0 I said flat, but the newest addition – Martin Olav Sabo<\/a> bike-pedestrian bridge over Hiawatha Ave – provides a pretty steep incline for both the runner and biker.\u00a0 However, it can provide some pretty sweet views of downtown at the right times of day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Image from Flckr<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

In the winter the Greenway is extremely useful because it gets plowed on a regular basis and you don’t need to worry about cars sliding around and hitting you – just a bicycle!<\/p>\n

I have really enjoyed being able to utilize the Greenway so much. It wasn’t until I started training for the marathon that I really started branching off and running different routes from my house.\u00a0 The Greenway is just so convienent!<\/p>\n

Hope to see you out there!<\/p>\n

[tags] Midtown Greenway, Bike Trails, Minneapolis, Recreation [\/tags]<\/p>\n

\"Reblog<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Image from Flckr There are hundreds of miles of trails – maybe even thousands across the greater Twin Cities metro area. Some have no real purpose other than winding around, enjoying nature. Some serve as vital arteries of transportation and commerce. The Midtown Greenway falls into the latter category. Cutting East-West through the heart of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[12,4,7],"tags":[153,65,151,154,129,152,107],"class_list":["post-313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-course-comments","category-information","category-resources","tag-hennepin-county-minnesota","tag-midtown-greenway","tag-minneapolis-saint-paul","tag-minnesota","tag-mississippi-river","tag-star-tribune","tag-trail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4iaAv-53","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1606,"url":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/2009\/twin-cities-marathon-pictoral-preview\/","url_meta":{"origin":313,"position":0},"title":"Twin Cities Marathon Pictoral Preview","author":"crossn81","date":"September 23, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"The Twin Cities Marathon course has been quite busy this summer, just like every summer (actually year round).\u00a0 This is because the course takes in some of the coolest recreation spots in the metro - or at least Minneapolis.\u00a0 Beginning in downtown Minneapolis the 26.2 mile course\u00a0 makes a big\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Course Comments"","block_context":{"text":"Course Comments","link":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/category\/course-comments\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2904,"url":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/2011\/give-to-the-max-2011\/","url_meta":{"origin":313,"position":1},"title":"Give to the Max 2011","author":"crossn81","date":"November 16, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Today is Give to the Max Day in Minnesota. \u00a0It is your chance to support your favorite MN nonprofit organizations. \u00a0Why is today special? One donation each hour is a Golden Ticket, earning the recipient an extra $1,000. \u00a0Additionally there are awards of up to $15,000 given in a variety\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Charity"","block_context":{"text":"Charity","link":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/category\/charity\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1448,"url":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/2009\/minneapolis-best-in-the-world\/","url_meta":{"origin":313,"position":2},"title":"Minneapolis: Best in the World","author":"crossn81","date":"July 1, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Yes, I am a little biased, but I do think that Minneapolis is one of the greatest places in the United States.\u00a0 I would say it ranks pretty high on the world stage too, but there might be some other places I'd rather live.\u00a0\u00a0 Nonetheless Travel and Leisure Magazine recently\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Course Comments"","block_context":{"text":"Course Comments","link":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/category\/course-comments\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/images\/icebiketire.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3508,"url":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/2010\/minneapolis-great-transit-options\/","url_meta":{"origin":313,"position":3},"title":"Minneapolis – Great Transit Options","author":"crossn81","date":"April 17, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I took this on the way down the Olav Sabo Bridge on the Midtown Greenway today. The bridge spans Hiawatha Ave and the LRT tracks. \u00a0I was able to capture the LRT and bikers using the Greenway with the Minneapolis Skyline in the background. \u00a0This was another awesome day in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "365"","block_context":{"text":"365","link":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/category\/365\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1885,"url":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/2010\/1885\/","url_meta":{"origin":313,"position":4},"title":"Foto Friday","author":"crossn81","date":"March 5, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Midtown Greenway March 2010","rel":"","context":"In "Foto"","block_context":{"text":"Foto","link":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/category\/foto\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Midtown Greenway @ the Exchange","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4008\/4408031235_a54e31bdef.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3335,"url":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/2010\/colorful-greenway\/","url_meta":{"origin":313,"position":5},"title":"Colorful Greenway","author":"crossn81","date":"October 9, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The Midtown Greenway was quite busy on this almost 90 degree afternoon.","rel":"","context":"In "365"","block_context":{"text":"365","link":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/category\/365\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Cimg1255","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/CIMG1255.jpg.scaled.1000-300x224.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=313"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":448,"href":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313\/revisions\/448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}