Learning to love Minneapolis in March (or at least trying to)

I skipped out of the office over lunch today for a run in downtown Minneapolis.  A friend of mine at Target who is an avid runner suggested a route for me and I scoped it out on my new favorite website mapmyrun.com.  We had temps in the 40s today so it was the perfect day to get out.  

My run took me up Nicollet Mall from Target Plaza past the Minneapolis Central Library (a very cool building and my first time actually seeing it in person), over the Hennepin Avenue bridge and around historical Nicollet Island which sits right in the middle of the Mississippi River.   Nicollet Island is home to DeLaSalle High School, a well known urban catholic high school, the Nicollet Island Inn and some very cool very old homes.  In my 6 years in Minneapolis, I'm not sure I've every been on Nicollet Island.  We still have snow on the ground and it is quite a beautiful place, even in the winter.  It was so quiet on the residential side of the island, its hard to believe its nestled right in the middle of the Twin Cities.  I wished that I would have had my camera on me to take some pictures.  I am afraid (or maybe hoping) that next week the snow will be gone so I'm not sure it will be as beautiful next time.  But what a cool thing - to see someplace new today.  I think about all of the lunch hours I've wasted working at my desk, or aimlessly wandering through the stores in downtown Minneapolis.  So thank you Vicky for the recommendation on the new route!  

The run itself was a little bit longer than I anticipated so I took the red lights as an opportunity to rest my legs (and my heart).  I was feeling really good on the home stretch heading back to the office, that is until some lady in high heels ran past me as she chased down her bus.  Oh well, at least I got out there today, even if I wasn't all that fast!