The Waugh Cloverleaf

I am tagging the Waugh Cloverleaf as both one of the Summits of Houston since it is a good little spot where you can add some hills into your training and as part of my Run This Town section, because I think it is an often overlooked little treasure in Houston running.

The Waugh Cloverleaf is an almost 1 mile loop with 2 nice little ascents and descents.  There are sections of sidewalk and pretty well worn path that go all the way around the inside of the loop.  The distance coupled with the fact that you never cross a road or have to deal with bikes and the fact that you are consistently either going uphill or downhill makes it an awesome tool to have in your running route selection/training arsenal.  I find it great for speed work (mile repeats on the cloverleaf are brutal/awesome), tempo runs, and for adding some bonus slightly more difficult miles into the middle of a long run if I am going to be passing by.  Living in a big flat city, there really aren't any places where you can have a long hilly run, but the cloverleaf allows you to run for as many miles as you want while constantly going up and down.  None of the climbs are significant and people from any place with real hills would laugh at it, but I guarantee if you aren't used to running hills and run a few laps of the cloverleaf you will feel it!

Stats:
Elevation:  15-20 feet of gain or loss on each hill (but there are 2 ups and 2 downs every mile).
Distance: Just under 1 mile (my GPS usually logs it at .97 miles)
Average Grade: 1.5% (a little steeper going around the loops, but it levels out in between the loops)

Location:
At the intersection of Memorial Drive and Waugh Dr (Heights Blvd turns into Waugh).  If you are driving there it is probably best to park at Spotts Park on Willia St.

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Run This Town

Running has allowed me to explore some incredible places over the years.  Many of those places come as no surprise, but I am often surprised by some of the things that I discover while running in my own "backyard."  One of the many great things about running is that it slows you down (some of us more than others) enough to be able look around and take in your surroundings while at the same time allowing you to get somewhere.  If you are willing or able to run for a few hours it is amazing what you can see.  I have been running around Houston for over 8 years now and am still discovering new trails and new sights.  One of the benefits of living in a big and dynamic city is that it is constantly changing, so if you think you have seen it all you just need to wait for a few weeks and something will have changed.

All of that is my way of introducing this section of the blog that I am calling "Run This Town."  I will occasionally post some of my favorite sights or routes to run from around the city.  I will try to focus on things you may have run by many times but missed or didn't know about, but will occasionally just post routes that I really enjoy.  So, keep an eye out for posts that are tagged Run This Town and hopefully you will begin to see why I think running in this city is so great.