The freshmen are beginning to find their way around campus, the upperclassmen are adjusting to their off-campus apartments and houses, and it finally feels like you can breathe again (without the thick humidity and hectic frenzy of the first few weeks of school).
With this extra time and sense of direction, its the perfect time to start running regularly. Where to?
The Elon University Cross Country course (also known as the intramural fields) has miles of grassy cut-throughs and trails that can easily turn a boring neighborhood jog into a challenging all-terrain run. Just past the railroad tracks, the course offers rolling hills and a softer surface than hard cement and asphalt.
When you wear the course out, there are plenty of relatively safe neighborhoods, and parks around Elon. For those mileage perfectionists who count every tenth of a mile (guilty one right here...), there are great websites where you can track every turn of your run before-or after- you go out.
Personally, I use walkjogrun.net to map out all my runs, but mapmyrun.com is also a great site where you can track miles.
Both sites have search engines where you can type in your location (Elon, NC), and browse through routes mapped out by different users. Happy Trails! (And roads!)