Gila Springs in Chandler

Map my Run

I ran the canal that goes into the subdivision of Gila (Hila) Springs in Chandler, AZ. I parked along Kyrene Road that is about mid way in the run. You can park in a commericial lot that has a couple restaurants. There's a coffee shop run by a church on the north side of the canal, but I'm not sure when it's open. There's is also a new SOMA Restaurant on the corner south of the canal. SOMA sponsors a lot of races. Check out their website, it's an interesting restaurant.

I ran into the community on the second part of my run. It has a great green space with two lakes, a big fountain and play area. The path is crushed gravel and great to run on. It ends on the north side at Ray Road. You can cross the street and run in Warner Ranch. They have concrete trails that go for another half mile.

You can see it's a beautiful run. There is a sign that says it is just for residents of Gila Springs. I doubt they check the runners. The first part of my run was west of Kyrene Road. It is the canal that goes through an office park. On the north side is a concrete sidewalk. On the south side is a wide dirt trail. It runs west and then south past Chandler Boulevard and down to the highway. Once you are past Chandler Boulevard you have to run on the east side. There is very little space on the other side. It is not somewhere you would want to run at night or even by yourself, since there aren't many businesses. It's very isolated. This is the canal that joins the trail I ran on yesterday at the aquatic center. Not much shade. I will only run it and I want to combine the Twelve Oaks run with the Gila Springs run.

It was a cool day today (arizona standards). 85 degrees at 2 pm with a slight breeze. I didn't get to run this morning, so I took a little time off work to enjoy the day. I got 4.01 miles done in 54:09. Between the warmer weather and stopping to take pictures my times aren't as good as they were in the fall. Hopefully, I'll get that back as the weather breaks. It's just not gonna break anytime soon.

Volleyball Note: No, I'm not playing volleyball, but I am coaching my daughter's team. We're in a non-competitive church league. Last night was our first game. We finished 2nd last year and really want to win this year. OK, it's a bit competitive. We played against two churches last night. The first game we won easily. In the second game, we won the first set, lost the second set and then won 15-14 in the final set to win the game. It's rally scoring, so whoever one the last point was the winner. They set the ball over one of our guys head and he made an incredible overhead save to win it.