Running In Golden Ponds Park

Last week I was visiting my daughter, who lives in Longmont, Colorado. I usually stay in Boulder when I visit her, but this time I stayed in Longmont in case the weather made driving tricky. Since I’ve never stayed in Longmont, I wasn’t sure if I’d find a good place to run, but I found the perfect running route from her place to Golden Ponds Park.

According to the Longmont website, land for the park was donated by the V.V. Golden Foundation, in honor of Vernon Golden, “who had mined gravel on this site,” to provide “a place to fish, walk and enjoy nature.” This bronze sculpture at the park entrance is of “Vern” helping a small boy fish. 

After I saw pictures of the park on-line, I decided to time my run for sunrise, and headed out at about 6:30 am. As soon as I got to the park, my run turned into intervals of running and picture-taking!

This is the first picture I took, with the moon still visible.

 This picture is from the far end of the park, looking west to the Front Range. 

When I turned back, I was greeted by a gorgeous sunrise!

I think this is part of the St. Vrain river. When it flooded two years ago, a lot of the trails around Golden Ponds Park were destroyed. 

Even the view on my way back to the main street was beautiful.

As I waited for the light to change, I took one more look back at the mountains.

I am so glad I discovered Golden Ponds Park–and it makes a perfect 5 mile run from my daughter’s place!

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Have you discovered a new running route recently?