Running Amongst the Tulips

On Sunday morning, I carved out some time for a super early (for me) long run in downtown Ottawa along the Rideau Canal and Dow’s Lake, in particular to check out all of the tulips on this last weekend of the Ottawa Tulip Festival.

With the great weather we had the past few weeks, the tulips were slowly losing their luster so I didn’t want to miss a chance to get a quick view of them while they were still around.

I started my run at the University of Ottawa, shortly after 6am and headed towards the Rideau Canal.

The canal at this hour on a Sunday morning was the most peaceful I have ever seen it. It was so calm that I actually turned off my iPod to enjoy the sereness of it all.

As I strolled down the bike path snapping pictures of the tulips and the water, I rather enjoyed having the entire pathway to myself for a little while.

I even had a chance to stop and notice some interesting monuments I have never taken the time to look at. This one below is a statue commemorating the Calgary Olympics Torch Relay, flanked by some colourful tulips.

As I continued along the Rideau Canal pathway to Dow’s Lake , I took in more beds of tulips and couldn’t resist stopping for pictures of them along the way. Moving on past Dow’s Lake, and crossing a picturesque little bridge…

…I made it to my turnout point, Carleton University.

The second half of the run back towards my starting point began to get busier with more runners on the path and cars on the road, so I was forced to share the beauty of the morning with everyone else at that point.

I just might try another early morning run again…wasn’t so bad to be up that early after all!

M.