Health & Fitness
One Simple Thing: 3 Parks, 4 Ways
Fall is a great time of year to take advantage of local parks by bringing your exercise routine and family activities outdoors.
Cooler temperatures and changing leaves are right around the corner, which usually means it's time to bring your workout from inside to outside. We are blessed to have so many wonderful parks in our local area, each with its own highlights, and Fall is a beautiful time of year to enjoy the great outdoors. So, here are three local parks, along with four different ways you can enjoy each one.
Sometimes you just want to get out and go without the interruption of too many crosswalks or obstacles. The Greenway lets you do just that. The Greenway mostly consists of a 12-foot wide concrete path that travels through Forsyth and Alpharetta. In Alpharetta, your best bet is to hop on at the Alpharetta YMCA. The Alpharetta portion of the trail is just over 7 miles. In Forsyth, you’ll want to check out Fowler Park, which just recently opened with an entrance to the trail. This portion of the trail is just over 6 miles.
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My favorite 4 ways to do the Greenway: Bike, rollerblade, jogging with speed intervals (the long, continuous trail without significant variation in incline easily allows for this more than other locations,) or walk your pet.
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Wills Park is a beautiful park located on Old Milton Parkway. Kids might love the playgrounds there, but the secret gem in this park is its walking trail. The park has a 1.8 mile walking trail that circles the park. It has a variety of scenery, including the park’s equestrian center where sometimes you’ll catch some horses in action.
My favorite 4 ways to have fun at Wills Park:
- Disc golf: this is a fun game the whole family can enjoy together. The name of the game is to throw a flying disc into a basket.
- Walk the trail and don’t miss the Alpharetta Arboretum. An arboretum is a living museum where a collection of trees and other plants is assembled and maintained for education, research and enjoyment.
- Walk your dog, then head over to Waggy World Paw Park so that your pet can run free and meet other dog friends!
- If you’re just teaching yourself to run, I think Wills Park is one of the best settings. The trail loop sets up the perfect walk/run, and there is plenty of changing scenery along the way.
Cogburn Road Park is small but undeniably cute and useful for preschool and early elementary-aged chilldren. Parents, you’ll love that your tiny tikes can run free, yet it will still be hard for them to get out of sight in this park because of the layout. There is a small .2 mile round loop that makes it easy for you to stroll alongside your little one while they ride a bike or scooter. My favorite ways to do this park:
- Best Alpharetta location, hands down, for kids to learn how to ride a bike
- The large grassy area in the middle of the trail is perfect for parents of young children to practice of football or soccer.
- Again, this park features an Arboretum so that you can be active and learn about nature at the same time.
- This park features a couple of picnic shelters, and it’s a great setting to bring a casual picnic with friends or family.
So, get out there, enjoy our local parks and let us know what new ways you find to be active outdoors!
Elaina Smith is the owner of Studio One to One, a personal training studio offering customized fitness solutions in Milton, GA. For more information, visit www.studio-onetoone.com or call (678) 367-3619.
