Face Full of Dirt

New Haven can be a rough city, and I'm not talking about the gunshots, crumbling neighborhoods and packs of panhandlers.

I'm talking about the giant tree roots on the trails at the base of East Rock. One of them attacked me Monday about four miles into a 10-miler and knocked me down on the puddle-covered path. I wasn't far from the waterfall at the north end and could have shouted to the summer camp kids there for help: "Help, help, camp kids, help, runner down!" Instead, I jumped up, inspected the wounds on my wrist, forearm and both knees and decided that I wasn't mortally injured and had been maintaining too good of a pace to lag now.

Unlike the trails up the hill, the trails around East Rock are flat and meandering, an ideal running route through the city park's gentle woods. And other than the roots and rocks, there aren't many obstacles, though, I admit, that playground turtle by Orange Street gives me the creeps.