SUZY STUMP: METRO PARKS CARES >>>

First of all, it’s quiet.

So quiet, you can get lost in your thoughts.

Begin at the Point Defiance Park entrance.  Pick a parking slot, lace them up, stretch those calves and groin and head into the Park. The quiet will help you concentrate on the first few steps of your run.

Not that you have lot to concentrate on.

Forget political science, literature, biology. Forget chemistry, French and calculus. Go back to before you could think.

Just past the Japanese Gardens veer left toward the zoo.  Just short of one mile veer left and head uphill to the Five Mile Drive.   

So follow the paved road. At 1.9 miles check out the Vashon Island viewpoint. Let thoughts come back to your mind. Start with the basics. The multiplication tables, the spelling tests. Remember the first time you glued macaroni to paper?

Continue on.  At 2.2 miles you’ll pass the Mountainier Tree, a 400-year-old Douglas Fir. Your pace will increase at mile 2.4 as you get a view of gorgeous Gig Harbor. Remember the fastest time you ran a mile in school, how you picked out one or two of your classmates in gym class â€" secretly â€" and vowed that you would run faster than each of them, no matter what? Remember how that felt like stealing second â€" and beating the throw?

The Tacoma Narrows Bridge viewpoint is at mile 2.6.  You are more than half way there.  Enjoy the serenity of the forest, and the cool, crisp fall air. 

THEN A CAR HITS YOU. YOU ARE THROWN 10 FEET. YOU ARE BLEEDING. YOU CAN’T THINK.

Solution
Metro Parks doesn’t want to see you die on the Five Mile Drive. Five new speed tables are scheduled for construction to help slow vehicular traffic in Point Defiance Park Sept. 3 and 4 if the weather doesn’t suck.  Metro Parks has contracted with the City’s Public Works Department to install traffic calming features in pedestrian crossing areas and straightaway stretches where cars often exceed the park’s 20 mile per hour speed limit.

So stay in the zone if you see Public Works messing with your Five Mile Drive next week. Think good thoughts.

BTW: The two month pilot project that added Sunday mornings to the drive’s vehicle-free hours concludes this weekend. The District is collecting feedback from park visitors about the pilot project through an online survey available here through Sept. 15.