It was a quiet midsummer day at Russell Field in North Cambridge. Over at the nearby baseball field, a guy was doing a decent impression of Robinson Cano at the Home Run Derby. Yet his bombs were coming uncomfortably close to us, so my girlfriend suggested that we wander over to the football field, and even mentioned that it might be a good place for a run. So, while she and our West Highland white terrier waited near one of the goalposts, I ran a few laps around the field.As we segue into the cooler climates of autumn, when football increasingly appears as a conversation topic (especially now that the lockout is over), may I recommend trying a hundred-yard dash or two at your local gridiron. When you just want a short sprint as opposed to that 11-mile marathon practice jaunt, running across a gridiron can be as satisfying as a sideline splash of Gatorade.The distances between goalposts are definitely much shorter than a marathoner’s fare. One thing that surprised me going from end zone to end zone is how many trips it takes to add up to a mile. If you go 200 yards, you’ve run just over one-tenth of a mile (or so saith my trusty pedometer). This was a bit of a stunner, given the way the TV cameras make Gillette Stadium look as if it’s longer than the Boston Marathon course. Speaking of Gillette, there is actually a road race that incorporates “The Razor” ? the Harvard Pilgrim 10K. The second edition of the race, which wound up at the 50-yard line at the stadium, took place in July, with Alex Gomes of Peabody taking second overall in 33:29. “Just before the finish,” the race website reported, “you will run through the huge inflated football helmet, onto the field to the cheers of thousands of fans and see yourself on the giant 48 feet wide HDTV screen.”Yet marathon runners would do best not to scoff at the shorter distances of football. That’s because football players must run between the chains while dodging obstacles like 300-pound defensive linemen out to stuff them. For any runner wishing to experience this phenomenon (minus the tackling), try going past an MBTA station when a train has just arrived.What also stands out, if you get a chance to run on one of the new synthetic fields like Cambridge’s, is how comfortable that fake turf feels under foot ? much softer, for instance, than the concrete of the Minuteman Bikepath or the sidewalks along Massachusetts Avenue. There is one caveat: On a hot day, never, ever run barefoot on fake turf. Unlike nice, cool, natural grass, the artificial stuff will scorch your feet.Should you decide to try running on a football field, please be respectful of other athletes practicing there. It seems the local high school football and soccer teams are already getting ready for the fall season.Lastly, there is something fun about running on a gridiron. As the numbers on the field go from 30 to 20 to 10 and the end zone comes into view, we can almost imagine ourselves taking the rock all the way for a touchdown – before we then turn around and go back for another lap.Rich Tenorio writes a weekly column on running for The Item. Email him at [email protected].