Rich on Running: Here’s a revolutionary running idea

While it is better known for horseback rides and military marches, Minute Man National Historical Park is a great place to run while learning about a key point in our nation’s history.Minute Man, located in Lexington, Concord and Lincoln, is the place where colonial “Minute Men” fired “the shot heard ’round the world,” in Emerson’s phrase, against the redcoats of King George III on April 19, 1775. Today, it is a National Park Service site accessible off Route 2A.You can mix in a run with an American history lesson here, and one good place to do both is by taking the 5-mile Battle Road Trail, which stretches from the Ebenezer Fiske House Site close to the intersection of Route 95/128 and Massachusetts Avenue, to Meriam’s Corner. The trail does not include arguably the two most famous spots of the battle of Lexington and Concord: Battle Green in Lexington, where Captain John Parker’s men took fire from the redcoats early in the morning, and North Bridge in Concord, where the colonials held their ground a few hours later and forced the royal army to retreat.Should you wish to run less than the full trail, one option is to park close to its midsection, near the site of the historic 18th-century Hartwell Tavern (according to legend, His Majesty’s troops captured Paul Revere around here), and follow the footpaths out of the lot.Need a water and/or stretching break? You can pause at any of the various interpretive spots on the trail, including the infamous “Bloody Angle,” where the redcoats caught fire from the colonials, and a burial marker for British soldiers.Chances are, you’ll have plenty of company among fellow runners as you run the trail ? along with dog-walkers, cyclists and tourists. It looks like the Cambridge Sports Union has used it for morning runs in the past, with the athletic club describing it as “80-90 minutes of easy running” in a 2009 post on its website.The tree-lined footpaths and vernal pools are quite a contrast from the bloodshed of 1775, as well as from the noise of car traffic if you normally run on your local sidewalks. Given its ties to the founding of this nation, as well as its accessibility off Route 95/128, for those on the North Shore looking to run a few miles in a different place, the site of the “shot heard ’round the world” is worth a shot as a running spot.May I just make one suggestion. Don’t make the fashion mistake I made when I ran down the trails on a weekend afternoon earlier this month. The hoodie I wore was appropriate to the weather, but its color was not, as it was as red as the outfits the British soldiers must have worn on April 19, 1775.Rich Tenorio can be reached at [email protected].