The first of my “Best Places to Run in Fort Wayne” posts featured Concordia Theological Seminary, and I hope some of you have had a chance to check it out (both the post and the campus). I wrote that post after a “heated” run – man, it was hot that day – but soon after, the weather took a turn toward fall, making it much nicer to be outside. Such pleasant weather gives me ample opportunity to explore the outdoors before retreating into the gym for the winter. For this post, I decided to hit the trails at Shoaff Park, located at 6401 St. Joe Road, and what a great place to run it is. Shoaff Park, like several others in the Fort Wayne park system, has a paved fitness loop. It’s one of only three parks, though, that has multiple loops (Hamilton and Kreager Parks are the other two). I decided to run the perimeter loop – at almost two miles, it’s the longest of the three. The first part of the loop takes you through the woods along the St. Joseph River, which will be even prettier as the leaves start to change. It then takes you past the playground, the baseball diamond, and around the golf course (assuming you run clockwise, that is). I like to run where it’s quiet and I don’t have to worry too much about traffic, and Shoaff Park is a beautiful place to do that. I should also note that there is a Rivergreenway trailhead here that extends along the river, under Saint Joe Center Road, and with a little off-road running, leads you to Johnny Appleseed Park. That, however, is a run for another day. For more information, please visit www.fortwayneparks.org.