Five-a- day – Gucun Forest Park

I had the pleasure of accompanying Sinead to her first half marathon.   In celebration I want to share a five-a-day of our trip to Gucun Forest Park.  It was a fine Saturday morning.   Luckily the pollution levels dropped and it was okay for her to run.  (The week before was a terrible pollution week for Shanghai and we were watching the level carefully all that morning.) 

1)  #2064.  Sinead gets ready for the race.    It was amazing watching Sinead do this run.  It was really hard, even for a kid who runs between 8-11K a day.  The weather started out kind of cool, but heated up pretty quickly.  I ran a 5K (ok --  I actually jogged a 5K. )

2)  It was lovely to experience Gucun park, which is only about a year old and is the largest park in Shanghai – 180 hectares.   You have to pay to get in, which makes it less crowded than some parks   The park is on the 7 line on the Metro.   Local families who come here seem to come for the whole day, which means bringing a  6-man tents, lots of food  and a few kites.  You can also barbecue in the park in designated areas.  There is a  creepy children’s carnival zone, which is kind of rusty – so I think it was there before the park was built.  The walkways and trails in the park are really nice though.  www.gucunpark.net

3)  Here she comes.  And there she goes…  Sinead is inspiring in that she is running to raise money for her National Honor Society charity “Run to the Sichuan.”  Run to The Sichuan Facebook page 

Here she comes...

There she goes.

4)  Family on an outing coming into the park.    I love the tutus on the twins. 

5) Gucan Park has a lot of amenities including these wacky four person or six person bikes.  They are kind of hard to steer, so everyone goes slowly and zigzags.  They reminded me of  the H.R. Pufnstuf show from when I was a kid.