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I would consider Two Cashin Loops to be the most optimal route for hitting 9 miles Phipps Park. However, Two Cashins is arguably also one of the most divisive routes in terms of its perception among runners I know. This is because despite sharing many of the benefits that a universally acclaimed route like the CNL, running double Cashins has its downsides. 

My personal reason for considering this route to be optimal for its distance is that it is a very simple and straightforward option. Unlike some other routes for 9, Two Cashins doesn’t seem to try to be too fancy. It stays modest and just follows the major horse trails around the park in a pretty logical formation. 

Now, for one of this route's downsides: it's imprecise. For a lot of more unconventional routes, that’s usually not a problem. Doing a little bonus 0.2 miles occasionally at the end of a run never hurts anybody. However, for a route that is contending to be the flagship route of a distance like this, the extra 0.2 becomes a bit of a problem. Doing the extra bit goes from a minor hassle that one has to deal with because they hit a weird route to just sort of annoying when they know they have to run it every day. 

Back to the positives, this route is incredibly flat. Ok, if you are trying hard, then this is a negative I guess, but I enjoy my easy routes. And two Cashin Loops is undoubtedly not that hard. Combining the wide horse trails with the lack of elevation that the Cashin Loop provides makes a route that is completely manageable at the hardest and a downright breeze at its easiest. 

There is one inherent flaw with doing double Cashins that prevents it from being incredibly easy. And that is the fact that this entire route is only on one side of the parking lot. Consequently, there's no built-in water break, so I guess it really isn’t that easy, especially on a humid Tallahassee afternoon. Other than, say hydrate properly, but still, you came here for route advice, not training suggestions. 

Anyway, there is one last thing I personally adore about double Cashins. Every time I pass the triangle marking the two-mile mark from the parking lot, I think about all of the ways I can run through it. Most of the time, I only run through one side of this triangle, maybe two if I am running a Cashin loop. However, with Two Cashins, the triangle can be completed. If this concept sounds stupid to you, its because it probably is. But seeing this arbitrary triangle, in the middle of Phipps Park, completed filled, is just so satisfying. 

Which is completely unlike the last part of double cashins I am going to talk about. If you are an astute reader, then you probably thought to yourself, “hey, the Cashin Loop is 4 miles, doing it twice plus running to its start would be 11 miles.” And you are totally correct, doing the complete Cashin twice is 11 miles. However, when you do the “Two Cashins” loop, you are really just doing the first 3.2 miles of a Cashin, reaching the midpoint of the run, then doing the last 3.2 miles of a Cashin. Which to me is tremendously unsatisfying.