Is San Diego a good place to live for a runner

Depends on where you live. You may have to drive to get to trails in most places. All the runners high you get will be drained on the drive back dealing with all the bad driving. Second worst, next to Los Angeles.

Northern California is better in that sense - trails and driving.

Second what the above poster said. You're probably better staying where you are at unless you live in a crap hole like NYC or New Orleans.

Northern California OTOH is much better. San Diego = white bread.

San Diego has great year round weather and lots of trails within a reasonable driving distance. Much cooler near the beach. Temperatures can be 10 to 20 degrees hotter once you get 10 miles from the ocean. Many world class runners and triathletes spent all or part of their careers running there. The Mammouth Group goes to San Diego when they come down for sea level training. Traffic is not nearly as bad as LA, Atlanta, or Miami (traffic in most major cities sucks, but LA is the king by far). As long as you avoid rush hour, getting around is easy. It is an expensive place to live so make sure you have a good job or support system lined up.

San Diego city is pretty bad. Balboa park is O.K.-- but there is not much else. Lots of hobby joggers run along the waterfront, but with the crowds and the concrete-- it is hard to train seriously there... The views are great, though

There are some decent places out in San Diego county, but even if you live right next to a canyon, it will get pretty boring pretty fast. Basically-- expect to find yourself suburb running much of the time unless you are willing to get in the car and drive to your run...

Every time I'm in San Diego I end up running along the bay waterfront. Gets pretty boring.

Thanks that helps a lot, ya the big issue is I am in a great situation as far as running goes right now. All I do is run, (work very little, a part time job), but I got a good degree and could earn just over 50k with this new potential job.. The dilema falls at run and follow dreams or work and try as best as I can to run..

San Diego is a great place for a runner to live. The posters above either don't live in SD or have no idea what they are missing in their own city. There are canyon trails all over the place, parks, bike paths, boardwalks, flat beaches and runner friendly roads. There is also a cross country series in the fall called Dirt Dog that brings out some real talent. Sometimes McMillan Elite even shows up for the championship event.

The key to enjoying San Diego as a runner is to carefully plan where you live. I've lived in five different places and always been within a mile of soft surface running. I suggest that you rent month to month while you get to know the city.

Traffic is definitely the worst part about the city, but there are solutions to that as well. You can try to live close to where you work, take the train and/or bike or just get some good audio books and make your commute a more enjoyable part of your day.

If want to post where you will be working, I can even make some living suggestions. Good luck.

I just took a fantastic dump. Feels like I lost 5 pounds. As Tony the Tiger used to say ...I feel great !

sd4ever wrote:

San Diego is a great place for a runner to live.

Ok, I've never lived in SD, but I've run there a lot, spend a couple of weeks a year there every year, run every day. San Diego is a VERY GOOD place to be a runner, not a GREAT place. Great = Boulder, Marin County, SLO, etc.

So Cal is where the medalists in our sport are.

I often run 10-14 miles in the horse trails of encinitas, olivenhain and a bit of south carlsbad with less than a mile done on the road. There's a 3M lagoon trail that connects to the coast and a 4M golf course loop in rancho santa fe. Although I don't live nearby, there's a 6M straight trail in penasquitos canyon, smack dab in the middle of the county and if you head out to the periphery of the county, there's endless trails in every direction. After 20 years, I'm certainly not bored with the options available within 5M of the coast.

I would be working in the SANDAG office and the Caltrans District 11 office. The address is 401 B Street, suggestions would help a lot

Great location. Your work is steps from the trolley and only half a mile from Balboa park which has miles and miles of trails and an all weather track.

As far as living goes, you have several options that would allow you to avoid the freeways. Park West is the closest neighborhood, but it's very expensive. Southpark/Golden Hill is more single family places and not a lot of rentals. North Park has tons of places to rent and is great if you're close to the park, but can get sketchy as you move east. Hillcrest is San Diego's gay friendly neighborhood, but also has lots of single women. It has many rentals, is a very safe place and would be a snap from B st, just take 6th straight up.

Thanks that helps a lot!