Best place to live as a runner if you work in downtown NYC

Westchester clearly has the best running. However plan on 1 hour commute.

Anywhere near Central Park, Manhattan

Queens, around Forrest Park

Was going to say UWS to be near Central Park and have multiple subway lines going down. Also Morningside Heights and Harlem for the same reason. Morningside Heights for the quieter feel, but Harlem's super close to Central Park and has express trains. Jersey City and Hoboken would be good for running along the waterfront, I think. I might also check out living near Prospect Park in Brooklyn, although the commute will be longer it will be a nicer vibe than Hoboken.

Getting to the financial district from the Upper West Side takes 20 minutes on the express. There are plenty of options to run outside in New York, you'll never need to run on a treadmill.

Brooklyn, then Jersey City, then Hoboken last. Brooklyn would probably be better for running, more parks, more open space but probably longer commute. Jersey City has Liberty State Park, short commute. Hoboken, no parks, no accessible track, short commute.

Hoboken isn't too bad for running. The waterfront is very nice going north through WNY. Blvd east is rather fantastic. There is a great public track less than 2 miles north of Hoboken right on the waterfront. Also there are lots of options for hills. The only complaint I have is the lack of dirt trails but this is true of pretty much all of the nyc metro area. That said the palasades park is not too far north (starts at the GW bridge) and you can get 20+ miles easily on the long path.

Here is a picture of the public track btw.

http://www.simplesoleproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/weehawken.png

Thank you all! Very helpful suggestions and good color. Much appreciated.

why only considering UWS and not UES?

dlll wrote:

why only considering UWS and not UES?

The 4,5 and 6 lines are a disaster.

Dc_dc wrote:

Here is a picture of the public track btw.

http://www.simplesoleproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/weehawken.png

That track is in Weehawken (North of Hoboken), which, by the way, has some of the best views of the city.

UWS - even as far south as 34th st. You can run to Central Park and, if you have a gym to shower in, you can run to/from work via the West Side Path.

sounds horrible no matter where you'd be specifically located.

He said he doesn't want Manhattan and everyone suggests UWS and UES?

Prospect Park was designed by the same person as Central Park and is just as nice. Live in Park Slope or Prospect Heights. Great neighborhoods, convenient to FiDi, SLIGHTLY more affordable.

What kind of person gets offered a job in one of the greatest cities in the world and then says, "Eh...I think I'd like to live in New Jersey?"

why not live near Holmdel in Jersey?

coach wrote:

why not live near Holmdel in Jersey?

Because then he'd spend 1 1/2 hours each way (door to door) commuting.

If you can afford it, DUMBO is great. Good running along the "waterfront" in Brooklyn, access to the track in Red Hook (2-3miles) which is the best track in the city to workout on, one stop into lower Manhattan on several trains. Yes, you do lose easy access to Central Park, but Prospect Park is about 2 miles away and running there is just as good if not better.

Don't move to Jersey. I spent the first 25 years of my life there before moving to NYC a dozen years ago. Yes, it may cost more here, but it's worth it. Good luck.

Incredulous - In an ideal world, I would move out West (CA, PNW, SLC, Denver) in a heartbeat. However, there are few jobs in my line of work in those regions.

I do appreciate a lot of things about NYC. But seriously, who wants to live in a concrete jungle with close to zero access to the outdoors? Quality of life means different things to different people.

Thanks again for all of your suggestions. I've gotten a much better idea of where to focus my apartment search.

You should really reconsider your assumption that Brooklyn/New Jersey will be more laid back than Manhattan, especially the Upper West Side. If you are on one of the cross streets on the west side beween 63rd and 120th, it will be just as quiet/laid back as it would be in Brooklyn. However, you'll have easy access to Central Park (6 miles of pavement running and an interior dirt path that you can easily do 4-5 miles on) and Riverside Park and the Hudson River path (~13 miles from the Battery to Fort Tryon). You've also got reasonably quick access to Van Cortlandt Park via the 1 train and the Riverside State Park track, also via the 1 train. If you have a car or a zipcar membership you can get to Rockefeller State Park in ~35 minutes, which is where a lot of the pros and college teams in the area train. In the winter you can purchase passes to work out at the Armory, which is accessible by several trains in about 20 minutes.

In the areas of Brooklyn that are recommended above, you've got Prospect Park, which is 3.5 miles of mostly pavement running-- and a big portion of the path is sloped for drainage, which can cause some people injury problems. You can run to the track in Red Hook (no subway access) but it certainly isn't close (and it's nothing great as far as facilities go-- you'll be lucky if the single bathroom is unlocked and functioning.) The waterfront path that is accessible from DUMBO is nice but tiny, maybe 2 miles of running? To access the path that runs through Bay Ridge to the Verrazano, you're going to be doing a lot of running on roads that have either tons of truck traffic or are still paved with cobblestones from the 19th century.

I love Brooklyn as a place to live, but for running there really is no comparison to the UWS. Add the fact that it is now just as expensive (if not more so) as the UWS-- I would really discourage you from limiting your search to that area. I would only recommend Brooklyn for running if you're just looking to go out for 3-4 miles a few times a week--anything more than that and it gets pretty damn stale.

Definitely next to Prospect Park for commute times and excellent park running. Park Slope is an amazing neighborhood and Prospect Heights is also good. Windsor Terrace is a more affordable option.