MINNEAPOLIS RUNNERS: Any good running routes and places to drink good beer close to my hotel?

I'm asuming you are near the airport. Sorry about a billion hotels came up so not sure.

Near the airport:

1. Minnesota valley national wildlife refuge. Some trails (unpaved) are closed but I ran 8 miles on them yesterday. Simply ignored the signs. I didn't die.

2. Fort Snelling. Paved. Awesome views of the river. Maybe too short.

3. Mississippi Gorge Regional Park. Paved trail goes all the way downtown. Start at Minnehaha Falls. 8 miles one way.

4. Hidden Falls Regional Park. paved trail. Run south for 4 miles. Run north for 4 miles minimum. South is more fun in the park DOWN BU THE RIVER.

5. Lebanon Hills. My personal favorite. Unpaved. 8 mile outside loop. Able to run 20 miles without retracing steps. Bring your phone so that you don't get lost. My wife still gets lost in there even after a couple dozen runs.

6. In the city, again,DOWN BU THE RIVER. Paved trails going south.

7. Finally, I live on the 'parkway'. Minnehaha Parkway. A greenway that has paved paths that connect more than a half dozen 3 mile around lakes. The twin cities marathon runs a good 8 miles on this route (but on the road). Start at lake nokomos and run to lake harriett. 4 miles. Around Harriet and back to nokomis is over 10 miles.

My last week or so includes ...

Lebanon Hills - 8m

Greenway around Harriet - 9m

Greenway to Harriet - 7m

Minnehaha Falls / Mississippi gorge today - 6.5m

Minnesota Valley national wildlife refuge - 8m

If Minnesota had better weather in the winter we might be a real haven for runners. But the weather is awesome right now. Today 57' and no wind. Perfection.

Enjoy

Ken

I was there on biz two weeks ago and found this place, which was also awesome

https://www.threeriversparks.org/parks/hyland-lake-park.aspx

That looks like a pretty crappy part of the Twins. You're about 3 miles from a few little ponds that have some greenways around them.

There are also some trails around Eagle lake to the NW.

Overall, it sucks up there.

Sorry, the ponds are to the NW, Eagle lake is to the SW.

Agreed on Hyland.

I'm pretty sure there is a 5.5k trail/cc all-comers race there tomorrow starting at 6.

Reboot Runner wrote:

Agreed on Hyland.

I'm pretty sure there is a 5.5k trail/cc all-comers race there tomorrow starting at 6.

There was a late afternoon/early evening high school cc meet there one of the nights I ran, and I accidentally ran onto the course somewhere in the backwoods (not knowing it until I caught one of the stragglers/fortunately the trail split off quickly). Fantastic trails and bike paths, I had been thinking how awesome it would have been to race cc there!

That area has a ton of groomed cc (ski) trails in the winter. Some of the trails have lights.

Yeah the lights are great, and those cc ski trails make great cc running trails too.

dingle wrote:

That looks like a pretty crappy part of the Twins. You're about 3 miles from a few little ponds that have some greenways around them.

There are also some trails around Eagle lake to the NW.

Tough to disagree, but a run can be cobbled together up there... can link into the municipal trails of Brooklyn Park and Plymouth.

Regional Parkland of Eagle Lake:

For beer, you're not in NE Minneapolis, unfortunately. Among suburban-type beer places nearby, Granite City makes their own stuff, and Omni Brewing in adjacent Maple Grove has a tap room. And it's likely a typical sports bar (plenty just up the freeway in Maple Grove) has at least one decent local or regional beer on tap.

One local place I would recommend is Fat Nat's Eggs, if you're willing/able to travel for breakfast.

Oh, a local running store somewhere near where you'll be-- Twin Cities Running Company (TCRC) on Bass Lake Road in Maple Grove.

Thanks for the replies. For those of you unable to go to the Google Maps link, I'm staying in Brooklyn Park (looks to be a NW suburb).

That Brooklyn Parks trail map is really useful, if only to confirm my suspicions that I'll be settling for a pretty haggard run around those parts. I was hoping for a long, uninterrupted trail closeby but guess I'll have to piece something together.

Do you have a rental car? That will make things a lot easier, otherwise running up it in Brooklyn Center/Park area won't be that great.

Look into Elm Creek, it is close to you, lots of trails that are used for skiing in the winter.

Pop down to the Luce Line Trailhead off of Vicksburg in Plymouth and run west. Flat crushed limestone trail that is gorgeous this time of year.

Baker Park has a 10k paved loop that has grass on the side to run on and also more paved trail back over by the lake.

Running around the lakes (Calhoun, Isles, Harriet, Cedar) is always a classic, but can get a lot of pedestrian traffic if it is gorgeous out.

Second to everyone saying Lebanon hills, but it is quite a way away from you.

Wow that conference really picked a sh*t location. I'm sorry! Minneapolis has great running and great beer but you're a long ways from any of that. If you ever swing by the City of Lakes again, stay downtown!

adsfasdfsfdsdfd wrote:

Wow that conference really picked a sh*t location. I'm sorry! Minneapolis has great running and great beer but you're a long ways from any of that. If you ever swing by the City of Lakes again, stay downtown!

Agree 100%, they couldn't have picked a crappier part of town.

DaCloner wrote:

Do you have a rental car? That will make things a lot easier, otherwise running up it in Brooklyn Center/Park area won't be that great.

Look into Elm Creek, it is close to you, lots of trails that are used for skiing in the winter.

I do not have a rental car, sadly. Elm Creek looks pretty awesome, though it would take 5.5 miles just to get there. But I think I'll give this a try and put in a longer run of 16-18 one morning. Thanks for the tip.

I've been looking forward to visiting and running Minneapolis for a while, but it looks like I'll only get a limited experience of the city this time. I do appreciate the input, though, and thank you all for it.

It's good you're getting some decent input. As a SW-sider, I was glad to be reminded the Luce Line is accessible, esp. for OP's planned long run.

Here is City of Plymouth's trail map (warning-- 17+ mb file)

http://plymouthmn.gov/index.aspx?page=109