Olympic Trials LA

The closest area I can think of is the Vista Hermosa Natural Park, which is a shade over a mile, northwest, from your hotel.

http://www.modernhiker.com/2015/01/05/hike-vista-hermosa-natural-park/

http://www.lamountains.com/parks.asp?parkid=672

http://www.yelp.com/biz/vista-hermosa-natural-park-los-angeles

Good luck.

Thank you so much!

You might want to do the "l.a. thing" and get in a car and head to san vicente blvd. in Santa Monica/Brentwood.

Yelp puts you at the lowest point right at the intersection of Ocean and San Vicente.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/san-vicente-median-strip-santa-monica

Go East on San Vicente, gently up hill, you can do a lap around the golf course on the Eastern end.

Alternately, you can run along Ocean, South from Yelp's map point.

Be very careful about cars. Drivers own the place and are permanently distracted.

Good luck!

If you have a car, there's a ton of options within 15-20 minute drive.

Griffith Park is probably the easiest bet. You can Park by the Ranger station and either run on the flat trails around the gold course, or else up an into the hills if you want a view and all that (http://www.modernhiker.com/area-maps/griffith-park/).

Another close by option is to run on the Arroyo Seco. It's got a nice trail running along the creek and up past the Rose Bowl and into the San Gabriel Mountains if you're looking for a long run (http://www.ci.pasadena.ca.us/PublicWorks/Arroyo_Trails/).

There are a lot of trails in the Angeles National Forest if you're willing to drive further and want to run a lot of uphill.

I would really like to try all of those places out. I will not be renting a car though, I am going to walk/run/ or rent a bike if it's close enough. If I go anywhere else I'll use bus transportation. I know there's some places to run/hike on Hollywood, anyone know anything about that?

Runn3rGirl123 wrote:

I know there's some places to run/hike on Hollywood, anyone know anything about that?

Nooo. Not really. There's Runyon Canyon Park. There's no mass transit to it. That's a steep climb up and that's it.

Hollywood isn't great for running. At all.

No mass transit directly to Griffith Park either...

This is a wonderful example of the problem with a city Grandfather (McCourt) buying into the Olympics. You are running in an area where there is no running. You are running through LOTS of McCourt projects though!

Maybe Grand Park?

!3m1!4b1!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x80c2c64e08ee24fd:0xebf5893d7caaf0de!2m2!1d-118.2467776!2d34.0563083!1m5!1m1!1s0x80c2c7b4a1c5e0ab:0x6c20ab45bbb761de!2m2!1d-118.2537889!2d34.0493193!3e3

If you are going to run downtown, do it during the day when all the lawyers are milling around downtown. PD keeps a tight lid on the homeless/mentally ill during the day.

The courts and other municipal stuff are nearby to grand park, so only the most benign homeless are hanging around. Just keep moving and you'll be fine.

Take Uber to Griffith Park or ask to get dropped off at A Runner's Circle in Los Feliz. It's a great local running shop and they will help you out. Don't run in downtown.

Address: 3216 Los Feliz Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90039

Phone:(323) 661-8971

Far Out West wrote:

Take Uber to Griffith Park or ask to get dropped off at A Runner's Circle in Los Feliz. It's a great local running shop and they will help you out. Don't run in downtown.

Address: 3216 Los Feliz Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90039

Phone:(323) 661-8971

This is a solid idea. You are right next to some very nice running at Griffith park. Call ahead. I bet they will be happy to find some people to run with you at the park.

Grifith Park is full of underage male gay prostitutes from Texas who turn tricks in the parking lots and inside the forest trees. Beware.

I'll have to try that out. I looked up that park, it looks really nice. I don't plan on running anymore than 5 on Thursday and Friday considering I'm running my first marathon Saturday.

Griffith Park is an amazing place to run but it is very hilly, take it easy heading up to the observatory. You can Lyft (I hate Uber) to the Greek Theater and hike up to the main trail from there.

MM3307 wrote:

Griffith Park is an amazing place to run but it is very hilly, take it easy heading up to the observatory. You can Lyft (I hate Uber) to the Greek Theater and hike up to the main trail from there.

If she runs from the running store on the North side, it is actually pretty flat, on what Google maps calls Crystal Spring Drive and then onto Zoo Drive and turn around at Travel Town. That should be good for uninterrupted running and very pleasant.

The South side you describe is basically running up a hill. The view from the top is great.

Do you know about how far the flat part runs?

I had a nice 1 mile loop around Mar Vista Park in Venice, 3 miles from the Ocean.

Google maps is estimating 4.2 miles from A Runner's Circle to Travel Town Railroad along the L.A. River Bike Path. You can hop over to Zoo drive/Crystal Springs drive if the bike path is too busy. You'll see it easily enough.

Plenty of greenspace to run and a very nice area.

Good luck!

Clarification. Don't use the bike path. It's on the wrong side of the freeway.

This is it.

https://goo.gl/maps/e19o4chS9GB2

Plenty of greenspace to run.

If you go for the Uber idea you can have them put you in on Crystal Springs Drive. (https://www.google.com/maps/place/Griffith+Park/@34.1327225,-118.2797161,17z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x80c2c08d21749ff7:0x4731b4ee89bae4aa)

There's a flat loop around the golf course that is 2.5 miles around. You can extend straight along the free-way side if you'd rather do an out an back.