Canada Girl wrote:
Edmonton does have a much more beautiful skyline in Calgary, and as far as running goes, it's not even close.... I've run in almost every major city in Canada and the US and Western Europe, and the only one that even comes close to running in Edmonton ( hundreds of miles of trails and paved bike paths along the river or otherwise) is MAYBE Vancouver....
But try training through the winter for a Spring marathon....6 months of inhospitable temperatures, snow, ice, the DARK....doing 20 milers on the TM is a way of life for a lot of marathon runners in Edmonton.
I've run the river valley in Edmonton a bunch (when visiting a previous gf who lives there) and I did really like it.... but, sorry, it has nothing on any number of trails throughout the lower mainland (Vancouver and area) and for sure nothing even close to the trails in North Vancouver. You'll get rained on in Vancouver, but it's easy to dress for that and is a hell of a lot better than running in the Edmonton Winter. Oh yeah, and in summer, running in the forest North Van, there are no mosquitoes.
And, just in terms of just Alberta - I found Canmore to be a much more beautiful place to run than the river valley.