I'm looking for some good places to run in downtown or eastern columbus, ohio...parks, trails, other nice routes... anything to avoid peak rush hour traffic on I-270 & 161.
Thanks! Any input is much appreciated.
I'm looking for some good places to run in downtown or eastern columbus, ohio...parks, trails, other nice routes... anything to avoid peak rush hour traffic on I-270 & 161.
Thanks! Any input is much appreciated.
Person Man wrote:
I'm looking for some good places to run in downtown or eastern columbus, ohio...parks, trails, other nice routes... anything to avoid peak rush hour traffic on I-270 & 161.
Thanks! Any input is much appreciated.
You came to the right place. Working your way west, you have 2 options: Blacklick or Sharon Woods. Both have running trails. Gonig in downtown, you have the infamous bike trail. It runs all the way along Rt. 315 and extends from North Broadway north past Rt. 161 to I-270. The best is Highbanks, which is about 2 miles north of I-270 on Rt. 23. It is about 3 miles north of I-270 on the left just before Powell Rd.
Directions to Blacklick is easy, it is on the north side of I-70 at Brice Rd. Sharon Woods is on Rt. 3 on the left just north of I-270 in Westerville. The Columbus bike trail is accessed anywhere, from North Broadway all the way north to Rt. 161. You must access it on Olentangy River Road, not Rt. 315. Or you can park at the park on the south end off North Broadway. It parallels Rt. 315.
If you are adventerous, I also challenge you to run side roads between Pataskala and Newark, or even farther east, between Newark and Frazeburg. Beautiful country.
There is the biketrail from Johnstown to Granville, the prettiest section is Alexandria to Granville.
Blendon Woods is small, but nice - there is an extra 2 mile section of cross country ski trails in the back, total 4 mile loop which can be fully repeated or in sections.
legally blond wrote:
There is the biketrail from Johnstown to Granville, the prettiest section is Alexandria to Granville.
Blendon Woods is small, but nice - there is an extra 2 mile section of cross country ski trails in the back, total 4 mile loop which can be fully repeated or in sections.
I've heard of that. Where does it start and end and how long is it? Thanks.
The biketrail starts behind the school in Johnstown, and you can pick it up in Alexandria off Raccoon Valley Road and head towards Granville (east). It runs all the way to Cherry Valley Road in Newark and now it connect to another path that runs to OSU Newark - which connects to another path that runs through Newark.
Best section is Alexandria through Granville and even prettier is the final 3 miles to Cherry Valley - all wooded on both sides. There are markings for every 1/4 mile.
One of the most beautiful track facilities in the country as well!
Person Man,
I second Highbanks as being the best metro park in the area. Great trails there.
Sharon Woods is nice too. The main trail there is a decently hilly bike trail (therefore paved) that is a 3.8 mile loop. Not a bad little run, and good portions of it are shaded which is nice on those hot sunny days.
The 315 bike trail though is great for long runs. I do almost all runs over 10 miles on it. You can pick it up several places, but I usually start behind Thomas Worthington High School. Nice bike path.
Now as far as racing goes, Central Ohio sucks (except for the Columbus marathon - it's very good). Stay away from any race put on by Ultrafit-USA. From them, expect award medals to top 50 finishers (puke), many times NO finish results!, bad courses, high prices and on and on.
Travel a bit away from Columbus to race - Athens Marathon and Half Marathon, small 5k races away from Columbus.
Good luck with the running.
Wow flag small dick willy you are so wise. The 315 running trails suck. There are so many fat soccer moms and old people on the trails it is really hard to run. If you want a good run highbanks is the place to be.
Racing in Columbus is awful, I will agree with you on that. There are so many race director's who are trying to make a buck that the quality of the races have gone down hill.
FAT AND LAZY wrote:
Wow flag small dick willy you are so wise. The 315 running trails suck. There are so many fat soccer moms and old people on the trails it is really hard to run. If you want a good run highbanks is the place to be.
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was that necessary?
everytime i go out to run at highbanks, i seem to get lost. Such a big park, and so many trails....
FAT AND LAZY wrote:
Wow flag small dick willy you are so wise. The 315 running trails suck. There are so many fat soccer moms and old people on the trails it is really hard to run.
Are you kidding? Start at a major entry point and once you get even just 1.5 miles away, there's hardly anyone there. Most of those "fat soccer moms and old people" don't want to go further than 3 miles total (so 1.5 miles out and then back). I've run 15 miles on that trail before when I hardly saw anyone. I actually run into more people at Highbanks because those trails all loop and have many access points. Highbanks is still great though.
Best thing about highbanks, No Dogs Allowed on the trails, with the exception of one small loop. I went riding at Antrum with one of my buddies and on two seperate occasions he was knocked off his bike by some big retarded dog. I thought it was funny, as long as it doesn't happen to me.
Dogs are definitely a problem at Antrim, but I had more trouble with people on bikes than mallwalkers with dogs on the 315 trail. Besides, once you get south of Antrim, the traffic drops significantly anyway.
The Licking County bike path is still one of the best. Great trail for shade.
It is a little out of the way, but Slate Run Metro Park has great trails, too. Have ran there several time and no dogs either.
If you make your way north Delaware State Park has some great trails. They get a little flooded after it rains. There are also restrooms and water fountains along the way.
Maybe everyone posting should get together and meet at a park and we will decide, as a group, which place is the best to run at.
URL for all the Metroparks in the Columbus Area. Hope it helps.
Nice map.
One park it doesn't include is the Columbus Park of Roses on high street in Clintonville (just south of Worthington). The aforementioned 315 bike trail can be picked up there, or you can just run around the park if you're going for a shorter run.
The bike trail in Johnstown does not start behind the school, but beside the mill. It would be hard to find for anyone not from there. Stop at the Citgo at the intersection of 37 and 62 and they will tell you were to find it or take a right at the Citgo intersection going east on 37. Then at the second light take a left. Take this road until it deadends at the mill make a right there and that it the parking lot. You will be parking by some run down buildings that house a builder or excavater or something. Don't worry they look rough, but are freindly.
I have run the Columbus 10K in June in the past and it is also an excellent race.
Here is a great site for the Olentangy Bike Trail (entire trail with photos).