Top ten worst and best states to live in as a runner

I have run in many states, and Colorado has been my favorite state to run year round. Sure it has some snow days, but the availability to run year round in Colorado, at least in the Denver Metro, is real. The bicycle paths and Wash Park are usually plowed before anything else, and that makes it easy for me. The hard days for me are summer runs at altitude, but that is just me probably. Arizona has to be the worse state for me, except for Flagstaff.

Massachusetts deserves to be up so high because of BU. If you are looking for a track to run a lifetime PR BU is an easy pick and hosts a ton of meets throughout the indoor season. They even have an all comer Mini Meet so anyone who truly wants to can experience the magic of BU. Mass also has several other banked indoor tracks that host a ton of meets throughout the winter. For indoor track there is literally no better place to be. Its why people fly from all over the WORLD to race at BU.

Based on places I've lived, here are my favorites based on accessibility to tracks, clubs and racing scene.

Massachusetts- I personally prefer the South Shore. A lot of trails and dirt roads. Close enough to drive into Boston to race. Cape Cod has some good races as well. A lot clubs and the grand prix series bring in decent competition. However, it's hard to find a public track to train on.

Oregon- Portland area is great. A lot of public tracks, Duniway, where most folks go in the SW. Wildwood and Leif Erickson are great trails. And plenty of trails to run if you go to the Mt.Hood area or over towards the shore around Seaside and Astoria. A lot of clubs and the race scene is pretty good but has gone downhill a bit in the last 5-10 years. I like the club XC series the lizards put on.

Maryland- Baltimore County and Harford County actually have amazing trails with the Gunpowder and Patapsco state parks. You got the NCR trail as well which is a little softer on your legs and nice to get fast paced long run in on. Decent clubs and races.

Virginia- lived in the VA beach area for a while and loved it. But the weather was pretty dreadful in the summer. Mostly did all my running around First Landing State Park which was great. The Tidewater Striders put on some good races and the VA Beach Marathon weekend has some good races.

New York- obviously the running scene is huge. It's a bit too much for me though with lotteries and races selling out 6 months advance. Central Park is OK in my opinion. I can see why some people may love it and could be #1 but it's just OK for me.

So overall, I think I've lived in pretty good running states and pretty lucky I've never lived in any Midwestern states, although I'm sure there are some hidden gems out there.

Rhode Island

small enough you should know the other 3 runners and y’all can run across it inside a 2hr training run

Are we talking running to run or running to compete? Especially along the rail belt multi use winter trails are put in for snowmobiles, dog sledding, skiers, fat tire bikers and runners and hikers can use them too! The trails are often hard but not as hard as the 'crete. Summer temps are favorable for running and no headlamp needed for that 10pm run Overall I'd put Alaska closer to the top ten best.

I do know what I am talking about, I live in Phoenix.

You didn't address the fact that nearly half the year, the temperature is 100 F.

There are paths along some washes that are well maintained and flat. Phoenix might have 180 miles of "canals", but the city is so large that you still have very few option near you. Plus these trails have 0 shade so are unusable when it is hot out.

No roads in older developments have sidewalks. All of the nonresidential streets are stroads (think 6 lane 45 mph) where it's unsafe to cross at a light even if you have the green. The state is quite poor, so most neighborhoods aren't very good for running in (I don't live in a rich area).

Just look at how terrible ASU and Arizona are at XC to get a feel for how bad the state is for running. Arizona's 5th man was 26:30 and ASU's was 26:10 at Big 12s yesterday despite first being 22:0x

I live in Phoenix too. You must not get out much if that’s your view. What are the major cross streets closest to you? I’ll give you a list good places to run that are nearby.

If you run early in the morning, the summer is tolerable. And this time of year there’s no better place to run.

ASU and UA XC results don’t mean anything about the state, and you conveniently left out NAU. If you want to go by elite runners, then it’s tough to beat Arizona. We all know about Flagstaff. Emily Sisson lives in Scottsdale and Jessica McClain lives in Phoenix.

Hawaii's gotta be on this list. Minimal routes, zero competition, and humid weather year round.

Iowa is probably not top 10 but it’s definitely not bottom 10

Chicagos lakefront path is enough to put Illinois in the top 10 for road running

Montana top 10 for trail running

Western MA is great. Hilly roads with little traffic and hundreds of miles of trails.

I grew up in MA and would say it's mid for running. The temperatures are generally OK for running. The cold winters aren't nearly as bad as they used to be due to global warming. The wind can get intense though by the coast. Last winter I was visiting my family and one day there were gusts up to 83 mph. That was a treadmill day. The hills where I from aren't that bad, but it's pretty difficult to find flat ground, which can make it tough to get into a rhythm during workouts. I can't speak much to the running culture since I grew up in a small town without any run clubs nearby. My high school was too small to have track or XC team, which sucked.

Utah is a stupid choice for #2. Yes, Park City is great for training since it's at altitude, but it's way too expensive for most people. SLC is not a good running town. There's horrible air pollution (inversion in the summer, particle pollution in the winter). The summers are super hot (over 100 degrees almost every day) and the air is bone dry. Winter brings a lot of heavy snow storms, which can make training difficult. It's also only about 4,000 ft up, so you don't get the real benefits of altitude training. I haven't spent much time in Provo, but I think it suffers from the same pollution. Southern Utah is just a desert. It's beautiful, but it's too hot, too dry, and there's no protection from the sun.

I love running in Burlington, Vermont. They have a foot/bike path that goes on for miles and is mostly flat and very scenic. The few times I've visited the Midwest (Chicago, Indianapolis and Madison), I've found great places to run.

I understand putting Texas in the worst states category because of the hot summers, but the running culture is pretty good. Austin has a ton of run clubs, ranging from super casual to pretty serious groups with some sub-elite runners. Also, most years we get a cold front in October or November that kind of shocks you with the first cool whether since March or April. Nothing beats that first run in the cold.

Northern Virginia is pretty darn good for culture and places to run. There's a ton of paved trails around here, and a good amount of running clubs.

Obviously not with MA as #1. NM Should be in the top 10 if weather and trails are key factors.

Massachusetts is the worst state period. Terrible for running. Drivers have tried to kill me there

Taking all factors into account I’d have to say the MA, CT, RI area is easily #1. Dozens of races every weekend to choose from all within an hours drive, airports the same, train travel the same, unbeatable indoor racing season. Unbeatable cross country season. Not too hot in the summer and winters have been fairly mild. Trail running very good, mountain running good, outdoor track good.

Judging by state doesn’t really make much sense. You left out accessibility to running paths or lack of traffic. In a high population area you need a lot of trails or else you’ll be stopping every 30 seconds for cars. In a rural area you could go out the door and start running and never stop once. Terrain also doesn’t matter much. Mountains is the only terrain that would be bad there unless it’s an area with a bunch of trails. Flat ground is not bad for running, you usually have way more running route options because there are more roads and paths in flat terrain due to easier construction. Culture? Why does culture matter. You need someone to cheer you on every time you run? Weather is important. But everywhere has bad parts of the year except probably Southern California. Anyway, bad lists on both sides, I assume OP hasn’t spent much time in most of those places.

FL can’t be in the bottom 10, unless you’re basing it solely on elevation. I have access to >30 miles of paved bike trails from my front door with only 1 main road intersection. Plus you can run 365 days a year outside.

Yes, 130 days or so in a given year are miserably humid, but I’ll take that over snow and temps below freezing.

I found Phoenix to be just fine for running when I visited last October. Had plenty of canal running from my hotel and it was cool in the morning.

Wyoming summer was great running.

I agree it’s hard to rank an entire state, and the list should be more localized besides crazy outliers like Hawaii and Alaska.