Smallest loop you've run

That's my answer. In 2013 I joined a local gym that had a 15 lap to a mile type of track so I could run in the winter, but after a few 5 mile runs on it I decided that I didn't like it and never tried again.

I've done 30km runs on a 700 meter loop in the neighborhood before, so not the smallest loop, but doing it so many times was an experience.

~1/2 mile loop in Chicago every now & then for some easy run days just to avoid cars

Back when I was in rehab I ran around a basketball court for roughly an hour, couldn't tell you how far I was going as GPS watches were considered contraband.

One time in HS I did a run in a friend's back yard - just back and forth for about 25 minutes with a different friend (who I had a crush on) watching. It was only about 8 strides in each direction IIRC, and I was also barefoot since I had only brought sandals. I counted laps (well into the hundreds) and number of strides/breaths for the current lap to keep occupied, though these latter two were always the same.

Another time in HS I was going through a phase where I tried to run only on soft surfaces (shin splints maybe?), and I was at my grandparents' house in a development complex that was just concrete as far as the eye could see. I found a little water retention pond that was like 100 feet around of uneven grass and did loops there for like half an hour before giving up.

Once in college a friend convinced me to do 17 laps around a 0.9 mile loop for our long run, just to say we did.

And of course I've done my share of 15 mile long runs on the 200m indoor track when it snowed, like all the distance guys. But a teammate had us all beat - he once shoveled 100m of the outdoor track and just ran back and forth for a couple of hours.

Not running, but nordic skiing. I have a small horse pasture that I made a little loop of pseudo-groomed trail on with snowshoes and a weighted sled. Took me probably 45 minutes of walking around the loop with the sled to get it nice and firm (over a mile of pulling the sled). The next couple of days, I was able to do 2-3 mile skate skis in my own yard. It was something like 11 or 12 loops per mile. My favorite part is you can distinctly see the loop on Strava Heat Maps

When tracks were closed during 2020 and early 2021, I would do some workouts on a ~200m dirt loop. It was part of a larger 1/3 mile figure 8 loop but the top of the 8 was the only part I found close to a track distance. I did a ladder workout of 1600, 1200, 800, 400 with 800 jog between the 16 and 12 and 400 jog between the 8 and 4. Truly awful as it was dark and the track wasn't even.

A few of us on my high school team did 100 laps running the bases once. It was awful and stupid

In high school there were tornadoes in the region and I had a workout the next day; I did a 60 minute run around our two car garage...laps...there was a TV and Mrs. Doubtfire was on, watching that was the only thing that kept me entertained.

I ended up with a bum IT band for about a month after that.

During covid confinement, in an underground garage. Back and forth around 70 m u shaped circuit.

Past 11pm mind you, so i wouldnt encounter anyone. Up to 50 minutes some days.

I'm not sure that tracks should count, but I did 20 miles on a 150 meter indoor track underneath a stadium. There was a blizzard outside, and the track area wasn't heated, so it was pretty cold. The banked turns were like 45 degrees, and very tight, so you had to accelerate into every turn or else they turned into ankle-breakers.

I've also done loops around hotels when I was in places where roads had lots of fast traffic and no shoulders. Those ranged from probably .2 to .6 miles.

I ran for 50 minutes in the Detroit airport in the middle of the night when a flight got delayed and redirected, and my next one wasn't until the morning. It was fun going on the moving walkways.

Over the course of two roughly 6 month deployments to the Mediterranean / Indian Ocean with the Marine Corps, I ran many miles on the flight decks of LPD-15 USS Ponce and LPD-14 USS Trenton, which I think were about 11 laps to the miles ...with continuously reconfigured rolling hills. :)

I used to run on a track that was 7 laps per mile. It was convenient because I often ran miles at a 7:00 pace and so could zone out and know my lap count by just glancing at my watch.

my friend ran like 90 laps on a cruise ship walking track once to do a 10-miler...

i ran for 75 minutes once on a 160m track. no big deal

Seko used to do long runs by running many loops in a park or around a stadium.

I believe that was a 1500 meter loop that his SB team did most of their runs on.

The Hilton Chicago's Athletic Club indoor track is 1/18 mile. I think I ran three miles on it once.

I participated in a strava challenge in nz where on the last day of lockdown we ran a marathon around our houses. In the 4-5 hour range with glitching GPS but it has to be one of the hardest, and coolest things I've done.

I’ve run at airports and once in a Holiday Inn parking lot in Nashville. There were tornadoes in the area and I just needed a run tho.

Great thread!

Shortest loop for short runs: regularly did 30 minutes on a "track" above a university gymnasium (single basketball court). If I recall, it was about 75 meters, around 20 seconds per lap at a jog.

Shortest loops for long runs: have done 2-hour long runs on a 200 meter indoor track.

Winters in Winnipeg! What can I say?