What US city is the worst for running?

Running in NYC would be vastly improved with the following:

--Razing and tunnel-fying Ocean Parkway from Prospect Park to Coney and turning it into a greenway replete with whitetail deer

--Banning all vehicular traffic from Prospect Park

--Building a pedestrian way across the Verrzano

--Imprisoning anyone who wears tights when it's over 40 degrees

Nashville, TN

For being a small to mid size city it is a hardscape nightmare. You have to venture out a few miles to get to an urban park. Humidity is so nasty 75% of the year you can barely breathe...an if it wasn't for all the coed and cougar hotties in this southern city, I don't know what I'd do.

Pittsburgh or Philly

PAitis wrote:

Pittsburgh or Philly

Have you even been to either? Both have excellent running.

Branson, MO

fffdddsssddd wrote:

Northern Virginia is pretty garbage. Richest counties in the country and most major intersections don't have a crosswalk. What a joke. Better get ready to drive somewhere to do every single run.

I guess it depends on where in Northern VA, but I lived in DC for a while and loved the running options. I frequently ran in Northern VA: Mt Vernon Trail, W&OD Trail, Custis Trail and a few others... although a lot can be paved, there are solid sections that are not (or at least lead to unpaved trails).

I think DC is a great running city.

If you're in like Potomac or something, I can see where it would be bad, but I think most suburbs are pretty terrible for running with 1 mile neighborhoods off of major exchanges that are unrunnable.

Um, Detroit MI (in my experience).

common wealth ain't common wrote:

Running in NYC would be vastly improved with the following:

--Razing and tunnel-fying Ocean Parkway from Prospect Park to Coney and turning it into a greenway replete with whitetail deer

--Banning all vehicular traffic from Prospect Park

--Building a pedestrian way across the Verrzano

--Imprisoning anyone who wears tights when it's over 40 degrees

+5

Also

-improving the east river greenway and building an actual queens-Brooklyn waterfront greenway

-banning vehicular traffic from central park

Memphis was pretty bad when I visited there

5stringer wrote:

Nashville, TN

For being a small to mid size city it is a hardscape nightmare. You have to venture out a few miles to get to an urban park. Humidity is so nasty 75% of the year you can barely breathe...an if it wasn't for all the coed and cougar hotties in this southern city, I don't know what I'd do.

There's about 30 miles of green way to run on, free of traffic. That helps, but the heat is a major draw back for sure. You can end up running in hot weather well into October and as early as April.

Back to running wrote:

Memphis was pretty bad when I visited there

The reason Memphis is the worst city for running is because Memphis is the worst city for EVERYTHING!!

dc is the best real actual city, not suburb or greater area.... tons of single track trails throughout. The rock creek network of trails go through backyards, under apartment buildings, through parks, and universities...I think you can run from one side to the other only hitting trails .

kkanderson wrote:

Branson, MO

Branson's a challenge but not terrible. Like the guy said about Chicago (I'll bet I'm the first person to ever use Branson and Chicago in the same sentence). you have to get up early to avoid the traffic but you can get some killer hills OR there's a flat trail on the riverfront that I've used for a tempo. There's also wooded trails just south of town across the dam.

Boulder Colorado... panhandlers, mountain lions, crazy drivers,rattlers, shifting dirt in the mountains and weather that will change on a dime.

Denver is better.

Mr. Obvious wrote:

I thought this board had long since established that Gary, IN was the worst US city for just about everything. Can't imagine going for a run in Gary.

I spent a few years running over 70 miles a week in Gary.

Admittedly there are parts of town that are less than ideal for running. We used to run through those when we wanted to do some adrenaline fueled fartlek.

The Miller Beach area of Gary is fantastic for running. Six miles of uninterrupted Lake Michigan beach. Numerous trails of all types as part of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Low traffic street. Unlike NYC where there are people everywhere, you won't see many other people out there.

Every larger city may at first appear terrible for running, especially if you just pass through. So it is with Gary if you just drive through on I-80.

Hammond, IN is right next to Gary and has even fewer great places to run than Gary. That did not seem to hurt Chapa, Pinkowski and Keough too much (all sub 9 for 2 miles in HS.

Its not where you run but how you run.

Mr. Obvious wrote:

I thought this board had long since established that Gary, IN was the worst US city for just about everything. Can't imagine going for a run in Gary.

I'm from the area just south of Gary & take the train from the downtown 'Metro Station' for the commuter train to Chicago. In HS, my friends and I joked about having a 5 miler straight down Broadway from the US Steel entrance to the city limits. Fastest race in Lake Co! I wouldn't run many places through Gary if you're white (I am). But there's a section called Miller Beach that makes this far from worst city for running. Cool old lakefront neighborhood that is cut off from the rest of the city. And there are some decent paths and a few big parks.

I travel for work in the midwest & gulf coast and second Orlando & Miami though. Add Atlanta to the list too. Always humid, no large parks, or paths that I have found. Mostly just choking down exhaust along busy roads, or guessing if the neighborhood on the left is the hood.

Barrow AK.

Never mind the cold, but watch out for the occasional polar bear, wild snowmobiles and locals who don't respect folks running around in shorts/jogging pants!

Miami is awful.

no more tards wrote:

I'll start with New York. Despite there being a lot of runners and a good elite community, this place blows for actual training unless you want to run endless loops around Central and Prospect Park for the rest of your life.

I would say all of them. USA is not that friendly to anyone who isn't in a car. But beyond that you gotta start with the big ones... ABQ, Boulder, Flagstaff....gotta list Bozeman MT... lots of trails(bring the bear spray!!) I would say NY is fine as well (central park, VCP, Rockafeller state park, prospect park and West side highway path off the top of my head.