Best running cities in US

Lol. No.

Houston is way better than people realize only if you're a hobby jogger and like: Stifling Heat, Humitity and Tropical Dew Points the majority of the year. Running on the flat concrete trails all over the bayou networks and master planned communities. Or endless loops around the 2.9 mile Memorial Park loop dodging oblivious dog walkers and people walking side by side.

old el paso salsa wrote:

NY CITY???

Are you kidding?

Yes, there is culture, yes there are jobs? Yes there is diversity.

But, you pay an arm and a leg to live there, need to work many hours which leaves less time to train.

There is smog all the time.

There is Central Park, how often can you run there before you get sick of it. The crowds in CP are ridiculous and a bunch of A-holes to boot.

If you own a car, how much do you have to pay to park it? Grocery stores are expensive, restaurants are expensive, culture is expensive. This is not a place to live to train, that is crazy.

The question wasn’t which city is the best to live to train. What’s a “running city” anyway?

If you choose the place you live based on the running of course you won’t choose NYC. You’d pick Boulder or CA or NM probably.

If you pick a city based on enjoying living a city life and having a job and running has a hobby, then NYC has a lot to offer (and it’s not like every metro area is so incredibly cheap by comparison).

I fully intend to relocate to the nearby Asheville, North Carolina area once I am ready to semi-retire. Most of the benefits mentioned above, but with a bit more of a city with very solid restaurants, lots of breweries, a fair amount of diversity and a bit of culture with a good live music and nightlife scene. It is quite a bit more politically liberal than I identify with, but I can live on the outskirts and enjoy the rest of it without that being a big deal - plus, that diversity of viewpoints may really be a benefit.

Who are these people who believe that there is a lot of "diversity" in these huge left wing enclaves where virtually everyone thinks and votes the same?

John Utah wrote:

Cougar Country wrote:

You would know John Utah.

Nope. John Utah is a character from the movie Point Break. Not Mormon, not from Utah.

It's not "John" Utah....it's "Johnny" Utah. The film makes that pretty clear - he's never once referenced as "John" Utah. ?

Since there's probably a million Mormon guys named "John" from the State of Utah, your call sign fit the bill.

Tell It Like It Is wrote:

John Utah wrote:

Nope. John Utah is a character from the movie Point Break. Not Mormon, not from Utah.

It's not "John" Utah....it's "Johnny" Utah. The film makes that pretty clear - he's never once referenced as "John" Utah. ?

Since there's probably a million Mormon guys named "John" from the State of Utah, your call sign fit the bill.

AAAAAAhahahahahahaha John Utah is a closet Mormon lover.

run with the wom wrote:

Surf City wrote:

Huntington Beach. Great weather year round, great girls year round.

Running in southern california is pretty nice. Beach / ocean front runs on the weekends. Palos Verdes for hills. Mission Viejo is good.

Brenda Martinez shows how to do it living up in Lake Arrowhead/Big Bear (wherever she has her home) and then commuting down to train low.

Also have to put in a word for Santa Barbara.

Lots of races of all kinds.

Brenda Martinez must be learning her keen 800 tactics by all that SoCal commuting.

....Now it all makes sense.

I guess the question really is, what does the word diversity mean to you?

I think you are focused on political affiliation. I would suggest that if you live 30 minutes outside of Asheville in Henderson County, you will be living among the 61% of the population that voted for President Trump. If you live in Buncombe County in which Asheville is located, you will be living among the 54% of the population that voted for Hillary Clinton (with 40% voting for President Trump). Hardly uniform, so I would think this might satisfy your standard of diversity.

I would suggest that you can also view diversity in ways other than by way of political affiliation. Asheville is very liberal, but it also has a broad cross section of people of different socioeconomic statuses. It has a relatively racially diverse population with roughly 78% of its population being white, roughly 18% of its population being black and the rest being "other." It also has a variety of ethnic restaurants. Its population spans the entire age range relatively evenly.

txRUNNERgirl wrote:

affaaf wrote:

Boston easily in the top 3. Huge running vibe everywhere in the city. It played a major role in the running boom with the likes of Rogers, Salazar, Joan Benoit-Samuelson and now with Shalane. Boston Marathon, too.

Umm...ever heard of winter?

yeah and we have 3 banked indoor tracks (2 world class ) ( RLC, BU, Harvard ) and we also umm f*cking deal with it

I wish I was more into running when I lived there. There's definitely amazing trail running all through the area and some amazing spots to cool off after a long run such as Stone Mountain Falls. And yes, great beer and solid food which is a prerequisite for a running locale. Unless it's changed though I don't recall many in town options for getting off the pavement without being on single track and I'm not sure how much I'd want to run the side of the country roads.

I am actually driving up for a long weekend this weekend and am going to try to stop in Hendersonville as that looks like a promising prospect - good schools, backs up onto national forest so maybe a little closer to some trails for running (I see lots of trails that are 10 to 30 minute drives from Hendersonville when you search AllTrails), a bit more affordable than Asheville proper, but still close enough (30 minute drive) to be able to go into Asheville for dinner on a Friday night.

I didn't run there last trip, but I understand the arboretum or whatever it is called is a pretty great place to run.

Hendersonville is a great area. Close enough to town like you said and then you have Brevard and the Pisgah Forest not too far which have some great trails and spots for cooling off in the water in the summer. Arboretum is good for running, I usually stop in there when I go back to visit. If you head over to Swannanoa there's a good maintained trail system running through Warren Wilson College. Not something I'd drive to from Hendersonville but if you're in the area or just feel like checking it out it's pretty cool running by the river.

San Luis Obispo, California

back to definitions wrote:

The topic is BEST running city. Not whether you can run in the winter if you are "man enough" or can avoid the heat and humidity of Houston by running before dawn in the summer. You can run in any city, but that doesn't make it the BEST running city.

The best running city would have mild temperatures year-round, moderate humidity, and good places to run. You should be able to run any time of day in shorts.

That leaves San Diego, the Bay area, and lots of California along the coast and excludes places with snow, ice, high humidity and high heat for part of the year.

Thank you, that’s what I have been trying to say!

Kennekuk Jack wrote:

Thanks a lot for the info! Boone was actually one of the towns that came to mind because of its elevation, but I didn't know anything else about it. I'd love to move to somewhere with better running weather (Illinois winters suck the life out of me) and nice country roads or trails, but I doubt my wife would go for it.

Also forgot the Virginia Creeper Trail - about 1 hour from Boone but another great (albeit swarmed with mountain bikers) trail. Roanoke and Asheville are the biggest two cities in the Blue Ridge but are at lower elevation and approach more of a typical humid-subtropical climate. I'm not as familiar with Roanoke but Asheville has a strong running community and trails, just avoid jaywalking there ;)

Lived in a lot of places.

Visited a lot of places, ran while there.

Rankings for places I've spent enough time to know:

1. San Diego CA

2. Madison WI (only below SD because of winter)

3. Eugene OR

4. Beaverton OR (Portland itself is actually not that great for places to run, although the running culture is the best in the US. Beaverton ranking assumes access to Nike campus).

After that, any number of places have good running. Chicago has the lakefront. Palo Alto has the bay trails. Boston has the Charles and the reservoir. Columbus OH has the Olentangy trail, Highbanks, and Antrim. Seattle has nice places and nice weather (admittedly better trails in some of suburbs on the other side of Lake Washington (e.g. Kirkland). Tallahassee has some impressive trails outside the city. Pittsburg has some nice (albeit very hilly) trails. I've never been to Boulder, NM, northern Arizona, or Utah, but they probably belong up on the above list as well.

I have no idea why any real runner would purposefully live in LA or NYC unless they are forced to, although I suppose the Bronx has the one nice park.

Chicago s lakefront, except in the winter.

Houston hal wrote:

Definitely Houston in top 3...lots of nice trails and very comfortable temps throughout the year.

2nd that. Memorial park is the most visited running trail in the US. Allen pkw is great also. Nothing like a "cold" 50-60 deg winter day of running!