Tulsa, OK

I've lived in Tulsa all my life. The weather during the school year is pretty good, though it can get pretty hot at either end. The local running scene is decent with a good amount of road races and a dedicated core group of runners and there are several running shops. There isn't a whole lot to do, but its a nice sized town and, with the new arena going in downtown (and another being built to the south) it should start to attract bigger events. TU is a good school and the campus is in the most interesting part of Tulsa. I don't know what your other options are, but you could do a lot worse than TU.

if you can't find anything to do in tulsa, then you're obviously old or not looking hard enough. there is TONS to do there, from fitness to partying and everything in between. the running scene is outstanding. there are at least three track clubs (tulsa spikes, tulsa track club, jenks track club) that provide coaching and running groups for kids to adult masters. there are also weekly tuesday track sessions on the TU track with another group. there is a great 5k gravel loop around la fortune park, 15 miles of winding trails up on turkey mountain, 14 miles of gravel trail on the river with mile markers in some place every 400m. there is a link to an adfdfitional 4 miles to that 14, but it is a concrete path. there are multiple NICE all weather tracks available for public use...jenks hs, uniuon hs, rogers hs, etc. if you are into road racing, there is usually one every weekend in some form or another. there are also huge hills for repeats...both on grass as well as road...behind springer clinic for a great grass hill...from 100m straught up to 400m behind the hotel there that is 400m and slightly sloping. there is also a place called "golf ball hill" which is right around 600m of thigh blasting incline.

regarding partying...the best part of tulsa is definetly not down by the campus. go over to the brookside district. you will find bars that range from harley wannabes, to old school rock and roll, to yuppies, to hot sorority girls. there are also a few smaller places in far south tulsa that are great- crawpappies, etc.

i have literally lived all over the world, and somehow, i keep coming back to tulsa. the city is clean. the people are kind. restaurants are great.

Whats the weather like in the winter? are the roads good for running, are they hilly?

Lived there till I was 18 (BTW 99), family is still there so I go back often.

Winter ranges from mild to extreme. There is always at least one good hard freeze ala the plains states but it stays in the upper 30s-lower 50s for most of the winter, usually pretty dry (although this year has been insanely wet, so we'll see).

As for hills: hahaha...nope. At first, when I moved to Chicago and came back, I thought there were hills. Then, when I moved to Atlanta, I realised there are very little hills. Lots of flats. You have to look for good hills basically, and when you find them, they are mostly not very steep or long. Lots of good running areas though. Search for my last preachpost on Tulsa re: the milage. The city is planned on a perfect grid so you can figure out your milage in your head insane quick, and the track at TU, WHILE VERY EXPOSED TO NORTH WINDS, is nice and accesible (low fence, haha), and there is another okay track a 1/8th mile east of Campus at Rogers Highschool.

The school is a headscratcher right now. They are building like mad and now actually have more new campus housing than they have students with no plans of upping enrollment. Crime rate there has been high recently but I've heard there is a massive exodus of hispanics because of some new state laws on illegals (I'm not one of those anti illegal people, but alot of the crime in Tulsa has been attributed to this element in the past few years...random stabbings, bar shootings, etc...).

don't even bother listening to the guy above. yes. there are plenty of hills. choose a route between harvard and yale in the neighborhoods between 61st and 91st and you'll find as many hills and as steep as you would ever want. there are steep ones that are way over 10% grade inclines and there are long ones- as aforementioned 600m up golf ball. i had a loop that i ran when i was home from college in the summers every morning that was right at 10 miles and was literally up and down hills the entire time. by the way, don't even think about living near the tu campus. there is cheap housing all over tulsa- apts, condo rentals, and even some brand new loft apts that are amazing. i'm telling you, you will love tulsa. the weather can be fickle- winters can be full on cold with the north wind blowing you down- occasional once a winter snow that is substantial (8" and above)...summers can be very hot as well....just remember that environments like this just make you tougher. good luck in tulsa!

A: Thats an insult to me because I grew up 1/4 of a mile away from TU campus in a perfectly fine neighborhood. South side uppermiddles have this horrible notion of anything north of 21st being "bad" thats just idiotic. North and West of TU are still a bit harry, but he's a college student, why would he want to live all the way out between 61st and 91st like you are suggesting? There is no good north-south highway in Tulsa that isn't either way east in broken arrow or way west on the otherside of the river.

B: I hate to break it to you, but even the hills in south tulsa (save Turkey Mountain) are rolling at best compared to other cities, except maybe around 61st and Sheridan, and even then, it's just one big hill that flattens out quickly. To give you an idea of what I consider a hilly 10 miler:

But yeah, good city, bit slower pace and sadly too fraty at times, but it's alright and the school is very good.

Is there anything to do? Tulsa is several hundred thousand. I'd expect there's a few things to do there. The cross team made nationals this year too, though they finished towards the back (30th?).

All of OK is prettty flat, so don't expect to do any hill training.

OK is also an incredibly conservative state, even on campus. I haven't researched U of Tulsa at all and haven't lived in OK very long though, so don't count on my info too much.

new to the state wrote:

OK is also an incredibly conservative state, even on campus. I haven't researched U of Tulsa at all and haven't lived in OK very long though, so don't count on my info too much.

Don't worry, we wont count on your info or opinion very seriously.

be insulted if you want, little buddy. the last place i would ever want to live is down by TU. that's reality. i grew up in a shitty apartment complex behind what used to be children's medical center, so i am far from an "upper middle class southy". my parents only moved south after my sophmore year of college. further, in no way was i insinuating that this guy should move to the 61st area- read the post. that is where he should train. maybe you should do a little driving tonight? check out the neighborhoods between yale and harvard and 71st and 81st. maybe even go crazy and check some of the hills back in the neighborhood behind forrest creek. 61st and sheridan is weak compared to some of those. it's obvious that you haven't spent much time in that part of tulsa. if you want hills, look for a big freaking white water tower around 75th and harvard and go from there. no offense, but you seriously haven't a clue what you are talking about.

to the other poster, there are definetly plenty of things to do in tulsa....music, bars, festivals, you name it...

Oh, you lived in the shit holes near the Y. I'm sorry for you.

I grew up at 15th and Harvard and it's a perfectly fine neighborhood with far less crime than your own neighborhood. If he's a college student he's not going to have the money to stay in any of the condos or lofts downtown.

Anyway, those still aren't great hills compared to most other cities. REALITY, it's a flat city.

Actually, I'm very familiar with down near Jenks area, but the neighborhoods are hard to navigate; you'd have to drive down there, park, then run loops in apartment, medical center and business park hell.

You seem really condescending and hurt about someone offering differing opinions; could it be that you went to a shithole highschool?

if you're very serious about running, do not go anywhere in oklahoma. the weather is horrible for training, lots of wind, extremely hot + humid summers and the winters are cold + very windy. also, the there arnt many dirt trails if any, so expect lots of road running

Are you a post-collegiate? If so, road racing in Oklahoma, in general, is very very legit. 99.9% of all the races are USATF certified and marked at every kilometer. You will love it.

One word: Riverside. You could have a day where the wind is blowing 40-50 mph. Park your car at halfway, do a 20-30 min. warmup into the wind, turn around, and you can do 6 x mile along the river with the wind at your back (and marked every half mile). Cool down by running back to your car. You can do the same with tempo runs.

Lafortune is perfect for long runs/marathon training cause you can practice taking drinks every 3 miles.

There are hills near downtown/Cherry Street/Utica and also to the South near Jenks (but I don't know how runner friendly these are.... they are hilly by car!).

There are excellent and fairly new (~7 y.o. and some newer) apartments on campus. However, the downside is you have to drive to all the good running spots (although you can run from the campus to Riverside, if you want, but that leaves little time for actually running along Riverside). If you're the type who likes to go out the door for a run, I'd suggest getting an apartment as close as possible to Riverside, and you could easily access hills going towards downtown or Cherry Street. It's a question of: do you want to drive to school every day or drive to go run?

haha! typical BTW tool! so what? i grew up dirt poor? big deal! do you think i care anything about that? am i supposed to be ashamed of that? running paid my way through college. that was my ticket. how much did mommy and daddy fork out for your drunken laden education? seriosuly, dude. on top of that, it doesn't matter were you go to chool- if you want it bad enough, it can be yours. i would bet a very large amount of money that your act was faaar less than my 33. national merit scholar? state champion? you just shot all credibility with that weak last sentence of yours. i can already tell you that i wanted it much more than you.

again, from your statements of "being familiar with the jenks area"...you unveiled your complete lack of knowledge of the areas i am talking about- hard to navigate? what?! running through parking lots? what?! CLUELESS!!! get your butt in the car and run 8 x golfball, then tell me that there are no hills in tulsa. i have lived all over the US since college as a marketing consultant...including your beloved atlanta...the areas i detailed are just as hilly as any other area i have come across...why can't you just accept that you are talking out of your ass? oh, that's right- you're from booker t! get over yourself, toughguy! no one gives a shit about where you went to hs! that should be the last thing on your mind at age 26...on top of that, i can't remember one good runner to EVER come out of btw in anything over 800m. WEAK!!! and again, for the record, you couldn't pay me to live where you grew up! skinny streets, busy traffic, OLD ass houses. as for your cooler than you insinuation about having some money growing up, i would be MORE THAN happy to compare financial statements of where we compare today. thanks for the entertainment! TOOL!

ok roots wrote:

if you're very serious about running, do not go anywhere in oklahoma. the weather is horrible for training, lots of wind, extremely hot + humid summers and the winters are cold + very windy. also, the there arnt many dirt trails if any, so expect lots of road running

OSU didnt do too badly at nationals this year did they?

im new to the area, am enjoying living here and have found plenty of places to run so have no complaints whatsoever.

hornetboy #9, I MADE money going to college with my academics and athletics! remember that when you're sitting in your cubicle tomorrow working that 50k a year nowheresville job. btw? bah! seriously, it's been great after all these years to really be able to stick it to one of you pricks.

well, tulsa is a good running town compared to others in the midwest, but the weather still sucks. and OSU did do very well at nationals, 3rd, but i believe none of their varsity runners came form oklahoma (not sure though)

Ok here is the deal Tulsa is a really cool place to live and train, they have a few clubs around and the Tulsa Runner sponsors a few guys. As a person that would know what is going on in Tulsa there are lots of places to run, just like anywhere else if you want to run you finda places to do it. If you go over to Keystone lake they have miles upon miles of trails. The comment about OSU has absolutely nothing to do with Tulsa. How many schools have people that are actually from that area??? Iona??? Oregon???? You can talk about stuff like that all day, even the University of Tulsa has very few runners from that area. If you look back at the history of OSU then you can see that not many runners came from Oklahoma, in the last few years only like 4 runners on there team have been from Oklahoma and only 2 or 3 have been in there top three. That is a completely ridiculous argument as to why Tulsa is or is not good for running. Tulsa is a great community and there are plenty of things to do for fun, so enjoy!!!!!

do any elites train there? all i'm sayin is that if your very serious about running, you're going to have a hell of a time puttin in 100+ mpw in ok. if you run for fun and dont run a ton of miles, then tulsa is perfect

ok roots wrote:

do any elites train there? all i'm sayin is that if your very serious about running, you're going to have a hell of a time puttin in 100+ mpw in ok. if you run for fun and dont run a ton of miles, then tulsa is perfect

Training in Oklahoma makes you tough. It can be boring and windy as hell, but when it comes time to race anywhere or race anyone, you can be confident that you've put in hard training in much worse conditions.