If you were training for a marathon and had the opportunity to live and train anywhere in the world, where would you go and why? Let's assume you have plenty of money and the cost of living is not a factor in the decision-making. Here are some places that I am considering:
Eugene, OR
Chico, CA
San Luis Obispo, CA
Mammoth Lakes, CA
Flagstaff, AZ
Boulder, CO
New Zeleand
Thank you all for your input!!!!
If money isn't an object, then Boulder, CO, hands down.
JAPAN if you can work out a deal like Morris did. Otherwise, I am not sure. Must have affordable housing, a work schedule that doesn't interfere with training, and great training partners. I once made the mistake of thinking that good runners=good training patners. That was a mistake. You must have quality runners that want training partners. I think Culpepper is a great runner, but not someone that sees an advantage of training partners.
After Jason's big PR, perhaps China should be a destination to consider.
London -- hands down. Especially if money is not a consideration.
Reasonable weather, nice variety of large parks to run in if you want off the roads. Plenty of road races available.
Great city to be in when you aren't training.
Eugene has more reasonable weather than London.
Weather should not be one of your top 3 considerations unless you're a sprinter. 1. Training peers 2. Good Coaching 3. Good work siuation. Make sure that the weather varies and has 4 seasons so that you are prepared to race in several different conditions. Team minnesota,team hansons,and wisonsin racing team all fit the bill.
be serious--not China. Miserable place to live and you can only live comfortably in the cities w/o having to know much english. and the cities are so polluted and congested, there's no place to run.
been there, wont do that again.
Without a doubt:
Lijiang, Dali and Zhongdian, Yunnan Province, PRC CHINA.
I will report to Lijiang (2500metres alt) starting November 13.
ALL ARE WELCOME.
No pollution.
Wide roads with bike lanes.
Less traffic than most American midsize cities.
Cool weather.
Dali is at 2000metres
Zhongdian is 3200 metres.
The Japanese women train exclusively in Kunming, which is polluted, crowded and too much traffic. They are missing out big time.
jason
If you're serious about training anywhere in the world... here are a few places...
US:
Flagstaff, Az
Boulder, Co
Eugene, Or
The Bay Area Cali.
Outside the US:
Nairobi, Kenya (duh)
St. Moritz, Switzerland
London, UK
Some of these have to do with weather...some with altitude... and some a combination of the two...
I have to say (money being no object) that the greater Dan Francisco Area is my favorite place in the world to train. The city is beautiful, Golden Gate Park (countless miles of soft surface), excellent tracks (Keezar is in the park, plus City Cllege and SF State have excellent tracks), Stanford is 45 minutes away, great running clubs, lots of road races and it never gets too hot or too cold.
What about Mammoth Lakes, CA? Does anyone have any details this town? How would this place compare to Flagstaff?
Mammoth is great to look at, there are many, many trails to run and countless hills. The air took me some getting used to, though. It's a very small resort town, so nothing is very far away. I was in a bar one night and ran into Joe Vigil and Bob Larsen and had a very nice conversation with both of them.
I liked it for the time I was there, but I wouldn't want to stay long-term.
#1) Eugene-God Country
#2) Eugene-God Country
#3) Eugene-God Country
Never above 90 in the summer, never ever below around 40 during the day in the winter-rain is a hell of a lot better than snow in Boulder-and it doesn't pourrr here-most of it is a light rain at worst. Plenty of trails-waterproof of course-very light winds most of the time-very little humidity-no mosquitoes, 60 miles to the coast east-60 miles to the mountains west-college town-beautiful views-huge running tradition-the ability to see such athletes like Marla and MS hauling ass along the trails from time to time-what more could anyone ask for. Oh and I almost forgot-THIS IS PRE COUNTRY!
Lots of cold, dreary rain is better than a little snow and a lot of sun? You're right, if you don't have the sack for even the slightest bit of cold, go to Eugene.
Jeez, what was that stuff pouring out of the sky at the NCAA and USA meets last year? That sure wasn't a "light" rain by any means.
Eugene is allergy country.
No sales tax, though. That's nice.
In the Uk, west London is a great place to train. The Kenyans base themselves at Teddington during the European season, there are plenty of tracks, fantastic parks to train in and lots of riverside fotpaths, also a very good running community, among those you could expect to see in Richmond Park/Bushy park, Sonia O'Sullivan, Richard Neurekar, Bob Kennedy, Daniel komen, Noah Ngeny, Sam Haughian etc... only draw backs being high cost of living in the UK, especially lndon, expect to pay around 800/900 dollars a month for very basic accomodation, pluses see above and great flight links anywhere in the world.
in the states of washington, oregon, wyoming, and colorado. any of these are great.
Duluth, MN. Plenty of trails, hills. Affordable. Snow? Don't be a sally.
For non-altitude places in the US, San Luis Obispo, California has my vote, hands down! Great trails, beautiful setting, surrounded by green mountains, 15-20 minutes from the ocean, awesome weather year round, and it seems like a pretty good running community.