Best Place to Train in the US of A

Bismark, South Dakota.

No one asked you

portland

As a non-professional runner, here's my criteria:

Wherever I can find a decent job.

Live or work close to a flat, off-road trail (paved or gravel). (Or a flat road w/o any stop lights or very many cars.)

Live in a warm weather climate.

Live/work close to a gym with a large indoor track and deep water pool.

Work at a place that has a shower, so I can run to work or over lunch.

Comments...

Don't underestimate the benefit of being able to leave your front door and start a long, fast run without fear of cars or stoplights. If this route is flat, even better!

I've settled on a job at the University of Texas at Austin. The trail around Lady Bird Lake is great. I can run to or from work if I want. The rec center has a deep water indoor pool in case I get injured. There's plenty of road races around central Texas. The Barton Creek Greenbelt trail is centrally located if I prefer rugged trail running.

Thanks! The only solid answer thus far

the south is too humid to train all year

Anywhere in Marin County

then So Cal. That's the place for sports.

yay area

Coastal California (though that's expensive), almost anywhere in the Northwest, eastern Colorado, and the Salt Lake City area would probably be my choices (west of the Mississippi). Don't know enough about the east coast to point out any good spots there, but I would think the Northeast would probably be the best place to look over there.

I currently am living in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Great weather, trails, altitude, and tons of people to run with. I tried Boulder and Alamosa but neither of those really seemed right. The thing with Albuquerque is that you need to try to get a place in the northeast if possible.. Preferably near the foothills.

Olympiad wrote:

I currently am living in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Great weather, trails, altitude, and tons of people to run with. I tried Boulder and Alamosa but neither of those really seemed right. The thing with Albuquerque is that you need to try to get a place in the northeast if possible.. Preferably near the foothills.

Albuquerque is a good one, too, I should have mentioned it (never been there, but heard it's pretty nice).

go to any town that is about 7,000feet, that will help you to get in shape, but do your long run's at about 9,000feet and do some speedworks at about 5,500feet, do speedworks every 5day's and a long run once a week. pagosa springs is 7,000ft, flagstaff is 7,000ft, alamosa is 7,544ft. it's up to you if you go to calif then try lake tahoe 7,000ft also.

big bear is 6,500ft but the area is to small to train, i spend 7day's in big bear and it was hard to find new trials, since i run two times per day. abq n.mex is about 5,900ft at tram way but you can run up to 6,500ft in the foothills.

hope that this can help you.

Columbia, MO - perhaps the best, and certainly the most underrated

Great weather year round, this winter being an exception. Plenty of great trails and you can find any terrain you want. I have been all over the country, from Eugene to Austin to Boulder to Flagstaff, and nothing quite compares.

I also hear there is a training group starting up here soon...