NJ is easily among the best five states for soccer. Every decade the most important players seen to come from New Jersey. Today we have Tim Howard and Jozy ALtimore.
As for distance running New Jersey did have Marty L. who was ranked number one in the world in 1971
Running Alta & Brighton is like running thru a loose rock quarry in Bedrock. No vegetation or trees whatsoever. Unparalled? That in itself is a joke. And what do the "Silly Mor(m)ons have to do with anything? A couple of days running in Oregon's Forest Park (which I do regularly) are more pleasant that all trails in Utah combined. Ever been to Oregon?
Raptured wrote:
I hope that's a joke. Yeah, yeah, you can't get to a running store on Sunday, but for those of us who are well prepared, we don't find ourselves in sudden need of something that can't wait a day. Most races are on Saturday, but how is that a bad thing? Saturday and Sunday are pretty equal days to race IMO. As for the trails, I have spent a lot of time in quite a few states and raced trail races in many different states (UT, CA, CO, ID, MN, VA, MD, TX, SD, AZ, WA, etc) and the trails here are simply unparalleled. I took a Colorado trail runner up Neff's Canyon a few weeks ago and his quote from the peak was "Wow, this is way better than Colorado." Oh, and he lives in Boulder. Yes, we have silly Mor(m)ons, but our trails are the best in the country. Try running some Alta/Brighton loops and telling me otherwise.
Northern Arizona is the best running location in country, although I do not think the rest of Arizona is that great (too hot)
I lived in Missouri the first 36 years of my life and have lived in Florida the last 3. Florida sucks for distance running. It's 85-95 and humid 9 months of the year! Where I am at in Lakeland it is flat as a pancake and no trails to speak of. I miss the fall and spring in Missouri, the hills, and the trails.
Lived in or travel too just about all of the states mentioned and PA/NY/NJ should always be on any top-10 list. Perhaps I am misunderstanding the OP's criteria, but when I think of all the things that are important to runners, you have to include these states. Obviously if the main focus is wheather, CA wins hands down, but in terms of clubs, events, level of competition (H.S., College, Open) producing great athletes, trails, running community, tradition, etc.
Maine may make the list. The weather here is very good April-October, with temps rarely getting above 90-95 degrees. Also, being a state that with 25 times fewer people than California, we have had 5 people break 4:00 in the mile. Did I mention that Joan Benoit is a "Mainah"?
Let's rehash this thread. I'm from NJ, and we are just getting out of a deep thread. At least where I am, there are no trails worth mentioning, but there is a very active running community on all levels in my county. The weather here is only nice in the fall though, the rest of it is too hot or too cold. And lately, we've had no spring. It goes from 30 degrees to 80 degrees in a weak time. We also have some great athletes from this state. I'd probably put NJ in the top 20, maybe top 15.
via GIPHY
TheShane wrote:
im from massachusetts and theres nowhere to run
I'm from Massachusetts and run on trails every day.
Hopefully this data formats well.
USTFCCCA posted the # of qualifiers / state for Division 1 nationals. I took the amount of people in each state per the amount of qualifiers. I adjusted the qualifiers +0.5 to try and make it more reliable for states with very low amounts of qualifiers.
Sorted from best states to worst states.
State Population Qualifiers People/Q Q+0.5 People/(Q+0.5)
Utah 3,200,000 35 91428.57 35.5 90,141
Montana 1,100,000 9 122222.22 9.5 115,789
Wyoming 600,000 4 150000.00 4.5 133,333
Rhode Island 1,100,000 5 220000.00 5.5 200,000
Oregon 4,200,000 19 221052.63 19.5 215,385
Colorado 5,700,000 24 237500.00 24.5 232,653
Indiana 6,700,000 24 279166.67 24.5 273,469
District of Columbia 700,000 2 350000.00 2.5 280,000
Washington 7,500,000 24 312500.00 24.5 306,122
Virginia 8,500,000 27 314814.81 27.5 309,091
North Dakota 800,000 2 400000.00 2.5 320,000
Idaho 1,800,000 5 360000.00 5.5 327,273
Michigan 10,000,000 30 333333.33 30.5 327,869
Connecticut 3,600,000 10 360000.00 10.5 342,857
Minnesota 5,600,000 15 373333.33 15.5 361,290
Wisconsin 5,800,000 15 386666.67 15.5 374,194
Illinois 12,700,000 33 384848.48 33.5 379,104
Ohio 11,700,000 29 403448.28 29.5 396,610
Deleware 1,000,000 2 500000.00 2.5 400,000
Vermont 600,000 1 600000.00 1.5 400,000
Nebraska 1,900,000 4 475000.00 4.5 422,222
Iowa 3,200,000 7 457142.86 7.5 426,667
Pennsylvania 12,800,000 29 441379.31 29.5 433,898
New Jersey 8,900,000 19 468421.05 19.5 456,410
New Mexico 2,100,000 4 525000.00 4.5 466,667
Alaska 700,000 1 700000.00 1.5 466,667
Tennessee 6,800,000 14 485714.29 14.5 468,966
Kansas 2,900,000 5 580000.00 5.5 527,273
New Hampshire 1,400,000 2 700000.00 2.5 560,000
North Carolina 10,400,000 17 611764.71 17.5 594,286
South Dakota 900,000 1 900000.00 1.5 600,000
Texas 28,700,000 45 637777.78 45.5 630,769
Missouri 6,100,000 9 677777.78 9.5 642,105
New York 19,500,000 28 696428.57 28.5 684,211
Oklahoma 3,900,000 5 780000.00 5.5 709,091
California 39,600,000 47 842553.19 47.5 833,684
Maine 1,300,000 1 1300000.00 1.5 866,667
Hawaii 1,400,000 1 1400000.00 1.5 933,333
Massachusetts 6,900,000 6 1150000.00 6.5 1,061,538
Arizona 7,200,000 6 1200000.00 6.5 1,107,692
Maryland 6,000,000 4 1500000.00 4.5 1,333,333
Alabama 4,900,000 3 1633333.33 3.5 1,400,000
South Carolina 5,100,000 3 1700000.00 3.5 1,457,143
Florida 21,300,000 14 1521428.57 14.5 1,468,966
Georgia 10,500,000 6 1750000.00 6.5 1,615,385
Kentucky 4,500,000 2 2250000.00 2.5 1,800,000
Arkansas 3,000,000 1 3000000.00 1.5 2,000,000
West Virginia 1,800,000 #DIV/0! 0.5 3,600,000
Nevada 3,000,000 #DIV/0! 0.5 6,000,000
Mississippi 3,000,000 #DIV/0! 0.5 6,000,000
Puerto Pico 3,200,000 #DIV/0! 0.5 6,400,000
Louisiana 4,700,000 0 #DIV/0! 0.5 9,400,000
1. California
2. Oregon
3. Colorado
4. Utah
5. Texas
6. Illinois
7. Ohio
8. Indiana
9. New Jersey
10. New York
Oregon Duckzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz wrote:
3 of the last 5 Americans to place at a major marathon are from Los Angeles: Meb, Deena, and Ryan.
You got that right. Meb, Deena, and Ryan are our L.A. kids.
1,000 of great runners are from L.A. and SoCal. Jordan Hasay, Steve Scott, Billy Nelson, Ruth Wysocki, Marion Jones, Allyson Felix, A.J Acosta, Lauren Fleshman, .... they keep being born and raised in L.A. and SoCal.....
When you consider the metro area is bigger than most states, it's not very impressive of a list.
Everyone is sleeping on Utah but trails hold a lot of value for me these days.
These lists are always dumb. Only the tiniest states can absolutely be ranked like this. No one is driving from SoCal to Arcata. So Cal on the coast is great for running, but just 20-30 miles inland can suck. The Woodlands are great for running but Dallas blows - how do you rank texas with this, etc.
RIP: D3 All-American Frank Csorba - who ran 13:56 in March - dead
RENATO can you talk about the preparation of Emile Cairess 2:06
Running for Bowerman Track Club used to be cool now its embarrassing
Great interview with Steve Cram - says Jakob has no chance of WRs this year
Hats off to my dad. He just ran a 1:42 Half Marathon and turns 75 in 2 months!