Are there any Good places to run in the City of Atlanta?

Although it's been many years ago, the best place I found was the area around Emory University. There are miles and miles of old neighborhoods that you can run through with little traffic.

The area near Emory is great. When I was in high school and college, I did a long run that started at the Decatur-Dekalb Y, wound through the streets near Emory (you can get tons of miles just going up and down Clifton, Oakdale, Springdale, etc), and then headed over through Va-Highlands to Piedmont Park, which is itself a pretty good place to run.

If you have transportation, check out Cochran Shoals -- flat 2-mile dirt loop by the Chattahoochee plus a network of trails in the hills above. And Stone Mountain has a five-mile road loop as well as a five-mile trail loop, though you have to pay a bit to get in. (Or you can park in the town of Stone Mtn and run in.)

For those of you saying Emory,keep in mind this sit the deep south we a re talking about, and if the OP is black, running through a prominent white neighborhood could cause trouble.

Denver Runner wrote:

The area near Emory is great. When I was in high school and college, I did a long run that started at the Decatur-Dekalb Y, wound through the streets near Emory (you can get tons of miles just going up and down Clifton, Oakdale, Springdale, etc), and then headed over through Va-Highlands to Piedmont Park, which is itself a pretty good place to run.

If you have transportation, check out Cochran Shoals -- flat 2-mile dirt loop by the Chattahoochee plus a network of trails in the hills above. And Stone Mountain has a five-mile road loop as well as a five-mile trail loop, though you have to pay a bit to get in. (Or you can park in the town of Stone Mtn and run in.)

bump

he'll be fine. I'm black and have lived amongst and run in towns with 90%+ white populations my entire life (in TX). You'll get the occasional cop trailing behind you, bottle thrown from a passing car, or N word shouted at you, but im sure as a black person and runner this is all stuff you already experience. Just dont run at night and stay on main roads.

Lucas wrote:

For those of you saying Emory,keep in mind this sit the deep south we a re talking about, and if the OP is black, running through a prominent white neighborhood could cause trouble.

there are black people all over the emory area

OP, check out Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park and the Chattahoochee River area. Both are good for non-pavement trails. Silver Comet trail is paved but it gets sketchy after a few miles (wild dog attacks and muggings)

Anybody have any experiences with running near Grant park in Atlanta? Is it a loop and what type of mileage can you get there? Its only about 3 miles from where I will be.

You'll be frustrated just trying to navigate through the traffic if you plan on running in the true running areas like hilly parks and the suburban areas with nice trails and footpaths. Not really doable in a timely manner. But good for weekends if you can brave the traffic and have a budget for gas expenses.

Actually, I just looked up Grant Park on YouTube, and its too ghetto to feel safe in.

Grant Park is not ghetto. It is a really nice historic neighborhood that has almost completely gentrified. It was ghetto about thirty years ago. But it is a great neighborhood now.

Generally, Atlanta has a lot of crime, but it is all over the city. My parents were jumped by two armed men in their carport in Buckhead and robbed at gun point. There are certainly no-go areas in the city, but Grant Park is not one of them.

Piedmont park is a decent place to run, but the loops are short. Otherwise, there really isn't anywhere to run around Downtown where you can get on a trail away from the roads. Any good trail running will be out of the city. Kennesaw, Chattahoochee, and Stone Mountain are good spots mentioned above. I would add Sweetwater Creek State Park to the list. If you are a big trail runner, a two hour drive to the north will get you up into the mountains and some excellent trails for running and hiking.

I lived 1 mile from grant park 3 years ago. I did ~18 mile runs through the park after dark and always felt safe. There is also a police precinct on one corner of the park. The park is pretty hilly which I found nice. I also did some running at piedmont park but it is overly crowded and I felt less safe there after dark. It does have a 1/2 mile marked gravel circle which I found great for workouts.

As you can tell from the responses, nice non-paved running options are few and far between near where you will be.

Piedmont is probably your best bet: 1/2 mile gravel running loop (marked 400's), and some grass to run on nearby.

Grady: don't know for sure that is closed to public, but I think it is: most HS tracks in city of atlanta are chained up when school is closed, and this is true of Grady when I've seen it. But it's possible they let the public on on the weekends. But don't count on it. Really nice track too. I've jumped the fence on a sat or sun night and ran there.

I am not sure why people are touting Emory. Sure, nice neighborhood, but you can find that in plenty of places. It's just hilly road running, very run of the mill.

Here's a grass/trail running idea not too far out of the city that most people don't use: Olmstead linear park along Ponce de Leon Ave.

Start at Moreland/Briarcliff ave. You can run though the park how you want, but I find that the most direct route is to run about 20 feet from the road (rather than down the middle of the park), just inside the street lights. Simply run straight along the grass and dirt, hugging the road (more or less). There are occasional very short breaks in the park segments where you run along the sidewalk. It's only 1.5 miles to the end of the park, but if you then cross the street, you will find a small, but very nice trail section of the park called Deepdene. There are a few small loops in here, but the main route is about 3/4 - 1 mile without having to repeat sections. So as you see, you get about a 5 mile round trip overall. I often repeat some loops in Deepdene (real quality well-groomed trail running, but unfortunately quite short), and then do the 3 mile round trop along Ponce. Or I do two round trips along Ponce (the rest of Olmestead linear park minus Deepdene) for 6 miles, and then some inside Deepdene for about 7.5. There are some long hills along ponce, and very steep short ones inside deepdene. quite hilly overall. But it's a great spot. This is about as you good as you'll get near downtown for grass/trail running.

http://www.atlantaolmstedpark.org/park-tour#Springdale

Quickly! wrote:

There will probably be a lot of white women running in that area though, a black man running there might attract police attention.

Seriously, you have to be trolling.

um, ever heard of deliverance?