Best city or small town for a carless runner

Umm, probaby anywhere in the "country"...try new england, the midwest, northwest, colorado, etc, etc, etc.

new york city. upper west side. central park. no car needed. that is it, that is the answer.

Flagstaff is pretty great when it comes to "out-the-door" running. Depending on where you live in town, trails will be anywhere from a 30 sec to 15 min run away.

Oh yeah, and there are plenty of grocery stores. Plus, the town's small enough that a bike is a very reasonable form of transportation.

I guess you would also need to be close to some form of public transportation, as well as a grocery market, drug store, etc., for you to eat.

Look for some place with a bus depot or railway station that can connect you to larger cities (or just be along a major bus route between cities) and keep that within a reasonable walking distance (if you ever feel like going anywhere).

You can probably find a small/medium city in a country like area with decent public transit and live on the outskirts of it. That seems like your best bet, although you might need to search around for that.

Concur. Car not necessary. Trail running is available in Central Park but limited. Upper West Side gives you access to Central Park, Riverside Park, Hudson River Path, and a bunch of subway lines + car rental places, if necessary.

Boone, NC

Real estate costs not withstanding the west hills of Portland is a hard to top location. Particularly the NW hills. Forest Park has over 70 miles of trails (runnable year round), fire roads plus Lief Ericson carriage road. The sheer number of loops and combinations is endless.

From my house I can access via five trail heads and the farthest one is 6:00 from my front door.

On the car free side this neighborhood is served by bus. Street car and light rail not more than 10:00 walk (street car) or 20:00 walk (light rail) faster to bike, bikes allowed on both.

Neighborhood is full of shops, bakeries, the library, dry cleaner, video store, haircut shops, coffee shops and restaurants. Very easy to travel by bike and you will be with lots of folks who seem to enjoy the same things.

South Boulder/ Table Mesa area. CANT BE BEAT!

FHS track, FHS XC course, 1 mile loop by S.Boulder Rec Center for measured efforts, 20 min run to CU track, not that you can got on it anymore. 20 min run to BHS track, better venue than FHS. 10 min run to CU XC course. NO MORE than 10 min jog to ANY kind of trail you can imagine, Hilly, flat, open, tree covered. Very quiet place to live, not like downtown. Grocery store, resturants, bar, great coffee shop, great bagel shop, running store, fishing store, easy acess to Denver. Minutes drive to another 50 miles of trails. good bus system to Boulder center.

Greatest place for a runner in this country. Hands down.

If you want small town, I have an apartment for rent in Mid December in Lyons, about 15 miles north of Boulder, for 500 a month. 1.5 miles to hall ranch (about 18 miles of GREAT trails) a short, NO MORE than 5 mile drive to Rabbit Mountain open space, great dirt roads, North Boulder vally ranch (another 20 or more miles of trails or dirt roads)

Lyons is a GREAT little town. We even have an all weather track. Its soft too, so it doesnt kill your legs. I live here now and I love it. Walk to EVERYTHING. Oskar Blues is one of the coolest breweries/resturantes/bars around and is just a few blocks away. The whole main strip is only 3 blocks long. Very cool place.

Irving Street area of San francisco is great. Lots of restaurants,bars, and grocery stores. Only a minutes run to Golden Gate Park. About half a mile from Kezar Track and the Haight. You can run long by heading to the beach, presidio, marina or the GG Bridge and the Marin Headlands. SF is bicycle friendly and if you have a job in the Financial District, the N-Judah will get you there. Absolutely no need for a car. Unfortunately, I live on the peninsula, where a car is a nescesity.

i research the same thing. i hate driving cars but like running on trails. seem like small cities often offer this opportunity, like ithaca, flagstaff, madison, ashville NC, etc.

then you have large cities that dont require a car, like san fran and nyc, but there you have much less trails and natural places then in the small cities. although i have been living in san fran and there are a good amount of places to run here.

let us know where you decide

some good ideas so far, now a little bump to keep things moving. What about the weather in these places?

I would agree w/ sf.

Actually has good trail running. South of ocean beach or run through the presidio across the golden gate bridge to marin, many trails and hills

ALAMOSA COLORADO

I have a friend who lives in West Chester near Philly, and he has trails near him somewhere, maybe not withing a 5 milute run, but you could simply move to that spot, just check out any stape recreational parks anyweher would probably be your best bet, if you don't mind just running on dirt roads then you should just move to some hick town like I live in that has a small grocery store and gas station and a hundred miles of dirt roads through the country side.

~BigBear

Portland or Table Mesa area in Boulder.

Valley forge NP has great trails fairly close to west chester. I dont see it being possible not having a car living in this area.

Now, after seeing Bigbear's suggestion of the hick town, the rest of the scenario.

I'm mixed race and dark enough for the gunrack and stars & bars crowd to call a "N". Ironically, I'm officially "white" since my folks had to pick one when I was enrolled in school years ago.

I'd really prefer the hick town option but are there any such places where being black on a country road won't get me too many evil looks, swerves, threats or bullets? I was in Boone once and thought it might meet the conditions. I saw enough gay friendly signs in businesses to make me think that people would overlook my color. I don't handle cold too well - which sucks since warm places in the US seem averse to both public transit in the cities and people of color in the countryside! I'm just sick of sidewalks and ozone and thinking about making a move.

Wildwoodgirl...how much are homes in that area..?

LaWoof, where is the 1 mile loop near S. Boulder Rec center?