Coaches: team workouts on cemetary roads...disrespectful?

My high school team did workouts on two different cemeteries very close to campus and we never heard of any complaints or even saw any mourners during our workouts there. Now, thinking about it, I think our coach picked which cemetery to go to based on when there were funerals and burials occurring.

If the cemetery is private, you should stay out. If it's not, you should still stay out. Teach your kids to be respectful.

There is a HS team in Manistee, MI without a track and they do workouts in the local cemetery. Its wrong they do it there IMHO but its way more wrong that their pathetic school district does not provide a track yet they have excellent football, swimming, etc facilities. The community is trying to raise money for track independently but hasn't been too successful.

Even if it is, what are they going to do about it?

The dead will rise wrote:

If I take my team and do a workout on the roads in a cemetery, is it considered disrespecting the dead?

"I mean I don't give a shit. If I was dead you could bang me all you want. I mean who cares? A dead body is like a piece of trash. I mean shove as much shit in there as you want. Fill me up with cream,make a stew out of my ass. What's the big deal? Bang me, eat me, grind me up into little pieces, throw me in the river. Who gives a shit? You're dead, you're dead!"

Our best route for repeats would be around a cemetery in a small town. We pass it on almost all of our runs that branch off to other routes.

I have been here for 10 years as an athlete and now coach, and I have always thought about doing repeats around it, but can't bring myself to doing it.

http://imgur.com/wjEl1jr

It's a little over a mile away from campus and would be perfect. But we'll never do it.

I take my kids through a cemetery on a loop we do. I teach them proper cemetery etiquette before we run through it. Stay on the path, no loud boisterous behavior, respect for mourners...etc. The kids 5-8th grade take it seriously and we've never had a complaint. We've never seen people mourning, however.

I don't think I'd do repeats there though. Just passing through on runs seems ok.

The local running club does workouts around the cemetery here in town every week. Its a city property attached to the city park and city golf course, with a great gravel road in it. Plenty of birders and walkers use it to. In my opinion, that's how a cemetery should be - enjoying it and using it seems to honor the dead more than just roping it off and never entering.

But sure, be respectful and don't hoot/holler/run off the road. And I would definitely avoid it if there was an active burial.

We ran fartlek type runs and hill repeats at local cemetery regularly in HS. It was a safe low traffic site with variable paved routes and a decent amount of shade from older trees. The groundskeepers were familiar with us and never objected.

As others have said, its a simple matter to stay on the roads and maintain a low profile. There are very few late afternoon burials and visitors seem to be pretty rare during the week.

Would I take hs squad to cemetery on a Saturday morning when there will almost certainly be burials and/or visitors? No, but I don't think that is the question.

Regardless of what day it is, if there is a lot of traffic or a burial nearby, just ditch that workout and go elsewhere.

My college team ran in the cemetery all the time. It's important to be respectful and ask the groundskeepers before hand. We used to run in an unused field, and on the roads in the winter.

Couldn't ask for a more beautiful location. But again, get permission first. We would sometimes be asked to stay away from specific areas with services

dispectful

unless you're Ed Whitlock

Ed gets a pass

I'm not a coach but I think this guy's got it right: be quiet, be respectful, and avoid funerals. Cemetaries are often secluded spots in urban areas without traffic on the roads. In this day and age where public space fit for training is increasingly hard to come by, I think it's good for a place like a cemetary to get some additional use.

Tombstones are great for technique training.

The dead will rise wrote:

If I take my team and do a workout on the roads in a cemetery, is it considered disrespecting the dead?

I've done some KILLER workouts in a cemetery. I was totally DEAD afterward.

Consider that embalming carcasses and burying them poisons your water supply. So who's the disrespectful one?

We lived by Graceland Cemetery in Chicago that had a lot of great monuments and famous people buried, but it was always closed by 4:30 PM so I didn't have much chance to run there much. It's really too bad it's not open at least the same as the public parks.

I tried to run at Arlington once when visiting DC and was told no running on the grounds. It's a shame because I had seen those roads on TV and thought it would be a nice, scenic place to run. But the military sets its own rules. I think cemeteries offer a great respite from dealing with traffic. I wish it was more acceptable. My view is that it should be ok to run in a cemetery if you avoid funerals in progress, don't run on the graves, and keep quiet.

Should we stop running up cemetery hill at Van Cortlandt Park?

As a coach, in this day and age, your best bet is to find out from that cemetery what is and is not permitted. Then you've at least covered yourself. In general, if you are running anywhere that is not public grounds, you're better off getting permission just to make sure. Yes, you might lose some potential courses, but it's better than your AD getting a complaint call, and you having no defense. If you've asked permission and where told yes, then if someone just complains (like a mourner), and your kids are respectful, then it might blow over.

But if you haven't contacted anyone, and the AD gets a complaint call, you're probably stuck running on campus for a while, which is a repetitive mile loop, if you're lucky.

As was mentioned, it just takes one angry citizen calling an AD, but far more important, it just seems and feels disrespectful. If you have to ask if it's OK, it probably isn't.

I can't imagine there being many situations where better options aren't available.