Are public tracks a thing of the past?

jamin wrote:

Tried to do a track workout today, while schools are on break. Thought it would be the perfect time. All the high schools in town had their tracks closed off. I was going to hop the fence but the sign said that doing so would be trespassing and violators would be prosecuted. I don't get it.

You must not have tried Roosevelt High School. Their track is always open.

macncheese wrote:

jamin wrote:

Tried to do a track workout today, while schools are on break. Thought it would be the perfect time. All the high schools in town had their tracks closed off. I was going to hop the fence but the sign said that doing so would be trespassing and violators would be prosecuted. I don't get it.

You must not have tried Roosevelt High School. Their track is always open.

I am not around there :(

I think most people never step on the track for exercise other than nefarious activities...which might be the reason for fencing it off. The other is liability.

The occasional lady you see jog a few laps and leave makes up the majority use of a track for exercise reasons outside of HS kids or the hardcore letsrunner hammering intervals.

You know you can do marathons on those things

Jamin, your are long out of school. You need to wean yourself from running like you were still in HS. Do what most out-of-school runners have done. Find a good place to run, measure, and mark small marks (non-obtrusive) to indicate a distance you want to time yourself. And, join a running group that has workouts that can get access to a track once or twice a week.

jamin wrote:

macncheese wrote:

You must not have tried Roosevelt High School. Their track is always open.

I am not around there :(

Now you know. I believe that Roosevelt doesn't have any fence that closes off their track.

Try this wrote:

Trader Joses wrote:

Manhattan Beach has an awesome public track.

Where?? I'm in the area!

Like the other commenter said, Manhattan Beach Blvd, it's basically in N. Redondo. Best hours are early AM. PM hours are full of walkers and flying balls.

pop_pop!_v2.1.1 wrote:

Liability is the first reason.

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How is liability going to be an issue? Is someone going to get shin splints and file a premises liability claim?

If its during the school week its probably best to ask the school/coach for permission to avoid causing an intruder scare. Otherwise just hop the fence. Very few coaches will care and any passerby's will think nothing of some guy running on a track. My high school locked the track complex but more to keep loiterers and vehicles out. My coach never had an issue with public users even during practice as long as they didn't get in the way.

Yeah, socialist Seattle has four all-weather tracks open 24/7. The conservative/elitist Eastside schools lock 'em up.

macncheese wrote:

You must not have tried Roosevelt High School. Their track is always open.

I've been there - it's not good at all. Only 6 lanes and it's badly worn down to the point that you can see the cement underneath in many locations.

Trader Joses wrote:

Try this wrote:

Where?? I'm in the area!

Like the other commenter said, Manhattan Beach Blvd, it's basically in N. Redondo. Best hours are early AM. PM hours are full of walkers and flying balls.

Unfortunately, a few can ruin it for everyone. Vandalism, graffiti, riding roller blades, tearing up the high jump pit.......if these things happen once a school feels it has to limit access. One school near me had some kids break into the concession stand to steal candy then set it on fire. In my town of Charlotte the high schools have tall secured fences whereas the middle schools are accessible.

I have three within 15 minutes of my house. Local High School is closest but only usable outside school hours. Where I work has one that is dual use by high school and community center. It is fair game 90 percent of the time. The final is slightly farther and hardly used. However, it is a 200m track (not a big fan) and it gets crowded with walkers in the summer.

Payer of huge amounts of tax wrote:

Considering we have already paid for this public track in the form of property taxes that benefit public schools, yes, we're quite entitled.

The comment was for the conservative think tank that posts on here and seem to pretend nothing gets done collectively.

I wish school facilities could be more multi-use and I'd be will to pay for that.

Our high schools and community colleges are the only ones that have all-weather tracks, and they make it difficult to access..

I have one track that I use early in the morning that always has a back gate open, though I'm sure it's not intended for public use since I never see anyone on there. The track was built with new bond money we approved a few years ago for outdoor school facilities and are paying for annually on our property tax bill. I have no qualms about jumping onto the track to get a workout in.

pop_pop!_v2.1.1 wrote:

Liability is the first reason.

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Jamin, WTF? Here you are jizzing about conservative this-and-that and you dare to ask for public welfare in the form of a track that you can run on, for FREE?

If you actually believed your own conservative talking points, then you would not dare ask the question. Pull yourself up by the mythical bootstraps and BUILD YOUR OWN TRACK.

The track has already been paid for by tax dollars. He is not requesting a new track be built. Try to keep up.

There are few public tracks because road racing hogs all the running interest, so that nobody uses the tracks seriously, for fast running, except the school teams. Track has become a school-specific activity like marching band.

To jump-start interest in non-scholastic, non-elite track, what is needed is a People's Track League, with these simple rules:

1) Any race over a standard distance is a valid People's Track League event if:

a) results are reported to the League website, or LR thread

b) unaltered video proof verifying the general accuracy of the timing is posted somewhere such as youtube.

2) All validated results posted on a leaderboard so everyone will know their League ranking

Even a solo time trial counts, as long as the timing is done by someone else and video proof is provided.

Why would this work? Because it already has worked for that joke event, the Beer Mile. There's no need to pay some company to drag out a FAT system and a bunch of officials. Just give someone a stopwatch, line up and go.

My local D1 school has a great track that they keep locked up with signs saying that is for University Use Only. However, I jump the fence once a week at about 6:30-7:00 am after a warm up to do some intervals. The campus police have now seen me running there many times over the past couple of years and they have never asked me to leave. They almost always just cruise by and never give me a second look (I guess they got better things to worry about). Once though, a cop got out of his car and walked up to the fence, drank his coffee, and watched me for a bit. While I was resting between intervals I jogged up and asked him if I was OK using the track, and he said, "I don't care at all, as long as no one calls in to complain." Then he told me that HE sometimes jumps the fence to run on it after 8 pm. Crazy - the campus cops don't even have the keys to get on the track!

My guess is that the increasing lock-downs must be liability driven. That is, the school doesn't want to be liable if one morning I keel over and die on the track (not a bad way to go....). Although, they could just put up a "use at your own risk" sign like they do in parks, etc...

i'm a fence jumper wrote:

My guess is that the increasing lock-downs must be liability driven...

It's a lack of public spirit. Liability is a bs excuse that people use. I might start to give some credibility to the "liability" excuse when I hear someone with a law license say it, and not some high school principal.