Is it disrespectful to run in a cemetery?

No problem, just be respectful. Don’t spit.

Death walks beside us.

Pro tip, in some towns/cities, cemeteries are required to be plowed clear I n the event of snow. So if you ever need somewhere to run when it’s covered in snow, you’re welcome.

Sochi 20202 wrote:

Thanks for considering it seriously.

My father, two grandmothers and a grandfather are in our cemetery. Every time I go I see people running, women in sports bras, shirtless guys, listening to their music. It just seems very out of place. I personally wouldn’t do that.

If women in sports bras wish to run by my grave someday, I hereby give them my blessing to do so.

Just don't try it in Arlington!

C0C0 wrote:

Serious question. I don't mean like over graves but on the roads/paths that are already there. I've never done it but in my urban area there are some peaceful looking cemeteries that seem like a nice place to get a few miles in every now and then.

I live next to a cemetery and do loops in it all the time. The roads are plowed in the winter and quiet in the summer. If there is a funeral or someone stopped in a car next to a site, then I either don't go in or don't go near them. I see maintenance there all the time and they have never said anything, I also only stay on the pavement and never go on the grass, not only could that be disrespectful, but I don't want to disrupt a ghost and have that bad voodoo.

I don't think it's disrespectful at all and I've done it myself in graveyards where running is allowed. I enjoy the solitude, quiet, scenery, hills, and lack of heavy vehicular traffic. As long as you use common sense and stay away from funerals and grave visitors, as other posters have noted, I see nothing wrong with it. I think respectful recreational use of graveyards should be encouraged, as it once was, but unfortunately that's not the prevailing opinion here in New York City. Most cemeteries explicitly prohibit running and cycling, with signs at their entrances saying so.

On its website, Brooklyn's Greenwood Cemetery notes:

Jogging, biking and other recreational activities are not permitted

And Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx has this admonition:

Out of respect for those who rest here in our care, we strictly limit the type of recreational activities permitted here.

By some convoluted logic however, driving a motor vehicle through those cemeteries is okay. I guess burning fossil fuels and depleting the ozone layer makes that mode of transport more respectful than running or cycling. That's especially infuriating for the many adults who use bikes instead of cars.

On the other hand, the massive Cypress Hills Cemetery, on the Brooklyn/Queens border, does not expressly prohibit running. and even holds an annual 5k race on its grounds in memory of a slain police officer.

After I ran all the cemeteries in the Brooklyn cemetery belt in 1998 all my favorites have posted no athletic activities. Pity, because I got a t-shirt for it: Let's Rock, with a skeleton holding a ball. Or is it disrespectful?

I run in a really great cemetery. People are just dying to get in.

yes .

C0C0 wrote:

Serious question. I don't mean like over graves but on the roads/paths that are already there. I've never done it but in my urban area there are some peaceful looking cemeteries that seem like a nice place to get a few miles in every now and then.

No, it isn't;) I do it every day here in NYC. OK, 5-6 days a week... It's a big cemetery, one loop is about 5 miles long. I run on the paved roads only. There are rarely any people anyway. I mostly meet other runners, dog walkers, cemetery workers or people coming in a car, parking it and enjoying a peaceful lunch break. I only try to avoid running near burials in progress, just to be respectful. Happened only twice in the last 3 years of running there...

They also lock it down by 5pm, so I just need to make sure to get out before. Otherwise, I need to climb over quite a tall gate... lol

In the end, I'm sure it's very local. If the cemetery maintenance workers or visitors don't mind, I'm sure you're safe...

Wow, I had no idea it is that bad in Brooklyn!!! I've have been running in Queen's Cavalry cemetery for the past three years, all seasons, never had a problem and never seen any signs prohibiting running there... I see plenty of runners, dog walkers, even cyclists and cars making shortcuts through it...

KawauchiFTW wrote:

Wow, I had no idea it is that bad in Brooklyn!!! I've have been running in Queen's Cavalry cemetery for the past three years, all seasons, never had a problem and never seen any signs prohibiting running there... I see plenty of runners, dog walkers, even cyclists and cars making shortcuts through it...

You're a lot luckier in Calvary than I've been. I used to train in there during my high school days but was "asked" to leave once, so that was that. More recently, I have family plot in there, right near one of the entrances, and I used to detour into the cemetery on my bike a couple of days per week to pay my respects at the graves of my grandparents and an uncle. As I was leaving one day some neanderthal cemetery worker cut me off with his pickup truck, jumped out and informed me "This isn't a bicycle track." I let him have it -I explained why I was there- and he ultimately apologized, but there are now signs at several of Calvary's entrances prohibiting bicycles.

Prohibition of "recreational activities' in Queens cemeteries unfortunately seems to be the rule rather than the exception. All Faiths cemetery also prohibits "recreational activities," as do many others, including St. John, which posts this admonition:

The Cemetery Authorities reserve the right to refuse admission to the cemeteries of bicycles, scooters and motorcycles. At no time are skating, rollerblading, jogging or other like physical activities permitted in the cemeteries.

What if you told them you were running, not jogging? Heheh.

My summer job throughout college was weed whacking in a cemetery. We certainly didn’t care if people ran in the cemetery.

People exercising should be the least of a cemetery’s worries. Bigger concerns were people littering, drinking, doing drugs, having sex, vandalizing, etc.

tutwotd wrote:

Where I live in the UK, there are a few churchyards that have public footpaths through them. They're quite popular with runners.

I wouldn't run through a council run cemetery. I once tried to run through Montmartre cemetery in Paris, but dudes working there didn't let me past the gate. I don't know why running is considered more disrespectful that a load of gawping tourists. Oh well.

I got kicked out of a cemetery in Prague for running. In the Czech Republic all the cemeteries have wardens whose job it is to keep an eye out for hobby joggers and other delinquents.

Used to run quite a lot in West Brompton cemetery in London with no problems and saw others there too.

Wow! Too profound a statement for this board. And What's that got to do with Bekele?

Banana Beard wrote:

It's an interesting concept to find that disrespectful.

I mean, we have constructed and live in massive cities which are effectively hundreds of square miles concreted over and removed from the natural landscape for the entire animal kingdom. Yet our brains are hardwired not to even worry about that, and instead we seek some kind of spiritual solace in wondering whether or not something such as running through a graveyard is a major right or wrong (alongside our carbon footprint, plastic usage and other such like banalities).

We're really quite incredible creatures!

Whats your hurry to get there? Youll be there eventually, if not sooner. By the way I turn 78 in 3 WEEKS!

One of our local famous cemeteries has 5k to 5 mile races held on the paths.

How Deep Is Your Profound wrote:

Wow! Too profound a statement for this board. And What's that got to do with Bekele?

Banana Beard wrote:

It's an interesting concept to find that disrespectful.

I mean, we have constructed and live in massive cities which are effectively hundreds of square miles concreted over and removed from the natural landscape for the entire animal kingdom. Yet our brains are hardwired not to even worry about that, and instead we seek some kind of spiritual solace in wondering whether or not something such as running through a graveyard is a major right or wrong (alongside our carbon footprint, plastic usage and other such like banalities).

We're really quite incredible creatures!

Wrong person. I'm Banana Beard not Banana Bread.

It's Banana Bread with the Bekele and maybe meeting someone nice whilst at his local graveyard, maybe going for a coffee and developing a new friendship fetishes. I do not post about these things.