Name the best running routes you have ever trained on and why.
Mine would most likely be the miccosukee greenway in Tallahassee FL, crushed gravel about 10 feet wide for an entire 7 miles, shady during the hot summer, moderate hills, bathroom and water stops approximately every 1.5 miles, big fields, and most of all great sunrises and sunsets.
Kennesaw Mt Battlefield, multiple distances available, different starting points, hills, shade, all the good stuff.
there should have been karma wrote:
Kennesaw Mt Battlefield, multiple distances available, different starting points, hills, shade, all the good stuff.
That's Marietta, GA btw.
All around and through Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, Cambodia.
C&O Canal Towpath in DC/Maryland. Dirt and gravel stretching 188 miles from Georgetown, D.C. to Cumberland, MD along the Potomac river. Pancake flat. I'm very used to it now but every now and then I remember how lucky I am to have it as an option for a run.
Run through arthurs pass,New Zealand, mountain peaks all around you!
Botanical Gardens are usually super nice.
The soft trails in Middlebury, VT were some of the nicest I have ever seen.
The forest of Nisene Marks State Park near Aptos, CA. This is my default go to favorite run. Still live close enough to where I can go there on a weekend or during vacations. Hundreds of miles of trails and fire roads through coastal redwood forest.
I also really dug the "Crimson Trail" in Logan Canyon, UT. Steep climb up the side of the canyon, almost 1000' in a mile. Then runs along the top of some fantastic cliffs as you head back down canyon. Drop back down to the river at the down canyon end of the trail and run back to the start along the river.
A couple summers ago, I found some great dirt roads near the entrance to the National Park entrance at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Run along a couple of those rolling roads and you come to a vista point off of the Plateau and can see the canyon in the distance. Being at 9000', that one was pretty tough.
I haven't had too many runs east of the Mississippi, but I was in La Crosse, WI for a couple of weeks a number of years ago. Some pretty nice country roads through the woods there.
The only foreign country in which I've run is Iceland.....cold and rainy and windy every time I went out....IN JUNE, and we were there for the whole month!
Holyrood Park in Edinburgh, Scotland. It's where they had that big cross country race that Garret Heath won a couple times. On a much more mundane note, there is a little graveyard less than half a mile from my house that I would run in almost daily. I loved it. But I've given it up because just too many dog owners have decided it's a great place to let their dogs run free.
Acadia National Park's carriage roads are pretty much perfect.
The best place to run, functionally speaking, is right in my backyard -- River Road Park in Bedminster, NJ. It's a park that is adjacent to miles upon miles of rolling dirt roads through rural (and affluent) NJ, and has tons of options for runs of all types. Realistically I don't really need anything else other than a few other parks in my area.
Starting off in the park, you run a little bit down the road, and you start to hit the dirt roads. I believe they're still dirt because of all of the horse farms in the area, and I would also guess because the old money locals don't want too many people driving through, which is a plus for runners. The area is beautiful, there is a river to your left and beautiful houses to your right, running right through horse pastures. There's also this nature walk area next to the park that is like a grass XC course, which is great for adding on a mile or two to your run.
Your options start a bit down the dirt road, you can either turn onto Larger Cross Road, cross Lamington Road, and run through there, doing what I've known as "The Lollipop" (on Strava it looks like a lollipop) which is a 10-mile round-trip loop of rolling hills and at least one big climb, depending on how you do it. You can also do a larger 13-14 mile loop if you run towards Pottersville road, make a right, and reconnect with the dirt roads again for more rolling hills. The views on this loop are absolutely incredible, so if you're in shape I highly recommend this one.
If you choose to not make the turn onto Larger Cross, you can run straight down River Road and towards Trump National Golf Course, where a public dirt road runs right through. First you have to get up a massive climb of about 300m to get there, then you descend into the course. Again, you make the right turn onto the main road and re-connect with the dirt roads a little bit down the way -- I believe that loop is 17 miles. On certain days, especially in the winter or on a day when you know not many people are going to be at the course, you can dip into the trespassing zone and run the "Trump Trails," which are miles upon miles of unused horse trails that run behind the course. These range from dirt, to mulch, to grass, to gravel -- very cool. Have only done it once, but it's worth it.
There are a bunch of other spinoff roads that are dirt, but usually end up not looping back or ending in asphalt. Worth exploring, with that caveat.
Here are four of the established loops
River Road 10 miler:
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=7429562
River Road 13.5 miler:
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=7429563
River Road Trump 13.9 miler:
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=7429567
River Road Trump 17 miler:
The Rough Trail in the Red River Gorge in Kentucky is pretty awesome.
I thoroughly enjoyed running through Ubud in Bali. Running past the Monkey Forest is a blast as those critters chase after you. Then the next few miles the wild dogs are everywhere. They bark lots but don’t attack.
Then once you get to the rice fields, you get to dodge the pythons. Good times for sure??
Skyline trail in EC Manning Park, BC Canada.
Some nice suggestions here. Mountain trails are my favourite way to burn vacation time.
Someone said LaCrosse WI. I was in Winona MN, just upriver, a pretty town with opportunities to climb out of the Mississippi onto the plateau & down again.
For altitude, Guadeloupe Mtns. Nat’l Park is cheap & underrated.