Before I list routes and tomes, I'll again try to capture the essence of what running means to me. The sport has really taken over much of my thoughts during the day, and more of my free hours each week. The time I spend running is the truest time I spend during any day. When I run, it is me in my complete self. My body makes the effort, but so does my mind. I run and feel the pains, fatigue, and exhilaration, and my mind notes those and adjusts to each feeling spurring me onward. Yet my mind also goes into a sort of stream of consciousness mode that I experience in no other endeavor. Thoughts are random and disjointed as my brain just goes where it will. Every now and then, this synaptic randomness coincides with euphoria - where the running becomes effortless - and I have what I can only describe as a transcendental experience that I wish could last longer than the 5-10 minutes of time it usually occupies. I realize that this experience is familiar to many runners, and is known as runner's high. And, while I may not have made the choice at 18 or 20 years of age, at 43, I'd take the high that comes from running over sex any day of the week. It is a much more profound and unique experience, and requires more effort to achieve.
Anyway let's start a list. I'll begin by saying that my list only includes places I've run in the past couple of years. I try to find good spots, and usually succeed. The biggest strike against a place is invariably traffic. And it usually isn't the number of cars passing by on a given route, but how much exhaust I am forced to swallow that creates a negative impression. The first three runs on the list are my current favorites. After that, I just picked a couple out of the other runs I do, where I thought either people wouldn't know how good a place could be (St Louis), or where my running partner would have given a city a higher ranking than did I (Boston). The ones that follow the top five are as good (or even better) in their own ways.
Top Runs:
#1 Griffith Park Observatory, Los Angeles - Start at Trails Restaurant on Fern Dell at the base of Griffith Park. You head uphill 2.1 miles until you reach the famed observatory. The uphill run is both challenging and beautiful. You're in the heart of LA, but also in a vast wilderness. You begin in a forested area that feels like northern Arizona, but quickly transition to a desert landscape coupled with a 10-15 degree rise in temperature. The road up is a winder, with cliff walls on one side, and valleys on the other. The views of the vast metropolis are spectacular throughout the run. The experience is repeated in reverse on the way down. You can also take trails that cut the distance, but are less scenic, and somewhat slick because they are steep and gravel-covered. I usually add a mile to the run by starting at the house where I stay when I'm in LA in the Hollywood Hills , and running down the hill to the starting point at the base of the park. This run is easily the most fun, one of the prettiest, and the most challenging of the runs I do. It is not really a run for beginners - there are exactly 0 flats. You are either going up continuously, or down continuously with no break. I ran the course three times last week with a friend who's getting back into running. Neither of us tired of the same route even after three straight days. It is just that beautiful of an experience.
Best time to run - early a.m. to avoid any traffic and higher levels of smog as the day progresses
#2 Town Lake, Austin, TX - Austin is just about the best spot in the world to run and bike. The main reason is the Town Lake area near Congress St. I've run there the past couple of years, and have greatly enjoyed being around so many others who share my passion for solo outdoor sports. There are dirt pathways, paved pathways, fun bridges (some of them solely for pedestrians and bicycles), and a natural spring to fall into midway through any run. I usually run early in the a.m., and am used to being one of the few out at that time of day. Not in Austin. Go running at 5 or 6 a.m. in the Summer, and you'll pass hundreds out on the trails welcoming the new day. I have run the trails both as a relative newbie to the sport, and as a more experienced runner, and found the experience to be joyful at any fitness level. Town Lake alone is worth the trip to Austin. While there, enjoy the weird cool vibe in shops along South Congress, the downtown on the other side of the river/lake, and try some of the various vegetarian-friendly places.
Best time to run - anytime, but in the Summer, afternoon heat gets brutal
#3 Provincetown, MA - Start by heading out of P-town on Race Point rd. After crossing the highway, look for a park on your left. Great trails emanate from this park. The trails can take you any distance you wish to go, but be warned, maps provided on the trails have absolutely no bearing to where you actually are, or the distances that remain. On my run with a friend through the trails, we had planned what looked like a 5 mile or so run. It turned into something between 7 and 9 miles. We're both college-educated, and have a cursory knowledge of simple maps, yet continuously had difficulty with those provided along the route. That being said, the run is so stinking good that it doesn't matter. You run from forest and lakes to rolling desert dunes, to seaside, to town. The flora and fauna are beautiful, and the running ranges from easy to slightly difficult (in the dunes). I almost gave this route the #2 spot, but it simply couldn't beat Austin.
Best time to run - Anytime
#4 Forest Park, St Louis - Surprise, surprise. What a nice place to run, with miles of both paved and gravel paths for runners and cyclists. I literally stumbled onto the park when I ran through an adjacent neighborhood where I was staying. Every day I went back for more. There are all distances and terrains in the park. Flat is good, and so are the rolling hills. You can even have a Rocky moment on the steps of the St Louis Art Museum (SLAM) - a world-class museum that is worth checking out after a shower.
Best time to run - Anytime (but if you're starting from outside the park, avoid rush hour traffic that clogs the roads around it during peak hours)
#5 Charles River and Pleasure Bay, Boston, MA - I can only write about one of these - the Pleasure Bay run, as a run that I have experienced. My main travel road-running companion, however has done both (I have only walked along the Charles, wishing that I was in a pair of Asics). I think my running partner would probably put the Charles at position one or two, and would probably agree with my placement of the Pleasure Bay run in South Boston. So, I'll merely say that the Charles is beautiful, and that running along it would be a privilege and an honor. The South Boston run that he and I did together started at The Renaissance Hotel near D Street. We set off through the industrial neighborhood near the convention center, and tuned left on Summer, and then left again on E Broadway. The Summer street portion of the run is what caused the precipitous fall from near the top of my list to position #5. The amount of exhaust the two of us inhaled on that portion of the run (both out and back) felt like the equivalent of simply wrapping one's lips around the tailpipe of an average car and breathing deeply for about 10 min. After some time, the two of us ran through a pretty nice neighborhood that ended at a waterfront park which had a trail that extended out into the water and wrapped around in a complete loop which forms what is known as Pleasure Bay. And the bay's name is appropriate. While the humidity made the overall experience anything but, Pleasure Bay's water trail proved to be just that - a pleasure. It is a surprisingly long run around the bay, but it is beautiful. We got to look at the fort which stands on the corner of the bay. And we got to see sea lions - always a treat.
Best time to run - Charles River - anytime. Pleasure Bay - only when traffic patterns are light
Other Great Runs -
San Francisco, CA - Golden Gate Park, Ocean Beach, Marina Green. All three are great places to go and run. All three are close enough to be combined on a mammoth run if you're so inclined. SF will probably hit the top of a future list, but for time constraints, I'll leave it here.
West New York, NJ - Run along Kennedy Blvd East. The sidewalks and trails are nice. But really, this is the single best vantage point (and it's the length of the whole run) to see Manhattan and the Hudson. Very few runners or walkers use this walkway, so it is one of the best kept secrets on the eastern seaboard. Spectacular.
Las Vegas, NV - Hit the Strip in the early a.m. after the gamblers, LA party-people, and booze hounds are back in their rooms. Cruising along the relatively empty Strip at 6 in the morning is kind of a wonderous thing. You get to experience the glitz and super-sized architecture without the distractions of traffic and congestion that plague the area all other times of the day. I used to hide out in hotel exercise rooms running on treadmills until I bumped into a fellow runner in the elevator who suggested the Strip. He was absolutely right.
Denver, CO (actually Aurora) - Cherry Creek State Park is a great place to run. Nice trails, nice lake, golf (if you're into that), and altitude training for we low-landers. I was struck actually, with how easy it was to run in the Mile High area. There are many other great runs in Denver. This is just the one with which I am most familiar.
Lawrence, KS - My home turf with great places to run. In the northeast, by the Kansas River (aka the Kaw) there are miles of graveled levee trails. There are also much more rustic trails in between the levee and the river. Be careful on these, because you will be sharing these with avid mountain bikers, and it seems as though every other plant along the trail is poison ivy. On the southern and western edges of the city is the SLT Trail. It runs for many miles and has plenty of good access points. All of the major east/west roads (with the exception of 15th st) also have wide paved sidewalks that will hook up to the trail It is mainly in the country along its western and northernmost miles. At Clinton lake, it turns back southeast toward the city, but still provides great running and biking with minimal traffic crossings. The levees are flat, but practically nowhere else in the town is. So come to Kansas and run some hills.
Books:
Finally, I have to mention a couple of books I've read recently. The first, for runners, is called What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, by Haruki Murakami. This is a thoughtful book that runners will enjoy, but I really can't see the allure for anyone else other than fans of this author. It is an autobiographical account of his running, and how his life has evolved around it. I found the most interesting ideas in the book centered around the issue of aging. His thoughts about awareness of the process and its effects (and how to deal with these) were new to me. I hadn't really given aging much thought on a personal running level prior to reading the book.
The final book is entitled Born To Run, by Christopher McDougall. It reminds me a bit of the book (not the movie) The Orchid Thief, in tone. It follows a cast of real-life characters around the Taruhumara people who live in the Copper Canyon area of Mexico. The Taruhumara are the stars of the book. They are reclusive super-athletes who will unteach you a lot about what you think you know in terms of training and equipment. An aside - I actually have a friend who told me his niece read the book, and now only runs in stockinged feet. For those of you who are not into running, the book is a fascinating look at this reclusive tribe (many of whom still live in caves today), of athletic, yet gentle people. I find it most interesting that they live so close to those of us in the US, yet they may be some of the most exotic people we have never heard of. If you're going to read a book this year, this is the one you should get.
Whew - I feel as though I just ran a marathon...with my typing fingers. More later. Thank you for reading!!
In Lawrence the city has been doing work on the Burroughs Creek Trail, I don't know how highly you would rate this for running since it is being developed along a former rail line. It crosses a street here and there and while some landscaping is planned in places, in some areas the view may be the backsides of commercial buildings and residences. It will be interesting to see what develops.
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