Long runs

I live on top of a mountain.. really I do. My small neighborhood where I live (4 corner cul-de-sac) is .98 miles from corner to corner. I can start in my neighborhod and do as many of those miles as needed before hitting the "offical road"..

But after many runs around where I live I have been able to map out 2 long run courses (up to 11 miles) and one includes doing laps around a tiny lake in a neighborhood that I might get ticketed one day for trespassing.

I have plenty of hills for hill work.. LOL

I go to Map my Run, give it my starting address and start plotting routes on streets and paths. I find this to be very helpful when on vacations. I can map out a route, or two, from where we are staying. The created maps show elevation and distance.

"A 4 mile makes a square around most of town. I'd love to run longer distances..." I'll assume that there are roads leading out of and into your town? Are they safe to run on?

I'm kind of a dork so I map my runs out in advance to create a route that's the distance I want to run. I wanted to get some hill work in, but my neighborhood is very flat, so I ran in a nearby neighborhood I knew was hilly, but mapped out the distance to create a route in advance. There is also a running/biking trail along a river that runs through town that is over 20 miles long with various trail heads to start at. So, I'll do an out and back for the distance I want to run. I also run at other parks with long trails and run for the distance I planned. I like trail running too, but I currently have all road races coming up, so I haven't hit the trails much lately. If I'm preparing for a road race, I make sure to run mostly paved trails or on roads. If I'm preparing for a trail race, I run trail runs on the weekend unless they are too muddy.

Are there any parks or state parks nearby? That's where I prefer to do my long runs for the scenery.

You can also do multiple laps. I certainly do that in my neighborhood and the park next to my neighborhood. However, I hate seeing the same thing over and over again...I like to change it up...especially on the weekends. During the week, I usually run in my neighborhood, but my long runs are on the weekends.

I can scratch out about 10 miles worth of running route in the town where I live, the roads are just not safe enough to run along. So, I go to a local lake and run around it or down the river path with is 23 miles long.

anywhere and everywhere. Once I finished a mile in my house running around my island in the kitchen. But if I can only run around my block I will do that 20 times if I have to. I typically run the same route twice 6 ish miles and then split it up and take different side streets to get to 10-15 miles. Or run on the other side of the street. LOL! Whatever gets you to your goal!

Another small town here. I usually will do my longer runs out on country roads, or farm roads. We also have a great multi use path that circles our community, its about 25 miles long.

emilyjaneelizabeth wrote: »

Where do you run your long runs? I live in a small town. A 4 mile makes a square around most of town. I'd love to run longer distances and I'd love to know where other people do theirs.

It depends on how I feel. I try to do anything more than 10 miles on trail. I can turn left out of my gate and do between 13 and 16 miles largely on trails, if I turn right I'm on about 50% road vs trail, so that'll do me for anything up to 25 miles.

I have a few state parks within 10 min drives with horse trails that are nice to get lost in. Otherwise I just Forrest Gump the city streets...