Public vs "Private" track (Read 149 times)

I’ve seen plenty if baseball infields off limits.  They work hard to keep it nicely groomed and don’t want folks tearing it up, especially if it’s wet.

I've seen it both ways. The track I do my workouts on has you register for $10 and they give you a key fob. There is a local running club that meets at a very nice always public track in a well populated area and I don't think have problems. The track back where I grew up is open to the public with the gates wide open. so basically YMMW.

I think it's up to the school. Many of the places now have nice tracks with artificial turf or difficult to maintain grass. I think many places just don't want to deal with someone coming and screwing things up and ruining it for everyone. Who really cares about a couple of hobby joggers? I'm fine with it and think it's appropriate given the need to have a field ready at all times for high school use.

No more than it mandates any professional sports stadium being open to the public after getting hundreds of millions of dollars in tax payer money. You mentioned other places "being a place of business." technically many of the high school fields have fundraisers for the school going on during events or the events themselves are fundraisers so they are technically places of business. It's where teachers and coaches perform part of their job duties.

I don't really have an opinion either way as for the most part open tracks seem to be easy enough to find and no one really complains if it's not open to the public. Tracks are a luxury but not a necessity to run.

I would also say nobody should need a track. There must be a stretch of road or a path where you can run your intervals. I have run exactly once on a track in the last 4 years.

They're so far away I end up finding other locations to run on. It's actually weird for me to run on a track and I trust my GPS to be more accurate than a track to be whatever length it's supposed to be unless it's an NCAA track or something super official like where they run college relays.

extendedsolo that $10 track sounds cool. I just assumed it's easier to say no and not have any problems than to deal with "I got hurt there". Oddly this track has a not so well advertised relay even for the track team where and they use the track.

Our county has 13 high schools, 12 have a track (STEM school downtown does not) and they all vary in accessibility. Essentially all are off limits during school hours or events, but outside of that it is individualized.  Interestingly, though, one of the tracks seem to host most running groups and teams for 5:00am practice. Seems like it is getting way more wear and tear than the others.

 

Our college track is not open to public use, but our running club has facilitated times to use the track in the mornings.

 

The one closest to my house (1.25 miles) unlocks the gates around 5:30am and as long as you're gone by 7:00ish you're good. It's harder in the afternoons as band, football, soccer, track, etc. use the facility. It does have a sign that does not allow you on the football field within the track, but no sign regarding the track itself. The fields at all the high schools, which are artificial turf, were donated by a local corporation, so maybe that's why access is restricted. You can't just throw some more seed down.

 

I like the idea of signing up for use of the track. Makes a little money for the school/track. Somewhat keeps track of users. I have no doubt some buck at the idea of paying to use it, though.

This is what happens in my town. In the summer they had kids out on the football field at 630 and if you aren't done by 7am during the school year forget about it unless you want to go sundays. It is a good motivator to get out of bed and go though. I always find my track workouts are better when people are around so maybe I'll try during a football game LOL

The cost of using it is for the key fob though and it's only $10 forever so not terrible. There is an indoor track in milwaukee which is about 30 minutes away and it's $4 every time you use it and it's used way more and etiquette isn't very good with some walkers there. They'll walk across two lanes wide when the inside two lanes are for running and outside one for walking.

Wow. I feel a little lucky here with the track situation.  There are 5 tracks within 4 miles of my house, 4 HS and 1 college.  3 of the 5 are open to the public without charge at reasonable hours of the day.  Of the two that are 'closed' one is a public HS that used to be open but closed within the last year or so and the other is a private HS.

I used to run 6X1600 workouts and to keep things interesting I'd run from my house to the first track and do 2X1600 then jog to the next and do another 2X1600 and finally the third track and another 2X1600 then home.  I'd start in the evening and by the time I hit the last track it'd be dark and running under the lights.  Good fun.

 

It's actually weird for me to run on a track and I trust my GPS to be more accurate than a track to be whatever length it's supposed to be unless it's an NCAA track or something super official like where they run college relays.

 

GPS might, and that's a pretty strong might, be more accurate if it's an old cinder or dirt track with no curb that's not been maintained for 20 years, but modern all weather tracks for high schools are built to exact specifications.  You seem to have an unfounded confidence in GPS accuracy as well.

Most of the high school tracks in my area are locked and closed to the public as are the college and university tracks. Even some of the middle school tracks have barriers in place across lanes 1-4 to discourage people from running or walking there and wearing down the surface.