Forums >General Running>Hill in Baltimore
Hello everyone! I'llbe in Baltimore for a couple of weeks and I was wondering if there is some hill where to do some repeats. Do you have any suggestions?
an amazing likeness
You might want to check out the Run Spots feature here on RunningAhead (Resources -> Run Spots) to see if there are any routes that fit the area where you'll be staying. The mapping tool will show elevations of any route you plot.
Acceptable at a dance, invaluable in a shipwreck.
If you're in the downtown area, Federal Hill. If you are closer to Harbor East/Canton/Fells Point, Patterson Park.
If you near the water, basically any road away from it goes up. Check the maps here, but also ask around. You can be in a nice area and go a block or two over and are in the projects (ie. Harbor East). Charm City Run is the largest local running store, I think they have group runs even in the winter.
If you want to venture out of the city, there is a old skill hill at Oregon Ridge Park in Hunt Valley (north of the city). Plenty of other hills around the burbs too.
Feeling the growl again
Federal Hill off the inner harbor is the only one I'm aware of. You can get lots of speed work sprinting through the rough areas all around there though. Many of my "WTF was I doing there" moments are from trying to run from the inner harbor to anywhere else.
"If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does. There's your pep talk for today. Go Run." -- Slo_Hand
I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills
Looking at the run spots, the highly used routes follow the Baltimore running festival half & full. It's ok to run it with 20,000+ plus cops on every intersection. Other days, nope. And yep, it will have hills, but don't.
I'll just throw out one more note to be careful. As was said balmer is kind of weird in that you've got nice areas and not so nice areas mixed together. Check out trails from catonsville if you're wanting to go off road and are on the east side of town.
Thank you guys for the suggestions! I'll be in the inner harbor, quite close to Patterson park. From google I have also noticed Federal Hill park, but I am not sure that the slope of that hill will suffice. Regrettably I am not going outside town, where there are the true hills, e.g. Oregon ridge park.
If you run from the harbor to Patterson park, be careful. The harbor promenade would probably be your best bet and take it to the Canton area and then work up Ellwood Avenue.
Approximately I'll stay at fells point. Are you telling me that it is not even safe to run at Patterson park in the morning?(if need be I'll be happy just to run on the external perimeter). What about federal hill park?
I am from Italy and I am shocked to hear, not just from you, that Baltimore is such an unsafe place.
Fells Point to Patterson Park is probably ok, but I would recommend heading along the harbor promenade towards Canton and working your way up (Ellwood Ave and Linwood Ave work). Here's a map from the Jingle Bell 5k from Canton to Patterson Park. I know Baltimore Street can be a little sketchy in places (as can plenty of others). There's a lot of professionals living around Patterson Park. When I drive by around 7:45am, there are lots of folks out running or walking dogs, so they may be out even earlier too. On Fridays, the November project workouts there at 6:30am, may be a good time to check the park out to see how many others are around.
The tricky thing with Baltimore is that while the houses right around Patterson Park are gentrified, go a few blocks and it gets rough. Definitely not a place to wear your headphones, have a visible smart phone, etc. Be aware of your surroundings.
OK. So if you are in the Inner Harbor and want safe running, follow the shore from the Inner Harbor past Federal Hill and towards Fort McHenry. Run hours that Fort McHenry is open. The loop inside Fort McHenry is darn near an even mile. I did 20-milers in there when I was staying in the Inner Harbor because it was the only place safe to do so. At the time I did this the entire route was completely safe. They were and have since been revitalizing that area, so I expect it is even safer these days. I haven't run there in probably 6-7 years. The only downside is that this is entirely flat.
There is a VERY nice trail that you can access from the Inner Harbor by running behind the stadiums, hook a left, and then access off a park before you hit the freeway. It runs out west at least 10 miles. The trick is that the area you have to run through to get to it is sketchy and the trail itself, I would not run alone except I'm a fairly quick male able to generally take care of myself. The first time I ran it was at dawn and after I got around the stadiums I got to watch the SWAT team do a hard entry.
I am used to run with my Garmin only, no music, no phone. However, as I am going to be in a city that I do not know, I was thinking to bring my phone with me, but I understand that this is not such a good idea. I am honest and at this point I'll be happy even to run in a gym on a tapis roulant!
@Half Crazy K 2.0: regrettably the map is not working
@spaniel: I'll certainly consider Fort McHenry if Patterson park bores me or just not safe (Patterson park is the first choice for slow runs as it is quite close to where I stay). The other route you suggested is not probably suited for me: my weight is 63kg and I run half marathon in 81 minutes. I do not look scary and I am not so fast
Let's see if these routes are good or not (I'll manage to go run in the early morning, around sunrise)
a) To go to Patterson park
1) Up to S Broadway, turn right on Eastern Ave.
2) Up to S Broadway, turn right on Baltimore street.
3) Up to S Broadway, turn right on Aliceanna street, turn right on Boston street, left on Linwood Ave.
b) To go to Federal Hill park
1) Up to S Broadway, turn right on Aliceanna street, turn right on S President, turn left on E Pratt, turn left to Light Street, and finally left on Key Hwy
Thank you again guys
Option 3 to get to Patterson Park. I think it will have the most running and foot traffic. Both Baltimore st and Eastern Ave can be a little dicey around Broadway. That said, a co worker and I will walk to the 7-11 at Broadway and Baltimore.
Do you have a waist belt that you could carry your phone in?
Since you are running in daylight, I think there will be others out, especially in those area.
Don't know about you all...but I'm eager to watch this and see if Canserbero survives the trip to to a hill and back. Sounds like perilous journey about to be launched.
Report back Canserbero!
@half crazy: thank you again!
@milktruck:my Englishis not good enough to understand your tone,but for sure I'll let you know First run on Sunday