PRs in my 5th decade: 5K - 19:56 10K - 43:45 10 M - 1:14:12 Half Mary - 1:39:27 Full Mary - 3:34:12 (BQ)
Ostrich runner
http://www.runningahead.com/groups/Indy/forum
under a rock
I only have experience with the Carolinas so I'm biased towards them. I love that 90% of the trails are shaded. I haven't had a chance to do any races in the far western part of NC yet but I hope to later this year.
I would love to be able to hit some trails in the PNW just for the beauty of the area, such a big contrast to my area of the world.
is hard to beat and places you might not think of, like Southern Indiana are very good.
SHIIIIITTTT...are you for real? I spent 30 years of my life in that craphole... the trail running SUCKED!
Of course, I'm sort of biased to where I live now...but it does have a pretty kick ass trail running scene. There are more than 1000 miles of trails within a couple hours of home. Hundreds of miles right here in town. Alpine runs at 14,000'. Flat cruisers at 5500'. Rocky singletrack in the foothills. Tons of races. The support structure is great... PTs, massage therapists, coaches, etc etc. It's bliss.
http://outside.away.com/outside/destinations/200608/best-outside-towns-2006-4.html
And a really funny (and pretty true) article on living here...
http://outside.away.com/outside/destinations/200608/best-outside-towns-2006-12.html
Downside: cost of living is off the hook. You can't have any sort of ego... since the town is chock-full of olympians, world champions, etc.
The Southwest is really nice, i.e. Arizona, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and El Paso. Where I live (Santa Fe), I have my choice between a super-easy cruiser (Rail Trail) or super-technical single track up to 12,000'. The Southwest in general boasts vast tracts of public lands, low cost of living, and limited nuisances (skeeters, black flies, noseeums, poison plants). It is possible to go out and run all day without seeing anyone, or go out and run with one of the many trail running groups. Colorado has the busiest trail racing scene, including a number of classic trail/ultra races: Imogene Pass, Pikes Peak, San Juan Solstice, Hard Rock, Leadville.
Did my first run in Santa Fe last month... up Atalaya Mountain... it was awesome. You guys have some great trails down there!
If you come back to visit, I'll show you some places. I cut 7 miles of untrodden snow yesterday.
You must be closer to Hoosier NF. I was way southwest, Evansville, the town that smells like hot dog water. We had about 8 miles of pseudo trails (ie, mug bogs 8 months out of the year) within an hour's drive.
I actually do want to run the Knobstone trail end-to-end on a trip back... one of these days...
I'm up in Indy and have not been around Evansville much, but the Adventure Trail isn't too far from there and there is the coast to coast American Discovery Trail there also (although significant portions of that do follow roads). I'm surprised there isn't more around there though as the terrain is really nice.
The Adventure Trail is near Louisville, KY / New Albany (it's in Wyandotte State Forest). It's very nice too, you're right! The ADT is just paved roads through the Evansville area. An occasional blaze on a post along some random back road... that's it.
The area around E'ville has no public land to speak of...it's all private... just cornfields, soybeans, and flat bottomland. The only park in town with any trails (Wesselman's Woods Nature Preserve) doesn't allow running, only walking.... WTF.
Bend OR, Ashland OR, and all of Western Washington.
Just because.
Bend OR, Ashland OR, and all of Western Washington. Just because.
+1
Bend is awesome. Nearly moved there.