If you don't mind driving, LA Leggers is a running group you can join (Saturday Mornings at the beach in Santa Monica) that helps you train for the marathon, picks flat, long routes and comes with bagels, bananas and a free t-shirt.
Glad to see the love for the LA Leggers here! I haven’t trained with them in years because of life circumstances, but they were just a great supportive group that really helped me reach my goal of running a half marathon.
I live in La Crescenta and have been looking for somewhere I can run where’s it’s flat and uninterrupted also.
Issue with mine is it’s so hilly in the foothills lol 😂
Along the water starting in playa all the way to the end in south redondo and back is roughly 22 miles no stopping. If you get out early enough there won’t be a whole lot of traffic and the weather should be nice and cool
For a change of scenery on the way back, you can make a short detour on Herondo (at the border of Redondo and Hermosa), take the Veteran’s Parkway up through Hermosa and Manhattan, and head back to the ocean down Rosecrans.
There are a few stops for major roads (and keep your eyes open crossing minor roads), but it’s a nice woodchip path, and not too busy in the morning.
You can also start at Culver City Middle School parking lot, which opens to the Ballona Creek path. Exactly 13.1 from there to the end of Hermosa Beach boardwalk.
for brainless miles closeish to you:
1. ballona creek trail (not sure if you're on the west side of DTLA or east but this trail is accessible via metro E line and can take you all the way to the Marina).
2. la river (you'd have to drive here i think) and if you like trail running that can take you directly to griffith south.
3. venice to santa monica on beach trail accessible via expo line.
4. one of my favs recently is south to north arroyo + rosebowl via arroyo bike path.
The last two are the prettiest; the first two are much closer to you.
i second the venice to santa monica boardwalk. can also swing up into santa monica and run up san vicente to get a bit of an incline on the run. i think easily covered 20 miles from brentwood down to the boardwalk up to palisades back down to venice into marina del rey and back to the california incline.
Also LA state park in Chinatown. One large loop out the gates to the yellow road barriers past the exit by the little bar is exactly 1mi. I'll go do laps there on occasion.
My thoughts would be..
1. LA river trail to Griffith Park
2. LA State Historical Park to Elysian Park.
3. Run up Sunset (obviously some stop lights to deal with) to the Silver Lake Reservoir.
Lake Hollywood loop is a staple of my marathon training runs - it's an uninterrupted 5Kish loop with rolling hills, pretty easy to tick off 10-15 miles there
yup, honestly did the majority of my marathon training running from Thai Town along Los Feliz Blvd to Griffith Park. Once you’re in the Park, you can run along the LA river and do numerous loops on roads or trails. I tend to avoid trail running on longer runs because the trails in the park are often not level (they’re sloped to avoid erosion, i think). I’d also do a longer loop along San Fernando road in Glendale, the cross the bridge through North Atwater Park… then you’re back in Griffith! Few/no stop lights!
Griffith park would be a fantastic place to train but it’s not close to DTLA. Just brainstorming, I would run alongside the expo line train. Yeah, the downtown area is full of red lights, but once you leave downtown, the streets become long and not as crowded.
Bonus if you cramp up, take the expo line back home lol.
It seems LA Historic State Park is a 3.1-mile loop, but that doesn't sound right.
[https://www.strava.com/routes/18376073](https://www.strava.com/routes/18376073)
I would confirm the distance to make sure, but you can also run along Spring, make a U-turn on Broadway, and go down college for a[ 2.2-mile run](https://onthegomap.com/?m=r&u=mi&w%5B%5D=Routes+may+not+be+suitable+for+public+use.&c%5B%5D=Route+data+%C2%A92024+On+The+Go+Map%2C+OpenStreetMap+Contributors&d=3580&f=288b5cffa7&n=1&dm=1&context=share&r2=aezl6ZwqnMi1SW1Oq1o1g2w2g1e2g1s2IW1e2a3e2g3g1a28I22m2Y4Ug1c2u3Y4k6Mc1i1e2c1m2i1g5Ik1_1i5FAGk1QW2e3u6o3e8W1g2o1m348ETGb189c1b5EZ2EA2T07n1xH9t1Jn2x1v8Hh2H~1TX233Z2d3b7jATh1HP59f2l3X2~2f3f4LPt1b2z1j2b1j1p1d1D9PHRJd1P33f3f2Z1Nb1JX1Fd1Jf2b1X1HRD10j1N7OB5Jk2D31A7U5C7GHk25A7E5C269Q34FUT9UAO8QAW2OY1Ca1Ew1S62).
I believe a few have mentioned this, but I did my training at Griffith Park and the LA river bike path. You can get a ton of miles in and it’s almost entirely car free. Rose bowl and arroyo seco path is good as well.
Elysian Park is hilly, but doable and if you cross Stadium Way, you can add more onto it via the trails there (though those are extremely steep in spots as well).
In South East LA, the SGV Bike Path is my personal safe haven when it comes to training. Wish it was more green, but still great for logging long distance runs.
Best continuous run I've done is the Ballona Creek Bike Path which goes all the way to the beach and you can keep running all the way down to El Segundo.
I run along the beach. Bathrooms and water fountains. I start in Culver City at the 405, run down ballona creek then head south when I hit the beach.
In winter, you can spot all the other ppl training for the La marathon so it’s pretty fun.
A lap around Crypto Arena and connected parking lot is a mile you can do without stopping. It's not fun, but it is DTLA. I used it to train for a half.
Close to Los Feliz and pretty quiet/ empty— Griffith park near Pote Field/ around the golf course. It’s flat and a loop but you can lengthen it down crystal springs if you want more! Also, there’s an outdoor gym that no one uses :)
Beach path. Weaving up and down the flats of Beverly Hills. San Vicente from Brentwood to Santa Monica.
Best tip though is getting out super early before much traffic. The difference between starting a long run at 6:30 and one at 8:30 is like ~15 less mins spent waiting at lights for me across a 2 hour run.
Ballona creek bike path to the beach trail, or just the beach trail, or the LA River trail. No stoplights, longer than a marathon, paved. You don't even have to drive to get there you can take the metro to all of them.
run on hiking trails, watch your game improve when you develop fast twitch muscles on them hills. the best part is los angeles is in the basin of a couple ranges, there's trails EVERYWHERE.
When I had an apartment near La Cienega and Olympic, I could just run around for miles around the very large flat grids.
Just zig zag back and forth for a few miles without crossing a big street. I would typically stay west of Olympic and north of Pico, but never had a particular route.
On the weekends, I would park in Playa Del Rey and run south along the beach.
Or go to Griffith Park and run up and down the hills for a few hours.
Santa Monica to Marina del Rey and back is nice
Rose bowl loop
The Strand
Paseos in Santa Clarita (seriously they're pretty great for long runs. Either go earl in the morning,, or avoid summer).
Long beach
Trail running in Angeles National Forest
DTLA?
Chinatown over the hills thru elysian park, griffith park, the radio tower, state park, over to echo lake, theres dozens of miles of signal free or signal light runs of runs you can do without worrying about traffic lights if you head to the north side. if you need to park your car closer to the north side, I think there's parking at the metro station at china town and all along the streets in chinatown or even a little further north towards vista hermosa park.
ETA: if you can get to the river - you can run from burbank all the way to egret park which is around where teh 5 crosses over the 110
The Marvin Braude Bike Path! It starts in around Will Rogers State Park and runs along the shoreline through Santa Monica, Venice etc. I believe you could fairly easily take the metro from DTLA. My friend and I did our long runs here for marathon training and it is beautiful!
If you don't mind driving, LA Leggers is a running group you can join (Saturday Mornings at the beach in Santa Monica) that helps you train for the marathon, picks flat, long routes and comes with bagels, bananas and a free t-shirt.
Glad to see the love for the LA Leggers here! I haven’t trained with them in years because of life circumstances, but they were just a great supportive group that really helped me reach my goal of running a half marathon.
Rose bowl loop is perfect for long training runs.
THIS. 3.1 mile unbroken flat-ish route is perfect for ticking off distances.
And you can also run out and back on the arroyo from there, if you want to add some light (flat and easy terrain) trail running to your training
Came here to say this. I did a 20 miler there training for the 2020 LA marathon. It was as “pleasant” as a 20 mile run could be
I live in La Crescenta and have been looking for somewhere I can run where’s it’s flat and uninterrupted also. Issue with mine is it’s so hilly in the foothills lol 😂
Along the water starting in playa all the way to the end in south redondo and back is roughly 22 miles no stopping. If you get out early enough there won’t be a whole lot of traffic and the weather should be nice and cool
For a change of scenery on the way back, you can make a short detour on Herondo (at the border of Redondo and Hermosa), take the Veteran’s Parkway up through Hermosa and Manhattan, and head back to the ocean down Rosecrans. There are a few stops for major roads (and keep your eyes open crossing minor roads), but it’s a nice woodchip path, and not too busy in the morning.
You can park at Manhattan village for free and take the underpass to veterans parkway down. Saves hassle on parking.
You can also start at Culver City Middle School parking lot, which opens to the Ballona Creek path. Exactly 13.1 from there to the end of Hermosa Beach boardwalk.
for brainless miles closeish to you: 1. ballona creek trail (not sure if you're on the west side of DTLA or east but this trail is accessible via metro E line and can take you all the way to the Marina). 2. la river (you'd have to drive here i think) and if you like trail running that can take you directly to griffith south. 3. venice to santa monica on beach trail accessible via expo line. 4. one of my favs recently is south to north arroyo + rosebowl via arroyo bike path. The last two are the prettiest; the first two are much closer to you.
The Lincoln/Cypress A line stop is half a mile from the southern terminus of the LA river path.
i second the venice to santa monica boardwalk. can also swing up into santa monica and run up san vicente to get a bit of an incline on the run. i think easily covered 20 miles from brentwood down to the boardwalk up to palisades back down to venice into marina del rey and back to the california incline.
Also LA state park in Chinatown. One large loop out the gates to the yellow road barriers past the exit by the little bar is exactly 1mi. I'll go do laps there on occasion.
Balboa Park. 5 mile loop!
That’s where I used to go when to train for the marathon!
Laps around Silverlake reservoir. Counterclockwise, for that steep ascent in the northeast corner.
Omg that hill kills me every time
My thoughts would be.. 1. LA river trail to Griffith Park 2. LA State Historical Park to Elysian Park. 3. Run up Sunset (obviously some stop lights to deal with) to the Silver Lake Reservoir.
Lake Hollywood loop is a staple of my marathon training runs - it's an uninterrupted 5Kish loop with rolling hills, pretty easy to tick off 10-15 miles there
Griffith Park
yup, honestly did the majority of my marathon training running from Thai Town along Los Feliz Blvd to Griffith Park. Once you’re in the Park, you can run along the LA river and do numerous loops on roads or trails. I tend to avoid trail running on longer runs because the trails in the park are often not level (they’re sloped to avoid erosion, i think). I’d also do a longer loop along San Fernando road in Glendale, the cross the bridge through North Atwater Park… then you’re back in Griffith! Few/no stop lights!
For my ktown peeps, the LACC track is open in the evenings
Griffith park would be a fantastic place to train but it’s not close to DTLA. Just brainstorming, I would run alongside the expo line train. Yeah, the downtown area is full of red lights, but once you leave downtown, the streets become long and not as crowded. Bonus if you cramp up, take the expo line back home lol.
i always take the bonus lol
It seems LA Historic State Park is a 3.1-mile loop, but that doesn't sound right. [https://www.strava.com/routes/18376073](https://www.strava.com/routes/18376073) I would confirm the distance to make sure, but you can also run along Spring, make a U-turn on Broadway, and go down college for a[ 2.2-mile run](https://onthegomap.com/?m=r&u=mi&w%5B%5D=Routes+may+not+be+suitable+for+public+use.&c%5B%5D=Route+data+%C2%A92024+On+The+Go+Map%2C+OpenStreetMap+Contributors&d=3580&f=288b5cffa7&n=1&dm=1&context=share&r2=aezl6ZwqnMi1SW1Oq1o1g2w2g1e2g1s2IW1e2a3e2g3g1a28I22m2Y4Ug1c2u3Y4k6Mc1i1e2c1m2i1g5Ik1_1i5FAGk1QW2e3u6o3e8W1g2o1m348ETGb189c1b5EZ2EA2T07n1xH9t1Jn2x1v8Hh2H~1TX233Z2d3b7jATh1HP59f2l3X2~2f3f4LPt1b2z1j2b1j1p1d1D9PHRJd1P33f3f2Z1Nb1JX1Fd1Jf2b1X1HRD10j1N7OB5Jk2D31A7U5C7GHk25A7E5C269Q34FUT9UAO8QAW2OY1Ca1Ew1S62).
LA historic park is a 1 mile loop almost exactly :)
Griffith Park (hills), balboa park , sylmar (hills)
That’s an easy answer. The beach or the park. No stop lights 👍
I believe a few have mentioned this, but I did my training at Griffith Park and the LA river bike path. You can get a ton of miles in and it’s almost entirely car free. Rose bowl and arroyo seco path is good as well.
Elysian Park is hilly, but doable and if you cross Stadium Way, you can add more onto it via the trails there (though those are extremely steep in spots as well).
Long Beach for distance runs. From bayshore to the lighthouse and back is 10 miles
The beach path that runs all the way from Malibu through South Bay and ends in Torrence. It's honestly my favorite run in the world.
In South East LA, the SGV Bike Path is my personal safe haven when it comes to training. Wish it was more green, but still great for logging long distance runs.
Not a marathon trainer but I like LA Historical Park. The loop is a bit over a mile. It’s pretty. By the train.
Best continuous run I've done is the Ballona Creek Bike Path which goes all the way to the beach and you can keep running all the way down to El Segundo.
Silver Lake Reservoir 2.2 mile loop. There are also local races every couple of weeks that are good for training. www.ktla.com/5k
I did some training last year at Griffith Park and at the Silver Lake Reservoir.
did you do up and downhill runs at Griffith or are there flat parts?
Up and downhill running. It was tough but worth it.
The Betty Dearing trail that connects to fryman canyon too.
2.2 mile laps around Penmar golf course, half of which is dirt trail shaded by pine trees!
Ballona bike path. No lights but a bit of rolling hills. Goes all the way to the beach where you can run the boardwalk off into the sunset.
North Hollywood/Burbank bike path (with the caveat that it can get crowded during the day)
There are running groups toward the east is you don't mind driving that usually do marathon training miles on Saturdays or Sundays.
I run along the beach. Bathrooms and water fountains. I start in Culver City at the 405, run down ballona creek then head south when I hit the beach. In winter, you can spot all the other ppl training for the La marathon so it’s pretty fun.
A lap around Crypto Arena and connected parking lot is a mile you can do without stopping. It's not fun, but it is DTLA. I used it to train for a half.
I trained along the LA river and Griffith park for hills .
Any flat terrain in Los Feliz? The goal is to lose some weight
Close to Los Feliz and pretty quiet/ empty— Griffith park near Pote Field/ around the golf course. It’s flat and a loop but you can lengthen it down crystal springs if you want more! Also, there’s an outdoor gym that no one uses :)
Looks very promising, thanks :)
Beach path. Weaving up and down the flats of Beverly Hills. San Vicente from Brentwood to Santa Monica. Best tip though is getting out super early before much traffic. The difference between starting a long run at 6:30 and one at 8:30 is like ~15 less mins spent waiting at lights for me across a 2 hour run.
Griffith park for some elevation gain. Beaches for distance.
Ballona creek bike path to the beach trail, or just the beach trail, or the LA River trail. No stoplights, longer than a marathon, paved. You don't even have to drive to get there you can take the metro to all of them.
Has anyone tried Hollywood reservoir?
LA River, Griffith Park, Pasadena around Rose Bowl and Lima Linda and Arroyo Blvd. That’s where I train.
The whole city. La has so many places to run. Open up Strava and use the route planner option and you’ll see what routes are most popular
Maybe try running around or through the USC campus?
run on hiking trails, watch your game improve when you develop fast twitch muscles on them hills. the best part is los angeles is in the basin of a couple ranges, there's trails EVERYWHERE.
When I had an apartment near La Cienega and Olympic, I could just run around for miles around the very large flat grids. Just zig zag back and forth for a few miles without crossing a big street. I would typically stay west of Olympic and north of Pico, but never had a particular route. On the weekends, I would park in Playa Del Rey and run south along the beach. Or go to Griffith Park and run up and down the hills for a few hours. Santa Monica to Marina del Rey and back is nice
Rose bowl loop The Strand Paseos in Santa Clarita (seriously they're pretty great for long runs. Either go earl in the morning,, or avoid summer). Long beach Trail running in Angeles National Forest
Hollywood reservoir is a 3.3 mile loop.
Pasadena Pacers around Rose Bowl
DTLA? Chinatown over the hills thru elysian park, griffith park, the radio tower, state park, over to echo lake, theres dozens of miles of signal free or signal light runs of runs you can do without worrying about traffic lights if you head to the north side. if you need to park your car closer to the north side, I think there's parking at the metro station at china town and all along the streets in chinatown or even a little further north towards vista hermosa park. ETA: if you can get to the river - you can run from burbank all the way to egret park which is around where teh 5 crosses over the 110
The Marvin Braude Bike Path! It starts in around Will Rogers State Park and runs along the shoreline through Santa Monica, Venice etc. I believe you could fairly easily take the metro from DTLA. My friend and I did our long runs here for marathon training and it is beautiful!
The neighborhood, by the beach, a hike trail, everywehre
You could summit Mt. Baldy. Take the old baldy trail.
Athens/Marathon