Trail Review: Huntington Beach
I love, love, love this trail!
Back in 1999, I signed up with Snails Pace for my first Marathon Training Program. We met every Sunday morning at 7am at the Edison Park for our long runs. Three or maybe four, training sessions later I broke off from being a trainee to become a coach for the Laguna Hills Snails Pace division. With the change I no longer could run long on Sundays and I was committed to the Aliso Creek Trail versus the Huntington Beach one.
After all those sessions of running Huntington Beach, I can tell you where each mile marker is and which bathrooms to avoid. I love that it's a relatively flat trail where you can get up to (and probably beyond) 22 miles. I love that at 6 or 7am the only ones along the boardwalk are runners or surfers - both die hards in my opinion. I love that you can stumble across a small local 10k, a surf tournament, a beach clean up and/or a triathlon any given Saturday. I love the people watching and I love that you are pretty much guaranteed bathrooms every mile.
I've introduced several training partners to Huntington Beach. Yes, it's a trek for some... but I think most leave the run satisfied.
Most Sundays you can see the Snails Pace Crew out there training for a local marathon. If you're lucky you'll even run into Rich Scott (aka the local running celebrity). And, once in awhile you'll see me out there pounding the pavement to escape the heat from inland.
So, Saturday was my last long run before St George Marathon. My running partner and I pushed off from Edison around 7am. As we ran towards the boardwalk, I explained to him the benefits of Huntington Beach. See, when you convenience someone to run "your trail" you feel obligated to make sure they enjoy it. But by the time we hit the lifeguard tower the trail came through with activity - today, it was a local 10k! Nice! Today's run wouldn't lack excitement (aka distractions)!
South we headed towards the Getty and then doubling back we passed the lifeguard tower again. For the next 2 1/2 hours we'd be chatting away about anything and everything, until we reached the outskirts of Sunset Beach and back.
We finished it all up with a nice 10 minute soak in the ocean to "ice" down the legs. Then walked back to the cars for a cool down.
Ah! How I love the Huntington Beach Trail! Thank you again for another successful training run!
Perks of Huntington Beach Trail:
Back in 1999, I signed up with Snails Pace for my first Marathon Training Program. We met every Sunday morning at 7am at the Edison Park for our long runs. Three or maybe four, training sessions later I broke off from being a trainee to become a coach for the Laguna Hills Snails Pace division. With the change I no longer could run long on Sundays and I was committed to the Aliso Creek Trail versus the Huntington Beach one.
After all those sessions of running Huntington Beach, I can tell you where each mile marker is and which bathrooms to avoid. I love that it's a relatively flat trail where you can get up to (and probably beyond) 22 miles. I love that at 6 or 7am the only ones along the boardwalk are runners or surfers - both die hards in my opinion. I love that you can stumble across a small local 10k, a surf tournament, a beach clean up and/or a triathlon any given Saturday. I love the people watching and I love that you are pretty much guaranteed bathrooms every mile.
I've introduced several training partners to Huntington Beach. Yes, it's a trek for some... but I think most leave the run satisfied.
Most Sundays you can see the Snails Pace Crew out there training for a local marathon. If you're lucky you'll even run into Rich Scott (aka the local running celebrity). And, once in awhile you'll see me out there pounding the pavement to escape the heat from inland.
So, Saturday was my last long run before St George Marathon. My running partner and I pushed off from Edison around 7am. As we ran towards the boardwalk, I explained to him the benefits of Huntington Beach. See, when you convenience someone to run "your trail" you feel obligated to make sure they enjoy it. But by the time we hit the lifeguard tower the trail came through with activity - today, it was a local 10k! Nice! Today's run wouldn't lack excitement (aka distractions)!
South we headed towards the Getty and then doubling back we passed the lifeguard tower again. For the next 2 1/2 hours we'd be chatting away about anything and everything, until we reached the outskirts of Sunset Beach and back.
We finished it all up with a nice 10 minute soak in the ocean to "ice" down the legs. Then walked back to the cars for a cool down.
Ah! How I love the Huntington Beach Trail! Thank you again for another successful training run!
Perks of Huntington Beach Trail:
- Flat course with ability to pick up over 22 miles
- Primarily along the beach front
- Significant amount of bathrooms and water fountains
- If you need it (on a hot day), showers to cool down
- A decent showing of other runners and bikers along the path
- Free Parking if you find something off one of the side streets - paid if you use the State Parking
- Cool beach breeze
- Great people watching
- Surf City Marathon course is partly on the Huntington Beach Trail
- It's an out and back course
- For some, the fact that it's all flat is boring
- If you do decide to park in one of the State Parking lots it's anywhere from $10-15
- Sometimes folks don't look both ways on the boardwalk and you have to be on the defensive for: Surfboard crossings, children darting across unmonitored, bike cruisers being clueless, tourists stopping for any number of reasons... etc.
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