PING: Easy Mac, NoMyths, Shaun Sullivan, anyone else in Chucktown
 

Are there any tracks around here that allow the public to come and run? I was surprised to find that both high schools I went by had their tracks locked.

Hmm...don't know about a track, but you could do the Cooper Bridge run -- the new bridge has a lane for running, and all reports are that it's top notch (but beware leaving anything valuable in your car).

Dola...

Since when are you living in Hanahan? I'm on vacation this week, and would be happy to buy you a beer while you're in town. :)

Yes, I'm quite familiar with the bridge. ;) I'm looking, though, for a good ol' quarter-mile track, so that more precise distances can be more easily measured.

is it normal for high schools down south to allow the public to use their facilities? I've never heard of such a thing up here.

In New Jersey, at least the high schools around me, they leave pretty much everything open. Soccer field, track, tennis courts, etc.

I've got three high schools within 5 miles of my house that don't lock their tracks.

Upstate New York and it's totally normal.

Although, we used to play pick-up soccer at the local rural school every Friday, and we got moved to another school in the district (which has nicer fields incidentally!), and we don't pay a dime.

My old high school is just a few miles from my house and it's track is open to the public.

my schools are just odd then I guess.

Don't know about SC, but it certainly was in Georgia. Even during football practice, there were always people running/jogging/walking around the track at Tucker in particular. That's not to mention anywhere from 10-40 men (typically less than half of whom had children on the team) gathered there daily to hang out, talk sports, and watch football practice. Heck, even the private school I attended allowed outsiders to use the track and tennis courts.

It seems like a smart move to leave stuff open to the public. I would think that it makes non-parents at least a little more likely to vote for tax increases involving the schools if they use it from time to time, and it's not like Aunt Mable walking a mile a day all year long does nearly as much damage to the track as an offensive lineman walking across it one time in his cleats to get water, or one week of the sprinters practicing in their spikes.

I think insurance would be the big reason. One schmuck trips, falls, breaks their ankle while walking, and big lawsuit ensues.

With that said most places around here (including universities) seem to be quite open about letting the public use their outdoor facilities.

Come to think about it, my high school had a use-at-your-own-risk sign on the property. I recall seeing no such sign at the T-U-C, or any other high school I've been around, though. Now that I think about it, the football practice field and track at Lakeside in DeKalb County doesn't even HAVE a fence around it. Tucker has a fence with a small permanent opening, big enough for one person to walk through at a time right at the track, but you could cross the campus from the other side, by the tennis courts and baseball field, and there's no fence at all. The only purpose I see the fence serving at Tucker would be to keep anyone from driving their car on the track or football field.

Oh, and the very reason I'm looking for a track is that I'm training to run the, ahem, Ravenel Bridge in the race this spring. I've never done a 10K, and I've got a training plan that in the early stages has some rather precise distances involved. As those distances increase, I'd prefer not to use a treadmill.

All the public school facilities here are behind locked gates year round to prevent (well, more like "cut down on") vandalism. I'm just amazed that there are still places that don't have that problem.

There's not much else to do in Monticello, Jon. :p

I'll get on the question. I don't really do anything at work anyway. If you want to drive to Columbia every night, I know Rice Creek Elementary and Ridge View high allow this.

here's some links from the charleston running club, they may have some ideas if you want to get a hold of them, but i haven't really moved around their site.

http://www.charlestonrunningclub.com/links.html

The man doth raise a good point.

I'm counting the days til we're outta here, that's for sure.
Problem is, the number keeps changing for the worse

Yea', I was thinking about this, and I believe all the local tracks I'm thinking of have either a "Use at your own risk" sign or a "Faculty/Students/Family only" [at universities].

But in my very limited legal knowledge those signs mean jack liability-wise.

I'm quite sure the tennis courts at the closest high school to me has a sign like that as well. Not sure about anywhere else since those courts are the only ones I go to now.

Ol' SkyDog only drinks fancy French wines.

Correcting a local about the name, friend? Dangerous territory. ;) Here we call it the Cuz.

And two snarks in a thread one's asking specifically by name for advice for is generally considered poor form. Just for that I'm not going to give you the name of a track I learned is open. ;)

I teach at one in Ky. if you wanna make the trip.

Well, the name certainly wasn't a snark, just a little joke. I'd consider it quite poor form (not to mention none too pretentious) to call it the Cuz. It feels a little weird to call it the Ravenel, for that matter. I have no idea what the second snark was, either. :confused:

That's NOT true! Two of my top three are fancy AMERICAN wines. ;)

Just joshing a little bit back too. :)

Poor form and pretentious to call it the Cuz? I don't know...since "Cousin" Arthur is pretty much a local institution, I can see why folks call his multi-million dollar bridge by a folksy-nickname, humanizing it somewhat. It is a beautiful bridge, though.

as you can see, we here from charleston abstain from exercise at all csts. hell, i drive 7 minutes to work when all i have to do is walk across the bridge (i'm thinking about trying to by a little boat and just commuting across the river to work.)

If pressed, you could always drive around your neighborhood and use your odometer to measure distances. Not as good as a track, but a workable substitute depending on your neighborhood.

Of course if you want to get really serious about your running, you want a GPS watch like those in the Garmin Forerunner series. A bit pricey, but worth it if you plan to run quite a bit.

My wife runs half-marathons and marathons relatively frequently, has one of the previous versions of this watch and loves it. No need to worry about finding a track ever again as this thing will give you the distance precision you need wherever you need it.

The track out here is open. Just watch out for the big rocks.

Hey, ae! How's the weather over there? It was about 110 degrees in North Dakota this past weekend.

Same for me in Jersey when I was there. In fact, those were the facilities you used for pretty much everything. Especially running tracks and tennis courts.

No, not poor form and pretentious for YOU to call it that. I was referring to ME calling it that.

hehe...fair enough. ;)

I just run in Mount Pleasant. I only do like 3 miles a day though, just to keep the blood flowing -- not a serious runner, but I am diligent.

Skydog, now that you are in my neck of the woods we need to go grab a cold beverage.

If I tried to run 3 miles I think I would drop dead.