http://www.boston.com/...fth_safest_city.html

Newton ranked as one of the safest cities in the country, you should be good. There's a race that runs through there, marathon of some sort ;)

Head over the Commonwealth Ave at intersection of Washington St (Rt 30 & Rt 16) and you can run the hills. There's a carriage road that runs next to the main road but will have virtually no traffic on it, even during rush hour.

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--Chris

Thanks for the reply. I do know about that little race there :-) but running with 30K of your closest friends is a bit different than running by yourself at 6:30 a.m. which is why I asked.

Carriage road is a term I'm unfamiliar with -- what is it?

I'd never heard the term either before I moved there. Still have never seen it anywhere else. It's just a little side road next to the real road. Here's a streetview of it:

https://www.google.com/...5:0x5592087b9b70af7e

The main road is the road with the double line, the carriage road is the little road off to the left. It's all Comm Ave though. It's kind of weird.

At 6:30 there will be plenty of people going to work and out for a run/walk/bike ride. I don't think you will be out of view of someone at any point. Also there's houses along Comm Ave for the majority of Comm Ave. My wife lived in Newton for 5 years or so before I met her and she ran at all hours of day and night and she's a big chicken.

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--Chris

carriage road, access road, frontage road...all mean that little road that runs parallel to a highway. (I think)

I can't help more...I've only run out there once. :)

Yeah, I think we'd call that a frontage road out here in these parts.

x2 on the carriage road, always plenty of people out there and you can use the restroom at the fire station right when you turn on Comm Ave if need be.

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"You can never win or lose if you don't run the race." - Richard Butler

You should have no problems. My GF lives in West Newton and runs alone all the time. Depending on where you are in Newton you can also pretty easily hop onto the Charles river path for some decent uninterrupted mileage.

There's tons of good running routes in greater boston. Obvious ones being the river and emerald necklace. From Newton, comm ave, the chestnut hill res and all of brookline would make for good routes.

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Twitter | Kancman | Blog

where in newton are you staying?? you have comm ave which is great with the carriage way and beacon street. plenty of roads that cross between the 2 making it great for a loops. plus theres heartbreak hill you can run up...PM me and ill send you my routes. I live in Brighton, work in newton centre. give me a shout

Newton is large -- some areas feel more urban than others and may not be as nice for running, but anywhere you go in the mornings before work should feel safe.

Comm Ave is good and you can make loops of plenty of different distances combining it with Beacon St. Beacon has good sidewalks all along it and plenty of runners, too. You can also run east towards BC and run around the Cleveland circle reservoir on a nice gravel path (about 1.5 miles around). Lots of runners there at all times of the day.

I'm staying at the Crowne Plaza (thanks Hotwire, why'd they build a hotel over the freeway anyways). So looking at google maps it's a little bit away from Comm. Ave., but I'll have to look closer later.

I'm probably only trying to get in some 5 milers or so, just enough to maintain some run fitness without disappearing from the fam for too long.

So you can run South right up Centre Street roughly a mile to Comm Ave. That's fine. You'll hit the course at right by the 20 mile mark (of the marathon, not of your run!). From there you can go left or or right on the carriage road.

Or if you wanted a loop that's longer longer than 5 miles (more like 6.5-7 miles) that is on highly traveled roads, you could follow Washington Street west along the pike, pick up Route 16 (it merges) and follow it over the pike to the Comm Ave / Route 16 intersection (the firehouse turn of the Boston Marathon -- about 17.7 mile mark of Boston). Then you could turn left on to the carriage road and follow that all the way to Centre Street (about 2.3 miles) and then left on Centre Street back down to the hotel. The first few miles along Washington street are not as nice as the rest of it as you are alongside the Mass Pike, but they are certainly roads to feel safe on.

You could make that shorter by taking a left turn off Washiington on to Chestnut street and heading straight to Comm Ave

You are also close to the Charles River and that has a nice path on both sides for miles and miles. You just go North instead of South on Centre Street about half a mile down to the river. The running path is right there. You can head towards Boston and choose which bridge to cross and head back on.

-Joe

There's a grocery store over the freeway about 3/4 of a mile west.

I've never been in that hotel but it looks like the bar is on the ground floor right over the highway. I've always wanted to sit there with a drink and watch the cars. Not sure why.

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--Chris

These are all great! Thanks everybody. I'll be printing out this thread and taking it with me. Now I just hope the humidity won't kill this wimpy Californian.

http://www.runboston.org

it's pretty cheap and you can pick whatever you want from 5-18 miles.

i do work for them, however i won't be able to guide next week.

john

You have lots of options from that starting point.
But as previously said - I would either go S on Centre street or W on Washington.
I would avoid going N onto Galen - takes you into Watertown and probably the least scenic of the routes (unless your on a real long run - then you can hook up w the Charles river down there)!

Welcome to Boston - I would hit up Buffs pub across from the hotel for wings and beers. Popular hangout!
If your into craft beer - head into the Publick House in Brookline! 5-10 min drive!