I will be in Atlanta over the weekend and need to get in a long (18-20 miles) run in prep for the NYC marathon. I will be staying in the Druid Hills area. Is there a park nearby, can I run through neighborhoods? Any advice is appreciated.
Depends on which side of Druid Hills you are staying (DH is about a 10 mile road). If you are east of 85, then you can run down by Emory. They have trails too. It is extremely hilly. On the west side, near Buckhead, there are several great runs–out and back on Peachtree, around Capitol City Club or any of the group runs from Big Peach.
Try to get over to the Silver Comet Trail. Excellent running. 15 miles or so from Druid Hills, but worth the drive. Start at the Mavell trail head, and just go out 10, and back 10. Lots of people… great place to run.
If you can’t get over there, pull down the Publix Marathon course from Mapmyrun, and follow that. Cuts right through Druid Hills.
Another option is to drop in on any number of running clubs that do long runs on Saturdays.
Both those groups do long runs in the city.
As trispoke indicated Durid Hills Rd covers I wide area, but I assume you mean the Druid Hills Neighborhood, which is close to Emory. From there you have access to run anywhere in Virgina Highlands-down to Piedmont Park or over to Decatur. All these areas have plenty of neighborhoods you can run through with plenty of runners out enjoying the day. From VaHi or Druid Hills you can also get over to the PATH network(http://www.pathfoundation.org/). I would avoid the area heading from the jimmy carter senter into downtown, but heading from Jimmy carter center towards Decatur is ok.
Me, I would stick to the Druid Hills - Emory - VA Highlands-Piedmont Park area.
Thanks for all the ideas. Yes, staying at the Doubletree which I believe is near Emory. I’m looking forward to my running tour of the area 
doubletrees in buckhead and on north druid hills road i believe. pull up google map and either is close to running at capital city country club which has nice loop around it…anywhere running along peachtree in buckhead is nice…
if you are at emory proper lullwater road, oxford, oakdale and springdale are nice residential areas to run…
visit the atlanta track club website where they list some good running in the area but car may be necessary
my recommendation is running along columns drive and the chattahoochee river north of town on 285 which is probably included on the atlanta track club website…it has 5 miles road and 3 miles of main trail and is mecca for runners…
forgot to add if you run at the hooch…they have parking on either end but requires i think 2 dollars to park and it does get crowded but if you start early or late maybe parking won’t be a big issue, but i have not been there in a while.
If you like hills- drive 10 miles east on Hwy 78 to Stone Mountain Park- you can run 5 mile loops or the longer 9 mile loop- and they have a designated paved running path on about 1/2 of the 5 mile loop course. You do have to pay to enter the park- about $8 or so. But lots of other good ideas have been given- including the Publix Marathon course- which does go right by Emory. Very few cars and scenic
Another vote for Silver Comet. It is a little for biking at most times, but great for running…
If your interested here is a good 16 mile route right from your hotel I put together. You can make it a little longer by doing a lap or two within Piedmont Park.
Lots of options. You might be best off heading towards the Chastain Park area. Go Northwest on Druid Hills/Roxboro Rd. /Wieuca Rod. Hit Roswell Rd, turn right, turn left on West Wieuca and hit Lake Forest Dr. That is 6 miles, drive or run. There are paved paths all over Chastain and bike lanes. Nice scenery and lovely big trees. Also a golf course.
Map. Restrooms and water.
A long drive to Silver Comet, but it is nice. Columns is a long drive, and is flat and boring, although there are some great trails to run off it heading towards Sope Creek. Heading towards Piedmont Park would be another option.
That’s a good route. Don’t drive anywhere. You are close to a great area and it would be a shame to get in the car and leave it - especially to run someplace indistinguishable. The actual druid hills/emory area is great for running. Unfortunately, while your hotel is on Druid Hills rd, it isn’t the Druid hills neighborhood. Ironmom’s map fixes that for you and gets you away from there pretty quickly. Just be patient for that first mile and things will get a lot nicer. Piedmont park is a must.
If you need anything or just like popping into local tri shops, you’ll be running right by a great new one - Podium Multisports at 1167 Zonolite place - just about at mile 2.5 in that route (make a right on zonolight and its buried away a couple hundred meters inside the shopping area). They also do a 7:30 saturday morning ride out of there…
Hey-
There are lots of options as everyone has mentioned. I’m running with www.usafitteamspirit.com this Sat. morning at 7:30am. We’ll be at the Big Peach Running store off of P’tree- very, very close to N. Druid Hills. (My wife and I actually live in the area you are staying). WE’ll have maps of distances up to 20miles and will have powerade and water on the course. Come join us if you’d like- there are a bunch of our group running Chicago this weekend, but there should be a decent turnout. The course goes around Capitol City country club and the scenic area surrounding. Feel free to contact me at runatlanta@yahoo.com if you need more info. Thanks
Ironmom was the one who was asking for running routes. I was the one who posted the suggested route. I live in the area. That being said, I’m interested to know more about Podium Multisport and I didn’t find anything about the ride on their website. You said the saturday ride is at 7:30. Is their an established distance/pace for the ride? Do you have to be a member to join the ride?
Thx,
ubdawg
Oh sorry about that ubdawg… this ‘replying to an individual post’ thing gets a little confusing (versus all replies being to the original poster). Anyway - good route.
That run kgp2 mentioned sounds perfect too.
The ride out of podium is pretty cool. The route goes down to grant park. More of a north-south route and flatter/faster than the buckhead routes I’m used to doing with all the other shops. As I understand it this route is the same as one done by a decatur shop/group, though I can’t recall the name. It’s about 24 miles. I haven’t ridden it lately as I’m never in town, but a friend who rode it recently said that mid-way a group of them on tri bikes split off for stone mountain and made some extra miles out of it.
When I last rode it there were about 10 of us, and I’ve heard it’s just grown from there. Here is my garmin of it: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/96256374
They do need to get it on the site. In the meantime, you can get confirmation or any details/last-minute changes via info@teampodium.com
If you haven’t checked out the site you should - it’s real nice. 6-computrainer setup with classes too, and an awesome fit guy (Matt). More importantly, all the guys there are top notch - super friendly and helpful.
Outback bikes… that’s the other shop that rides that route:
http://outback-bikes.com/images/grantpark.jpg
Definitely a good loop for an early Saturday or Sunday run. The piedmont park/emory sections will be the nicest.
+1 on piedmont
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Thanks to everyone for their great responses!! I think I will run in the neighborhood where I’m staying since it sounds like a good option. I don’t arrive until Saturday afternoon so my run has to be Sunday. We will be in Atlanta for a college visit.
I just saw the route you mapped out for me. Thank you!!! I am running tomorrow morning. Thanks again!