Running routes: Shoreline, WA edition

September 24, 2019 4:37 PM

I'll be staying with a friend in Shoreline, WA next week and I'm looking for safe morning running routes.

I'm a woman running solo between 7-9am, looking for routes up to 10mi. So far I've looked at Mapmyrun and Strava heatmaps. Starting point: near the Central Market just off Aurora Ave. I've mapped out a few potential routes to Shoreview Park/Boeing Creek trails, and down to Carkeek Park via the Interurban Trail. I'm not completely unfamiliar with friend's neighborhood but she's always driven me around and I haven't gone running here before.

Friend is not a runner and I have questions she can't answer:
- Is the interurban trail sketchy or no? What about the parks?
- Google Maps walking routes show some stretches of road with no sidewalk - how worried do I need to be about traffic?

posted by kiripin to Travel & Transportation around Shoreline, WA (7 answers total)

Best answer: The interurban can be minorly sketchy alone. I mostly am on there on a bike.

And yes, there are tons of parts of Shoreline with no sidewalks. And sometimes there is limited safety from cars.

I'm not a runner so hopefully others will jump in.
posted by k8t at 4:57 PM on September 24, 2019

Best answer: I can't speak to specific routes in that part of town, but do be aware that many of the neighborhood intersections don't have any stop signs at all. They are first come, first serve, so don't assume that crossing traffic will have a stop sign if you don't have one! Sunrise will be right around 7:00 AM, the morning commute will have started by then, and drivers will have their cell phone in one hand and their coffee in the other as they zip through the neighborhoods.

On the sidewalkless streets in my neighborhood, I always run facing oncoming traffic and am prepared to bail into the ditch if I have to. I've only had to a couple of times.
posted by entropical punch at 5:20 PM on September 24, 2019

Best answer: Not a runner but I live in the area. NE & N 155th st (a street that goes east from Central Market) has sidewalks, as do several streets in the Ridgecreat neighborhood ... so you could run all the way to Hamlin Park, around/through it (it's woodsy like Boeing Creek), the middle & high school has sidewalks, and you could cut back through.

The parks in Shoreline are pretty sedate, at least compared to some north Seattle parks. I think your biggest danger is running on streets without sidewalks.
posted by stowaway at 5:41 PM on September 24, 2019 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I (a small woman) have run from a relative’s off Aurora down and through Carkeek a bunch and have not found Carkeek sketchy. Lots of other folks there even at like 9, 10 on a weekday although I have not been there as quite early as you will be.

I have been on the Interurban solo, but mostly on a bike and that changes the dynamic somewhat.
posted by charmedimsure at 6:22 PM on September 24, 2019

Best answer: The Interurban can be sketchy. As a middle-aged male, I'd be a bit hesitant running on it solo in the morning darkness near sunrise. Instead, I'd run further west, maybe going down Westminster to 145th and making a right. You could run through the Llandover Woods Greenspace, making a loop, or leaving it on the west side and following the weaving roads south to 12 Av NW where it meets up with the trails in Carkeek. In Carkeek, you can take the trail that runs south (and uphill) to NW 100th Pl. And then head north on 3rd NW. However, 3rd is a minor arterial, and no sidewalks for a portion of it, so I would consider running on one of the parallel side streets such as 1st Av NW. By that time it would be light enough that I'd be comfortable running on the Interurban for a bit. And, I just created this map on MapMyRun. With some caveats: I haven't run this route, and I haven't even driven on the roads I mapped between Llandover and Carkeek.
posted by ShooBoo at 9:26 AM on September 25, 2019 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Do you have to leave from there, or can you come over to the other side of town and run on the Burke Gilman?

I wouldn't worry about the Interurban being sketchy. There are homeless people who live there, and you'll see some open drug use near the McDonald's if you go south from Central Market, but I've never had any problems (and I'm also a woman, albeit a tall, white one, and shorter, less-white friends of mine have been hassled). It's not a very interesting trail, though. From your starting point I would head north on it -- you have to kind of juggle it a bit after Echo Lake, but you pick it back up after 205th.

Hamlin Park is fun to run in. There's an orienteering trail, or you can just run on random trails. Shoreview Park is also fun. Richmond Beach Saltwater Park has a loop where you can go up stairs and down the hill (or vice versa) with amazing views. You'll be near Paramount School Park (AKA Paramount Park, but Paramount Park is actually a different park), which has a small track if you want to just run around in circles.

The stadium at 185th and I-5 is open to runners, except when the schools have practice there.
posted by The corpse in the library at 10:37 AM on September 25, 2019 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks all! I brought my LED wristband and mapped out some Strava routes based on your recommendations....then I promptly came down with a cold and skipped my long run. I did go for a really enjoyable and much needed 3mi run through Shoreview Park and the community college, where the worst parts were street crossings during morning commute hours.
posted by kiripin at 10:13 AM on October 5, 2019 [2 favorites]