This blog is for people who wish to find some nice places for running on Long Island, NY. I'm going to post some running routes in this blog and you can choose some of them according to your running distance.
1. Circle Road, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook
Description: road, loop, 2.65 miles, mostly flat.
I usually run this route on weekdays if I finish my research work after 6pm and don't have enough time to run off campus. This is a safe place for running, you don't need to worry about the traffic (stop sign every where:)). It's mostly flat, a small hill near the life science building.
You can accumulate your distance by running two loops or more. The great thing is if you are going to challenge yourself a new long distance running, this is a perfect choice because you can stop anytime if you feel bad (get injury etc.) on your additional miles.
2. SBU --- West Meadow Beach
Description: road, point to point, 9 miles, hilly.
Start from Engineering Dr. near Heavy Eng. Bldg. on campus, run to the train station and go along Quaker Path and Mt Grey Rd, turn left on W Meadow Rd. and run all the way to the end. It's mostly down-hill on the direction to beach and of course mostly up-hill when you go back. It's a great training to run up-hill in your second half. Make sure you run on the opposite direction to the traffic since the road is a bit narrow.
3. SBU --- Belle Terre (Port Jefferson)
Description: road, point to point, 14.5 miles, mostly flat, a small period of tough hill.
This is one of my favorite route!
Start from Engineering Dr., go through hospital tunnel to Health Sci Dr., turn to University Dr. on your right by crossing a small pedestrian path, run through Upper Sheep Pasture Rd. and Sheep Pasture Rd. until you see Dark Hollow Rd. on you left, merge to Main Street, Port Jefferson. Then run on E. Broadway to Cliff Rd. and go all the way to the end. Note that E. Broadway is PRETTY HILLY, I usually walk through this part and have a GEL and water to refresh myself.
Also, you can just stop at Main St. (the place where you catch the ferry), turn around and go back. The Belle Terre is optional. The Main St. round trip is around 10 miles.
I run this route a lot for training my half marathon. Be sure to bring a bottle of water with you as well as some GELs. You can stop by Starbucks on Main St. for restroom and water. I like their Berry and Lime Refresher for running^^.
4. West Meadow Beach --- Port Jefferson
Description: road, point to point, 18 miles, flat+hilly.
This is more like a combination of the above two routes. 18-mile is my longest run so far.
In this route, you start from the entrance of West Meadow Beach, run one mile on Trustees Rd. first and then run to Port Jeff by exactly follow the above two routes. When you go back, you are going to choose Sheep Pasture Rd. instead of Upper Sheep Pasture Rd. and get on campus by entering the train station entrance and run back to West Meadow Beach.
This route is great for LSD, you can go up to 20 miles or even more by adding additional mileages on Trustees Rd..
5. East Hampton
Description: road, point to point, 6 miles, flat.
This is the route in East Hampton which is in the southeast of Long Island. Beautiful scene along the route and you can go for some fun there after your running training.
The route start from Gubbins East hampton (a running gear store, 54 Park Place), run along the Main Street and all the way down to the end of Ocean Ave.. Then you run along Lily Pond Ln and Apaquogue Rd. and turn right on Cottage Ave.. You go back to Lily Pond Ln and run on the same route back to Gubbins.
This route is created by the organizer of Hamptons Marathon. I joined their running activity once to run this route. They have routine training every Sunday morning from Memorial Day until Labor Day. They gradually increase mileage every Sunday. It's great to run with bunch of runners.
The place is more than an hour driving from Stony Brook. You can go hiking on Shelter Island nearby or go to the beach there.
6. Blydenburgh Park, Smithtown
Description: trail, loop, 6 miles, hilly.
This is the Blydenburgh Park in Smithtown. It's a trail running so make sure you run there on a sunny or cloudy day. It may not be a good experience to run on a rainy day there. Though the figure below shows 4.7 miles, it's actually an approximately 6 miles loop. It shows 4.7 miles because we didn't run all the way back to the original point.
Very beautiful scenery, great lake + great running experience, I highly recommend this place for trail running training. Note that some horses may share the path with you.
Besides the place above, I sometimes run other places but the above ones are those I like most. Hope this is helpful to people who live near Stony Brook and try to find some ideas about running routes.
Enjoy your run.
Thank you.
