What’s your favourite surface to run on? Any... - Bridge to 10K
What’s your favourite surface to run on? Anything from the classic (road) to the adventurous (shingle beach!). Feel free to comment below 😊
Actually, I like to run on grass and track, but after a while, I am glad to be back on road again. I usually start at home, on road. Depending on the route, I sometimes take grass or track when that is on my route, but I always feel relieved when back on the road again, regardless of the distance I've been running
Poll suggested by Couchpotato2 😍
Anything but road or treadmill! 🤣
Off road I'd probably put mud and wet chalk at the bottom end, forest trails up the top as the are so bouncy and lovely, dry grass so long as not too long is lovely, (long grass is hard and sets off the hay-fever), gravel tracks are just OK, worse if flat, rocky is fine, dirt is good, and a combination of all is just plain ideal 👍🏻😁
WORD GoGo_JoJo ! You've saved me typing a whole bunch of stuff!
I love your posts, I can identify with so much in them, though I'm still a loooong way behind you in achievements.
Thank you. 🙏 😊
Wet chalk is nasty, slippy stuff. Dry chalk might as well be road.
Shame it’s my local landscape 🤣🤣🤣
It's making you a stronger, more agile runner, even if it doesn't feel like it! 👍🏻😁
Oh I am well aware 👍😊As is the fact that I can’t actually get back to my front door - on a local run - without coming up hill at the end of it.
Oh! I'm running my first ever race on (up) the South Downs tomorrow. It's probably all on chalk, which I've never run on before. And probably all in the rain too. 😰Thanks for the inadvertent heads up 👍
Keep your steps short to make it easier to retain balance. If the surface looks slimes use any grassy tufts for extra grip. You'll be OK 👍🏻
thank you. I made it! one minor wobble (literal wobble) but I didn't actually go over, so that's definitely a win. lovely views too, despite the rain.
Fabulous!! Well done 👏🏻👍🏻😁
What GoGo_JoJo said. Good luck!
thank you for the encouragement! i took it very easy where it was muddy or the chalk was exposed and made it through unscathed. whoop! although I might not feel unscathed by tomorrow. 😉
Same on my race, white patches and rain = avoid! Well done on your race
.... maybe I don't want to run with you ... our lists are probably polar opposite 🤣🤣🤣
New horizons... get out of that comfort zone! 🤣👍🏻
Luckily I don't live very far from Linda and there is plenty of TERRAIN nearby (and luckily tea shops)
Road for me , probably because I started (and finished C25k on road)Although I have been known to venture on to a canal tow path 😁
Grass, specifically short grass, as it's nice and gentle on my knees. I don't like long grass much, it saps my energy and sometimes hides smelly puddles!
Road for me at the moment as I like to run along the ocean. Looking forward to discovering trail ❤️🏃♀️
My absolute favourite, when I am at the coast, is to run on the hard packed sand where the tide has gone right out and I am at the sea's edge. This is a real treat.
At home I run a mixture of road, hard earth and short grass, my favourite being dry earth trails.
Oh I would love to do that!
I live by the sea and have never done that! I’m gonna have to check the tide tables as otherwise it is shingle which must be the worst running surface ever.
Shingle absolutely is THE worst.
definitely shortish grass - where the earth isn't too hard packed but isn't soggy and trainer sucking either
Nothing to specific then 😜
What can I say, I run on most anything but nice springy grass if the best 
Unfortunately I have to run on the road (or wide flat surfaces) as the balance system in my ears is shot!
Is trail grass or earth????
my trails are a total mixture
Ditto, which is why I didn’t know which to click 😜
So I prefer Earth to grass but basically I'm an anything but road kind of girl
I picked Earth as my favourite surface is a forest floor. I even run through forests in different countries when we’ve been on holidays - such gorgeous memories of woody smells and whispering sounds and just me and my feet rustling along the ancient woodland paths 😍 *sigh*
But you do have to watch out for those pesky tree roots that seem to appear from nowhere 😱
My fave too.I did all if C25K through the woods. I love it although it's much slower than the road
That’s part of why I love it, time seems to slow down 😍
mmmmm. sounds divine!
My dream run is an early misty morning through a forest, crisp with the beginning of frost and just me and the silence ….. I haven’t found it yet but I will 😍
Anything that’s not slippery really but softer tracks are better for my knees 🙂
My favourite ever run location was about 3 years ago towards the end of my C25K on Curber edge in the Peak. Rocks and soft moss. Hoping to re-create it this summer. Already excited at the thought. But back home in the South East I like to run mainly in the local park on footpaths of varying quality. I avoid roads wherever possible.
I love trail running. I stared C25K running on a local disused railway trail. I’ve had to move onto roads now they made me go back to work 😏😂. I love dodging and jumping puddles, zig zagging across the path to find the least muddy bits, getting splattered in mud and being surrounded by greenery 😍. I feel fully engaged in the run and firmly in the moment. Bliss 😊
Earth, only when it’s reasonably dry! Canal towpath is good , though this can vary - earth, grass, gravel, small stones, rough stones, tarmac etc.
I love the bounce of running on earth, or grass, when there's been some good rain in the last week or so, but the last day or two have been dry. Haven't been running long so no chance to try sand, rock or peaty moorland yet. Something to think about when planning a UK staycation.
My favourite is any trail that heads up a hill. Prefer it softer underfoot but as long as its runnable or amenable to a fast walk I’m happy. My next favourite is long fast trail descents, the kind where you start laughing for the sheer joy of doing it.
And stick your arms out like an aeroplane *wheeeee* Though I definitely won’t be taking any trail descent very fast in the foreseeable future.
Definitely not shingle beach!
Treadmill when it’s cold and wet
I've never used a treadmill! Roads are easiest, but I prefer to be in the fields and dirt tracks
It's forest/woodland paths and tracks for me but I chose Earth.I did all of C25K along paths through my local woods and it was brilliant! I love the woods and the sounds and smells and how everything changes over time.
I'm a lot slower than on the roads but it's much kinder on the old joints.
Oh and I also go across the fields as well - wood to wood!🌲🚜🌲
It’s the smells and sounds that make the whole experience magical 😍
Oh yes, woodlands without the dog walkers are wonderful
Very boring I know but..........road
I put road .... but actually I like compacted paths! alongside water or through trees. have never run on a track, loathe the treadmill (unless there's no alternative)!, don't like grass - always lumpy and slow and hard work!!! Roads are pretty boring though ... I probably should've gone for earth ... 🤣🤣🤣 🤦♀️
I avoid grass like the plague as the ground can be so uneven and I worry about my ankle 😫
Once at run club the group started to run across a really bumpy grassy field and I had to walk as it was an injury waiting to happen for me!
Our park run has a grass section where you have to run down a steep bank onto uneven ground whilst avoiding tons of dog poo 😳 I’ve got my sights on a sub 25 but think that grass section might make that a dream for me 🤣
That sounds like an obstacle course, not a park run 😂
Mmmnnnn you’ve got to know what’s underneath 👀
Mostly footpaths/towpaths. My local ones are all about 6’ wide and mostly tarmac. Once you head north past the canal basin at Pontymoile it becomes an earth track. I had to do most of my Lockdown running “from my front door”…so roads and pavements, but not my favourite!
When we ran the Reunion Race at Kempton Race course , the track seemed very bouncy compared to the concrete paving of the prom. We just loved it. It probably helped us all achieve a PB. I also love woodland paths with soft leaf mould.
Concrete farm tracks but as a kid I still remember running sandstone trails with fondness. Currently ridiculously sick so running on pavement due to my limitations although not great for a rolling right ankle 😁. If I ever get home I will be heading off road along permissive paths, bridalways etc
I purposefully started c25k on road so that I’d always be able and happy to run on roads wherever I am. I’m not averse to running through puddles, mud, grass. I learnt to love snow running on blue sky days after purchasing yaktrax earlier this year🤗
I had to put road as I can't run on anything near me, very rural but very flat with no hills. Lots of lovely countryside to run along and admire but you can't actually run on it because its mainly veg crops, so impossible to run on!! 🤣 🏃♀️
Great poll! I ticked ‘road’ but really that includes anything tarmac as a lot of paths are made that way too. I used to run on pavements, which are way too hard. In comparison, roads are much kinder on the knees, but with enough resistance to keep you moving. Grass is like sand or mud in that it saps your energy before too long.
The concrete slabs I run on are large square beasts but feel like they have more spring in them than normal concrete and the other paths which join it are tarmac and at the edge of the farms a stone path so a variety of surfaces. Due to sickness I am in limbo currently so have to make do with whatever is outside the front door as banned from driving, for reasons of sickness rather than hooliganism 😁, which is pavement. I have managed to create a 30 min run between and around 2 villages while I am in recovery, which could be a while because as I guessed I do have something else wrong with me sapping my energy which needs to be treated. Not fun but could be worse I'm sure.
Winding woodland path
Loving reading everyone's answers and detailed descriptions of where they run. For me it's earth as in forest underwood, I really love that, I feel free and like a deer. If there is a bit of a gulley and downhill even better!
This Sunday I run on: short grass, knee lenght grass, hard uneven earth through a field, deep mud and water (and nearly had a close encounter), little road and some nice earthy rooty paths (just to keep me awake). It was quite interesting having to deal with the variety.
I dislike road because of how I feel on it but I'm going to try a new approach after getting off a zoom with a running physio who suggested running with feet further apart to reduce pressure on knees. Who knows, might like after... hopefully enough to get through London Marathon at least...
Well…I’ve put road but since my run with GoGo_JoJo that’s changed slightly…but what with my ‘no knee’ I find the flatter surface of roads easier & safer, I’d never have considered pretending to be a mountain goat until I met Jo and we hopped our way over the trails…and now I’m looking forward to trying that again when the weather cools down a bit!! I’ve downloaded the OS map so I’ve made a start!! 👏🏻😉
I voted earth but only on the proviso that it’s not claggy! It needs to be compacted - not much to ask!
Grass is ok too, but short and firm, definitely not long, and I don’t mind roads because they’re a novelty. I’ve never tried an athletics track and I dislike treadmills! There’s my not very concise answer. 😀
how do folks find running on sand?
I did it once, wet firm sand in bare feet - it was rather lovely!
I've never tried it but suspect that running on wet firm sand would be lovely. Dry sand, on the other hand, would be horrendously energy sapping!
The pavements and roads round here are rubbish, really lumpy and bumpy, but the paths in the parks and commons are great, lovely and smooth, and bouncy. If I'm doing any speed work I always do it there, and at the end of my solo HM when I thought I couldn't run any more, I found I could on that surface.
My preference is to run on flat tarmac paths through parks and canal towpaths.
Grass for me is a no, no. I usually have to negotiate a small uphill grassy mound on one of my routes and I find it really drains me.
Pavements around the estate are also quite difficult. I find the continuous rise and fall hard on my legs so often just jump onto the road.
I have a niggling injury, so I need to run on level ground with no uneven surprises. I would love to be able to run on a more forgiving surface though
