Training for the Boston Marathon? If so, we’re guessing you have that big 20 mile run coming up very soon! And we want finding the perfect route for it to be one less thing you have to worry about, so we’ve rounded up some great long runs from all around Boston, created by our very own users. The cool part is once you’ve added any of these routes to your Runkeeper account, you can easily select one at the beginning of a run and follow it in real time! Read this post to learn how to include a route in a Runkeeper activity. Check ’em out!
20 Miler
This 20.11 mile route brings you from the neighborhood of Jamaica Plain, or JP, straight through Roxbury into the South End, before bringing you into Chinatown, and eventually the Seaport. After running through there you’ll get to the water, and run by Fort Independence, in one of the most scenic waterfront locations in Boston. From there, you’ll double back through the Seaport and Chinatown before heading right down past the Boston Commons on Boylston Street (yes, the Boylston Street). Eventually you veer off and head back into JP, but this is certainly a good way to see some of the lesser-known parts of Boston.
Five By Four
This 20.23 mile route, takes you from the heart of Cambridge to all around Boston. Heading north, you’ll hit Davis Square before heading south again through the middle of Somerville, before peeling off into Charlestown. There you’ll pass the iconic Bunker Hill Monument, on your way into Boston and the North End. After following the water through downtown and into the Seaport a bit, you’ll turn back and head into the Financial District, and the Boston Commons, on your way to Back Bay. After getting through Back Bay, you’re in for a nice run along the Charles River, up to Harvard University, before doubling back and heading into Cambridge again to finish up. If you like exploring the city and historic sights, this is the route for you!
The Rock -> Castle Island
This is a great 19.08 mile trip with a heavy focus on running on the water. Starting along the water in Cambridge, you’ll follow the Charles River up through East Cambridge into Charlestown, where you’ll swing by the Bunker Hill Monument and then head back along the water. Once you hit the waterfront, you’ll keep on it over the Charles, into the North End, all the way down to the Seaport to Castle Island, then after a quick loop, it’s back through the Seaport, Financial District and Boston Commons to the Charles once again, where you follow it back over to Cambridge and call it a run!
20 Miles Harbor, Porter Square Loop
Starting in the South End, this 20.32 mile loop starts off running through South Boston until you hit the water at Fort Independence. After you get there, you’ll follow the water all the way down and around UMass Boston, before heading up through Roxbury Crossing and the South End, crossing through Back Bay and over the Charles, heading up through Cambridge to Harvard Square. After that, you head out and around Cambridge down to the Longfellow Bridge, crossing back into Boston by Mass General Hospital, then heading south through the Commons and back towards the South End.
Southie/Cambridge (Eliot Bridge)
This 19.70 mile run will take you counterclockwise through the city, just to mix it up. Beginning in South Boston, you’ll head out around Castle Island, before cutting right through the heart of the Seaport up to the Financial District. There, you’ll head north around the North End before looping to the West End and heading out to Cambridge on the Longfellow bridge. After following the Charles all the way up past Harvard Square in Cambridge, you’ll cross over to the other side of the river and Harvard University before following the river back south. Once you hit the Harvard bridge, it’s time to head south again and follow Massachusetts Avenue through Back Bay and the South End, until just past Boston Medical Center where you’ll head east again, back into South Boston, and the end of your trip.
Have you run any of these before? Do you have a favorite long run in Boston that we haven’t mentioned? Tell us in the comments!
Oh yeah, and be sure to go for your run!
