Running in Birmingham

Hi,

I'm off to Birmingham on 4th June for a long weekend and am looking for a good central. I'm staying at the Jurys Inn so a run along the canal is one option but  I was wondering if there are any other good central routes of about 5-6 miles that anybody can suggest. 

It will be an early(ish) morning run as we will be going to the local Wetherspoons for breakfast afterwards once my lazybones (non-running) friends finally drag themselves out of bed so needs to be quite local.

Also, are there any decent running shops in the city centre? 

Thanks, in advance.

Anne

Hi.

If you want to stay around the city, the canal run is probably the best bet, a nice route from the Jury's Inn would be to get on the canal in gas street and then run up to the University and do a lap around here and then run back along the same route:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?ll=52.460442,-1.925118&spn=0.008106,0.022552&z=16

The area marked pond is in the Uni grounds and quite nice. That should be about 2 1/2 miles each way. If you want to go a little out of town (only a mile or so) then Canon Hill Park and Highbury Park are good places to run, here's one of my routes:

http://runkeeper.com/routes/rossriley/view/4952

That's a 4 mile loop but add on the distance out to Canon Hill and back and you're probably looking at 6+.

Don't know of any decent shops in the city, there's a small one on Temple Street I think:
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=runners&sll=52.462792,-1.915018&sspn=0.064845,0.180416&ie=UTF8&hq=runners&hnear=&ll=52.479477,-1.89935&spn=0.001013,0.002819&z=19

But it's a dual running/cycling shop so I don't know how much stuff they have.

R

Thanks, Ross.

That's very helpful. I will try to stay hangover free on Friday night so that I'm in fine shape for a run in the morning. No doubt I'll get 'ribbed' by my friends for wanting to go out for a run

 I'm looking forward to an afternoon of shopping whilst my friends are at the board games fair...

 Anne

Loads of canal routes from the centre...  If you google water ways maps ( or something like that) it will have mapped routes for you to find. 

Running/ out door shops are - Up and running and cycle shop more or less next to each other off New st.  Kinda near tesco and opp the Burlington Hotel.  And Cotswold is there too on New street.  Theres an addidas shop further down and theres snow and rock nearer to the law courts... 

Happy running, hope the hang over isn't too bad! 

I live near Birmingham and I could do with some trail runs but am being dense and cannot seem to think of any.

On running in Birmingham, keep away from the Lozells/Newtown areas.

Spen71 it depends on which side of Birmingham you live, but Sutton Park is probably your best bet.

Quite a long way from me.  One I have thought about is Woodgate Valley.

Looks like I'm going to be in shopping heaven next Saturday! 

I'm looking forward to a run along the canals (hangover permitting). It will make a change from Brighton seafront.

I managed to drag myself out for a 4 mile run along the canal despite being tired due to not enough sleeep. I was really glad I made the effort as it didn't take long before I felt like I was in the countryside and it was a very peaceful environment to be running in.

Plus I saw plenty of birdlife, including a close encounter with a heron.