Columbia is a city of 100,000 located between Baltimore and Washington, D.C. A planned community consisting of 10 villages, Columbia is wonderfully laid out for pedestrians and recreation, with 3,600 of open space, 110 miles of pathways (map), three man-made lakes, and many parks. This all makes running in Columbia a treat for such a small city!
Even though the extensive network of paths allows for all sorts of opportunities to create your own run, we’ve put together several particularly scenic routes. One of the best places to run in Columbia is to combine loops around Lake Kittamaqundi and Wilde Lake, connected by the Lake to Lake trail. In Owen Brown Village, we also love combining a loop around Lake Elkhorn with the Patuxent Branch Trail. Centennial Park is a popular for running, with a 2.4 mile lake loop and 5 miles of additional trails. Just east of the city, there’s easy trail running in Rockburn Branch Park, the lovely grounds of Belmont Manor, and 70+ miles of maintained trails in adjacent Patapsko Valley State Park.
Runners should note that summers in this area can be hot and humid.
