The Stanford Dish run is one of the most popular and iconic runs in Silicon Valley. Accessible from the center of Palo Alto and the Stanford Campus, this is a great ~5 mile loop, featuring open pastureland, a small lake, great views of the Stanford Campus, and beautiful light, with the Stanford telescope that was built in 1966 always in view. It’s also hilly, with a 500-foot elev. gain. Good parking at Stanford Ave. & Juipero Serra Blvd. Our loop starts just outside the Stanford Campus in order to make it a 5-miler. If you’d like to run from the center of Palo Alto, start at the Caltrain station at the end of University Ave. It’s ~2 miles through the Stanford campus to the trailhead. You can add to this by running in and around Stanford University, or the residential areas of Palo Alto.
