Length of Prospect Park Run

the biggest loop is only about 3.5 miles.

check out mapmyrun.com and you can make your own routes, snaking between the outer loop and the 2 park drives within.

i'm also a big runner and i wish it were a tad bigger. the nice thing about central park is you have the 6 mile loop, 4 mile, 5 mile, and they're all relatively different from one another. at prospect you kind of have to resign yourself to repeat loops - which i hate doing.

nice thing about prospect heights, however, is it's not too far to do a bridge run over the brooklyn bridge and around battery park. or you can always run west and go along the promenade and down into red hook. that's a fun run!!

Depending on your confidence on singletrack and slightly wider trails, when you run, and whether or not you run alone, I might recommend taking a look at some of the trails that run around the perimeter of the park.

If I'm running on a weekend or other busy time (not night, not midday), I'll come into the park at GAP and run the trail that runs in the woods along Flatbush (behind the Vale of Cashmere) down to the zoo. I'll then stay on the paved loop that runs outside the roadway all the way around the lake, past the Vanderbilt playground, and up the hill. Once you get to Bartel-Pritchard (sp?) square, you can run on the dirt and grass trail that runs just inside the wall along PP West. Once you get past the 9th street entrance, you can follow the natural footpaths, woodchip trails, and paved paths pretty much all the way back to GAP. I would guess that this loop is roughly 4 miles. Throw in a figure 8 through the interior park roads, and you're looking at about 2 miles longer than the standard 3.35 loop.

Then again, I realize that many people are loathe to run on the trails due to potential twisted ankles.

What I would LOVE to see, but certainly am not holding my breath for, is a wood chip or gravel trail going around the entire perimeter of the park.