Hi there,

I've lived in two places with what I consider great trail running.

1) Northern Virginia, in particular Fairfax County, has a 40-mile cross-county trail that's a mix of road, paved paths and trails, as well as several parks that have trails. Check out Ex2adventures.com, the racing group, or fairfaxcounty.gov. This area is right next to DC--lots of jobs, great schools, but high housing costs. There is also is a trail ultra club, vhtrc.org. They do the Bull Run Run 50 Miler.

2) Dayton OH doesn't have many unpaved trails inside the city but is surrounded by a great parks system with trails from 3-7 miles. Check out metroparks.org and orrrc.org, the local running club that has a trail running group with some pretty high mileage runners. There are also paved bike/running paths that traverse the entire state and the Buckeye Trail, a mixed unpaved/road/paved path trail that makes a circuit around Ohio. Dayton is a small city but is known for having a lot of culture for its size. There are lots of jobs in the aviation industry since a major US Air Force depot (Wright Patterson AFB) is here. The winters are cold here but hey, running in the snow is fun too!

Now you can return the favor--I'll be spending a year in Korea courtesy of the USAF. I plan to knock out two continents on my seven continents marathon checklist while I'm in that part of the world--Asia and Oceania. Any recommendations?

Good luck with your relocating decision!

Lenore

I would have to vote for New Mexico. I used to live in Albuquerque. Albuquerque sits at an altitiude of 5,000 ft with mountains at 10,000 ft. There is mountain trail running on the Sandias Mountains. There is a teaching hospital in Albuquerque as well associated with the University of New Mexico. You are an hour away Santa Fe and an hour and a half from Taos. You can run trails in the Jemez Mountains and Los Alamos.There is a great outdoor culture in New Mexico.

Aw man, I wanna move back! Good luck to you!

Seattle Washington has a large biotech industry, several universities, the U of Washington has one of the largest medical research budget in the US, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research center, skiing an hour from town, trail running 20 mins from town and a good community of trail and ultra runners. winter is 0-10C gray and rainy, summer is around 20-25C and sunny. it's a little grey and cloudy for some folks in the winter, but it's never too cold or hot to run.
Here's some links to photos from the local running store club runs.

http://www.seattlerunningcompany.com/Events/trailruns/101004/
http://www.seattlerunningcompany.com/Events/trailruns/092505/
http://www.seattlerunningcompany.com/Events/trailruns/102404/

Flagstaff, AZ:

1) Incredible trail running and biking

2) Center for High Altitude Training (Elites train here)

3) NATRA, Team ALTIUS (with Jack Daniels) open to public

4) 4 hours to Vegas, 2 hours to Phoenix, 5 hours to Albuquerque, 1.5 hours to Grand Canyon

5) Small college town, away from the chaos

Downside - housing costly in some areas although now is a good time with housing slump. Small college town also means some conveniences are not here.

Feel free to email if you want more information / job info, etc.