All of the Ways to Run While Sheltering in Place, Ranked from Best to Worst

Running loops around your neighborhood is by far the best option of running while while still staying close to home, because it still allows you to get fresh air, sunshine, and a change of scenery—all of which are great cures for stir-craziness. In addition, the varying terrain and weather conditions make your legs and lungs work harder than they would indoors. Unlike on the treadmill, where you’re running in a linear pattern, running outdoors activates more muscles to help you stabilize and move side-to-side.

Of course, if you live in a small neighborhood, you’ll likely have to run many loops to get your mileage in. To raise money for people who couldn’t afford rent in his hometown of Englewood, Colorado, ultrarunner Seth Demoor ran 200 laps of 400 meters in his neighborhood, logging a total of 50 miles. Other runners have gone even farther. Earlier this month, ultrarunner Michael Wardian ran 262 miles on a 4.1-mile stretch in his Arlington, Virginia neighborhood over the course of 63 hours, winning the Quarantine Backyard Ultra.

If your neighborhood is too small or crowded to run safely in, a track is the next best thing. Both places provide fresh air and outdoor exposure, though tracks are less exciting than neighborhoods in terms of scenery and elevation change. However, you can make your track runs more interesting—and challenging—by doing speedwork or a time trial.

Many runners in the past month have tested their speed and stamina in solo efforts on the track, either to compete against others in a virtual race series or to simply race against themselves. San Francisco runner Jeanne Mack, who raced in the 2020 Olympic Marathon Trials earlier this year, set a PR in the 10K on the track in April. And in Pennsylvania, Runner’s World editor Drew Dawson, who was training for a spring marathon, completed a full 26.2 miles on the track.

If working out on your property is your only option, having a home treadmill is like striking gold. On a treadmill, you can run as fast or slow as you would outdoors, and also raise and lower the incline to simulate hills.

Obviously, the major difference between treadmill running and outdoor running is that you don’t get the perks of being outside—fresh air, sunshine, and nature—when you’re indoors. But you can still make your ’mill run interesting by listening to a good playlist or podcast, doing an interval workout, or streaming a treadmill workout on an app like Peloton or iFit.

Some runners have tested themselves on treadmills in everything from short, fast time trials to long distances. Anne Marie Everhart, a 2020 Olympic Marathon Trials Qualifier, ran a 5:00 mile on her treadmill as part of the Run Free Grand Prix virtual series. Meanwhile, Matt Louis, a restaurant owner in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, who was registered to run the Boston Marathon on April 20, ran a marathon on his treadmill to raise money for his employees who are out of work because of the coronavirus closures.

For those stuck at home without a treadmill, a backyard works in a pinch, but tight loops on grass are nobody’s first choice. Still, the backyard offers an escape from the house, which is rewarding enough during a lockdown.

In the U.S., seven-year-old Steven Burgess ran for six hours in his backyard in North Carolina as a way to raise money for those who need it, get outside, and use the pent-up energy he had stored since missing school recess. In England, former javelin thrower James Campbell finished a marathon in his small 20-foot long garden by running the length of the garden 7,000 times.

As Campbell told The New York Times, “What was the most stupid thing I can do to create a little bit of excitement for myself? I will run a marathon in my garden.”

While backyards offer shade and shelter from the wind, rooftops are wide open to the elements, not to mention that they are usually small with tight, 90-degree turns—definitely not ideal for running long distances. Still, runners are climbing up to put in their miles on the roof.

On April 20, what would have been the Boston Marathon race day, Stephen England decided to run 26.2 miles on his 38-by-25-foot apartment rooftop in New York City. To complete the distance, he had to log 1,098 laps on the roof. Luckily, he had frequent access to a fueling table stocked with gels, drinks, and bars to get him through it.

Though we haven’t tried it, running on a helipad seems very similar to running on a rooftop, but perhaps with tighter (read: more mind-numbing) loops. Jamil Coury, the founder of Aravaipa Running (which puts on competitive ultra-distance events such as the Desert Solstice Track Invitational 24-hour and 100-mile challenge), finished a marathon on a 27-meter loop around a helipad in Phoenix, Arizona.

While your home might have a little more square footage than your backyard, running inside a building is both mentally and physically challenging, thanks to decreased air flow, tight corners, and uneven surfaces, not to mention the tedium of running laps on laps. If you ever had to run laps in school hallways when high school cross-country practice was rained out, you know what we’re talking about.

But runners have found ways to log serious mileage indoors. This month, ultrarunner Ryan Sandes, 38, ran 100 miles in and around his home in South Africa, doing a total of 1,463 laps of 100 meters. The effort took him 26 hours and 27 minutes. Meanwhile, in Cheshire, England, 40-year-old Louise Casey ran a marathon inside the Premier Inn Warrington Central North, where she works as a breakfast chef and server. Casey completed the marathon during her night shift at the hotel, finishing it in four hours and 37 minutes.

“I started in the reception, ran down a corridor, round the breakfast area and back to reception. That was about 0.05 of a mile, so I had to do it 526 times—you lose count after a certain amount,” Casey told the Warrington Guardian.

Generally, the smaller and more contained the area is, the less fun it is to run on. That’s why running on a balcony—which has a tiny square footage—ranks last on our list of places to run during a lockdown. Just thinking about those sharp stops and pivots makes our knees groan. Still, major kudos to the mentally tough, dedicated souls who are committed to getting in miles on the balcony.

Elisha Nochomovitz, a marathoner from Balma, France, finished 26.2 miles on his 23-foot-long balcony last month in six hours and 48 minutes. He told CNBC that he was inspired to do the challenge after he was furloughed from the restaurant he manages; the marathon gave him a positive distraction from the bad news. His girlfriend brought him M&Ms and drinks to stay fueled throughout the distance.

“It was about launching a bit of a crazy challenge and bringing a bit of humor, to de-dramatize the confinement situation,” Nochomovitz told the Associated Press.