Runners - Are We Taking Over The Trails ?

While out for a quick 15 miles at Rockies today, a beautiful morning with temps in the 60s, I noticed the first signs of the park's transition into the summer months......runners. I often enjoy the winter months at Rockies (despite the frigid weather) simply because of the solitude. In the summer months, the trails of Rockies become a haven for runners, and tons of them - from individuals to large training groups, including high school and college teams, and training groups like Team in Training.

The number of people running marathons over the years has increased at very consistent rates. According to one report, 2007 saw a record number of marathon finishes in the USA (more than 403,000 finishing times were recorded), with the average age of all 2007 finishers being approximately 39, and the average finishing time being approximately 4:41 (See Marathonguide.com's 2007 Marathon Overview). Compare that to the total finishing times recorded in 2000 - approximately 299,000.

So, with what seems to be more and more runners out there, does this translate into an overcrowding of your favorite training routes, trails, local parks, etc... ? Well, this seems to be the case at Rockies, a park run by the State of New York. There were some rumblings late last year that the park was "developing a new usage plan to account for different users" . . . . in an effort to try to "keep larger groups of runners from Swan Lake and the area around the Visitors’s Center" . . . . to keep larger groups of runners away from certain areas where there are high volumes of people that simply come to the park to walk, bird watch, sight see, etc... with their families (quotes taken from Westchester Trail Runs). It appears as if this has gone beyond the realm of rumblings, as I came across strategically posted signs around the Swan Lake area :

Does anyone else notice an increase in runners on their favorite routes this time of year, or run in local parks that may be attempting to implement new rules designed to decrease running traffic in certain areas ?? Feel free to comment with your thoughts.

Happy running.