Paul Carr Jogging Trail

About a half mile from my house, walked/​ran it for the first time today and enjoyed it.
Nice trail, but there were a couple homeless people in the area.
There are about four water fountains as well! Saved me on this scorching afternoon.

Great convenient running trail for my location. There are parts that are well shaded and water fountains spread along it. Only thing that has upset me on the trail is seeing flyers stapled onto the trees — come on guys. Please don’t put up flyers on the trees. Last thing I want to see are those trees turning into light poles full of staples & nails.

Nice area to relax and find a little peace early morning it’s nice to have some green space in between two busy streets it seems to be well used by the people living in the surrounding area.

Round trip from from the highway to 20^th street, its about 4 – 5 miles. Its a nice shaded trail with 4 water stops at the highway, 7^th street, 11^th street, and 20^th street. It’s not all the way flat. You have to come up and down from the trail to the street and back up again. I’m always a little careful coming up and down the streets because of my knees, and of cars. Some people just don’t see you, so be aware!
Love running here between the hours of 530a-​700a. Super peaceful, cool, and you avoid most of traffic. If you run during the week after 8−9a, there will be lots of cars of the roads. Afternoons are nice when the weather’s cooler, but there can be a lot of people on the trail that may or may not slow you down. Can get a little spooky around 9p.
I like this trail when I want to squeeze in a quick run before class/​work, or I need something to take my mind off things. If you live a block or two away, UTILIZE this trail!
And, people. C’mon. Pick up your dogs (or cats) poop with a bag and put the bag in the TRASH. Do not leave the bag filled with poop on the ground. What did you think was going to happen to that bag of poop? Disappear magically?

I have run this trail a few times and enjoyed it, it’s a decent, shaded dirt trail.
There are always people out running or walking so you will have company, but it’s not super crowded. There’s a lot to look at along the trail too.
It’s not a very long trail and you have to cross over the roads which is a bit annoying, especially when you have to stop and wait for traffic. It would be a god trail to run at the weekend or evening when there are not many cars on the roads.

one of my favorite less-​crowded running trails. I like that I can count the street #s to know how many blocks i have left to run, it’s a good distance if you run back and forth, there are lots of places to stop or get coffee along the way back. There are also ample water fountains along the way. The only con, is having to stop for cars at major intersections. That’s kind of a drag when traffic is heavier.

It’s the glorified esplanade of Heights Blvd. There’s more shade if you use the sidewalk, but there are some benches on the trail in case you need to tie your shoe.

In addition to the loose right shoulder that pops out if overstressed, achilles tendonitis after walking around a lot in Europe, and sacroiliitis, an inflammation of the joint that connects the spine to the pelvis (the worst time it flared up, getting out of bed was incredibly painful and I was barely able to walk; I made an octogenerian look like he was running when I was making my way from the parking lot to the doctor’s office), I’ve had a knee that wouldn’t bend and an ankle that wouldn’t rotate after running. I’ll probably get arthritis when I’m older, but I’ve accepted that, for there to be this much awesome, there had to have been some external design flaws. The laws of the universe couldn’t handle it otherwise. Now, I mostly exercise by hopping on a stationary bike at the gym or doing yoga, but the Paul Carr Jogging Trail is still one of my favorite places in Houston to overtax my joints.
The Paul Carr Jogging Trail spans 1.8 miles on Heights Blvd., from 20^th St. to 4^th St, so 3.6 miles round-​trip, and thus a better workout than the Rice trail. It’s a sandy gravel trail, and rather pretty, with benches, a gazebo, some sort of memorial, and plenty of trees, bushes, and flowers along the length. As it’s along Heights Blvd., there are lots of large houses to gaze at, as well as other things, such as a funeral home (I’m delaying my death! go me!), Waldo’s Coffee House (where the barista got pissed off at me for parking in the driveway – what, these things are hard to see!), the Houston Zen Center (where I once showed up late to a class, it turned out there was a guest speaker, and a neighbor came up to the Center really pissed off, because I’d parked in the driveway – I swear to god, those things are invisible to me), and small shops (post-​running reward shopping?). Due to the fact that the trail intersects streets 4 – 20, you do have to keep an eye out for cars, but each intersection has a stop sign, so, more often than not, you don’t have to pause for cars.
There are more people running, walking, and walking their pets in the 5 – 6:30pm time period than around 7 – 8:15am, but it’s never been overrun with people when I’ve been there. Early morning, around 6am, there’s very few people, and, around 7pm, there are a few people. Parking is a breeze, as you can park all along Heights (um, so long as you don’t park in a driveway). You can run your way to a neighborhood street, down south past I-​10, though it’s dodgy making your way past I-​10, and, of course, the Paul Carr trail has already ended. If you do make a detour on a side street closer to I-​10, you might just wind up next to some railroad tracks. Turn back around, because that street doesn’t lead anywhere. However, my favorite detour is east off of 7^th St., as you wind up on the MKT Rails-​to-​Trails, which is a paved area for bikers and pedestrians. It’s still a work in progress, but it adds several miles to your run.

It’s nice to see that they have done something useful with this space. It’s a great walking trail and very scenic if you like the look of all the old victorian homes on Heights Blvd. However, this isn’t a practical choice if you’re actually looking for a jogging tail. There are way too many stops and too much traffic. There is also what seems to be never ending construction going on at Heights Blvd and 11^th street. I would recommend going to the jogging trail along White Oak Bayou instead if you want to get a good workout in.

Exploring my way through the Heights I was lucky enough to stumble upon this jogging trail. I kept looking at it as I was driving up and down the street not knowing what it was but seeing lots of cool things inside it.
Then I finally saw this giant tree with pink flowers and I just had to pull over and check it out. The pictures I was able to snap of the bees turned out great!
As far as the running trail it’s an interesting concept. It’s basically a a jogging trail that embedded into the islands between the 2 sides of the street with intermittant stops at each cross section. I couldn’t honestly jog on this because at each intersection I would have to stop and that would totally screw up my rhythm but it’s a great usage of space. Instead of having some junk in between road like they do everywhere else, the city actually made something useful and very beautiful.

Very convenient location for those living in the neighborhood. (Otherwise, you must find parking in the neighboring streets; read: no official parking lot.) There is also the random bench along the way if you get tired and need to take a breather. However this is not for the jogger/​walker that wants to enjoy nature while getting their exercise. The path runs down the median of Heights Blvd so expect some exhaust in your face during rush hour and stops at lights.

Note to all who use this trail–
Please clean up after yourself. It won’t kill you to hang on to that cinnamon bun wrapper & diet coke can. There’s a trash bin every 3 – 4 blocks– use it. I don’t want to have to pull another used Kleenex out of my dogs mouth.
Stop messing up our pretty trail :(