Title speaks for itself. Been running for a while in this area which means I've checked most of the running areas. I'll keep this to locations within 45 minutes or so driving as that's generally about as far as I'd go for a run without planning something bigger out (30 mins is my limit when making a last minute decision). My ideal running venues include single-track trails, non-technical soft surfaces (rail trail, dirt road), roads, and places to workout.
Roads
Coastal Roads: Mystic, Westerly, Charlestown Beach
Stonington/Groton, CT
Westerly, Charlestown and South Kingstown, RI
Great spots to get in road runs. Quiet and with some scenic spots. In Mystic I like to start at the YMCA, take Hewitt/Mistuxet over to Groton and then the 3 mile river road stretch is really nice with great scenery. Good hill options coming back. Nice place to do any length of run with plenty of options to make routes longer. Downtown Mystic is busy but shouldn't be bad in the offseason or early morning.
Westerly beach area has so many road options, mostly flat and quiet (in offseason) which makes it great for tempo runs or longer road work. Just a lot of options, with plenty of roads in Weekapaug, Watch Hill and Misquamicut. My favorite stretch is probably Ocean View Highway, just a really smooth and fast road with nice scenery. There's also a long stretch of beach to run on which is nice when it's empty and low tide. For short runs/doubles or workouts, I like Avondale. Good place to do road intervals around the 1K loop.
Charlestown Beach, similar to Westerly, just has a good amount of roads that are quiet (again, in offseason), flat and fast. I don't think it's as good as Westerly as there are a lot fewer loop options and I often run the out and back to get to Charlestown beach. The beach running isn't great here with only a few smooth miles then it gets really rocky. I like to combine some of these runs with the matunuck roads which are very smooth (around Kerri course). Trustom pond trails adds some manicured easy surfaces but is only a few miles with some out and backs.
Newport/Middletown Roads and Paths
Newport and Middletown, RI
It's always a joy to make the 45 minute drive over to Newport/Middletown because the scenery is just really nice over there. There are a ton of really nice options. In Newport, Fort Adams is a good starting venue on the ocean, and besides the 2 mile perimeter paved path, you can get to over to the scenic Ocean Avenue. The cliff walk has great views although is not super smooth. Bellevue avenue is cement but running by the mansions are nice. Middletown is even better in my opinion and less crowded. Tuckerman, Sachuest Point and Indian Avenue are great to run on. There are also some soft surfaces, a 3 mile gravel manicured loop at Sachuest Point with great views and the Sakkonnet greenway has 10-13 miles of manicured gravel and grass path.
Madison Roads + Hammonasset Beach State Park
Madison, CT
Also a 45 minute drive, Madison is a nice town. Hammonasset has free parking and is an enjoyable place to cruise around the roads as well as some manicured paths + boardwalk. Middle Beach road is very scenic and has lots of expensive houses to look at. The inland roads aren't bad either. Stopping at Madison Coffee House post-run is a must.
Honorable Mentions: Jamestown Roads, South County Bike Path, Old Saybrook/East Lyme Roads
Non-Singletrack Soft Surfaces
While I love trails, sometimes the slow pace and technical terrain is too much and I prefer something in between. Dirt roads, grass fields and rail trails offer a soft surface to get recovery or prevent injuries from the pounding without the feeling of being out there forever.
Ninigret Park/National Wildlife Refuge
Charlestown, RI
If you follow me on Strava and haven't muted me, you probably notice I run in Ninigret a lot. It's just a really enjoyable park to run in with a variety of easy, manicured terrain. While it wouldn't be great for a long run, I like to come here and run the perimeter of the soccer fields as well as the cross country style wide paths in the center of the park. Great for easy, mindless recovery on soft surfaces. If you don't want to do a bunch of laps, head over to the NWR part and running the perimeter of mostly manicured gravel and grass trails is about a 4 mile loop of just smooth soft surface running (two of the paths are paved). It's also a really nice place to workout, as the bike criterion is extremely smooth and about .9 miles around. The downside to the crit is that sometimes there are a lot of bikers and it gets quite windy. It is very fast and about a good of a place as any to do road intervals in good conditions. The bike path and nearby Arnold circuit (2 mile road loop) add some more options for paved surfaces.
Bluff Point and Haley Farm State Park
Groton, CT
I generally go to Haley to do the fire road/manicured path 7-mile lollipop which can easily be extended to 9 or 10 miles adding on the boardwalk or the Haley grass path. It's a really smooth place to get in some easy miles without being on pavement. Nice scenery for connecticut on the Bluff side. This is also a pretty good place to run singletrack trails with some extra preserve options on the cross-town trails. I'm not including that in the trail list however as the best trails in Bluff/Haley aren't marked and can be confusing to those not familiar with the preserves.
Arcadia Management Area
Exeter, Richmond, and West Greenwich, RI
This is actually a recent addition to the list as I've gone here to run dirt roads a few times in the last month. Dirt roads aren't common in densely populated states like RI and CT, but Arcadia has a good amount of them. Running a 9 mile dirt road loop yesterday, I was surprised on how quiet it was as maybe just two vehicles passed me the whole time. Great place for soft surfaces, I can see this being a regular recovery/soft surface run for me going forward.
Airline Trail
East Hampton, CT (and many other towns)
While generally a good area for running, there's a real lack of unpaved rail trails near Westerly. I'm not really a big fan of paved bike paths unless I can make a loop with them, but I don't mind out and backs on unpaved rail trails as it's good to be on a soft surface that's really smooth and easy to get into a rhythm with. Airline trail is about a 45 minute drive and I've only run on it once, but was surprised just how smooth and well maintained it was. Manicured gravel surface that was fantastic to run, definitely the best rail trail I've run on and is much better than the ones I've done in Maine and New Hampshire.
Honorable Mention: Goddard State Park- Warwick, RI: very runnable wide trails, just not enough of them. nice swimming/beach area
Trails
Burlingame State Park
Charlestown, RI
Like Ninigret, Burlingame is just a great to go to place to run easy miles. There are a ton options here, but I mostly enjoy the vin gormley loop with burlingame trail add-on starting at the picnic area. There are so many side trails, you could probably make a 20-25 mile loop without much overlap. There's plenty of other trails besides vin gormley in the campground area as well in the Northern burlingame section. I also like how runnable these trails are, mostly non-technical singletrack which is a joy to run on. I've done workouts on the campground roads which are surprisingly expansive and great to run when camping isn't in season. The roads outside the park are also quiet, hilly and pretty good for running. Burlingame also has the advantage of having Watchaug Pond which is a fantastic spot for a swim or just a post-run dip. I enjoy running in any of the places on this list, but Burlingame is probably #1 for having many great trail options.
Carter Preserve
Charlestown, RI
With nice beach roads, Ninigret, and Burlingame, Charlestown is the place to run. It also has Carter preserve, which has some well-marked and maintained singletrack through interesting and unique vegetation. The northeast side of Carter has more technical and hilly trails which are a blast, while the southwest section has non-technical and wider, easier trails including the open grassland section. This isn't quite as high on my list as running the perimeter will only get about 7 miles, but it can be combined with the local roads or nearby Carolina Management area if going longer (I've also started at Chariho HS and done lollipop style routes).
Tillinghast Pond
West Greenwich, RI
Tillinghast is managed by the Nature Conservancy, same as Carter, so it has similarly great maintenance and well marked trails. However, Tillinghast is bigger and has more options especially when combining with nearby Wickaboxet. Great singletrack trails through some pine forests and like Carter, some unique vegetation. Good variety as well, some twisty hilly trails, some technical ones, and faster non-technical stuff around the pond. In terms of quality, it's hard to beat the trails here for Rhode Island.
Arcadia Management Area
Exeter, West Greenwich, and Richmond, RI
Arcadia makes two categories as there are so many miles of singletrack trails. It's relatively easy to learn/follow them as well as many of them have clear marking as blazes. I enjoy doing the 11-12 mile on Breakheart, Mt. Tom and Hudson trails, most of which is fairly hilly but not too much technical trail. There's quite a few more options for longer runs with a good amount of trails in the richmond section. Arcadia would have to be #1 place in RI for single-track trails in terms of quantity while also still being easy to follow.
Cockaponset State Forest
Chester, CT
Good amount of hilly singletrack trails that are mostly well marked. I've done the FKT for the cockaponset trail twice and it's a fun runnable trail with good climbs and descents. Probably should run here more often as it's only 45 minutes but has some great trails.
Honorable Mentions:
Grills Preserve- Hopkinton and Westerly, RI: gets overgrown and the Westerly parking isn't in a very nice area but some nice trails
Yawgoog trails- Hopkinton, RI: too technical for me and some spots I think are confusing, but cool spots along the ponds
Big River- West Greenwich, RI: awesome trails through pine forest, but nothing marked and very easy to get lost
Pachaug State Forest- Voluntown, CT: some great trails, but a lot of garbage dirt roads (very rocky) that are hard to avoid, I also find navigation challenging here
Duval- South Kingstown, RI: fun and unique trails, just not much mileage here and you have to do the out and back
Goodwin trail- East Lyme, CT: nice trail but I'm not really interested in OABs (it's not part of a larger system, just some short side trails)
That's the list. The inclusion of each of these means I highly recommend running at any of them. As for tracks, I think Narragansett HS has a great track but I don't do many track workouts at home so that won't be a category here. Maybe I'll make a follow up of non-local places that I've enjoyed running.
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