Best Running Routes in Des Moines

Climate for running in Des Moines

Hot humid summers (62–86°F), cold snowy winters (12–32°F), and pleasant spring and fall. The flat, open terrain leaves you fully exposed to a strong, persistent prairie wind.

Running-friendly paths

Distances are the full path length — most runners do an out-and-back or a single loop and adjust to taste.

Why these paths, for running

Des Moines gives you 3 car-free paths worth running rather than merely walking — river paths and old rail beds, about 101 miles of them in total, with Raccoon River Valley Trail the longest at roughly 50 miles. What they share is that they are continuous enough to hold a rhythm and free enough of road crossings that you are not restarting every few hundred metres.

A runner at 6 mph produces roughly three times the metabolic heat of a walker at 3 mph, and makes twice the airflow trying to shed it. On balance heat wins: running is heat-limited far more often than it is cold-limited, and the number that decides a summer run is not the temperature but the dewpoint. Above about 65°F of dewpoint, sweat stops evaporating efficiently and pace at a given effort falls away no matter how fit you are. Cold, by contrast, is rarely the problem — you will be warm within a mile of starting.

Daylight and the best hour to go

At 42 degrees of latitude, Des Moines gets about 15 hours of daylight in June and about 8 and a half hours in December — a swing of roughly 6 hours. That matters more for running than most people allow for. Summer running here gets pushed into the early morning by heat, and in December the same hour is dark — so the habit that works in July often cannot survive December without lights, reflective kit, and a route you know well enough to run in the dark.

Morning is usually the coolest and least humid part of the day, and for running that matters more than it does for any other outing on foot. In the warm half of the year, the difference between a 6am run and a 6pm run in Des Moines is often the difference between a comfortable effort and a survival shuffle at the same pace.

Season by season

Surfaces and footing

Most of these routes follow water, so the going is level, but the stretches nearest the bank are the first to turn muddy after rain and the last to dry out. Surface matters more to a runner than to a walker, because every mile is several thousand impacts: crushed stone, cinder and packed dirt are easier on the legs than asphalt, and far easier than the concrete most sidewalks are made of. Where a route offers both a paved lane and a soft shoulder, take the shoulder for anything long.

What catches people out running here

Two things catch runners out on paths like these. The first is the out-and-back: Raccoon River Valley Trail runs about 50 miles end to end, so committing to the far end commits you to roughly 100 miles in total — and the return half is the one you run tired. Plan to come back slower, not faster. The second is darkness: in Des Moines's shorter months the early-morning habit that works all summer puts you on the path before sunrise, which needs lights, something reflective, and a route you are happy on alone.

What to wear running in Des Moines

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