My fondest memories as a child were outdoors and involved skipping rope, climbing, sliding down and running but usually had ended with scraped, bloody knees and a nap. Now that I have matured as a ridiculously responsible adult that always behaves in a serious manner (For those that know me, I wrote it for your chuckle), sometimes it is necessary to just leave your things at home, skip the traditional gym and head towards the most challenging parks. I love Montreal and something I always appreciate about my city is its respect for the parks as well as their undeniable taste for beautiful views of little creeks and foliage.
I have my top few favorite parks of Montreal and its surrounding areas that are absolutely amazing not only because of how large or pretty they are but by how crowded they can get on a nice day. Crowded parks are the worst. Jogging and catching a wiff of second hand smoke, or trying not to trip over people are some ideal things to avoid but are directly associated to crowdedness in parks. As you know, I care and therefore, I share!
Here is MY short list of Montreal’s best fitness parks:
4520 Boulevard Lévesque Ouest, Laval, QC H7N 2P8.
This park is my bootcamp playground. Including hills, baseball, football and soccer fields to get your sweat on. The main reason I workout at this park is for the bleachers. I can get a nice lower body workout as well as a high intensity interval training on the hills.
William Cosgrove Centennial Park at 3000 Rue Lake, Dollard-des-Ormeaux, QC
Centennial park is perfect for training your feet to run different landscapes such as the woods, the smooth streets or around the park’s pretty lake. Just going around the lake once is approximately 4.5 km. Definitely a fun run!
I have several favorite parks but these two are my boos.
Moreover, Mount Royal is a large and fun park to run in but can be overly crowded with other runners or hippies. Either you are feeling claustrophobic on the stairs or you get slapped by clouds of weed smoke. Not that I have an issue with that but, not during my workout, no thank you.
There are many parks that are beautiful in this city. Some are more romantic, others are complete tourist traps. It is a matter of exploring! I am positive that I have yet to find the park I feel my at complete peace but until then, my go to spots have everything I need, a pretty view, trees and foliage, a lake, a bunch of mini-bridges and a few hills for those HIIT cues. This city is worth the discovery!
Mindful & Fresh 