Running in Miami

While the Rickenbacker and Venetian Causeways get most of the attention, Miami has spent the last several years building an entirely new running corridor called the Underline, a linear park and trail constructed beneath the elevated Metrorail tracks running from Brickell south toward Dadeland. When finished, the project is planned to stretch about ten miles, and the first completed phase through Brickell, an area now known as the Brickell Backyard, opened in 2021 with a paved running and biking path, native landscaping, and shaded rest areas built directly under the train line. Because the Metrorail structure overhead provides consistent shade for long stretches, the Underline has quickly become a preferred option for midday runs in a city where most other paths offer no shelter from direct sun. The path connects into additional Underline sections through Coral Gables as construction continues, giving South Florida runners a shaded, mostly flat alternative to the exposed causeways.

The Underline was designed with running in mind from the start, including distance markers, water fountains, and dedicated running lanes separated from the parallel biking path, a level of purpose built infrastructure that older Miami routes like the Rickenbacker were never designed for. Local run clubs have started organizing regular meetups along the completed Brickell sections, taking advantage of the shade and the direct connection to the dense residential towers where many Miami runners live. Because it runs beneath an active transit line, the Underline also gives runners an easy bailout option if weather turns, since Metrorail stations sit every mile or so along the route. As more phases open toward South Miami and Dadeland, the trail is expected to become one of the primary north to south running arteries in the county.

Most of Miami's running routes are wide open to direct sun, but Coconut Grove is the exception thanks to its historic tree canopy along streets like Main Highway and Ingraham Highway, where old growth banyan and live oak trees form a shaded corridor unlike anything found in Brickell or South Beach. Coconut Grove is one of Miami's oldest neighborhoods, settled in the late 1800s, and its street grid was never fully modernized into the wide, sun exposed boulevards common elsewhere in the city, which is part of why the tree cover survived. Runners based in the Grove often build routes that thread between Main Highway, the waterfront at Peacock Park, and the quiet residential streets near Villa Vizcaya, getting shade for most of the run except for short stretches along the bay.

The neighborhood's rolling brick sidewalks and narrow, low traffic streets also make it one of the few parts of Miami with any meaningful elevation change, though the change is measured in a handful of feet rather than anything resembling a hill. Because Coconut Grove sits away from the high rise density of Brickell and the tourist traffic of South Beach, early morning runs there tend to be quiet even on weekends, with dog walkers and other runners as the main company. The shade and lower temperatures under the canopy make the Grove a popular choice for Miami runners trying to extend their outdoor training deeper into the hot, humid summer months when the open causeways become miserable by mid morning.