From downtown Cowtown Nose Hill Park is about a ten minute train ride, plus another fifteen minute run . On separate days, I had the good fortune to get in two ninety minute runs, both on the same southwest side of the park, and didn't come close to covering a fraction of the supposed 300km of random trails.
The views are indeed awesome of the downtown and the Rockies. Even more awesomer views are of the gullies/valleys right in front of you you are about to descend into and then (attempt) to run up the other side.
Maybe it was the slight altitude (1230 metres), or maybe that rock that's still in my pack that Mark put there three weeks ago, or those are just some really steep hills, but I did find myself reluctantly slowing to a walk on some uphills when it felt like my lungs were getting sucked out of my chest.
There's lots of company up there too -- other trail runners, mountain bikers, pocket gophers, herds of deer, dogs off leash, rabbits, and circling hawks waiting for someone to trip up.
