These boots are made for running

As some of you may know I have joined the Running Room in Kensington. We meet on Wednesday nights for a discussion followed by a group run. The goal is to run in the Santa Shuffle on December 2nd. So far its pretty great. I enjoy running and its nice to do something active again. With that being said, I am running into a very frustrating problem (pun intended).
The program requires that you run on your own every Friday for about 25 minutes, which sounds easy enough. The problem is that I can't find anywhere to actually do said running.

Here are my options:

1. Run the same path along the river that I do with my group
Problem: Its a bit of a sketchy area. Ex: Lots of homeless people.
Problem: I'm not entirely sure if my running attire adheres to the local gang color codes.

2. The track at UofC
Problem: It is hard to justify driving all the way to UofC and pay for parking just to run on the track.
Problem: Too many tall blonds running in skintight lycra.

3. My neighborhood
Problem: My neighborhood isn't exactly known for its safety so much as for its violent crime and poverty. However having to run from a shootout might be a good motivator
Problem: I know people here. And as you may have guessed, I'm not the world's most graceful runner...think mountain gorilla meets giraffe.


For such a low-maintenance sport this is turning out to be quite the dilemma. If anyone knows of any non-violent, non-sketchy, non-lycra areas that I might run in, please let me know.
Also, if anyone wants to run with me, let me know and we'll work out the details such as who will fight the meth-addicted gang members and who will run for help.

Until then, I will be right here, running on the spot in front of my computer.