Lake Hollingsworth, Lakeland: The Three-Mile Loop That Made a National List

In 2017, Under Armour's MapMyRun service crunched its data on the country's most popular running routes and ranked Lake Hollingsworth in Lakeland at No. 20 in the United States. The lake covers 354 acres between Florida Southern College and the Cleveland Heights neighborhood.

The loop around it is roughly three miles, flat and continuous, and almost every step of it sits within a few yards of the water. It never crosses a major intersection. The paved perimeter is wide enough for walkers and cyclists to share.

The first road around Hollingsworth existed by 1913, according to local histories, and the modern Lake Hollingsworth Drive that succeeded it kept the shoreline on the public side. The houses sit across the street.

Hollingsworth is close to round, with no peninsulas to detour around and no inlets long enough to force the path inland. The far shore stays in view from almost every point on the loop. Runners can pace themselves against the bell tower at Florida Southern and the boathouse across the water.

Hollingsworth has been the subject of water-quality projects run by the City of Lakeland and the Southwest Florida Water Management District. Fish kills still happen; hundreds of dead gizzard shad prompted an FWC investigation. The city and the district built stormwater treatment wetlands on the west side of the lake beginning in 2006, and in 2023 a biosorption activated media unit was added to the existing pollutant control device to pull soluble nutrients out of stormwater before it reaches the lake.