Will probably be moving to the south soon, in the north there is pretty good running along the river and up Chanchong Shan when it isn't closed. I figure there would be some cool tracks up Xi Shan to do some trail running... but can you run there across the bridge from Haigeng park area? Google earth/searching turns up nothing so not sure if its possible...

Any other good trail running in the south?

Once you have crossed the causeway, turn left (south) and under the expressway bridge. After about 100m comes a path (pretty much all steps) that leads up all the way to Xishan. There are some forks on the trail, but as an orientation you have the cable-car which goes to the area where the shuttle busses turn.

absolutely, just walk across the bridge (dam)

Easy as Ludwig says. And free.

Unlike Haigeng Park, which is sadly not free.

Haigeng itself has some trails on the backside of the interior pond and along the the lake to the south gate (more like east, but google says south). 10rmb entrance fee, trails all flat. Probably enjoyable just once due to fee and Dianchi sucking more than usual.

At the south gate, you have Xingti Rd heading north, which has a pleasant tree lined sidewalk. There is also a sports complex just a little further east of the south gate. Has a track and lots of soccer fields. Free to enter; not sure about fee/eligibility to run on track. The complex itself is large enough to run around in, but all flat.

For those who use Kunming's paid-for attractions regularly, it makes sense to buy an annual pass, which costs a bit more than Y100. The pass then gives free entrance to parks like Xishan, Daguan, Haigeng, Jindian, the zoo and many more.

Cool, thanks guys! Didn't realise there was an annual pass to all parks, cheers ludwig.

Oh yeah - regarding the trails on Xi Shan - is it OK to go exploring different trails? Anything I need to be aware of (dogs/army bases/people who don't like you on their land etc)?

Ludwig
Where do you get these passes from.
Last time I was at Haigeng (Nov) they told me no such ticket was available.

I used to get mine at the zoo's main entrance. They have funny rules as they sell them only on specific dates, like either only on the last or first three days of the month (sorry, I forgot which ones) and at a counter to the back of the ticket building. 年卡 was the thing to ask for. Photo and ID was required, IIRC. The zoo card was then good for all other places, I assumed that would be the case for Haigeng too, but maybe I was wrong.