"Is there a legitimate reason that running on an otherwise empty sidewalk in a suburban neighborhood is unpleasant or in some way less desirable than running in the street in the same neighborhood?"
Well, from a purely physical standpoint, concrete has absoultely ZERO impact absorptive qualities. What your shoes don't take up, your body does. Asphalt, while it may seem to be solid, is FAR more relisilliant.
I was an athletic trainer in college, and you could always tell the team members who did their roadwork primarily in town and on sidewalks, instead of on sidestreets and in parks.
They were the ones with shin splints, stress fractures in the feet, plantar fasciatis, and chronic knee issues.
IF you HAVE to run on concrete on a regular basis, skip the thin soled running shoes and go for a shoe with a very shock absorbent sole, and add additional shock absorptive inserts.
We also had a lot of problems with the basketball and indoor track teams. When they built the fieldhouse where I went to college, the contractor screwed up and put the membrane right on top of the concrete. NO resilliant padding at all. By the end of the season, most of the men's and women's basketball teams had leg and foot issues, ranging from annoying to one woman who had to quit the sport in her junior year because she had so many debilitating issues with her one foot.
