I've generally had pretty good success checking with the hotel Concierge and letting them know what I'm looking for in a running route. Depending on the city, I sometimes specifically ask for routes that take me:
- along a river/landmarks/touristy sites
- away from high car/pedestrian traffic
- on flatter/hillier terrain
I'm not an avid runner, but I know others on the board have mentioned some running sites that probably give good routes. (I know
www.mapmyroute.com has an option to publicly share the routes that users input.)