running balance in the check register (quicken 2016)

Below your check register, click on the Columns icon on the far right of the toolbar. In the pop-up list, select Balance if it is not checked. But I don't think that's your problem...

If you are looking at a Checking account register, the columns you could see would be labeled "Payment" and "Deposit," or "Amount." If you are seeing "Inflow" and "Outflow," you are probably viewing a register that is a group of accounts. In the left sidebar, what is highlighted in gray? I'm guessing it is one of the Group headings, like "Cash" or "All Transactions". When you are viewing a Group of accounts, there is no Balance column because there can't really be a balance of multiple accounts. So click on the one checking account you are interested in, and the resulting register should now show "Payment" and "Deposit" columns, or a combined "Amount" column -- and the "Balance" column.