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running in London?
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hi everyone -

i've got a little over a week in london, from saturday. i'll be staying on russell square, and am looking at getting out for some runs. nothing too crazy - 30mins to 1 hour after work (which is also at russell square).

i was thinking maybe my best bet is just along oxford street to hyde park, but what else am i missing? canals? regent's park? etc?

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https://lshtm.academia.edu/MikeCallaghan

http://howtobeswiss.blogspot.ch/
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Re: running in London? [iron_mike] [ In reply to ]
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I would head to a park. Its impossible to walk down Oxford street let alone try and run along it
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Re: running in London? [iron_mike] [ In reply to ]
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Hyde Park is great if you can get over there; most of the paths are pedestrians only, but there are a few shared use ped/bike paths running around it too. Running it'd take you 20-30 mins return from Russell Square so that'd have to be one of your longer runs to make it worthwhile. Doing a lap and heading over to the Palace at the far end would be a good sightseeing run.

Oxford Street is not a good route there at all though. The pavements are rammed with tourists and the road is rammed with buses; you're lucky if you can walk down there at a decent pace, let alone run! There are a few quieter roads that run parallel to it to the North, I'd recommend one of those for a direct-ish route and then cut down to Marble Arch and into the park.

Regents Park is great as well and a fair bit closer; there you can either pound the streets around Outer Circle or head into the park itself and do some loops, it's very pleasant.
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Re: running in London? [awenborn] [ In reply to ]
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hmm. . . so maybe even riding the tube/bus to the park is wisest?

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https://lshtm.academia.edu/MikeCallaghan

http://howtobeswiss.blogspot.ch/
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Re: running in London? [iron_mike] [ In reply to ]
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Yeah, that's a good option; you can get the Picadilly line down from Russell Square to Hyde Park Corner in no time and then you're right on the edge of the park. From there you have the choice of Hyde Park, Green Park, St James' Park, all of which are nice and traffic free. I'm sure some people will chime in with some nice routes around there in a bit!

Otherwise you can hop on the city's hire bikes, to get down there, they're great for getting around, but you kind of need to know where you're going!

If you just want a quick session though Regents Park is great too though and if you run up to Euston Road and then westward to the park it should be easy enough to be able to run there and back rather than getting on the tube.

If you're there on a Saturday morning you should totally head along to one of the parkruns too (see parkrun.org.uk) they're a completely free, timed 5k in loads of parks around the city, every Saturday at 09:00 am. You can register online if you want your official time but if you're not fussed just can just show up. They're usually a great atmosphere with all levels of people going along, from top club runners racing it in the 16s to old folk power-walking it round in 30+ mins.

Edit: fixed link
Last edited by: awenborn: Sep 12, 17 9:59
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Re: running in London? [iron_mike] [ In reply to ]
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Hi namesake.

I can only echo the above about Oxford Street. It will make for an absolutely miserable experience. It will be one of the royal parks if you want to log some relatively uninterrupted miles.

Take a look at this from my old running club:

https://www.serpentine.org.uk/...un_routes_index.html

If you approach them they may let you run as a guest with them on Wednesday night which is their main training time. From personal experience, I can recommend the 2 parks run, the regents park and primrose hill and the 9 hills if you want a bit longer.
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Re: running in London? [iron_mike] [ In reply to ]
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If you are from the USA -- beware if you are at all like me. I run on auto pilot. But there my instincts were all wrong with cars on the left side of the road. I have had no near misses, but I never could enjoy the run because I was sure I would step out into traffic (the painted signs on the streets telling me which way to look did save my bacon a couple of times). Running in a park on pedestrian paths sounds like a plan.
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Re: running in London? [iron_mike] [ In reply to ]
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Regent's Park is closer and IMO a better place to run.

If you choose your route carefully you can actually run to Regent's Park -- through Univ. London and then Fitzrovia. I did this all the time when I was at the LSE. No way you run to Hyde Park.

My latest book: "Out of the Melting Pot, Into the Fire" is on sale on Amazon and at other online and local booksellers
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Re: running in London? [iron_mike] [ In reply to ]
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Your two best options are north up to Euston, then west to Regents Park and do laps, or south down Southampton Row past Holborn to the river, turn west and follow the embankment to Lambeth or Vauxhall Bridge, cross the river then come back east along the southern embankment to Waterloo Bridge and head north back to home.

The embankments have wide pavements and not too many peds.

Forget Oxford Street. Imagine trying to run through Times Square. Pretty much it.
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Re: running in London? [iron_mike] [ In reply to ]
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Sounds like you have some time. This weekend why don't you head to Richmond? You can take the train from Waterloo and I think it's about a 9km loop in circumference but you can go in and out of the central part of the park, very nice.

Park run is a nice idea though! Hackney Marshes will definitely bring you a PB.

Regents Canal is a nice way to run though and I agree that Regents Park is pretty also.

And lastly, why not run along the Thames - you could get the tube to London Bridge from which you can run all the way to Canary Wharf and back - that's a good hour.

Frankly you are in a convenient part of town, a tube journey can get you the following nice spots:

- Stratford (olympic park)
- Hyde Park
- Regents Park
- Richmond park (slightly further but the biggest park in London with lots of open space and deer)
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Re: running in London? [iron_mike] [ In reply to ]
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iron_mike wrote:
canals? regent's park? etc?

Combine those two and you get... The Regent's Canal

Best thing to do would be to run to Regents Park, that must be a mile at the most from Russell Square and then head North in the park and pick up the Canal close to London Zoo. Run west and you can stay on the canal for ages, if you go East you have to mess around on roads around Camden Market and then later at Islington. If you could make it out along the canal for 6/7 miles then it actually goes over the North Circular (London ringroad) which is quite impressive and a bit of a shock after being on a quiet canal for so long.

You could definitely make it to Hyde Park, its not too far at all, just don't run along Oxford Street. Parallel and just to the North is Googe Street turning into Mortimer Street and then Wigmore Street. Somewhat better but still busy traffic wise.

Another option would be run South and hit the Thames and run along there. Thats good also.

Enjoy.
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Re: running in London? [iron_mike] [ In reply to ]
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Was just in London for the day and ran through Hyde/Kensington/Holland Park. Great run! Early afternoon, not toooo many people in the park.

"The person on top of the mountain didn't fall there." - unkown

also rule 5
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Re: running in London? [iron_mike] [ In reply to ]
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another vote for Regent's Park -- on the interior the rose garden is spectacular at the moment, and you can run past the zoo. If you get on the outer circle you can enjoy the mini pelotons and giraffes at the north end.
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Re: running in London? [iron_mike] [ In reply to ]
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my protip is to take one of the bike-share bikes (now santander bikes--informally boris bikes) and ride to where you want to run. Run, pick up another bike and ride back. You could easily go run along the Thames from Russel Square if you have an extra 30-40 minutes and take a bike.
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Re: running in London? [JustinPB] [ In reply to ]
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https://www.strava.com/...ondon/running/routes

Not a bad place to start, most of the routes mentioned in the posts are on this list. Best bet is just to head to the parks. Particularly if you're staying at Russell Sq. Too many junctions and too much traffic to put a meaningful run together, although you could jog down to Regents park from there.

I guess it depends on what you want, if you want a little tour and to see some sights go and run along the South Bank up to the the Houses of Parliament and back along Embankment (the other side of the river). Its a nice run but given the number of tourists and the nature of the path it won't be a fast route.
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Re: running in London? [iron_mike] [ In reply to ]
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Both Regents Park and Hyde Park are good options - as others have noted it's the to/from that can be challenging. Most London streets in the vicinity of both parks are crazy busy - combination of both local traffic and tourists.

If you can get a bit further out to the west on the Thames, as I seem to recall there is a nice foot-path along the Thames running roughly from the Hammersmith area, following the river. This was a long time ago - but I do remember some pleasant early morning runs at sunrise along this footpath.

At first light & sunrise are typically the best time to attempt running in busy urban centers. In places like London it's almost forget-it at any time after that.


Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog
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Re: running in London? [Fleck] [ In reply to ]
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There is a gravel track in regents park too. Whenever I go to a city I check it out on google earth to see what is around where I am staying. Look at the park on google earth or strava heatmaps and you will see it.
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Re: running in London? [Fleck] [ In reply to ]
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The Thames path runs from Battersea all the way to Richmond (or farther in reality). My old long run was from Battersea to the Barnes bridge, then over and through Kensington to Hyde Park (a full loop of the park), then down the Mall to the North Bank, then along it to the Tower Bridge, over it and then back to Battersea along the South Bank. If done early enough, the city is not too busy along the North and South bank.

Jack



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Re: running in London? [iron_mike] [ In reply to ]
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you can retrace the route of the 10k they used for the Olympics in Hyde Park - it mostly goes around the lake
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Re: running in London? [iron_mike] [ In reply to ]
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If you choose to run on the Putney Bridge, beware of some asshole who might knock you in front of a bus.
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