Sightseeing Run: 10.5 Miles Running in London

This past weekend we had the opportunity to head up to London for a quick weekend trip. Tiffany and I tend to travel a lot less than we want to and have decided that now is the time to get a lot more traveling in since the kiddo is finally at an age where she is old enough to take part in most of the grown up activities.

We have never been to London as a family together. Over the past 10 years, I have probably visited more than 100x on business, but have never had the chance to really explore the city. Needless to say, this was a special trip for us.

Since we love to run around town to sightsee we were especially stoked about going for our weekly long run in the city. We like to keep some gel packs with us for anything over an hour, but didn’t have any available to bring with us, so our very first stop in London was at “Runners Need” – a chain of running and triathlon retail shops. The store had a great selection of items and we had to tear ourselves away, off to get ready for our run and hopefully not an unexpected running injury.

When we planned this trip we made sure we mapped out a route for our long run which would lead us around town to some of the most famous sights around town. To make everything really cool, we even asked our Berlin babysitter (who is from London) if she knew someone who would be interested making a couple of bucks watching out for Mackenzie while we went running. She did and we were really excited to hit the road Saturday morning.

Unfortunately we had overlooked an email from her the night before telling us she had the flu and were more than just a little bummed when we found out that she would be a no-show when we sent her a text to find out why she was late. Doh! Oh Well – can’t win them all!! We decided that I would head out on Saturday morning, while Tiffany would get an early start on Sunday.

We had a fabulous rental apartment in Angel which we found through AirBnB in a quaint little neighborhood. Starting the run at the apartment the run then led through the financial district and then on to the really interesting stuff. First on the list of sights was crossing the thames river on London bridge with a pretty spectacular view of tower bridge.

After crossing the Thames river the run got a little confusing. There was no walkway right along the river so I had to weave along some tiny alleys for the first part. Luckily a local runner who looked like she was running more than just a couple of K led the way. Unfortunately I couldn’t keep up with her pace and she was out of view quickly.

Along the Thames there are a lot of great things to run by – from the globe theater to the London Eye (a gigantic ferris wheel which allows you to view London from a bird’s eye view if you sign over your life savings – needless to say, we skipped that one). One of my favorite things were the Queen’s Window Gardens. Greenhouses filled with herbs, tomato plants and other stuff. The greenhouses themselves are pieced together from old windows. I really loved that idea.

A little ways down the way you are treated to a fantastic view of Big Ben and the House of Commons. This is what I love about using my long runs for sightseeing. You still get exhausted, but every once in a while you get that “Holy sh!t – this is flipping awesome” feeling as you cruise by the sights.

No, I’m not wearing my grandma’s swim cap in the picture below. I have been experimenting with hats and other head gear over the last couple of weeks. So far, nothing has been perfect until Tiffany suggested I should try out her “Hoorag”. The patterns is not really my bag, but I have to say it really works wonders sucking up the gallons of sweat that pour from my head whenever I hit the road.

This wicking was particularly enjoyed by the pedestrians sharing the road with me around Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. I am pretty sure they had better things to do than get splashed with my sweat while I weaved my way through the throngs of tourists that morning.

I can definitely see the Hoorag to become standard equipment during all kinds of weather due to its versatility.

The area around the House of Commons and Westminster Abbey was really very packed at 9.30am already. This run definitely is best done early in the morning. But at least once you get past this block in the direction of Buckingham Palace things start to quiet down again quickly.

Next on the itiniary was Buckingham Palace, another place you want to sneak by early in the morning. When I got here there were already a few tour groups around. Things apparently get a little crazy at around 11am when people start to line up for the changing of the guards ceremony.

After that the run led through Picadilly Circus, up Regent Street past quite a few posh stores. Ultimately the route wound around Kings Cross Station up to Angel. The last part of the loop included a LONG incline which was really soul crushing after being on the road for such a long time already.

After a long, hot shower we headed out to catch a bus tour of London. We decided to hop on the tour bus at London Bridge. Using that opportunity, I wanted to show Tiffany where she would have to weave through the alleys the next day and it turned out that I had run right through Borough Market without even noticing.

There were a ton of food stands and Mackenzie picked just the right place to grab some post running food. These guys grilled mixed meat Kebabs on hoagie bread with a bunch of sauces. I had Beef and Jalapenos with a Salsa Verde. To die for, and I am sure it was not only the massive amounts of calories burned on the run.

This was a really great run and it allowed us to check out a lot of different areas of London in just under 2 hours. You can’t really run all too fast – there are just way too many photo ops and traffic lights along the way. But those are well worth it.

We had a great two days in London and definitely enjoyed running here. Look at that smile on Mackenzie’s face – she really enjoyed the trip and is quickly becoming a true travel pro. No whining or misbehaving. Rock on! This way we could definitely get used to travelling to more cities to get some mindblowing sightseeing runs in.

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