Running in big cities

I am sure every runner has their favourite running course on which their bread-and-butter training is done. For me that course is here:
http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/united-kingdom/london/683590184
(I also mapped this course in the link section on the right-hand side bar)

I used to run the other way, from the City of London towards Westminster. It was OK once you hit the bank of the Thames River, but to get there I had to run along the big road with traffic. Especially during summer, like now, it was difficult because I could really feel and taste fumes coming out of the cars and tracks in my lung. Then one day my colleague showed me this route, which is so much quieter and traffic-free. It is also a nice distance (about 11 miles) which takes me about one and a half hours - just enough for my bread-and butter training. When I want to gain more mileage I make a detour to the Victoria Park, which I didn't do today since this is a recovery week.

In general I think it is easy to run in London in comparison to other big cities. There are a plenty of good-size parks all around London. I had lived in Paris for two years, and I used to "jog" (I was not a marathoner then) in Parc des Buttes Chaumont. The loop I used to run there probably took me two minutes - obviously you cannot train for the marathon in such a tiny park. If you are in Paris, you really have to head for the big "bois" on either side of the city (Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes). In Tokyo the most popular (and probably the only) running course is around the Imperial Palace. I haven't run there for ages so please forgive me if I am wrong, but I think the loop around the imperial place was about 6-km (4 miles). It was nice; I particularly liked the gentle up and down. What I didn't like was traffic, again, on the busy road that circulates around the Palace. But it is kind of silly to complain about heavy traffic in Tokyo - you just have to get used to it!

Since I started running I travelled to several cities, and I think I became quite good at finding a running route in a strange city. To me the Golden Rule is "hit the water!" If a city has a big river (for example the Charles in Boston) there is usually a running/cycling path where you can run comfortably. If you don't see a river on the map, just head to any waterfront. The best run I had while travelling was in Tallinn, Estonia. I had arrived the night before, and I was yet to visit the tourist information, but I just ran towards the sea relying on a small map provided by the hotel. I was able to find miles and miles of running path. It was on Sunday morning, very quiet and freezing cold, and I was running next to a freeze-out expanse of the Baltic Sea (naturally quite a sight!)

Today: 11 miles
Weekly mileage: 11