London as a running town…

We travelled to London over the holidays this year and it’s interesting to note differences between your home and culture compared to where you’re visiting. For example, Heathrow airport is like most big airports in its setup except that you don’t see your flight’s gate assignment until an hour before the plane’s departure. Not a big deal, you just hang out in the main area of shops and restaurants until you get the assignment. The Coca-Cola they served us in restaurants came in a glass bottle, instead of out of a fountain.

I packed my running shoes for London and managed to log a few miles most days that we were there. Our hotel was near Hyde Park which, if you’re not familiar with it, is expansive and offers ample paved and gravel paths. I noticed two small yet distinct differences between running there versus running in the U.S. (Obviously this is a sample size of only several days.)

1. Most people there didn’t use flashlights or headlamps when running or walking in the park before sunrise. I pack a small flashlight when I travel and while it’s there for any situation where it could be useful, I also use it for running in the dark. Most of my running in London was in the pre-dawn hours and while there was ambient light from the city and all the paths were in good shape, I carried the light with me. I wouldn’t say it was necessary but it was definitely helpful, especially since the area was unfamiliar to me. As I saw other people in the park, I noticed that only a couple of them had lights. I don’t mind if others aren’t using lights but it was very different to see no one using them. And, continuing to run up on people that you can’t see until the last second can be a little startling. That being said, there were no “Whoas” or “Watch outs” so perhaps near-misses are just more expected.

2. Dogs were much better behaved. I’ve had unpleasant encounters with off-leash dogs on my local trails and thus I’m on guard when I see one. Many people had their dogs off-leash in Hyde Park and yet, it was a completely different vibe there. None of them were aggressive and many weren’t even barky. I don’t know if it’s a cultural difference, if there are different types of training, or if there are stiffer penalties for a poorly behaved off-leash dog. Whatever the case, it was a difference I enjoyed.

I did venture out to another park one day, Holland Park, which is a little west of Hyde Park. It’s not quite as big so it would be more difficult to do a longer run without repeating a lot of paths. But, it did involve a long up and downhill and there was a runner doing hill repeats on one side of it. It didn’t seem quite as geared for running as Hyde Park but including it in a longer run was worth it.

This wasn’t my first time running in London. I spent a semester there in college and logged many miles all over the city streets. Not too long after that, I went back and again, spent time running. I don’t know how much London is thought of as a “running city” but a lot of people are out there rolling off miles (or kilometers), and there are some wonderful places there for it.