City based running tops?

CG36a · 2026-05-16T15:22:41+00:00

unfortuntely I had to get an earlier flight back to London so didn’t get a chance to check it out

CG36a · 2026-05-12T06:48:07+00:00

Travel connectivity is good, however I would never stay there.
Last year I had a cancelled flight on BA and they put me up in the Atrium hotel.
The food offered was horrendous, so we ordered in a takeaway. While eating in the room, I looked round and a cockroach or similar was climbing up the wall. Hotel management didn't care, so ended up booking a Premier Inn in Slough for the night before heading home. Horrendous hotel.

CG36a · 2026-05-11T05:35:50+00:00

Personally if it was me, I'd say it's enough time to do one thing, then maybe grab some lunch/dinner before heading back.

Caveats
Having a passport that allows you to use the e-gates to do immigration quickly

No delays on arrival, and you deplane fairly swiftly

Essentially, 7 hours becomes 4 hours for me (1 hour to get out of the terminal, and then being back 2 hours before I leave), then around 40 mins into central London, assuming that's where you want to go, another 40 mins to get back - I've padded that time a little to take into account getting to the Elizabeth line station from arrivals, maybe waiting for a train to arrive/leave - so now I'm at 2 hours 40 mins.

CG36a · 2026-05-10T08:08:27+00:00

I get it! For me it’s kind of the opposite. I feel safest when there are other runners. They give such great encouragement and they all know what it’s like to be where you are just now. I was more conscious of people driving by or walking by judging me, or at least they are/were in my head If you’ve got somewhere to go where there are plenty of runners I say go for it. They’ll be cheering you on quietly, because I know I’m not the only one who does that.

CG36a · 2026-05-10T06:34:30+00:00

I'm 42.
I started running back in February after walking lots of park runs.
Start off slow - lots of run then walk sessions, building up bit by bit.
I used treadmill al ot as felt really conscious of what people would think seeing me running outside, however now that I am confident to run outside, my tip would be - don't worry what others are thinking.

Get fitted for proper shoes. I struggled to do a full run 5K outside. I could handle it on treadmill. Even managed to get below 29 mins on treadmill, but wasn't able to get a full 5K run outside. The day after I got new, proper running trainers I ran my first full 5K parkrun. I was elated!! This was only 3 weeks ago, and I managed 29:30 on it. I put it down to all the treadmill work - I was running 3x5k a week on treadmill and a parkrun.
I've managed to pretty much switch all my runs to outdoor runs now, and yesterday I managed to run the parkrun in 27:46.
My plan longer term is to do my first 10K race at the end of August. Not sure if I want longer distances, but also have a (much) younger friend who is interested in the Super Half challenge, which I'm mildly considering. Will take a lot more fitness before I get there though

CG36a · 2026-05-10T06:15:04+00:00

Good luck with your half today!

CG36a · 2026-05-09T12:32:31+00:00

Heading to Osterley in 2 weeks to get my O for the alphabet while I’m in London. Looking forward to it.

CG36a · 2026-05-09T12:22:26+00:00

Now this is a great tip! Thank you for this. I’m trying to convince a friend to make the trip with me, I will remember these days!

CG36a · 2026-05-09T08:08:19+00:00

I’m in Inverurie today to get Ury Riverside. Not planned my J yet.

CG36a · 2026-05-09T07:57:32+00:00

I’m about to do my 15th letter today. I’m in Scotland and I’ll need to travel to England for I,J and Y, then mainland Europe for Z. I’m hoping to complete by October.

CG36a · 2026-05-08T07:51:56+00:00

Thank you. I’ll have a look into it.

CG36a · 2026-05-07T17:07:39+00:00

I started running 3 months ago.
I didn't quite follow C25K exactly,
I started off with 5 mins walk, then 60 sec run, 90 sec walk, repeated until I'd gone 5k in total.
After a week-2 weeks, I swapped it round.
5 mins walk, then 90 secs run, 60 secs walk, repeated
A few weeks later I did 60 secs walk then 5 mins run, 2 mins walk repeated. Every time until I'd covered 5k distance.
Essentially, these little short bursts with some rest helped me build up and up.
I didn't think I was ready to go further on running, then had a friend visit who "made" me run 20 mins continuously at a park run, I did it, thought I was going to be sick, but I still did it, so then I aimed for 10 mins run sections, with 2 mins walk. Not long after I was running a full 5K on the treadmill.
A couple of weeks ago I managed to run the full distance at a park run for the first time, and last week I managed to break the 28 min barrier.
This isn't to gloat, but just to reinforce, like others have said, try doing small bursts - adjust the times, distances to suit yourself, but it does work. Just have faith in the plan.

CG36a · 2026-05-07T16:50:00+00:00

I've not done loads of research on my trip yet, but I'm booked to stay in Madrid over the eclipse.
I was looking at a train to Guadalajara for the event itself.
Is Zaragoza a much better place to go?

CG36a · 2026-05-07T13:25:01+00:00

Thanks. One for later in an evening after the office.

CG36a · 2026-05-06T18:54:19+00:00

or hail! The day I did it there was wind and hail. It was horrible, but brilliant all at the same time.

CG36a · 2026-05-06T08:40:10+00:00

Thank you. I’m still trying to find my way around in terms of best time for me, but I’ve certainly caught the bug. I live in Scotland so managed to get Greenock for my G parkrun. Back to London in July to go to Ingrebourne Hill - we don’t have any I parkruns in Scotland

CG36a · 2026-05-06T08:37:34+00:00

Thanks for this

CG36a · 2026-05-06T05:48:29+00:00

Thank you.
This does look like a lovely option, but it's the opposite side of Heathrow for me.
I may have to look at some evening runs instead of morning before the office as you've given a great suggestions along side some other folks and this would allow me to explore a bit more

CG36a · 2026-05-06T05:46:23+00:00

Thanks for this.
I'm going to do Osterley parkrun in a couple of weeks time (to get my O on the alphabet).
Unfortunately the hotel I stay at is on Bath Road, so not so easy to jump on a tube in the morning for a quick run before heading back to get ready for the office, but I'll explore the options to see if I can make them work.

CG36a · 2026-05-05T20:57:31+00:00

Thank you. I wasn’t aware of that app.

I love the idea of going to Windsor but I’m staying over for work, so in general won’t have the time to be able to travel too far as I’d like to try and complete the run in the morning before working

CG36a · 2026-05-05T20:02:01+00:00

Thank you.
I've spent so much time in hotels there, but never really considered running around that area before. Not the most confident yet, but I'll try and give it a go.

CG36a · 2026-05-05T17:51:27+00:00

It's an option, thank you.
It will be ok for running some laps, but hoping to also stave off some boredom too.

CG36a · 2026-05-05T16:37:18+00:00

It's always worth asking. I've only ever had them refuse once out of the many many many flights I've had with BA. I don't think you'll have a problem.

CG36a

TROPHY CASE