Another beautifully sunny evening in central London saw a huge turnout for last week’s LSE run.

In a change from the previous week’s route this time we ran a river route taking in a lot of famous London bridges and landmarks. It was really fun to point out all the points of interest to the group along the way!

With it being such a wonderful night it was a particularly busy evening with lots of zigzagging around pedestrians and weaving through the crowded streets.

Our route first took us past St. Pauls on the north of the river and then continued all the way down taking in Blackfriars, Millennium, Southwark and London bridges before crossing the spectacular Tower Bridge, the half way point of the famous London marathon route.

Over and down through borough market where everyone was feeling hungry with the smell of all the delicious food we then took the route along the Southbank. On this final stretch there was so much to see, The Golden Hinde, The Tate and Shakespeare's Globe before crossing back over Waterloo Bridge.

After promising a route of around 5km we ended up doing just over 8km in total so well done to everyone for finishing the longer than intended run!

What a great evening!

What a warm evening for a guided running tour of London!

Joined by 8 runners from all around the world, we had students from as far as Hong Kong and India with a couple a little closer to home home from Switzerland too! They are all completing a summer programme at the London School of Economics.

We completed just over 8km in total, weaving through the hot congested streets of London to eventually be rewarded with a little jaunt through three of central London's finest parks.

Green Park

First we ticked of Green Park, a nice chance to space out a bit and not get stuck at traffic lights after the busy start to the run! Also a nice chance to chat to everyone about what it’s like to run in their home cities. Even coming from Mumbai London was too hot!

Hyde Park

We then crossed over Wellington Arch through to Hyde Park dodging cyclists and stopping to take pictures of the Serpentine Lake and watching lots of runners get ready for an evening 10km race. The Swiss showed us there’s no rest for the wicked with Zeno and Silvan completing some sprints while the rest of us had a breather before continuing on the rest of the run.

St. James's Park

One more park to tick off so after Buckingham Palace we ran along the bottom of St.James Park before finding ourselves by Westminster, it’s a shame the Houses of Parliament are under construction!

A final jog along the river found us back at LSE for a few stretches before saying our goodbyes. It was lovely to meet you all and hopefully catch a few of you on next weeks run, otherwise good luck with the exams and studying!

Happy running!

It was Week 5 for LSE's Summer School Run Club. LSE are hosting these Wednesday night runs across the summer for students. This week we had 16 lovely runners run just over 6km.

After introductions and a quick warm up (plus a plank challenge, which 5 people won!), we headed off on our sightseeing run tour. Our first stop was Trafalgar Square and Nelson's column, there to commemorate the Battle of Trafalgar, a naval victory in the Napoleonic war with France & Spain. Then we jogged round to Buckingham Palace, got some selfies and found out some great facts about the Queen. After the palace we headed over into Westminster and saw the Cathedral (largest Catholic church in England and Wales) and Westminster Abbey (coronation and burial site for British monarchs). With Big Ben under construction we went to the other end of the Palace of Westminster, which is the home of the UK government, passing through Parliament Square.

Finally we ran back along Victoria Embankment, stopping for some photos with the London Eye (best place to see it is across the river!). The London Eye is Europe's tallest ferris wheel!

We finished off with some stretches by the Students' Union.

Fab running from all!

It was Week 4 - Session 1 for LSE's Summer School Run Club. LSE are hosting these Wednesday night runs across the summer for students. This week we had 11 lovely runners run 9km.

After introductions and a warm up in Lincoln's Inn Fields, we headed off on our sightseeing run. This first took us down to the river, past Temple and Embankment Station. Then we diverted up to Trafalgar Square to see Nelson's Column and round to onto The Mall where everyone focused on good arm technique. We did some shuttle runs here using the trees as markers. The guys sprinted out to the first tree and jogged back, repeating this to the 2nd and 3rd tree. This gave the group time to regroup.

Then we jogged round to Buckingham Palace and took a group photo. From then we skirted back around the other side of St James Park up towards Churchill's War Rooms. Whilst we waited for some of the runners here - we the guys played a game of 'it'.

Next, we ran on to Parliament Square to see the Churchill statue & Westmister Abbey, where the royals famously get married.

Following on from this, we battled our way over Westminster Bridge through the throngs of people to reach the Sea Life London Aquarium. Then we passed by the London Eye and on to the Southbank. It quietened down after this point, so going past the Oxo tower and Tate Modern was a lot easier to navigate. We used the Millennium Bridge to cross back over the river. This gave us another great view of the Thames and St Paul's Cathedral. We ran down the river until we reached Blackfriars (adding some sprints here) and then we went up on to the road. Whilst half the group waited at the traffic lights - we used the street furniture to work out arms and legs.

The last leg was along the river up to Temple Station. We used the hill here to practice hill techniques - using their arm swing for momentum, high knees and head ups.

We finished off with much needed stretches by the union amougst the people having graduation photos. Great effort and running from everyone.