I had my first run though London, and my first run in 10 days. I took some time off to let my IT band settle down a little bit and with all the walking we have been doing it took a little longer than I would have liked.  I felt good though on my run so let’s hope that I can continue these runs since it really is the best way to see a city.

London is definitely a city that has runners everywhere!  It made me jealous most of the time to not be able to run since it seemed that everyone was out running day and night.  I decided to go through Kensington, where I was staying.  My entire run ended up being about 7 miles, which I did most of through Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, but it would be so easy to do a longer run here because Buckingham Palace, its majestic gardens, and St. James Park all continue east of Hyde Park.

I saw a few sites during my run, and have included them in pictures below.

With about a mile left, I stopped to do some strength training to remedy my IT band issues and a wonderful golden retriever came over to say hi!  He kept running over away from his owners with his tennis ball, wanting me to play fetch. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get a picture, but it just added to the enjoyable experience of the park and gardens.  I did my routine right outside of Kensington Palace, the home of Prince William and Kate.  I wonder if they spotted me. 😉

IT Band (i.e. butt and hip muscles) Strength Routine:

50 walking alternating lunges

20 one-leg squats on each leg

30 alternating side lunges

10 park bench side-plank leg lifts (I didn’t want to lay on the ground so I did a side plank off of a bench and lifted my leg, which had the added core work benefit)

10 park bench push ups

I can definitely say between this routine and all of the stairs I climbed through the tube stations, I was sore!  It was just what I needed after a little time off.  Cheers!