I knew up front that our trip would not be the best for running. We’d be up early every day, and on the days that we were to travel, which was *at least* every other day, we’d have to have our packed bags outside our hotel room door by something like 7am. Not wanting to have to pack stinky, sweaty clothes in my suitcase with my still-decent clothes, this presented a real problem. Even so, I figured I would be able to get a few miles in at many of the locations.
Frankfurt
This was one place where I didn’t think I’d have a chance to get out. We arrived late in the morning on March 23, and would have to be out of our room and ready to move on early the next morning. But I did find a way. After taking a long walk into town and catching a late lunch, we were pretty tired. Debbie decided to lay down for a short nap. Jet lagged and all, I went out for a late-afternoon jog. I was vaguely aware that there was a forest park nearby, and I actually found it and did a few miles of trail running. It was peaceful and quiet – quite a nice run. 5 miles in a slow 48 minutes. This would turn out to be one of the faster runs on the trip.
Berlin
I got it in my head that I had to run to, and through, the Brandenburg Gate. Our hotel was located far away in old East Berlin. It didn’t look too complicated, but I took my map anyway. Berlin is a huge, modern city. The mix of architecture between the handful of old buildings that survived the war, the newer, starkly plain East German buildings and the brand new – since the fall of the wall, ultra-modern buildings make this a most interesting place to see. And to run through. I didn’t hit the gate until 5.5 miles in, and by that time I had to head right back. But I did make my goal. 11 miles in an hour, 42 minutes. Getting slower…
Warsaw
Another goal-oriented run. Another recurring theme – find someplace on a map, slowly run there, and then hurry back, getting slightly lost along the way several times. This time I wanted to find Warsaw’s Old Town. Warsaw had seen perhaps the most destruction of any large city during the war. So almost all of the old town is not really that old. Most has been rebuilt to look the way it used to. After finding Old Town about 2 miles away, I ran along the Vistula river. This was quite nice and peaceful. Got fairly lost on the way back because it was a different route than I’d taken out. Had to stop and consult my map several times. I was also dealing with several inches of snow that had fallen the night before. As a result, I only got 10 miles in for my 1 hour, 41 minutes. So now I am Really slow.
Krakow
There was more exploration to be done here. I managed to find the Old Town Square, which is huge, and run through it. Then I found the river (the Vistula again) and ran along that for a while until I found a pretty good-sized park to run around. I think it was about 1.5 miles around, and I looped it two times. By the time I made it back I’d done 10 miles in one hour, 34 minutes.
Budapest
I’d run here before. Many times. My usual route had been from the Marriott, around the Buda side of the Danube to the Margaret Island Bridge. By the time I made it over the bridge and onto the island, I’d have gotten nearly 3 miles in. Then I would run around the perimeter of the island. There is a tartan track that is gentle and soft – a runner’s paradise. It’s 3+ miles around and is marked every ½ kilometer. I’d do 2 loops and then head back to make it 12 miles in all.
This run would be different. We weren’t staying anywhere near the Marriott or even close to the city center. So I’d need to run an extra 2 miles just to get to my old starting point. I did manage to do this, get to the island, do two loops, and get back. 16 miles. It would by my longest, and fastest run. Being familiar with most of the route sure helped the speed. As I’d done in the past, I got down to tempo (sub-7) pace whilst on the island. In fact, I did this for most of each loop. Altogether, I did the 16 in 1 hour, 28 minutes. Margaret Island was as wonderful a running venue as ever.
For the first time I decided to try to run on a day we’d be traveling. This meant getting back extremely early so I could try to get my running clothes dried in time to pack them away. I ran the opposite direction to nearby Neplinget park. I did a couple loops around – it wasn’t bad at all. I was tired though, so this was a slow one: 5 miles in 52 minutes.
Debbie wasn’t thrilled with me using the hair dryer to dry out my smelly running clothes.
Vienna
I was still tired, so this would be another slow one. And I would be moving on again this day, so I only got 4 miles in in about 40 minutes. I did find Stadt park – which translated means Statue Park. I found statues of Schubert, Strauss, and several other composers.
Prague
Today’s goal would be to find and run around a park that I’d run in last time I was here: Stroromovka. I would be extremely surprised if I spelled that correctly. So once again I went out with a goal and a map, and managed to actually get there without being too badly lost. I had to cross the Vltava river twice. As with the Brandenburg Gate, as soon as I reached the park, it was time to turn around and head back. Too bad there wasn’t much time to enjoy the park itself. But, as with many things, the joy is in the journey. Altogether I did 10 miles in 91 minutes. I don’t know the splits, but the return was much faster.
As I’d done in Budapest, I managed to get a second run in for Prague. This would be another early one. I found some hills and some quiet residential areas near the hotel. Some of the hills were fairly steep. So this one was 6 miles in 54 minutes.
Munich
After a night at the Hofbrauhaus, and an actual liter of beer, I still managed to get a run in. I found a small park near the hotel and just did several loops. It was about 1 ¼ miles around and I did the loop a few times. As with my other runs, it had been dark when I’d started, but was beginning to get lighter when I was finishing up. That made this run particularly interesting because I learned that I’d been passing a *huge* statue of a woman holding a wreath above her head, and I didn’t even know it! I didn’t see it at all until the last time or two that I went by. And I’d been within only a few feet of her! She seemed almost the size of the Statue of Liberty, although maybe that’s a stretch. I later learned that she is the symbol of Bavaria, and that this park is used for Octoberfest celebrations. I did 7 miles in 63 minutes.
So I got some miles in, but only about half of my usual total. And these were at a slow pace as well. At least I managed to run at least once in each city along the way. This hadn’t even been a goal, until maybe later on in the trip when I realized it was possible. All the runs were interesting and fun, but I suppose that if you pressed me, Budapest was best.
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