I was recently in the lovely city of Lisbon and had the opportunity to do a running tour with Pedro from Lisbon City Runners.  It was fantastic!  After having been lucky enough to be on the receiving end of three running tours in completely different cities, I thought I’d let you know why running tours are so amazing …. 😉

My first ever running tour was in London with Nikki from Love London Running, in July 2016.  Nikki is super friendly and a treasure trove of cool, interesting & quirky facts about London, both ancient & modern.  We saw the tower of London, the London Eye, ran across the Tower Bridge and we even got to run along a stretch of beach alongside the Thames – who knew that was possible in London?!  She kindly gave me a lovely Love London Running buff which has come in handy on many a chilly morning run – thank you Nikki, I can’t praise your running tour through London highly enough!

Next I did a running tour in Marrakech with Jonathan from Running Morocco, in April 2017.  I organised the tour for the afternoon I arrived in Marrakech, to get an intro to the city, & I wasn’t disappointed!  Jonathan took us through this fascinating, bustling metropolis and again told awesome stories & facts about the city & country of Morocco.  In a country where I wasn’t sure how I would be received as a woman running by myself, Jonathan was able to provide local insight and knowledge on the customs of running in Morocco as a foreigner, and gave me the confidence to head out another day by myself, to explore another route he suggested….Jonathan ends his tour with a delicious, cold, freshly squeezed orange juice in the “Jemaa el-Fna”, highly recommended!

The most recent tour was in Lisbon with Pedro from Lisbon City Runners, in October 2018.  I met Pedro at Cais do Sodre early, 7:30am, to avoid the heat of the Lisbon summer and to enjoy quieter early morning streets with fewer tourists.  He took me on a wonderful tour pointing out facts & fun stories about Lisbon & some of its slightly suspect statues…. AND, much to my initial horror, eventual delight, he took us up to the “Santa Justa elevator”, a 19^th centure Neo-Gothic lift, which is usually crowded with tourists and you pay a pretty euro fee to experience, on foot, FOR FREE!  We also ran along the “pink street” and enjoyed wending our way along a couple of the winding alleyways of Alfama … THANK YOU Pedro, and well done on completing the Iron Man in Hawaii recently, by the way  😉

So as you can see, doing a running tour provides you with an invaluable, authentic experience: getting to see a LOT of a city, with a knowledgeable and fun local guide, whilst enjoying some exercise, soaking up the sights, sounds & vibe of the city you find yourself in.  Next time you travel somewhere chuck in a pair

of trainers and book YOUR running tour, you won’t regret it!

And after all that gallivanting we are back, in the Mother City, business as usual, offering running torus 7 days a week!  Come run with us:

www.runcapetown.co.za

www.runningtours.net

www.gorunningtours.com