Runner's World

JUNE 2018 RUNNERSWORLD.CO.UK 033

trainers and try to trace their watery

courses as faithfully as the city will

allow. One of my favourite running

adventures was following one of

London’s subterranean rivers the

Fleet from the trickle of water at its

source on Hampstead Heath down to

the mighty Thames.

Thinking bigger there are your

five-to-nine possibilities. Adventurer

and author Alastair Humphreys is

a proponent of using this 16-hour

window to do a micro-adventure. You

could even fit in an ultramarathon

between leaving work on Tuesday

night and the ‘cut-off’ of being back

at your desk on Wednesday morning.

You will probably be in need of a lot

more coffee than usual.

There are a huge number of

possibilities on our urban doorsteps –

you can vertically challenge yourself

by running up skyscrapers; run

underground routes overground; race

boats trains and buses; or throw dice

to determine your running challenge.

The only limit is your imagination.

time-pressed running adventure is
adapting it to your surroundings.
With almost 90 per cent of the UK’s
population living in urban areas
it’s easy to think we urbanites are
hamstrung in our ability to create
adventures. On the contrary towns
and cities are a veritable playground
for running mischief.
If you live in an urban sprawl you
may assume that adding ascent to
your runs is asking a lot. But running
the New York City Marathon gave me
a new appreciation for bridges. The
blighters had me huffing and puffing
and the different perspectives they
gave on the city were wonderful too.
If there’s a river in your hometown
try running a stretch crossing each
bridge as you go. This can be a lot of
fun and surprisingly tough.
Talking of rivers in some cities
they are hidden beneath our feet.
London has dozens invisibly
meandering deep below the
metropolitan maze. With a little
research you can lace up your

Collect as many blue plaques (or

similar) as you can in 60 minutes.

GPS-enabled smartphone with

camera running shoes.

Time limited to 60 minutes.

Penalties given for going over

time – deduction of points

buying a round of drinks etc.

Proof of plaque recorded with

selfie photo. All plaques get

one point with bonus points

awarded as follows:

Playwright – 2 points

Knight of the Realm – 2 points

Statesmen – 3 points

Prime Minister – 4 points

Field Marshal – 4 points

Houses with two plaques –

5 points (there are 18 houses

with two blue plaques)

London Underground plaques

• 6 points (there are only four
  with the ‘Johnston’ typeface)

London’s blue plaques have been

commemorating notable men

and women for over 150 years.

This is your chance to pay

homage. Do it alone or better

yet grab a few friends and

make it sociable. Set the

countdown timer on your phone

to 60 minutes and start running

aiming to find as many of the

900-plus plaques adorning

London’s buildings as you can.

To make it more challenging

give bonus points as outlined

above or you could set a

boundary such as a postcode

or borough to limit your search.

The City of London has around

160 commemorative blue

plaques within its borders. If you

are doing it with friends finish in

a pub with points deducted for

every minute over the 60. Loser

buys the round. Obviously.

Download the English Heritage

blue plaques app to assist you

in your search.

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Even time-constrained

runners can add a little

adventure to a run.

And some culture too

DIY EVENTS