The beautiful parks of London are like mecca for people who want to care of their bodies. At lunchtime, in the evening, and at the weekends, mums and babies with pushchairs and prams have to second place to runners and joggers pounding their way around London’s famous parks.
In fact, you get quite a lot of jogging mums pushing their three-wheeler pushchairs around the parks, too.
Hyde Park with the Serpentine Lake is a favourite running destination. Joggers lap the Serpentine, dodging any geese and remote control boating fans as they run around the edge.
Holland Park is also a park dedicated to fitness with plenty of space to run and a huge playground for kids of all ages.
Meanwhile, Green Park is a favourite for lunchtime executives taking a break from the office. So many companies provide showering facilities these days that it doesn’t pose a hygiene problem for their colleagues later in the day!
And London’s running population includes some of the best dressed runners you’ll encounter. They have all the kit!
Every jogger knows that in winter you need to make sure you have suitable layering for your clothing. Essential is a base layer – thermals are ideal as they keep your core warmth in while letting your skin breathe. Next there’s a middle layer for insulation and many people find modern fabrics like microfleece ideal for this. It’s light and comfortable to wear, and doesn’t feel restrictive while you exercise. Depending on the weather, you may need a shell layer to keep off the wind and rain.
The choice of brands for outdoor clothing is huge these days, but if you stick to a quality brand like Craghoppers you can’t go too far wrong. What is really useful though, is to go down to the store and get some specialist advice – so that you find exactly the right kit for the kind of exercise you’re going to do.