Latest Event Updates
Run In the Dark for a very good cause
On Wednesday 14th of November 25,000 people ran in the dark all over the world to raise funds for and awareness of the Mark Pollock Trust, a charity raising funds to cure paralysis. Here in Edinburgh, we were part of this incredible global running event on what was a very special night for us all. It was our role to organise the event here in Edinburgh, ensure the safety of the runners and to make sure everyone taking part had a great experience!
66 dedicated runners undertook a 5km in the dark, along trails and up a rather steep hill, to make it back to the warmth of the pub and a celebratory drink. There were plenty of happy smiles along the way from runners and marshals and lots of happy runners at the end.
Thank you all coming along to run with us and we hope to see you all again next year!
#runinthedark
Doctors in Scotland prescribing nature to their patients
The health initiative in this article, rolled out in Shetland is right up our street. Since October 5, doctors in Shetland have been authorised to prescribe ‘nature’ to their patients. This means getting out in the fresh air regularly, moving more, getting more vitamin D and generally taking time for yourself.
We know that being outside is of course physically beneficial, just look at us :D. It’s also mentally beneficial as we get away from the stresses of daily life, let our mind have some breathing space and do something different from our daily routine.
It’s also a chance for us all to engage in nature and the landscape around us. Here in Scotland we have so many beautiful areas to visit and sometimes we just need that push to make the time to enjoy them.
Organising run tours in Edinburgh, we are obviously out and about a lot; however we still need to make the time to get out of the city (as wonderful as it is!) and go and immerse ourselves in nature. So as well as planning another great year of run tours and developing our services in 2019 (watch this space…), we are also planning plenty more of our own escapes in the great outdoors.
So do you get your weekly dose of nature and have you any exciting outdoor adventures coming up?
Visiting a new city on a conference? Then see the city and not just the 4 walls of your meeting room.
You are going away for a conference. It’s a new city you have never been to. You have heard it’s beautiful, steeped in history and full of incredible monuments and attractions. If only you were going to have to see any of it!
At Edinburgh Run Tours we have a solution to your lack of time and lack of knowledge of the area; come on a run tour with us!
Here are 4 GREAT reasons you should join us for #runtour when you next visit Edinburgh.
1) It’s a great way to see the city quickly
When you are only in town for a couple of days and 99% of that time is going to be spent in a conference centre or meeting room, then a whistle-tour running (or walking) tour is the perfect way to see the city all before breakfast!
2) Actually see the sights!
See more than just the 4 walls of the meeting room. How many conferences have you been to where the most you have seen is the hotel lobby? We have all been to some amazing cities, but would barely know it. Running tours mean you actually get to see some of the main sights of the city you are visiting so you can send postcards of things you have actually seen!
3) Help small local businesses
There are run tours in cities and towns all over the world and the majority of us are all very small local businesses. We are doing something we love, sharing the passion of where we live and trying to build a sustainable business from it. Getting out in the city you are visiting and using local companies and visiting local places is vital to enable us to continue what we do. Plus we genuinely get a kick out of showing you our city.
4) Look after yourself
I am also a personal trainer and work in the outdoors events industry, so I can’t not mention the benefits of fitness and being active. Do you think delegates are more productive if they have sat down indoors all day, or if they have been for a quick running or walking tour, breathed in some fresh air, got the heart pumping and the muscles working? I know I am biased, but I am pretty sure it’s the latter!
We are Edinburgh Run Tours and we create bespoke running and walking tours and fitness experiences for corporate groups, incentives and special occasions. If you are bringing a conference or incentive group to Edinburgh then message me directly to see what we can organise for you.
Contact me directly for more information or head to our website: www.edinburghruntours.com
We hope to see you soon in Edinburgh!
#edinburgh #conference #incentive #runtour #eicc #linux #MICE #runtour #edinburghruntours
Welcoming our new guide Michael
I want to take this opportunity to officially welcome Michael to the Edinburgh Run Tours Team. Michael has been a guide with us now for a couple of months, but we have been so busy over summer with our run tours that I am only just getting the time now to let everyone know!
Michael is a superstar guide and has already racked up a plethora of 5* reviews from lots of very happy running clients. I can’t say I am surprised! Michael knows the city like the back of his hand, he always has a smile ready for you, he has great chat and of course he is a fantastic runner!
Michael has dual nationality, Spanish and American and is studying to be a personal trainer here in Edinburgh and he is more than happy to take you on a running tour in Spanish should you wish.
Michael is not only a great runner but a fantastic obstacle course racer. Having come first at the Beach Ballistic Race in Aberdeen over the summer, he is now heading to the Obstacle Course Race World Championships in London in October. He is training hard, but don’t worry if you run with him he won’t make you climb over walls or carry heavy sandbags as you run, unless you really want to!
Michael has this to say about himself, “I love running and cycling around hilly Edinburgh, searching for hidden trails and learning quirky features of this gorgeous city. Getting out of my comfort zone and challenging myself mentally and physically is my mantra. Let me show you around the beautiful architecture of “the Athens of the north” or the natural beauty that surrounds it, while keeping fit and happy! My favourite run tour is the 7 Hills.”
Welcome Michael! It is great to have you as part of the Edinburgh Run Tours team.
Nicole
The Trainers & Tea Run Tour
The feeling of new trainers is always a great one, so when Brooks asked us to come along and try out their new Levitate and Glycerin trainers we couldn’t say no!
It was a fantastic evening, with a great turn out and it even stopped raining briefly while we all did our run tour of the city! It wasn’t just trying out new trainers that made this such a special run tour, but because we got to finish off back at Eteaket’s amazing tea room where we were plied with their cold brew teas and cake!
Thanks to Eteaket for hosting us, John at Brooks for giving us this fab opportunity and of course everyone coming along and running with us and experiencing the Edinburgh Run Tours experience!
Taking on the Challenge of Edinburgh 24
In just over one month I will be ‘running’ around Arthur’s Seat and Holyrood Park for 24 hours as part of a team of four taking part in the Edinburgh 24. I put the word running in quotation marks as I am not sure how much running I will be doing at 3am….Am I nervous? Yes, definitely! I have run ultras, but I have never got to the 24 hour mark and although I am doing this as part of a team, I still need to be awake and active for that time. Am I excited? Hell yes! I can’t wait! I LOVE Arthur’s Seat and Holyrood Park.
Like so many others, this amazing oasis of calm within the city, shaped by a volcano over 30 million years ago, is my place to escape the city for a few hours. It is where I come to relax, walk off the day’s stress and meet with friends for a run. I never get tired of the views as I walk up to the summit or around Salisbury Craggs and Dunsapie Loch. I regularly take my Edinburgh Run Tours up Arthur’s Seat and around the park for runs and sunrise picnics, and each time I am just as excited about the ever-changing views as are the visitors to the city that I take up there, (I am not always so excited about the ever – changing weather though!).
I signed up for this race on a whim in the new-year, when I was looking for different and exciting challenges. I then managed to find 3 other people as crazy as me, willing to form part of a team. I would like to say that we are all hard in training, but our first team meeting revolved around dinner and deciding what should be on our playlist (80s!). However, as I run most days, have a few races already under my belt this year and go up Arthur’s Seat at least twice a week, I am confident I can do my part, although running through the night does make me slightly apprehensive as it is an unknown for me. What I do know though, is that experiencing 24 hour’s in the life of Arthur’s Seat is going to be incredible!
Arthur’s Seat and Royal Holyrood Park are the stuff of legends; of warrior kings, knights, ghosts and hidden cities and who doesn’t want to be part of that?
The race is not just for those crazy enough to run for 24 hours, there are also much more accessible 6 hour and 12 hour options; all of which can be done as an individual, in a pair or part of a team of 4. There will be an around the clock event village providing refreshments and medals for all those who take part and supporters are extremely welcome, especially if you come laden with jelly babies and lots of positive vibes!
You can sign-up and find out full event details here: http://www.breakingstrain.co.uk/edinburgh-24/
“What is a running tour?”….
This is a question I get asked almost every day when I tell people that I have a running tour company. I get the same blank look from non-runners and runners alike and the question, “what is a running tour?”.
A running tour, in its most simple form is pretty much a guided tour, usually of a city like Edinburgh, where you run the sights rather than walk them. You may wonder who on earth wants to do this when they go on holiday, or you might be one of those people who don’t go anywhere without packing their running kit!
You might be a weekly Park Runner, a Couch to 5k’er, a 10km whizz, a trail runner aficionado, a before work training runner… we all share the same love of running and take the attitude of ‘why walk when we can run?’
Joining on a running tour means no faffing around trying to find routes before you leave. It is a way of seeing a new place without the worry that you will end up getting lost and being very late back to the rest of your waiting family or to your business meeting. Having someone else taking responsibility for the run, means you don’t need to stick to laps around the park next to the hotel to get your running fix. Running with a guide means discovering the best of the city and all those parts that you may otherwise miss because they are not in the guide books.
I love when people join a tour and at the end they tell you how they have seen so much more than they would have done if they had tried to do it alone.
You might be apprehensive about getting a running guide. You might think you are not fast enough and that you will hold the group back; or that you cannot run far enough. With most city running tours this is definitely not the case. It is about going at a leisurely pace in order to fully appreciate the sights, learn about them and of course take plenty of selfies along the way!
At Edinburgh Run Tours, our two passions are running and showing you around our amazing city. We want you to have the best experience possible so that you go away telling everyone how much you enjoyed it. For that reason, our tours are personalised and we keep the groups very small or just for you. This means that we run at a speed you are comfortable with and we discuss the pace and the length of the route with you before you start. Having your own guide, means a tour tailored to you; whether that is seeing the sights, going for a longer training run, or getting on the trails and trying something a bit different!
If you are that person who packs their running kit with them wherever they go, then we would love to see you on one of our running tours very soon and please do spread the Running Tours word as you will find running guides in almost every city you go to! If you are in Edinburgh then make sure you look us up and if you are in another city, a great place to look for a guide is or : http://www.runningtours.net or http://www.gorunningtours.com.
Happy Running!
Nicole
Why I run and run and run…
I obviously enjoy running, otherwise I would not have a running company and I would not be constantly posting photos of me out running all over social media. However there are many reasons why I run, which I suspect is the same for many of us.
I don’t know what your reasons for running are, but I will share some of mine with you. (I have left out the obvious running for fitness as we all know how awesome it is for that 😃).
- I really enjoy doing it. I genuinely get a kick out of putting on my running stuff and getting outside. At school I was not great at team sports, but I was always in the running team, mostly because I was the only one who volunteered to run anything longer than 100 metres. Of course, I don’t enjoy every run, especially the rainy, windy, cold ones; but even after those ones are done I feel that post-run buzz. And this leads on to the next reason, which is that….
- I really enjoying sharing my passion for it with other people; hence why having Edinburgh Run Tours is my dream job!
- It is my mental escape / release. Outside of the tours, I often run by myself and even running with other people there is still plenty of quiet time. Running gives me a release from any daily frustrations or stresses I have and a sense of freedom that I never got working in an office. That’s why I love people taking people out running as I can see their anxieties and stress ebb away as we run.
- It gives me a sense of purpose and achievement. I think to a degree we all want to achieve something with our lives and it has been well documented that having purpose in your life makes you happier overall. Running, enjoying the freedom it gives me and having the opportunity to meet so many people from all over the world and share my passion with them, is my purpose. Of course training for a race and then completing it gives me that instant achievement boost and you have to love a collection of race medals :D!
- Running is an awesome way to see new places quickly! Yes, I am aware that a car or a bus would be a lot quicker, but automated transport aside, running around a new area is a fab way of exploring a discovering a new place! Going on a guided running tour, means you don’t need to swot up on all the routes and there is no getting lost. You just turn up and let guides like me take you around and you really get to know the city from the inside.
So there you have it, some of the reasons why I run. Maybe some of them resonate with you, even if you are not a runner…
So why do you run?
Let it snow! Let is snow!
We love snow here at Edinburgh Run Tours! It is not exactly the best weather for running tours, but it does make everything look picture postcard perfect and so every once in a while we don’t mind!
Plus, as avid runners, it just means that we take things down a notch, put on our hiking boots and our Yaktraxs (awesome piece of kit for the ice and snow!) and get out there!
Yesterday we took a hike up Arthur’s Seat to enjoy the views over the snowy city. As you can see it was beautiful up there, even if rather windy! We did not make it right to the top as it was too dangerous and we want to make sure we are around to take you all on your tours! We did have a sneaky jog back down though and hopes no one noticed when one of us ended up sliding most of the way down on their bum!
Today, it is the same out there, but with more wind. So instead of running, we will be staying indoors and doing some strengthening and stretching exercises ready for our weekend tours!
We would love to see you in Edinburgh on one of our tours. We can’t promise snow, but we can always promise spectacular views!
Nicole
See more. Experience more.
@edinruntours
Edinburgh Weekender
There’s more to Edinburgh than Castles, bagpipes, whisky and haggis! Next time your visiting Edinburgh why not join me for a running tour to take in some of our local trails. Here are 3 of my favourite local trail runs that can fit nicely into a weekend break in Edinburgh without too much travel, 2 of which were featured in the Oct/Nov 2016 issue of Trail Running Magazine.
In the kilt of Arthur’s Seat (7 miles,300m ascent)
Although Arthur’s Seat is phenomenal to run up and experience the views, there is more to Holyrood Park than just the summit, and to get a tough workout in whilst in the city I’ve designed a surprisingly tough 7 mile loop. My route takes you from Royal Terrace through the park to enjoy the sight of the Palace of Holyroodhouse and Abbey from the rear before the long incline through Hunters Bog under the base of Arthur’s Seat before twisting back around for a few wee climbs with stunning views of the city and dropping down to Margaret’s Loch via the 16th century old chapel perched on the hill.
A rollercoaster of wee hills takes you around the back of Arthur’s Seat where you begin the rather steep ascent from Dunsapie Loch, you may find yourself slowing to a hike up this seriously steep hill to the Nether Hill before the final ascent up Arthur’s Seat.
It’s an enjoyable descent back down the steps but watch your footing here as this needs your full concentration to keep you upright. From here you can enjoy an easy descent down the grassy slope back towards Dynamic Earth and the Palace or if you want another blast for those glutes take the high road back via the steep incline back up Radical Road that runs underneath the Salisbury Crags and descends back down directly at the Palace car park.
Pentland Hills (7 miles, 508m ascent)
Only 6miles out of the city centre you will find the Pentland Hills, which cover an area of 90sq km so there are plenty of hills to explore if you have the time and the inclination.
This route is a wee taster of these hills and can be done alongside a full day of city sightseeing so you get the best of both worlds.
From Edinburgh you take the A702 Biggar road out towards Biggar, or take the number 101 bus from Edinburgh and park or alight the bus at Flotterstone Inn, your starting point.
Stretch those legs and lungs on a very steep ascent from the very start, heading up Turnhouse Hill (506m), following the sign leading you left towards Scald Law through fields of sheep and cows. The views back from here are superb so make sure you stop to catch your breath and take a look.
A grand traverse stretches out now along the ridge to take you to the summit of Carnethy Hill (573m). The ridge isn’t very long but the climb is steep so you’ll be guaranteed to work up a sweat. The 360 degree views from here are unquestionably stunning, so don’t forget to bring along your camera.
Now you’ve done the hard work, enjoy the long descent off Carnethy, dropping down to the right to Loganlea Reservoir where you join a gravel path turning into bitumen. Follow the route of the reservoir and then the Glencorse Reservoir all the way back to the starting point, running in a valley between all the hills.
Rehydrate and refuel at the Flotterstone Inn before making your way back to the city.
Aberlady Loop (12 miles, 138m ascent)
Head out East from Edinburgh about 16miles along the A198 following the coast you reach Aberlady Nature Reserve car park or alternatively jump on the 124/X24/X25 bus from Edinburgh to reach the start point.
Starting out on a wooden footbridge, you’ll cross heathland then reach the dunes. Heading up your first dune you’ll enjoy stunning views of the coastline before you drop down onto the beach, at low tide keep your eye out to the left for the 2 submarine wrecks just a couple of hundred yards off course to go and explore.
Head right to the east, through grassy trails or directly on the beach, keeping the water on your left. There’s plenty of fun to be had along the way with dunes to climb and rocks to clamber over.
As you reach Yellowcraigs beach you will see the lighthouse on Fidra Island. From here the path leads inland to Yellowcraigs play park and into the village of Direlton. Take on the last five to six miles along the John Muir Way heading back to the west back to the start. As you come through Gullane village, you’ll see Falko Konditorei & Kaffehaus on the left hand side of the road before you turnoff into the Gullane Golf Club to the right, willow the stone wall on the edge of the golf course. The path emerges onto the busy A198 – cross carefully and follow the footpath back to the start point.
Edinburgh Run Tours 