Fri, Jun 28, 2019 - 24K - 01:00:00
24K Morning Run Through Vienna
As with every vacation, I wanted to get one long run in during our stay here in Vienna. Since we are staying with Airbnb, I happened to find an Airbnb running group which meets at 7:00 in the morning at the Schönbrunn Schloss and runs around the royal gardens there. I got out of the apartment a little after 5:30 in the morning and so had about 80 minutes for a 10K adventure run up into Vienna mainly to find our Kammerspiele der Josefstadt theater where we were going to a play on Saturday, then down to the Schönbrunn palace to meet my running group.  
 
It was a beautiful morning with sun rising and shining horizontally into the city, and literally zero tourists in the streets, even around the Stephansdom, I think I saw a total of five people in the whole Stephansplatz.  
 
I soon found my 2011 Vienna Marathon route at about the marathon 14K marker at which point I only had about 20 minutes to get to my meeting point at the Schönbrunn palace. I picked up the speed a bit and made it to the meeting point with one minute to spare, immediately met the two other runners in the group, two women from Norway who run 48-minute 10Ks, and then Theresa, our group organizer arrived, and we took off around the gardens.  
 
It was a casual 4K run during which we stopping at interesting points around the royal gardens and Theresa explained historical facts at various points. We also ran up to the top of the garden hill which afforded a wonderful morning view of Vienna lit in morning sun. Afterward we stopped in an idyllic enclave area near the main greenhouse and enjoyed a little picnic and chat together, really nice. I got some tips regarding Oslo for when Hannah and I run the half marathon there this September. They then took off to the U-Bahn and I began running back through the park and through the south of the city towards our apartment.  
 
The 10K run home was less eventful, mainly through streets with apartment buildings and little shops until I got to the Belvedere palace and gardens which were appropriately noble and ornate. After that it was a short run home with a stop at the bakery for morning Brötchens for the family and a victory drink after a very fun and unique run.