Durham loop - Half Marathon Route

Check out the route on Strava...
- https://www.strava.com/routes/24969820

Right, I live in Durham so I am biased, but Durham City Centre is one of the best places to run in the world. This route below is a mix of stuff that is off the hidden track, but also some of the classic paths along the River Wear. Start north of Durham at the Arnison Centre shopping centre - park DH1 5GD. Take the route to the picturesque high security Frankland Prison, take a left, and then you are on some lovely quiet country roads that wind their way down to Finchale Priory. On the way to the Priory, look left to see 30-40 deserted World War II bunkers. Cross the bride at the Priory and make your way along the narrow path alongside the Wear. Follow the Strava route on your phone and it'll then wind you up through the woods, over the A1 and out at West Rainton. At Pittington it's back on trails again, all of the way back down to the River Wear. Then follow the Wear around Durham City taking in the Castle and Cathedral. Then back up the hill, through one more nature reserve until your done.
Finchale Priory
Cathedral pictured from Durham Racecourse
Cathedral from River Wear path
Strava Segment of note:
- Prebends Bridge to Penny Ferry Bridge - Flat, fast, km along the River Wear. You are going to have to do around 3:30/km pace to get in the top ten though!

Useful links:
Series:
For a list of different half marathon routes around the North East of England see:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The day before the marathon

Image
Manchester Marathon tomorrow. My fourth marathon and have trained harder than ever before. Back in January I blogged what my plan was for the marathon training block . I've pretty much followed it. Only difference being instead of two runs on a Tuesday I just started the day with a double session. But in summary: Go into the training block doing 90km (55mi) a week. Take it up to 120km (75mi) a week. 12 weeks of increasing efforts, with a three week taper at the end. At the maximum do four weeks in a row with 36km (22mi) long runs on the Sunday. Long runs to be at decent pace with at least an 8km (5mi) mara pace section on tired legs. Run every day - alternating between efforts and recovery Tue - hard session (Typically 4x1mile efforts followed by 5k tempo) Thu - hard session (Typically three sets of 5km at mara pace with floats inbetween)  Weekly distances Not sure how much to read into the Strava Fitness and Freshness chart. But fitness went from +59 to +103 to +86. Form went from
Read more

Running goals for the year

Image
2023 was a good year. PBs in parkrun, 5k, 10k and Marathon. With the right conditions I feel I could have got 10mi and HM too - but cannot grumble. Particularly happy with parkrun as that is now eight years of incremental improvement through improved training and focus. Power of ten score card So what are the 2024 goals? It's a big year as I am 50 in July. Entering the V50 category gives me a real chance to pick some goals that weren't possible in recent years at the top end of the V45 category. So I'm intending on training harder than ever - and putting down some stretched goals that may not be possible - but are worth going for. Goal 1 - 2hr55 marathon Goal 2  - Top 50 in the UK runbritain ranking for V50 at 5k distance Goal 3  - England masters vest for V50 Goal 1 - 2hr55 marathon With hindsight I think I should have done around 2hr55 at London last year but a few things didn't go to plan and I ended up with a 2hr58. This year I'll try and put things right and
Read more

North East Half Marathon Running Routes

Image
Since 2020 I have been plotting running routes on Strava for my Sunday morning long runs. I've been trying to cover the areas from above the River Tyne down to around the River Tees. Check out the images of some of the routes below. Blog posts covering each route are linked to at the base of this post. North East Half Marathon Routes - from north to south : Holy Island loop The Cheviot Bamburgh Castle Blyth - Cullercoats return Wallsend to Whitley Bay loop Wallsend to Gosforth loop Wallsend to Tynemouth loop Wallsend to Newcastle loop River Tyne  (starting Newcastle city centre) Newburn to Prudhoe loop Swalwell to Chopwell Woods loop South Shields loop  (starting Temple Memorial Park) Jarrow to Durham Sunderland to Seaburn loop Herrington to Sunderland loop Washington Eighton Banks to Tanfield loop Derwent Reservoir Seaham Maiden Law loop Durham loop Durham riverside to Hett loop Croxdale to Willington loop Brandon to Crook loop Castle Eden Dene Hamsterley Forest
Read more