26 brilliant runners explore parliament, Green Park, Buckingham Palace and the King and Queen of Spain!

It was a bit of a bonkers evening to be heading for a run around central London. Not only was the LSE campus buzzing with graduations, the King and Queen of Spain were on a state visit and so much of central London was blocked off. This made the usually busy rush hour areas EVEN BUSIER!

We nipped down to the river and headed along to Big Ben, sadly with a bit of scaffolding round him at the moment, but looking grand nonetheless. After a very busy cross over Parliament square, we celebrated as we reached St. James's park and a bit of space. Hooray!

A nice run around the lake led us to Buckingham Palace and a nice team photo. With that it was over the road into Green Park and a nice lap around. On coming back through Horseguard's Parade, it was clear that much of town was blocked off so run leader / not the best tour guide Katie led the group up and round, with a return stretch scooping below Covent Garden and the busy London streets.

Thanks to everyone who came along and you sure got quite a lot of London experiences in one run there!

On a perfect evening for a run, twenty tip top runners took to London's streets for a sociable jaunt, taking in some of our city's finest buildings and passing through two of our many green spaces.

It was great to see some of last week's runners returning and to see so many new faces, welcome!

For our second run at the LSE, we were pleased to have weather much more suited to hot-footing it through the city, having run through treacle last week in THAT HEAT! There was still talk of air-conditioning (sorry, we haven't got on the case and probably never will, being a country of cool greyness most of the year) and mention of the gym here being a bit too hot for comfort. Gym?! Who needs a gym when you have all these wonderful spaces to explore?! With everyone arriving promptly, we had time to do a brief warm-up before heading out towards Waterloo Bridge and the Embankment.

Our route was slightly different from last week, but still gave us the opportunity to grab a group photo near Big Ben (or Elizabeth Tower, if we're being pedantic; the bell that we hear on the six o'clock news is Big Ben) and outside Buckingham Palace. We took a more leafy diversion this time, through St.James's Park (still no pelican sighting) and over into Green Park. You will see in our photos that one of our runners forgot his PE kit but, undeterred and keen to join in, he still ran - kudos to you for running up front in jeans and not being put off!

With our runners being from all over the world, we had the chance to talk about running in different kinds of weather. Some were surprised to hear that we rarely have the challenge (or joy) of running in snow here in London and besides, everything pretty much grinds to a halt in this situation and sledging is the order of the day :) Having sampled the delights of running through our parks, people were asking about other green spaces. We touched on the edge of Hyde Park and, if you continue out of Green Park, you will find a vast park with lots of activities, such as boating, swimming in a lido (with swans!), a gallery and plenty of room to stretch your legs. Go a little further north and you will find Regent's Park, again with lots to do. If you feel adventurous, head out a bit further to:

• Hampstead Heath, which is like being in the countryside, with the opportunity to swim in one of the ponds

• Greenwich Park, with its observatory and rich maritime history (take the boat here, it's pretty special)

Leaving the leafy calm, we took on Piccadilly Circus (with a pause at Eros, to see if his arrow would reach us), then through the mayhem that is Leicester Square. Stepping up Long Acre, we took a sideways glance at Covent Garden and soon found ourselves back at our start point, for a good stretch.

Well done everyone, I look forward to seeing you again next week.