The trip

During my one week off between moving jobs, I went on three quick trips. After returning from a weekend in Albania with Ciara, I had one day at home and then was on the way to the airport in the early hours once again. This time, it was a solo trip to Gdansk.

This was the first of what I refer to as the fly-run-fly type of trip. It takes the concept of a weekend away for a marathon race to an extreme conclusion. I’ve established that a weekend away to run solo without a race is an option, so why not cut that literally as short as possible and not spend a night in the country. Fly in, run for a few hours then fly out. You could very easily argue that this is pointless and a complete waste of time and money, but from my perspective it is a way to save time and money every now and then on a shorter trip where I don’t have to pay for a hotel room, have to pay for fewer days of airport parking and with the Amex lounges, I can get by without spending a penny on food and drink if I’m lucky.

When the plane landed and I made it through border force, the first stop was the toilets to get changed. One issue with not having a hotel room is not being able to wash, so a full bottle of aftershave was an essential item in the bag, for the sake of whoever was unlucky enough to draw the seat next to mine on the way back. I came out of the toilets in my trainers and shorts and looked just a little out of place so it was straight out the door and on my way.

This was another one where I was incredibly proud of the logistical planning. Finding a city connected to London with a flight in the morning and afternoon / evening isn’t exactly a challenge but, I found these that lined with about 7-8 hours between touch down and take off for a very reasonable price. So this was an A* on an easy test. The next issue with a fly run fly is that most airports are a bit out of town and connected by main roads, so you can’t always actually run from airport to city centre. Buses trains and taxis are of course an option, and by back up if the timing became a bit too tight on the return, but just leave more room for something to go wrong on a tight schedule.

What I therefore spent a fair bit of time doing when booking the trip was google maps street view investigating. Pretty much, plan a route, drop the little man and see if there’s pavement or a path or if it’s generally runnable. Google maps suggests a walking route through the woods and the town of Matemblewo when asking to go from the airport to the city centre. Although it did seem runnable, the main issue with this route was that it meant I’d need to keep getting my phone out to check the directions on the way in and might not remember the turns on the way back in the case of a dead phone battery or any other issue. I felt a bit unsatisfied and thought I’d try another option that I initially doubted. After lots of street view, I was confident that I could use the 472 to carry me most of the way on autopilot. It only takes say 400 yards of no pavement for me to get stuck if it’s a busy road and It’d be proper sketchy running on the road for any significant period of time. Luckily, this road had pavement the whole way and went most of the way to the centre before reaching the 468 which carried me most of the way. So the plan was, remember this one turn and a landmark or two in the centre for getting back on the 468, run in, explore the city and run back on memory, using my phone if and when needed (it’s just not fun running with a phone in your hand).

The run

So, I headed out of the airport and got on the 472. It was quite a nice run into town really. Most of it was tree-lined and felt quite peaceful despite the fairly constant flow of traffic. A highlight was probably running past Gdansk Niedzwiednik station and the accompanying park and lake. The station just looked pretty cool as small local stations go. After this the trees were swapped for buildings as I came into the city and made my first right turn onto the 468 at the Galeria.

On this road, I went past another small park or two and crossed over the tracks to the main train station. This is when the straight commute ended and I started to explore in zig zags and circles to get the distance up to about 18 miles, leaving 8 more miles for the return.

It’s a really nice city all in all. Beautiful buildings line many of the streets, everything was clean, and the sky was blue. The island in the middle was probably the most impressive part, but also the busiest, as expected. The Black Pearl ship in the water was a pleasant surprise and a great view for everyone in the water from restaurants. I did a few laps around the quieter paths I could find then headed in land for a bit more exploring. St Mary’s church was another highlight.

Eventually my watch ticked past 16 and 17 miles and I started to find my way back to the train station. The simple return was appreciated as my legs tired, but also much less enjoyable. The fact that it was more uphill on the way back didn’t help. Neither did the bit of rain that came overhead. After passing 25 miles, the air traffic control tower came into sight and gave me the final mental boost I needed.

I was then straight back into the toilets to get changed out of my sweaty clothes. I did only have the one pair of shoes though, which were squeaky and felt far from stable with tired legs and jeans on tiled floors. I was through security with sufficient time to spare. The lounge was pretty basic but I didn’t need luxury, just volume. So I raided the food and drink available whilst waiting for gate info. This ended up being the last run of 2024 as I was starting my new job on the Monday and wanted to focus fully on that for the first few months. That made it 14 for the year and I was very happy to exceed my initial part 1 target of 12 marathons in 12 months.

Evidence