CITY RUNS: TORONTO

If you've ready my latest blog post "Toronto: You have to go here", you'll know that my trip to Canada was insane and Toronto offers such a wide range of environments to experience. Whether you want nature, city scapes, even beaches, there's something for you. So that actually made it quite hard to narrow down where to choose for my City Runs location to recommend to you guys. Hopefully you'll agree with the option that I've gone for. 

​For those of you who are new to my “City Runs” series, I visit different cities at home and abroad, giving some recommendations for the best places to run and keep fit. Hopefully this will inspire you to get you outside and give you a great active experience in that city, should you ever choose to visit.

The Run
Now, Toronto is a huge city so there are plenty of places you could choose to run, but I always try to recommend something thats extra special to you guys and this place is just that. The Toronto Islands are a short and cheap ferry ride from the mainland (roughly £4 and 7 mins) located in lake Ontario. The islands come together to form one larger area for you to explore, there are beaches, food areas, even some tiny housing areas where people either live or vacation (I couldn't work it out). They have an amusement park that runs during the summer months. 

I chose to run along the dockside to get the ferry and then once I arrived to the islands I wanted to see the famous view of the buildings back on the mainland. It is up there with some of the best views in the city and is a must see. I then ran through the cute housing area and then popped out by a magnificent beach (not to be confused with the nudist beach on the other side of the islands - I've warned you). I had no idea it even existed and it was one of the best beaches I've seen with the sand so clean and white. It's lucky I was visiting in October or I may have abandoned the run for a lazy beach day! I then ran alongside a frisbee golf course, into the amusement area which was really sweet. After getting some refreshments from a little pop up shop near the pier I wanted to finish my run and then jump on the ferry back to the mainland, there was something being filmed near the ferry terminal so if you see me running through the background of some CSI Toronto episode then you'll know I've made it and feel free to contact my agent for further enquiries...

Alternative Run
There are two alternatives that I'd like to suggest to you. The first is to run through the University campus which looks like the house out of the X-men movies and is surrounded by green areas. That means it isn't as busy as the other areas within the city so would be a great place for a peaceful run if you don't want to have to commute anywhere else. The second recommendation for an alternate run would be to head to the outskirts of the city to Rouge national urban park where you will get those dreamy Canadian nature views. You can run through the wilderness on a variety of trails and is definitely up there with the islands for top choice but it's just a little out of the way. 

What to wear
On my feet I wore my Adidas Ultraboost uncaged. If you don't know about my obsession with Ultraboost then where have you been? Go and check out literally every other City Runs where I gush over them. On my bottom half I wore Adidas Tiro training pants which are fitting enough to not inhibit my running style and still warm for when those winter months kick in. On my top half I wore an Adidas Supernove tee which was great as it was long sleeve and had thumb holes to help me wrap up warm alongside an Adidas Supernove storm jacket. I was super smart an also wore my Adidas Alphaskin Thermal layer to keep me warm because man was it windy and cold down by the port.

Other Essentials
Music
I listened to Sunflower by Post Malone a lot as well as Wake up in the sky  by Gucci Mane. Both of these are really catchy and have a good rhythm to run to. 

Apps
Spotify – All my song recommendations can be streamed using Spotify and downloaded to use offline if you don’t want to use your data. Spotify is my go to music service even if they're going to start treating me like an adult and charging full price now I'm not a student. Petty if you ask me. 

Uber - Maybe think about getting Uber if you're staying just outside the city, it'll save you a lot of time and energy. 

City Mapper - An awesome app that I've just discovered and it is so helpful with simplifying public transport. 
 
Apple health – Tracking distance and steps, Apple gives you your days adventures compiled into an easy to understand visual display allowing you to track your progress from run to run.

Google Maps – With Google maps I found it so easy to get around the city. I don’t need to give you a big explanation on it as I’m sure you know how it works. If you don’t have it, get it. I always find it smoother and easier to use that Apple’s own Maps app.

This is my first City Runs for you guys that's in a different continent but I can't tell you how much I enjoyed it. Canada should be on your travel bucket list regardless and it would be the perfect excuse to squeeze this run in should you ever be wise enough to head to Toronto. 

​I hope you enjoyed this blog post. Please let me know whether you want to see more City Runs content as I am planning on posting more as soon as possible. 

Disclaimer: Although part of this blog post is a paid collaboration, all views, opinions and experiences are my own.