Training runs in the Amsterdam Forest - Amsterdam, Netherlands
It never ceases to amaze me the beauty of running oasis existing amid crowded urban landscapes. One of the great examples is the Amsterdam Forest that nestles itself in between Schiphol Airport and the center of Amsterdam. Lucky for me, we have an office in Amsterdam and one of my friends lives close to the forest, so so when in town I can get in a nice long trail run.
Despite the dense city scape, the Amsterdam Forest is 3 times the size of New York’s Central Park. I feel that the Amsterdam Forest is also much more diverse than Central Park in that there are farm fields, horse trails and also a lake for water sports. On the days I’ve run there on the back trails I found them also free of people, so could lose my thoughts in the nature. The grounds are lush, and very nice for trail running since you can choose to either stay on a paved trail or trudge through the loose footing of the horse trails. It’s special when you can keep up your trail running within such an urban environment.
According to Iamsterdam, Amsterdam is the 7th most popular conference destination in the world. In addition, Schiphol Airport is a major hub for KLM. Given these two facts, it’s likely you will find yourself in Amsterdam if traveling internationally, so you can keep up your ultrarunning training on beautiful forest trails. If you have an extra day, the Netherlands also has many great ultrarunning (and long distance biking) trails. I’ll share more about those experiences in my next posts so you turn your trip into an ultrarunning destination.
