Running in Bruxelles: or all around on the Promenade Verte

I like seeing green when looking for a running opportunity while I visit a city. Like the two Coulées Vertes in Paris. It wasn't my first time in Brussels but previous visits dated my time working in Paris in the 90s and I wasn't as much into running yet. We stayed in Brussels for 2 nights so I had some time on Saturday to explore. First, as usual, I looked for green patches on the map. Then I checked for recommended runs on the web. When La Promenade Verte popped up with its almost 40 miles around the city, mostly in green areas, I got hooked!

Now, the only problem is that I was supposed to join Agnès and Alex to visit the city in the afternoon, and including some time at the Belgian Comics Museum. I might have to run only half of the loop and take the train or subway to get back to our place then. It didn't help that I had 4 kilometers to run to reach the trail and that I missed a critical turn after only one mile on the course, losing time to find my way back. From that point, I became super attentive to the marking which is actually rather abundant and straightforward once you realize that you only need to follow the "01" path and ignore the many other local bike path numbers. 01, easy to remember for anyone working in IT, right?

The Relive movie below has most of the pictures I took (to launch the video, click on this link or the image below). It doesn't show the urban sections though where you really have to pay attention to the signage as some crossings and convoluted turns are easy to miss. Overall though, great marking and lots and lots of green miles.

I didn't run the whole loop as I took a detour to the Comics Museum, downtown. A visit which wasn't that worth the detour, so I regretted the decision. An excuse to come back and, now knowing the course and how the marking operated, I should be faster. For some unfinished business as we say... Still, a good 56-mile/58K training run.

A note on the course: the interactive map, which also includes GPS tracking, is really well done (just that my phone's battery got depleted quite fast with the tracking so I had to keep switching to airplane more to save it). Water stops are marked and quite important for such a long course. Now, ladies, I think I only saw one toilet on the course, you've been warned...

Overall, an amazing place to run long, if you have the time and the stamina. Rather distant from downtown though if you only want to run for a few miles. In addition to La Promenade Verte which quickly comes in searches, this article has 9 other good pointers for running while in or around Brussels. While this Marie Claire one has 8, including the canal which I indeed recommend.

Very well done Brussels, perfect green run, thank you for this outstanding playground!