See London differently – Time Out readers take on a 10k dusk run

These two women celebrate the benefits of fitness, but in the real world – where it’s okay to have a social life and the odd night out. Lunges and Lycra’s Charlotte Thomas and Emma Lax test out the Xperia Z3 Compact and the SmartWatch from Sony as they take on the challenge of our 10k dusk run. Here’s what they think.

... ‘For girls who like fitness, sweating and the odd nip of gin’, because fitness isn’t all 5am marathon runs and green juice. Everyone can enjoy it.

We particularly like gym reminders which pop up as ‘Appointment’, so you can dash from work to your so-called appointment! The SmartWatch 3 is great for runs. We downloaded the iFit app to monitor time, pace, distance, etc. You can also sync music to the SmartWatch 3 and listen on Bluetooth headphones – we couldn’t do that with our old fitness tracker.

Now don’t get us wrong, we love running in the sunshine. We love running in the rain and wind, in the early morning and at lunchtime. But there’s something extra special about running through London as the sun goes down and city lights go up.

The 10k Time Out dusk run made us remember all over again. And it also made us realise just how lucky we are to live in such an awesomely beautiful city!

Held to celebrate the Xperia Z3 Series of smartphones from Sony – with a camera that takes amazing photos in low light – this 10k was all about exploring the streets of London. Led by kickass run community Run Dem Crew, more than 100 runners met at swank fitness studio 1Rebel for a quick warm up before heading out to discover the city as twilight fell.

This was the perfect time to put the Xperia Z3’s camera to the test. Particularly as Sony had commissioned two murals painted in UV paint on the side of East London buildings. Pretty awesome.

We passed St Paul’s – a sight we see most days when heading to work, but lit up at night it was transformed. We crossed the Millennium Bridge with magical views across the river towards the illuminated Shard and Tower Bridge one way, and the blue and red OXO Tower and London Eye reflecting across the Thames the other.

We garnered a few encouraging cheers from drinkers in the bars of the South Bank and bemused looks from passers-by, particularly when we formed an arch to welcome other runners home. 10k went in a blur of laughs, chats, stunning sights and photos. London, we love you!

Charlotte and Emma blog at women’s fitness blog Lunges + Lycra www.lungesandlycra.co.uk. To see our photos from the evening search #ICanSeeInTheDark on Twitter and Instagram.

#ICanSeeInTheDark

To capture a moment with friends, to gather inspiration for work or pleasure, or simply to take a visual snapshot on our daily travels, the camera has become one of the key features of any good smartphone. But really, how good are the results you get from your phone? From dawn till dusk, at night-time and on gloomy London days, the Xperia^TM Z3 Series from Sony takes great shots in low light.