London Week 7 (Sorry it's late) - London runners PLEASE SMILE
It's a marathon not a sprint... And sometimes in training it feels like a damn slog!
After the t-shirts and goody bags of last week, the mates waving back from Southport pier it was the lonely runs, the ones where you have to work to get out of bed early enough, the ones where the last thing you need is to be hundreds of miles away from home.
London. It's odd, I'm training for the London Marathon and I disliked the running in London. It took me until half way around the second of the runs to work out why.
When I run up and down the Loop Line in Liverpool there's a growing number of runners out - the Liverpool Rock n Roll Marathon is 6 weeks after London (and yes I'm in that as well ;-)). Not every runner chats, but the vast majority nod or wave.
London there was nothing. I barely existed. I got a "wtf" look when I waved at the first three people and then gradually shrunk back into myself.
That didn't stop me almost making very good friends with the Royal Protect squad... my short run was a gentle 5km, out from the hotel past Buck House and to the Mall. Being a smartarse I decide to run over the edge of the Victoria Monument to avoid some of the traffic... Only to discover the back side is fenced off with crash barriers - I've circumnavigated Queen Victoria... coming out the bit I went in I was being looked at closely by the coppers... I did wave then, and smile...
A two day conference, followed by a day of meetings... followed by another day of meetings... My joy was unbound. However, I did thanks to a mate, find a cracking restaurant near Victoria station - kazan-restaurant.com - ok, can't quite cover a full meal on the expenses but worth the extra couple of quid for the best mixed grill I've had in a while.
Having avoided being detained at Her Majesties pleasure, I thought I'd better head off down the river... A plod, but apart from the lack of smiling, an enjoyable one. With London's landmarks as a backdrop no run can be really unpleasant.
Meetings done, travel chaos avoided, and home... Saturday was a trip to Manchester - an OU tutorial, good fun as ever and an local charity meeting for adults like me who were born with their heart conditions and want the same things everyone else does.
And so Sunday dawned... The first 20 miler of this campaign... Out along the Loop Line until it runs out, wave at the Runcorn Bridge in the distance, turn around and run back.
First five miles were 800m run 200 walk, then five at 900/1000 and then a constant for 10 miles. I did almost bonk, being a type II diabetic means I do try and reduce the amount of sugar I throw into the system. However, running for 20 miles on a small bowl of porridge, and four gels was hard work.
However, I took 14 minutes of my 20 mile PB. So I am one happy running bunny:-)
So with happiness in my heart and hurt in my legs I'm going to save some of the fun news of this week until the end of this weeks blog... Think Fame, Friends and hopefully fantastic freebees:-)
TTFN
Paul
After the t-shirts and goody bags of last week, the mates waving back from Southport pier it was the lonely runs, the ones where you have to work to get out of bed early enough, the ones where the last thing you need is to be hundreds of miles away from home.
London. It's odd, I'm training for the London Marathon and I disliked the running in London. It took me until half way around the second of the runs to work out why.
When I run up and down the Loop Line in Liverpool there's a growing number of runners out - the Liverpool Rock n Roll Marathon is 6 weeks after London (and yes I'm in that as well ;-)). Not every runner chats, but the vast majority nod or wave.
London there was nothing. I barely existed. I got a "wtf" look when I waved at the first three people and then gradually shrunk back into myself.
That didn't stop me almost making very good friends with the Royal Protect squad... my short run was a gentle 5km, out from the hotel past Buck House and to the Mall. Being a smartarse I decide to run over the edge of the Victoria Monument to avoid some of the traffic... Only to discover the back side is fenced off with crash barriers - I've circumnavigated Queen Victoria... coming out the bit I went in I was being looked at closely by the coppers... I did wave then, and smile...
A two day conference, followed by a day of meetings... followed by another day of meetings... My joy was unbound. However, I did thanks to a mate, find a cracking restaurant near Victoria station - kazan-restaurant.com - ok, can't quite cover a full meal on the expenses but worth the extra couple of quid for the best mixed grill I've had in a while.
Having avoided being detained at Her Majesties pleasure, I thought I'd better head off down the river... A plod, but apart from the lack of smiling, an enjoyable one. With London's landmarks as a backdrop no run can be really unpleasant.
Meetings done, travel chaos avoided, and home... Saturday was a trip to Manchester - an OU tutorial, good fun as ever and an local charity meeting for adults like me who were born with their heart conditions and want the same things everyone else does.
And so Sunday dawned... The first 20 miler of this campaign... Out along the Loop Line until it runs out, wave at the Runcorn Bridge in the distance, turn around and run back.
First five miles were 800m run 200 walk, then five at 900/1000 and then a constant for 10 miles. I did almost bonk, being a type II diabetic means I do try and reduce the amount of sugar I throw into the system. However, running for 20 miles on a small bowl of porridge, and four gels was hard work.
However, I took 14 minutes of my 20 mile PB. So I am one happy running bunny:-)
So with happiness in my heart and hurt in my legs I'm going to save some of the fun news of this week until the end of this weeks blog... Think Fame, Friends and hopefully fantastic freebees:-)
TTFN
Paul
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