Back to the trails!

Saturday marked exactly 9 weeks since the last time I left London. Lockdown has really changed my views about living here, and for the last few weeks I've been missing the trails so much - the open spaces, the big skies and peace and quiet, that no matter how early or late, or where you chose run here, you just can't find them. Constantly running on pavements, stopping to cross roads, jumping off pavements to avoid people, always some kind of a noise in the background; it has kind of stopped being the fun that it was back at the start, when deserted streets and stolen solitary moments with the big landmarks made it seem like the city was all your own. The slight lockdown relaxation has brought it back with a bang that it's really not, and normal life which was blurred out of all focus for a couple of months, has felt like it's come back into sharper vision. A bit like, at the opticians, when they suddenly take off your glasses so you can't see a thing, and then play that cruel game with the not quite strong enough lenses for ages, so you can sort of see that should be there, but not quite enough so you can really make it out (....it looks like H, but it might be an M, but let's go with N). Anyway, that may not make sense, but that's where I feel at the moment.  

Last week I got ill inconveniently at the exact time we were allowed to meet a person outside of the household, and also to do driving to go to exercise. So this week, it was nice to do both of those things! Great to meet up with my sister (and explore a new place - Hollow Ponds) and then Tara....and do a TRAIL run!

It's been over 3 months since doing a long run like this. I'd forgotten everything I needed to pack in a running bag, or which pockets I use for what. I even forgot I'd got a new pair of trail shoes shortly before lockdown, and put my road ones on in autopilot, and ran it in those. But no matter, it was good to be reunited with the kit in one way or another.

Started and finished at Denbies, and did a 30 mile (LDWA, Winter Tanners route) run in the Surrey Hills. It was nice to do something LDWA themed, as this weekend was meant to be the LDWA 100 in Wales, and I should have been finishing it this afternoon (so long as I hadn't got stuck in a Welsh bog somewhere on the way around). Although Coronovirus has turned the world upside down, the weather is gloriously unaffected - it was definite 100 weekend, as the weather was "mixed" - twinkling sunshine one minute, biblical rain showers the next, followed by gusts of wind, then back to sunshine again. 

What a day! I've missed this so much. The trails, the views, the air, the laughs, following a route description filled with cryptic abbreviations, hills, getting rained on then drying in the sun, ultra-runner topics of conversation, exploring new places. Even the things that I thought when running, well, I could really do without this (for example, sore feet and aching muscles, the tired feeling afterwards, insatiable hunger), actually those feelings are the ones that I realised that I'd missed too in a funny sort of way. All those things, and the runners that you are with when you experience them, are the things that I miss most about running. That, and some things that we can't have back yet - like not having all your running buddies around, and not being able to be close to each other. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to do 100 miles without a hug. But anyway, hopefully one day that will change too. And here are some memories of a lovely run.....

Only one third of the hundred, but as the furthest I've run since in the last almost three months is 13 miles, that's OK. And, I have all of my toenails and no blisters, which is most usual for this point in the running year, and sounds like an reason to celebrate.....

Lockdown Running: week 7 & week 8

Lockdown running week 7 was a good one. I was getting a bit fed up of running and people dodging in the city, it was true, and was hopeful of the upcoming BoJo announcement at the end of the week that might signal some hope and escape from the city walls. But, despite the underlying current of monotomy of the same limited routes, I did my daily 5 kms to and from work, and a fast (for me) 10km to celebrate the bank holiday Friday to St Paul's in the evening. 

On the Saturday I did my longest run of lockdown - a half marathon, and made it all the way past Buckingham Palace to Green Park and back. The joy of running somewhere (even slightly) different was almost too much, and I pushed myself to run faster and feel the joy of feeling the warm spring air across my skin, running down Birdcage Walk and pretending I was doing the last mile of the London Marathon with all those other runners and people celebrating on the streets. Oh, how I missed those days! 

Then on Sunday, the day of the anticipated announcement, I woke up feeling a bit tired and not very engaged in life. Cycled to Hyde park with Andrew and then ran home, but feeling tired, to make up 53 miles for the week. Then I got a migraine and missed the anticipated announcement (which turned out to be the only slightly good one for weeks). 

Lockdown week 8 has been a total write off, so there's not much to write about. My migraine turned into virus like symptoms, I slept for 48 hours almost solid, and had most of the the other symptoms. Thankfully it turned out not to be it. I didn't barely move for 5 days, and was a most miserable morsel of malady. Thank you all my family and friends for your kindness and support, and looking after me, and putting up with my melancholy! I just manged a slow 5 km run again, so am beginning a gradual climb up out of the doldrums. Hurrah! 

Hope everyone is keeping safe and well, missing you all 💚💛💜💙💗

Lockdown Running - Week 6

Week 6 of Lockdown was a Letdown. It wasn't my favourite week. I came to the conclusion that working in a basement office, mostly by myself, and quite often in the dark (as the lights are on timers, which seem to be getting shorter the further through Lockdown we go), talking about what seems mostly to be poo (all of my patient's seem to have diarrhoea this week), isn't great for boosting your mood. It rained a lot. So the basement office was even more gloomy than usual. Everyone else outside of the basement office it seemed was getting on and achieving amazing things during lockdown (saving lives/ keeping the country running/ smiling and being cheerful/ fighting the illnesses they had before lockdown and not complaining about it/ finding creative ways to run during the restrictions), and I was just sat in a basement in the dark feeling gloomy about it all, and at a bit of a loss.

Luckily, I was saved from the depths of gloom, by three things: 1) the Wuhan to London virtual relay, 2) the rain, 3) my sadness that this very weekend was meant to be the Thames Path 100, and up until 6 weeks ago my training had been going well, and I was hoping to have a good run.

On the face of it, none of that makes sense. Let me explain.

1) The Wuhan to London relay. This began in week 1 of Lockdown, instigated by the Recce Gang (Alan, Tara, Andrew and me) - we always recce the LDWA 100 route over a long weekend a few weekends before the actual event. We were meant to be going (to Wales) to do the recce a couple of weekends after Lockdown began, and were in the doldrums about cancelling it. So, during a virtual tea party/checkpoint, the idea of running a virtual relay from Wuhan back to London was discovered, and we have been adding up our total mileage each week since. It's 5263 miles in total from Wuhan to London, and at the end of week 5 (786 miles done), we were still in China, but getting close to the border. So I thought this week, I'd have a push, and try to run further than my usual weekly miles, and support our journey towards a new country (although, our initial aim of getting back to London, doesn't seem like altogether such a great idea right now). Alan has made a Google Earth flight (thank you, Alan - you always keep up our spirits and keep us organised even during a global pandemic!) of our journey so far, and it's a 1.5 hour long flight to do the miles covered up until that point, which isn't too shoddy. 

2) The rain. Let me be the first to say, I didn't think a rainy week would pull me up from the depths of gloom. Yet, I am persuaded to say, that the rain this week turned out to be a positive thing, as there were less people out, so running to/from work was much quieter, so I felt able to extend my routes a bit.

3) I was gutted the Thames Path 100 was cancelled, and I'm missing all things 100 related, so I set myself the aim of running 100 km (about 60 miles) this week, just because I don't know why, but it had 100 in it, so felt about right. 

Day 35 - Monday 27th April: 3.2 miles & 4.4 miles
Normal run to work. On the way home I tried to take a new route, via an essential items shop, and got lost, so it turned out to be longer, and I ended up running around the Emirates stadium by accident. On the plus side, I got some extra weight training in having to run extra far with a heavy bag.

Day 36 - Tuesday 28th April: 4.3 miles & 3.3 miles
It was raining in the morning, so I did two laps of my local park, Haggerston Park, which is normally busy in the mornings with people exercising, but today it was almost empty in the rain. An elderly couple had lost their little white dog. This was almost too sad to bear, so I distracted myself with a fun fact I have recently discovered about the park. In 1992, Micheal Jackson, along with Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse, landed by helicopter in the park, and visited the nearby children's hospital. Who knew!

Day 37 - Wednesday 29th April: 4.1 miles, 3.9 miles
The sun was back, so I tried the park but it was too busy, so I took a detour, which ended up as another detour around some road works, and another detour around a closed road, and so it ended up being just as long, if not quite as scenic.

Day 38 - Thursday 30th April: 4.2 miles & 4.8 miles.
A repeat of yesterday, with the addition of an extra "stress busting" mile at the end of a particularly gloomy day in the basement. Oh, and in the morning, I saw the elderly couple from Tuesday walking with a small white dog, so I guessed he must have been found. Happiness!

Day 39 - Friday 1st May: 4 miles & 3.2 miles
I was a bit tired really by the end of the day, so just ran home as usual, and collected some flowers on the way to cheer things up:

Day 41 - Saturday 2nd May: 11 miles
It's the weekend, and so it is time to head back to the City. The normal route down to St Paul's, a quick pop across the river and back, and a loop up to Farringdon, and then back. We found Dr Johnson's House.

And the statue of Dr Johnson's most famous cat, Hodge. 

He has an oyster shell, which seems extravagant, but in the eighteenth century, oysters were cheap, and eaten by the poor. The more unusual thing, was that Dr Johnson would go out to buy them himself, rather than sending a servant, as he worried they may resent the errand and mistreat Hodge. 

After Dr Johnson's House, it was time to head down Shoe Lane. I have been disappointed during my research this week, to learn it was not once a lane where which you would head in order to buy any style and colour of shoe that you wished for. No, indeed, it is thought that the name dates from when this area of London was farmland, and it is hypothesised that here lay a piece of land/farm in the shape of a shoe. So there you go.

On the way back, we took in Bread Street and Milk Street, which have more easily deducible origins to their names. 

Bread Street is the site of the City's bread market - in the fourteenth century, bakers could only sell their bread from this street, not from their own homes or bakeries.  Milk Street was the site of London's medieval milk market, but was bombed badly during WW2 and none of it's original buildings survived. It also falls in the Ward of Cheap (The City of London has 25 wards - a survival of the medieval government system - so the big city was split into small areas that self-governed themselves). This does not mean the Ward of Cheap was in any way a place for bargains - rather instead that "cheap" is an old word for "market".

And herein ends today's history lesson.

Day 42 - Sunday 3rd May: 10.5 miles - pretty much the same as yesterday, minus a few diversions. Set my Garmin 10km PB today too. 

So I did just over 60 miles this week....and I guess it's back to The Basement tomorrow, to start Week 7....

...but I just remembered, there is a Bank Holiday on Friday! 

Take care and stay safe, missing you all!💙💚💛💜💗

Lockdown - Week 5

Well, here we go for Lockdown Week 5. Running (ha ha, ha) out of inspiration here, so sticking with the theme of a Good Thing each day for another week.

Day 28 - Monday 20th April, 2 x 5 km
Good Thing - I completed Monday in one piece. Which is a fact not celebrated often enough. I had got myself in a tizz over the weekend, worrying and dreading being trapped in the dungeon office on my own, with a load of (virtual, for me, yet still very real) stresses kicking off, and not seeing the sunlight for hours and hours.... As it turned out, it was OK, and I realised another Good Thing, that as there is no-one else in the office, and everything is virtual now, I now don't need to bother taking my shower things to work for after my run commute 😂 Or even put on make-up, or even brush my hair I suppose, but I should maintain some standards (for in case of in promptu video calls, more than anything else).

Day 29 - Tuesday 21st April, 2 x 5 km
Good Thing - it's still sunny, and I got to run twice today.

Day 30 - Wednesday 22nd April, 2 x 5 km
Good Thing - it's still sunny, and I got to run twice today.

Day 31 - Thursday 23rd April, 2 x 5 km
Good Thing - it's still sunny, and I got to run twice. OK, OK, there are good things happening, yes there are, I just have to think. Think think think. Oh yes! My Mum has found my missing Marathon #1 medal, thank goodness!

Day 32 - Friday 24th April, 2 x 5 km
Good Things are always easier to find at the weekend, and now it's Friday and it's STILL SUNNY. Which is an Extra Good Thing...... sitting in the sunshine with a cold glass of rose (another Good Thing), looking up at the clear blue sky, with a two day break stretching ahead into the sun...

Day 33 - Saturday 25th April, 6.5 miles
I miss the City Runs in the week! So it seemed prudent to get back to running there....

...you just can't trump it...

So I chose my Good Thing today, as being able to get back here, and managing not to be bored with my limited routes yet. There's always something new to see if you're looking for it.

Went in the evening so it was nice and quiet....

.....so made it all the way to St Paul's....

...without getting into any trouble...

Found a new building (The Guildhall, which has been there since 1440, but this is the first time I've been):

And another Good Thing - I learnt how to make bread with no yeast, for those lockdown times when you need emergency bread.

Day 34 - Sunday 26th April, 12 miles
My second longest run of lockdown = Good Thing. Up early to avoid people, through City....

...to St Paul's....

....then on down to the River, over it, some miles past Waterloo and looping back towards the Shard...

...before turning around and heading back. It was a blooming lovely run...

...which was really no surprise, as the signs were all there.

Weekly total: managed my best weekly mileage, 50 miles, of Lockdown so far - and I earned my first goal badge on Garmin after hitting the target I set myself at the beginning of the week, after I decided I should get back in to having targets. 

Lockdown - Week 4

Not a bad week running wise. Even exciting in parts! I've changed my Lockdown Diary to record daily runs and distances, plus something good that happens each day. I am so sick of the news, which is depressing and overly focused on the negative even without Covid. Whilst the subject of Covid is, by nature, depressing and negative, we all know that by now, and I'm fed up of being reminded of it at every minute of every day. When I look back at this period of my life, I want to remember that there were actually good bits too, and there are!

Day 21 - Monday 13th April - 6 miles to the City and St Paul's. Good thing: Being quiet there is time to stop and look at places, reflections, read the signs. I so love the City at this time! The shiny glass of the new building like a lake, reflecting back the terrific history surrounding them.

Day 22 - Tuesday 14th April - 5 miles
Whilst today in theory I did get older, having a birthday during lockdown means that you don't age this year, and you get a day of cake and prosecco for free (GOOD THING!)

And, instead of the 5 ultras in 5 days that I was planning on doing at this time (to train for the 100's over the summer, which now aren't happening, so I guess I don't need to train for them), I got to run 5 miles. Which sounds like a let down, but the 5 miles were to and from Florin Court, the building that was Poirot's flat in the TV series (Whitehaven Mansions) in Charterhouse Square. Quick bit of research, it was built in 1936 in the Art Deco style. It has a basement swimming pool. Parts of the inside of the building were used for filming in Poirot too, and Poirot's flat went up for sale in 2016, priced at only £699,950. Maybe, I will get his for my birthday next year, when I turn 21 (again etc etc), or even actually now that should be when I turn 30 (again etc etc), but we won't dwell on that. 

Day 23 - Wednesday 15th April - 10 km
Back to running to and from work, which means, back to work. The thought of this, and the subsequent and inevitable reality, are not overly stupendous, but Andrew ran with me for the first time, and I got to show him my route which was kind of fun. I think I've got my route down to perfection now, all but the 1/2 a mile on the canal, and it's pretty quiet. And since running to work every day for the last few weeks, I've saved 15 minutes in the morning, which can be used for 1) sleeping, 2) drinking coffee, 3) faffing (this is definitely a good thing). Plus, I ran a PB (on my watch, not an all time PB, and I've only had my watch a few weeks, but not to worry) for both 1 miles and 5 km.

Day 24 - Thursday 16th April - 10 km
Same as yesterday, and Andrew came again, and on a route I've been walking or running for 2 years, within 1 day he found a way to avoid the canal. And it's better. Which is kind of annoying, but then it is actually a lot better, so I won't hold a grudge. And now I avoid all the canal crowds. On the run home, it rained, kind of hot stormy rain, which I quite like. It hasn't rained for ages, come to think of it. It's quite nice to feel the rain on my skin (good thing), but it's still hot - winter seems to have gone, which had kind of passed me by with all that's going on. As it was Virtual Art Night (good  thing!!) and I was late, and ran fast home and set new PBs for the 1 mile and 5 km again (good thing!). So many good things!

Day 25 - Friday 17th April - 10 km
Same as yesterday and the day before. Which I was feeling a bit bored about, but actually, you've always got to do a commute (well, lots of people do), so how good is it to have one that you can run (good thing)? Better than getting the tube or a train. I haven't been on any public transport now for over a month. It's going to feel so odd when this is finally over - I can't imagine descending the spiral stairs at Holloway Road, into the deep dark dusty depths, sandwiched in with hundreds of other people. Another good thing - since being around the local area more, I've every day been seeing the wisteria in the park across the road,and it's colour and scent is stunning right now!

Day 26 - Saturday 18th April - 6 miles
An evening run to St Paul's getting there just as the bells chimed 8pm, and the scent of the tulips in Festival Gardens was dancing in the dusk. Heavenly! I really enjoyed this run, haven't run at night for a bit, and seeing the city light up is always magical.

Good thing - had time to organise my medals right from marathon #1 (which I've actually lost, which isn't so good, but I'm hoping it's somewhere at my Mum and Dad's). So satisfying with my spreadsheet and putting them all in order and thinking of each run!

Day 27 - Sunday 19th April - 6.5 miles
Morning run to St Paul's, just as the bells were chiming 11 am. My good thing for today, I chose as the secret garden we have found, hidden between to shiny office buildings by St Paul's. It's like paradise, and is it best place to do some body weight exercises mid run. 

Weekly total - 42 miles. All in all, a week of good things.

As always - take care and stay safe 💙💚💛💜💖

Isolation Easter - a poem

It's feeling very odd, 

To have Easter trapped at home, 

Last year, ten marathons in ten days, 

But now we run alone. 

As Covid sweeps the World, 

Causing fear and misery, 

We join together (2 m apart),

Show solidarity.

Because although I'm sad, 

To miss friends and family, 

What with Facebook, Zoom, Whatapps and Skype, 

We share the love, for free! 

Long runs now are shorter, 

But I love them every day,

Time to be creative, find new routes,

Quiet ones, so safe we stay.

My favourite place to run,

Right now is in the City,

The usual noises, now fall silent,

It's cool stone streets feel eerie.

Without the usual crowds,

There is time to stop and see,

The ancient places, tiny alleys,

Secret gardens, birds, a bee.

As it's Easter Sunday,

The place to which we must run,

Is iconic St Paul's cathedral,

Standing empty in the sun.

The chiming of the bells,

And the blue sky clear and bright,

The sweet smell of tulips in the air,

It is the perfect sight.

I miss you all my friends,

Stay safe in the Easter sun,

I hope we'll be reunited soon,

And life will carry on!

Happy Easter!

The Not The Paris Marathon

Today was meant to be the Paris Marathon.

Feeling sad it didn't happen as it was meant to, but also feeling grateful for lots of things. Like, that just before all this happened I had the best trip to Malta for the marathon there, plus we can still do running outside in the sunshine so long as we are careful to stay away from people, and (perhaps most importantly) I have loads of toilet rolls. 

Life is a little weird, but feeling a bit more used to it now. Work days are a 5 km run to work, do work (I work in a community NHS service, which has been drastically cut back and most of my colleagues are so amazing and have moved to the hospital to help - I'm carrying on for now with my current role, with the tube feeding patients - so I feel bad about not being at the hospital helping, but then there hasn't been much change in the volume of work to do, and there are many more discharges than normal, which need a lot of work to get people set up and settled on their tube feeds at home, so I guess I'm still being useful). Then after that, a 5 km run home. For the first time ever I managed to run to work and back every day this week. I found a new route which is much quieter, and I feel quite safe doing that, and it's much better than getting public transport would be. So that's 10 km every day. And then some weights/ yoga/ core work after getting home. 

Yesterday, the start of the weekend, I was getting anxious looking out at the canal and seeing lots of people on the towpath. Last weekend getting up at 04.00 to run when it was quiet didn't really work out for me, so I was wondering how to run and stay safe, but not get totally knackered doing it. Thought about running to the City, which usually is busy, but I wondered....if many people are working at home, maybe it would be quieter....

So gave it a go, and it was so quiet, it was ace! Did 7 miles yesterday and 9 miles today and it was quite spooky, but also magical, running through the city, and past places like St Paul's, London Wall, The Royal Courts of Justice, with hardly any people and virtually no cars.

So, it might not be the Paris Marathon, but it's not a bad substitute, really. 

I suppose it's not always such a bad thing to have a bit of time to think about things that you've done and be thankful for them, rather than always doing more and more things so quickly that you don't always have time to really appreciate them. My Granny, when she was poorly and moved into a care home, used to say, that she'd done all the things that she'd wanted to in life, and was lucky to have done that, and now she was happy sitting and thinking back through all the memories. I always loved that she said that! Of course, I don't want to stop doing things, but whilst we are a bit of enforced "reflection time" it's a good habit that I'm trying to get into. For example, rather than adding to my marathon spreadsheet just now, I'm going through it and remembering about each race and finding the medal/certificate/badge etc. I'm remembering loads of stuff I'd forgotten!

Take care, and stay safe! 💙💚💛💜