Running in London - Week of February 8, 2009

I was too tired when I arrived Sunday morning. I slept too late to run Monday. Tuesday I awoke at 2am, but only got out at 5am after trying to get back to sleep. I did manage to get two hours in. Two extremely slow hours. I did find some decent running - first I went north into and around and through Langly, then I came back. With 40 more minutes to go, I ran west on A4/London Rd for 21 minutes and then came back. The running was a bit nicer in that direction. Did I mention that it was raining, windy and cold (+2 C)? It was so slow I'm only calling it 13 miles. There was a time when 2 hours meant 15 to 16. Not today.

I ran on Wednesday too. See separate post: A Run Along the Thames.

Today I ran along the Thames as well. But this time I decided to run right into the village of Windsor. After running the same first couple miles, I turned right instead of left. So this time I went right by the castle, and ran all over the town. I ran on the Thames promenade that I'd walked on a couple months ago too. I also crossed the bridge and ran a bit into Eton. It was another eventful and interesting 2 hour run. Too bad I'm running so slow - I tried to pick it up at times, but I always slowed back down again.

So besides the slowness, I was a bit bummed to only have 42 or so total miles for the week. 42 is good as an answer for everything (ref. to Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy), but bad as a weekly total of running mileage. At least for me, when I'd been in the 70s for most of last year, and even lately have tried to stay in the 50s.

But then an opportunity presented itself. I got out of work early. I could have done some touristy things with my couple hours of afternoon daylight, but instead I went for another run. I ran around the nearby park. Several loops. I also ran on a fairly long bike and footpath. All this was mostly to avoid traffic. I did almost bump into throngs of school-kids walking on the path. It was a beautiful afternoon - sunny with temperatures in the upper 40s. Of course I still ran slowly.

I didn't get 8 in - I had to head back to the hotel for a bathroom break. I'm calling it 6 in 52 minutes. Then I stepped on the mill and did 2 more at sub-8 minute pace. That "speedwork" really felt good after all the slogging.

So I got my 50 in for the week. I feel better now. Thank You.