Running in London

Well, I had a fabulous few days away (I was working !) and had the chance to catch up with some old friends. One thing I love about the new venue for the convention is its location, only a few minutes away from Hyde Park and right on the Paddington Basin and the start of the Grand Union Canal.

One thing running has done is give me a good excuse to go out to places that I might not visit otherwise. Before I started running I didn't really leave the convention hotel for 5 days apart from the evening out to pub or restaurant. Since I've been running I have been out and seen more of the area.

One run I wanted to do was round Hyde Park. I have never been round Hyde Park before.... I mapped out my route down Edgeware Road, round the edge of Hyde Park and back, a total of just over 5 miles so it fitted in perfectly with my marathon training plan.

This may sound strange to anyone that lives in London but it was quite strange seeing so many people out and about in the park. When I'm running over the Downs if I see 6 people it is busy and quite often I don't see another person for most of the run !

So, that is another run that I have wanted to do for a while ticked off the list :)





This (I think !) is the back of the Albert Hall.

The other run that I did while I was away was along the Grand Union Canal. I was chatting to some of the delegates waiting for my seminar about running in London and one of them pointed out that we were right on the Paddington Basin and it was a lovely run along the canal. So, the trainers were laced up and off I went ! There was a lovely smell of wood burners and bacon as I ran past on Sunday morning.... I love the colours of the boats and absolutely everything that is loaded on to the roof of the boat...

This was a shorter run, just 3.5 miles (again to fit in with the schedule) but it is a route I will remember and one that I will return to next year :)