A Week of Running Darn Sarf
The day after the Dunbar 10K, Easter Sunday, I had to skip my Sunday long run to do a long drive instead - down south for a week visiting friends and family in and around London.
So on the Monday, I decided to do the best I could from my parents' house in Rickmansworth. There's a few options round there, including the Chiltern Way and Chess Valley path, the trails around Rickmansworth Aquadrome, the towpath along the grand union canal, and the Ebury Way that runs past various lakes and fields to Watford. I decided to try a few and take in some different local sights.
So I set off along the Ebury Way to Watford. It's a great route that I usually head along at some point when I'm visiting my Mum and Dad. It's pretty flat and you don't see too many people. It being Easter Monday, there were a few more people than usual, including a few families out walking or cycling to burn off some of that Easter chocolate... So anyway, it's about 5 miles to the centre of Watford, with only the last half mile being urban. I had to endure a few city streets because I wanted to pop by Vicarage Road stadium, the home of football.... well, the home of Watford football club at any rate. It's where I spent quite a lot of Saturday afternoons as a kid (during the early-mid 1980s when they were doing pretty well, leading the old first division and getting to the FA cup final). They're having a pretty torrid time now, and will be lucky to avoid relegation to the current first division (which used to be the third...) And to be honest, the stadium and surrounding area is looking pretty shabby but hopefully there'll be better times there again.
Anyway, back again along some of the Ebury Way and then I cut across to run along the canal to Rickmansworth Aquadrome. Did loops of some of the lakes there and finished up having run a total of about 14 miles. Not too bad.
However... did no running at all for the next 5 days until Saturday morning. I did spend plenty of time on my feet, trekking round London one day and trekking round Legoland Windsor another day. I also spent quite a lot of time sitting on my ass though; I ate out 4 times in 5 days, and had 2 nights out with friends including several pints in Brixton on the Friday night, getting to bed about 1am.
So I'm still slightly amazed that I was up and using the satnav to drive from my sister's house in Streatham to Wimbledon Common for the weekly parkrun there. And they start half an hour earlier in England too. The photo shows that I was looking pretty bleary-eyed and pale for it... So anyway, no wombles in sight just a big windmill which was the landmark I had to navigate to to find the parkrun. About 120 people ran it, and it was already pretty hot and sunny even at 9 in the morning. The common at Wimbledon is huge, but the route went over trails around the woods by the common. The trails were fairly uneven, muddy in places and with a few tree roots and branches to dodge, so I reckon it's probably a slower course than Edinburgh's version of the event. The training over recent months must have helped though because despite feeling like death warmed up the entire way round and my prep over the previous days being so poor, I actually ran 10 seconds quicker than the only previous parkrun I've done! Finished in 20.25, and obviously now think I should get under 20 minutes with good luck, a following wind and the right preparation...
I behaved much better that day, in readiness for the main event on Sunday. This was the Kingston breakfast run. As the name suggests, it's an early start. There's an 8-mile race and a 2-lap 16-mile version. My sister was doing the 8-mile race which would be the longest race she'd ever done, while I was doing the 16-miler which I figured would be a good test in the build-up to the Edinburgh marathon.
The 8-milers started at 8am, and after watching my sister set off, I had 25 minutes to kill until the longer race began. The temperature had dropped about 15 degrees from the previous day and it was very cold for standing around! The start is right in the centre of Kingston (which brands itself as a town in Surrey but I have to say I can't see where London ends and it begins...). The first 3 miles is along the River Thames to Hampton Court palace. It's along the path there and at times on the first lap it was pretty busy for the several thousand runners taking part. It was pleasant enough running along the river though, and Hampton Court itself is pretty stunning. After Hampton Court you cross the bridge, turn away from the river and follow the road. From the map sent out before the race I had an idea that we were mostly running round parks, but unfortunately the next 5 miles was roadside and not that scenic. It was all flat though and I was able to keep up a steady pace. I'd decided in advance that I'd aim for 2 hours. Seemed reasonable given my recent time at Alloa and my aim for Edinburgh marathon. So I was happy to finish the first lap in pretty much exactly an hour still feeling good. And my sister was there to cheer too, having finished her race a few minutes earlier.
The 2nd lap was quieter, and I'd imagined it would be tough starting the route all over again but as it happens I didn't mind that at all. Psychologically it actually seemed to break the race up rather than make it seem longer. Not much to report from the 2nd lap really. It hurt a bit more as time went on obviously, and I was grateful for the regular water and lucozade sport stations. I went past quite a few people and a couple of people went past me. For the 2nd lap I obviously knew what to expect at each point, but there were no tough hills or other major challenges to steel myself for. I lost a little bit of pace at around 14 miles but managed to pick it up again in the last mile. Even managed a bit of a sprint towards the end. Timed it all slightly wrong as my run measured 16.15 miles rather than 16 miles, so I finished 20 seconds over the 2-hour mark rather than within, but I was happy with my time. According to the calculator on Runners World website I should be able to run a 3.21 marathon based on that - which I'd be absolutely delighted with.
The canal barge my 5 year-old daughter would choose.Also enjoyed having the chance to run with my sister - she says she doesn't really like running and doesn't understand why I'd want to run marathons ever, but she's successfully moved up from 10K to 8 miles now... so who knows what she might plan next...
Overall, I'd say 16 miles is a useful distance to race over, a good milestone for marathon training. Kingston is well organised and you get a nice mug at the finish... But it's a long way to travel for that...
Looking forward to doing a few miles more at Edinburgh to North Berwick in 3 weeks time. See you there.
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