and certainly not a drop to drink. Today I am doing a canal side trek as a change to my usual City based route. On Saturday at the Finsbury Park ‘Park Run’ Hannah, a friend and one of the Park Run volunteers introduced me to her friend and workmate Quentin. He lives near Old Street and recommended running by the side of Regent’s Canal. Now he is an ultra runner – 50 and 100km runs not unusual for him, so I did have to explain that 10k is about my upper limit. But he was very enthusiastic about the joys of canalside running, and one stood out – the lack of inclines – true enough there are a few bridges and locks to navigate, but it’s mainly flat.
Off I trotted, up to Islington and dropped onto the canalside, straightaway there’s one thing I notice, the smell. Or rather the lack of traffic smell, so that’s a quick win, certainly not so many particulates clogging up the old lungs here. You do have to dodge the occasional canal-side clogger-uppers, that is folk walking two or three abreast, cyclists, and prams but it’s not too bad. I am aiming to get just past Victoria Park which I think is about 5kms away.
All the male runners are wearing shorts, I am somewhat over dressed in running tights and two layers on top, but hey ho, the red face gave plenty of warning of my approach to on-comers, especially near the ‘under-bridge’ sections. Getting close to Victoria Park I see a group of canal ramblers coming towards me and through a very low narrow under bridge section. Being in no hurry I wait patiently for them to come through – aha there’s about 70 of them. Lots said ‘thank you’ and I was happy with that, but then my polite mannerly mask started to slip, as Compo, Clegg and Foggy meandered somewhat slowly through, as I was cooling down, waiting for them.
It wasn’t the slowness that upset me, it was the fact that they managed to find something to see in the water, under a bridge, in a canal, in November. They stood three abreast and discussed this thing for what seemed like a full episode of Last of The Summer Wine. Eventually, they came out, by which time my blood pressure was higher than it had been and my temperature lower, and I asked politely if they were the tail walkers and they said yes. That was my not so subtle hint for them to say ‘thank you’ – they didn’t – bah humbug, who says it’s the young that are discourteous?
I carried on through, past the entrance to Victoria Park and then unfortunately the canal side was blocked, so I trotted back through the park and back home again. This of course meant circumnavigating the canal ramblers again, but this time I was in clear territory, whoosh loads of mini-overtakes and I was past. One lady trilled ‘runner coming through’ – that’s the first time anyone other than Mr Smooth has said that. Result!
I managed 11.5km in all, but was a bit tired and was channelling my Mrs Overall running style at the end, near my local fish shop. I stopped the clock, entered the shop and eyed up the dead fish. There was one glassy eyed Sea Bream, who looked like I felt.
The day however ended better than I could have imagined – at my usual annual MOT, my doctor told me my blood pressure was now perfect, having been borderline last year. Despite Foggy, Compo and Clegg doing their worst, they failed!
Playlist
Don’t Let Me Be MisUnderstood – The Animals
Stray Cat Strut – Stray Cats
I’m Free – The Soup Dragons
Take It To The Limit – The Eagles
All Together Now – The Farm
Money – The Flying Lizards
Dirty Harry – Gorillaz
Everybody’s Got To Learn Sometime – The Korgis
Pour Some Sugar On Me – Def Leppard
Crying In The Chapel – The Orioles
Daydream Believer – The Monkees
Who Let The Dogs Out – Baha Men
Black Betty – Ram Jam
Can You Dig It – The Mock Turtles
Don’t Fear The Reaper – Blue Oyster Cult
Crazy Horses – The Osmonds
The Eye of The Tiger – Survivor
Hungry Like The Wolf – Duran Duran
Stats
Distance 11.53km
Time 1.26.21
Average Pace 7.29 mins/km
Elevation Gain 31metres – on a canal???
Old Farts – 3
Blood Pressure (now ) 108/52 or Perfect
