It’s 7.30pm and it’s also twenty six degrees, and it feels all wrong, because this is London and not Italy. I have my last London run to do before going back to Italy and I ’d also like to break the 1100km barrier if I can.
Okay this is going to be challenging, as I don’t usually run in the evening and certainly not in full sun. I take my favourite route up to Holborn and snap the blue sky, just as Meck and Leo Sayer launch into Thunder In My Heart.
I’ve chosen my weather play list and mostly the tracks are about bad weather, and the optimistic one I hoped to hear ‘Mr Blue Sky’ remained stubbornly off the playlist. I run up Hatton Garden and do some mini ladder runs to vary the pace, and having to dodge the overspill of people outside of bars and pubs. Loads of drinking, chatter and an obstacle course for me to deal with.
I don’t know if I feel virtuous running when they are all drinking or just plain stupid for pursuing a tough challenge all of my own making. My run tonight is all about the 1100 marker and keeping out of the sun, which even in London is proving to be quite hard. Eventually, I aim towards Saffron Hill and home and realise I’m still a little short of where I need to be. I decide to head for Smithfield and take the long way home and it is here I find the coolest place to run in central London.
It is Central Avenue in Smithfield Meat Market – the covered Victorian boulevard between the two wings of the market. The avenue gets wafts of the air conditioned meat stalls, the only problem is it would be a very boring run just going up and down a 40-50 metre stretch of walkway. Even the most ardent meat eater might find the meat smell somewhat overpowering after a while.
I leave Smithfield behind and run past St Barts, which has newish graffiti on its walls as a result of it being the scene of Benedict Cumberbatch’s ‘death drop’ in Sherlock. This now has almost mythical status, with new London walks passing there for Sherlock fans.
I wanted to find shade, but mainly found sun and ended up with Sherlock. Not a bad 8km and I managed to beat my 1100km target by all of .19 of a kilometre, but every metre counts.
Next run – la Bella Italia.
Playlist
Ice Ice Baby – Vanilla Ice
Misty Blue – Dorothy Moore
Thunder Road – The Boss
It’s Raining Men – The Weather Girls
Thunder – His Purple Highness
I Won’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me – Nik Kershaw
Sunny – Boney M
Thunder In My Heart – Meck & Leo Sayer
Purple Rain – His Purple Highness
Since You Been Gone – Rainbow
Sunshine After The Rain – Berri
Baby Its Cold Outside – Idina mensal and Michael Bublé
Cold As Ice – Foreigner
Lightning Bolt – Jake Bugg
The Real Slim Shady – Eminem
Cold – Stormzy
Sunshine On A Rainy Day – Galimar
I Cant Stand the Rain – Ann Peebles
Cloudbusting – Kate Bush
Stats
Distance 8.60km
Time 1:02:39
Average Pace 7:17 (mins/km)
Elevation Gain – 30 metres
Alzheimer’s Challenge
Kms Done 1100.19 (yay)
Kms to Run 917.81