And all the men and women, merely players. With thanks to Bill Shakespeare for the lines. Actually most of London appears to be a stage on Sunday, with lots of parts of the City blocked off for filming. There appears to be at least 2 different productions on today – the first near the City with American vehicles and a City square adorned with rustic handcarts – I’m thinking some enactment of a street food market. The second was in and around the Inns of Court, with one of the many legal firms having had their property rebranded with German signage, and all sorts of foreign registered cars outside, German, Lithuanian and more.
It’s the fun part of living in the City, you never know who or who is going to be around the corner, although it can make doing your run a little challenging as you are often faced with no entry signs due to filming. I still haven’t had the luck of friends of friends who saw Idris in Hampstead once. I can keep on running though – maybe a Hampstead early morning/Sunday run may be in order?
After yesterday’s great effort, I had in mind to do a 10km if I could, to keep the distances up and take advantage of the cooler weather. Although it’s cooler here now, in fact it is warmer than Italy at present, but still great weather for dashing around town.
Today’s dash took me through the City, Holborn, West End, Covent Garden, Euston, Bloomsbury and it was all gloriously sunny. Tourists unable to believe their luck at the sun, although an unlucky few having to lug anoraks and coats, along side their pull along cases. One lady was carrying a duvet jacket and being overtaken by a middle aged lady in shorts and a vest – me. the contrast in clothing layers, I suppose is typical of the uncertainty of British weather.
My pace was nice and even, I must admit to being surprised as yesterday’s run was quite a long one, but I kept an even trot throughout my run. My new purchase of the trail ready water bottle worked out okay, and I had my ‘time and distance’ playlist on. His Purple Highness singing 1999 was a particular highlight when on Tottenham Court Road I caught a glimpse of the London Eye, and it took me back to one New Year’s Eve with our good friends N&A, when we were within spitting distance of the Eye as Big Ben sounded in a New Year. Poetically it would be great if I could say that was 1999 – but it wasn’t.
It was a nice, clean, uneventful run, I ran out of steam at the 11km mark and I’m very happy with that. At that point, one tune ‘This is Me’ came on for my warm down walk – and it’s not my usual type of tune, but recommended to me by my running buddy Nat. It was probably the most appropriate set of lyrics, for how I was feeling at that time. Thanks Nat!
And big shout of thanks to the Kiwi family members, who have sponsored me for my Alzheimer’s Challenge – another boost to the fund and to my motivation. Thanks guys – much appreciated.
Playlist
Based on Time and Distances – somewhat obliquely…
7 Seconds – Youssou N’Dour and Neneh Cherry
Have A Nice Day – Stereophonics
Perfect Day – Lou Reed
Wake Me Up When September Ends – Green Day
What About Us – The Saturdays
December 1963 – Frankie Valli
Night Fever – Bee Gees
Boys Of Summer – Don Henley
Forever Autumn – Jeff Wayne
Hazy Shade Of Winter – The Bangles
Year Of The Cat – Al Stewart
1999 – His Purple Highness
Disco 2000 – Pulp
Sunday Morning – The Velvet Underground
Fall At Your Feet – Crowded House
8 Mile – Eminem
Steppin’ Out – Joe Jackson
Footloose – Kenny Loggins
I Don’t Like Mondays – The Boomtown Rats
Ruby Tuesday – Rolling Stones
Winter Melody – Donna Summer
Dancing In The Dark – The Boss
Summer of ’69 – Bryan Adams
Stats
Distance 11.10km
Time 1:10:30
Average pace 6:21
Elevation Gain 43 metres
Alzheimer’s Challenge
Kms Done 1468.95
Kms to Run 549.05
