
It may not have snowed in London literally, but it has snowed donations since my last run. First off the mark, one of my fellow C25Kers jayval70 made my day, by donating and wishing me well.
Then our very good friends B&H in Warwickshire, with a lovely message to keep me going, then M from sunny Buckinghamshire, followed in a blink of an eye by our dear friends J&G in Arnhem – who came back with a second donation. Going for the more international theme, came my brother and sister in-law, in sunny but blinking cold Hingham, USA but with the greatest warm message, and their donation got me over the line on the sponsorship target.
Not to be outdone, our friends K&C, who are partially international living as they do between Italy and Nottingham, added a second donation. Followed by a very dear Italian friend M, who works in Brussels. And last but not least my running, netballing friend J.
So after the snowing down of donations, I find I have hit one target (the money), without actually having hit the other (the running). Obviously that situation can’t continue; and this morning’s run was designed to get me ready for the last leg on Christmas Eve.
With the very pleasant weight of all that money and expectation on my shoulders, I headed up West to do a ‘dummy run’ of my route around St James’s park. It’s a cold, bright and clear morning, I have got to do just under 12kms today, leaving me 5km for Christmas Eve. My route is vaguely worked out – wiggle through Hatton Garden, saunter through the Inns of Court and the Strand, nod at Buckingham Palace, and then do a lap or so of the park.
It’s surprisingly quiet in London, considering this is the last Saturday before Christmas, and before long I find myself at the Birdcage Walk entrance to the park. Now I know where all the people went, they are taking a stroll around the park, feeding the ducks, geese and marvelling at the antics of the squirrels. I am following my Strava route roughly and decide to pause just to make sure I am doing the right course and then see Mr JCR who has come to check up on progress, and my geographic tracking capabilities…
A loop of St James’s Park is done, with a small backward facing diversion and we reckon with a little bit of jiggery pokery, I can make these two loops become my 5km run on Christmas Eve. I have to continue on to make sure I reach today’s target and more or less on the roundabout near Admiralty Arch, the job is done.

I had hoped we might have snow for Christmas, but the snowfall of donations, really helped me to slip and slide my way around the park today – thanks everyone!
Job done, now to stay injury free for just one more day.
Playlist
Last Christmas (twice) – Wham
Do They Know It’s Christmas? – Band Aid
Step Into Christmas – Elton John
Santa Claus Is Coming To Town – The Supremes
Driving Home For Christmas – Chris Rea
Fairytale of New York – The Pogues
All I Want For Christmas is You – Mariah Carey (twice)
It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas – Buble
Santa Baby – Eartha Kitt and The Pussycat Dolls Version
Stay Another Day – East 17
Christmas Wrapping – The Waitresses
Have Yourself A Merry Christmas – Sam Smith
Frosty The Snowman – The Ronettes
I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus – The Jackson Five
Walking In The Air – Aled Jones
The Christmas Song – Nat King Cole
Silent Night – Andrea Bocelli
Rockin’ Robin – Michael Jackson
A Spaceman Came Travelling – Chris De Burgh
Winter Wonderland – Gwen Stefani
A Winter’s Tale – David Essex
Stop The Cavalry – Jona Lewie
Stats
Distance 11.52km
Time 1:16:07
Average Pace 6:20
Elevation Gain 34 metres
Alzheimer’s Challenge
Kms Run 2013.00
Kms to Run 5.00
Tick rock tick rock Jan….hope you’re resting well for the morning. How lovely that you’ve had a snowfall of donations and reached your target..you’re amazing and deserve all the support, encouragement and good wishes in the world xxxxx
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Predictive text is a right pain!! Tick tock obvs x
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I knew what you meant…..
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Thanks Bev, I did my ‘royal’ run this morning with Razouski from C25K – she came just to run St James’s Park with me – how lucky am I to have such amazing supporters from my C25K buddies?
We also got the Grenadier Guards (soldiers with fluffy hats) their band played Christmas Carols almost on to the second when we finished. Mr JCR provided bubbles and chocolate – absolutely perfect…
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