It’s been a busy week, but not for running. It has been Hector’s half-term holiday, so mostly spent playing with Lego, being bossed about by someone very small and queueing up for an hour and a half at the South Bank Centre for a children’s super-hero workshop (really, they need to rethink how they run these events, you can’t make children queue up for ANY length of time!). I did go for a run last Sunday and have been mostly recovering from this bloody chest infection thingie that is just not going away – we have both been ill for weeks now but will hopefully be back to full health soon.
I have to cast my mind back a week now. It was cold, I even put on a hat for the first time this winter. It didn’t look snowy or icy but, as soon as I stepped out of our front door, I realised it was incredibly icy. The whole run was a sheet of black ice ahead of me, not great for speed, but I wasn’t looking for speed. I wanted to run further than the school run three miles I’ve been doing recently, but also wanted to spot trolleys and take photos (during Janathon, Travelling Hopefully featured a trolley photo in my honour, so I needed to return the photographic favour).
I was treading very carefully as I headed out towards Greenwich, taking in the Waterlink Way that snakes alongside the DLR line out of Lewisham, a prime Trolley Spotting stretch. Every so often my feet would slip from under me and I was reminded to take it easy and, as I turned around in Greenwich and ran alongside the water, I had to hold onto the railings to stop myself from falling! I thought I might struggle to extend my distance after sticking to short runs for so long (and with a chesty cough still restricting all attempts to breathe deeply), but I found it pleasantly easy and returned feeling refreshed and happy as I saw what the boys had been up to in my absence.
Check out the concentration
Distance: 6.17 miles
Time: 1 hour 3 minutes 39 seconds
Average Pace: 10.19
Best Pace: 8.03
Calories: 703
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In our house abandoned trolleys in water are called trolley birds! So many abandoned ones makes you wonder how the supermarkets are doing without them. Hope chest infetion thingie goes soon.
By: Shaz on February 18, 2012
at 4:54 pm
Thank you, strong drugs and extra brown inhaler puffs should bat this bug down! I know, when I was doing the Trolley Spotting project, I found out that each shopping trolley costs hundreds of pounds, so it’s in the interest of the supermarkets to keep track of them!
By: fitartist on February 18, 2012
at 8:23 pm
I’m impressed, I looked at the queue and decided to distract them away! Hope you’re feeling better soon.
By: Giselle on February 18, 2012
at 5:03 pm
It was absurd. We had talked about this workshop for a while, so Hector really wanted to stay, not really grasping that we would be queueing for such a long time. He was amazing though, only complaining when we got close to the front and it was lunch time
After waiting that long, he quickly made his outfit and said: ‘Let’s go now’!
By: fitartist on February 18, 2012
at 8:26 pm
Ah, half term. I am still in recovery I think. My wife decided to start a new job in half term, leaving me looking after the kids! And the eldest started the week being sick. I too seem to spend much of my time playing lego (admittedly not to the standards your son has set!) and trying to fit some exercise in.
As for queues – never go to a “meet Peppa Pig” event, not unless you want to stand in a shopping centre for 2 hours to then watch as your child is suddenly terrified by a giant pig when it finally comes to photo time!
By: Jon on February 19, 2012
at 5:19 am
Oh yes, I know that sort of reaction! I simply wouldn’t go near anything with a costumed character, no matter how much my son likes them, he’d just hide behind my legs!
By: fitartist on February 28, 2012
at 2:30 pm
All those abandoned trolleys – what a waste! Great run consdering your illness, I wish you all a speedy recovery.
By: fortnightflo on February 20, 2012
at 10:57 pm
Thank you! Much better now, and enjoying the running again.
By: fitartist on February 28, 2012
at 2:29 pm