An enforced running break

When I woke up Monday it was going to be a normal week with all my regular runs; by lunchtime everything had changed.  Ofsted had called and my school had two days to prepare for the visit. Needless to say, when you are in school from 7.30am to 9pm there isn't much time for running.   Not if you want to keep your sanity anyway.

Running buddy Su had been trying to encourage me to have a week off as she had found it really beneficial, I told her I just couldn't - if I didn't keep to my routine it would all fall apart (yes, I am slightly autistic like that).  Had Su given Ofsted the wink?  It was literally the only thing, apart from injury, that would stop me running.

So, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday no running - no running on Saturday either as I barely got out of bed.  Today I knew I needed to get back into the swing of things...a long run was needed.

The furthest I had run thus far was 10 miles, if it was possible I wanted to add a small amount to this and go even further.

I sat at my computer with Facebook's running application open and had a look at the area, plotting where I could run ten miles or so.  Then I remembered the old mile stone which still sits beside the Great North Road in Barnet, it says 'London X' (distances to London generally mean Charing Cross - the old one actually in Trafalgar Square, not the tube station).  This made me play with the map and I plotted a route down the GNR, over the North Circular and onto the A1.  Ultimately Saint Paul's Cathedral in the city was 11.5 miles, with Highgate (of the cemetary fame) about half way at 5.5 miles.


At 11am today I set off, through Whetstone and all the Finchleys, into Highgate village which had all the beauty of a Cornish sea village and I tore down the hill at speed. It wasn't so pretty going through Holloway and most of Islington (which seems to go on forever), but eventually I could see the Gherkin.  Three hours and sixteen minutes after I set off I was in front of St Paul's and I called my mum to proudly share my achievement.  She told me the winner of the Great South Run (today in Portsmouth) ran the 10 mile race in 25 minutes.  *sigh*