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Things I’m Loving Lately

Dare I say I’m loving the cooler weather…? I just hope it remains for 2nd October, when I have the Chester Marathon. Anyway, on to some things I’ve been loving lately.

New (inexpensive) workout gear: I popped into TKMaxx the other day quickly just to check out what they had. I don’t often shop there as (similar to Primark) it stresses me out as it had a very warehouse-feel and can be a bit mad ad disorganised. But I rifled through my size area and found two bargains: an Adidas sports bra and a New Balance running top.

Together for under £25! I love the colours. I don’t often go for greens or blues so it’s nice to have some variety

Toms: I have one pair of Toms (a simple black pair). I love them. They’re so comfortable and go with so many things. My mum also loves Toms. She has SO many pairs…

The white ones I’m wearing are her Toms too

Happily we both have the same size feet (5 if you’re interested). This means I get to borrow her Toms. She often lends them to me in order to “stretch” them a bit so they’re a bit more comfy for her. I willingly oblige (*sighs* the things you do for your parents ). The photograph above isn’t even of all of them. (My mum also has a handbag addiction and I also get to borrow some of those lovelies too! Hello, Mulberry and Michael Kors).

Foot sling: I was sent an Ashipita Foot Sling*. When I was first contacted about this review I was a bit like, “a what?” but then I read a bit more about it and decided it sounded like a very interesting product to try!

They’re made by a young start-up company in Germany that sells health products, which you can find more of from their Amazon shop. The foot sling appealed to me because my feet are always an issue with running with my fairly collapsed arches.

It’s supposed to strengthen the midfoot ligaments and muscles to allow your feet to roll naturally but not excessively. It helps provide stability and provide comfort. I’ve been wearing them around the house (and with shoes as well as they’re quite discreet). I have to say they do feel very comfortable. After an hour or so I do notice my feet feel a bit different – not achy but just something is off, but in a good way. Like something is working. I can’t tell you if they definitely work or not, but I’ll continue to wear them at home as I do feel like they’re doing something. Apparently they’re quite the thing in Japan – like foot lingerie!

Compression sleeves: I’m a big fan of compression socks and clothing. When I run in the evening I’ll usually pop on some compression socks or sleeves after I’ve showered and it’s divine. Both the socks and the sleeves I use are CEP.

Yes they’re expensive (£40 for the socks; £35 for the sleeves) but I swear by them for recovery. While there’s no firm evidence for improving your actual running, there is some evidence that shows that wearing compression socks improves blood flow and recovery (here’s an interesting article on this can be found on some of the debate of whether they work or not). Personally I love them after a run – make calves feel a lot fresher after wearing them for a couple of hours. As to wearing them during a run? I think the jury’s out on this one. I don’t notice any benefits for short distances (and when I suffered from shin issues they didn’t give much relief) BUT I find that for long runs they’re great. My calves don’t cramp as much. Perhaps it’s psychological but they work for me!

Tangle Teezer: After my annoying hair issue last week after my 21 miler in the rain, Maria mentioned the Tangle Teezer brush.The bristles move with your hair so don’t tug it all out when you’re trying to brush through it. It works for both wet and dry hair.

I used to use a wide tooth comb for after I washed my hair but this made my life SO much easier. It just seemed to glide through. Saves me loads of time now.

Speaking of hair… My parent’s dogs have had haircuts. They look adorable. Their Cavalier, Dylan, is a bit on the chunky side and this has only been made more apparent post-haircut.

I (lovingly) call him Shamu as he looks a little bit like a killer whale. The little tubster!

Funny Ladybird books: I love these Ladybird books. This one called “The Wife” made me laugh a lot.I’m sure we all know that person, right?? Hehe. Whereas this one spoke to me on a more personal level…Dating in this day and age… such a nightmare! Speaking of which, I’m listening to an audio book that Maria (again!) recommended called Modern Romance and, though hilarious, does actually speak of a lot of home truths I’m experiencing. Giving me some good advice as well.

I’ve also just started reading the Brownlee brothers autobiography, Swim, Bike Run: Our Triathlon Story. How amazing was it to see Alistair sacrifice his first position in the World Triathlon Series to help his brother when he was near collapsing near the end of the race? I’m not an overly emotional person but it did almost bring a tear to my eye!

What books have you been reading lately?

Have you heart of the foot sling before (or “foot lingerie”!?)

Do you use compression clothing?

**Full Disclosure: I was sent the Ashipita foot sling for free in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own honest ones.**

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London fun and Gladstone parkrun

Friday night I headed to the Big Smoke (aka London) once again. This time for pleasure not business and to see two good friends of mine from university.

The train and tube journey were easy peasy (i.e. I didn’t get lost – who even am I??). My friend, Laura, lives in the very cool St. John’s Wood location which was home to that famous zebra crossing on Abbey Road near the Abbey Road Studios (where the Beatles, amongst others, recorded a lot of their albums).

To be honest, I would never have known had my friend, Charlotte, not pointed this out to me. I obviously had to get a photo, though sadly I was walking the wrong way to recreate the iconic Beatles crossing! But with cars waiting, I did the best I could!

That evening we went to a fantastic Lebanese restaurant, called Yalla Yalla (self-described as a “hip West End restaurant”). It felt very hip. In fact, the entire time I was in London (and this is always the case) I feel so uncool. Londoners seem to exude this effortless coolness that I can only admire from a distance.

It was a great pick of a restaurant because Charlotte is veggie and they had such a range of vegetarian and meat-based dishes that everyone was happy. The two others went for three small plates each which looked delicious.

Halloumi, falafels, salad and chicken and feta in filo pastries. Whereas I went for pomegranate and honey roasted chicken wings followed by a mixed grill.

It was all divine. And I even got to help out Charlotte and Laura when their normal-sized stomachs became too full. I’m literally the dustbin of my group of friends.

From there we meandered around Soho, China Town and other very cool parts of London.

It was incredible busy (as you can imagine, it being Friday night) and every pub was spilling out people.

We were hunting for a bar where we could have a nice drink and chat. After walking a fair way I got the rumbles for something sweet… and lo! and behold a crêpe cafe appeared. I mean, what a find! It’s called Scoop and honestly I was in heaven.

My only predicament was whether to have just scoops of gelato in a funky cone, a brownie and gelato, a slice of red velvet or a crêpe (pancakes and waffles were also available but not really my cup of tea).

Not normally a crêpe person I quickly changed my mind having seen someone order one. I went for a white chocolate filled crêpe with a scoop of salted caramel gelato. I could have gone with multiple toppings and more than one scoop, but I decided to reign in the beast within and be sensible seen as how it was 10pm and I did have parkrun in the morning.

Dear God, what have I been missing all these years of believing crêpes weren’t my thing? (I’m not a Nutella fan so this is probably why as you can’t move for Nutella crêpes). The gooey, oozy, sweet and moist (yes, moist) deliciousness sent me to heaven and back. And I cleaned up that bad boy easily.

We then headed to a bar across the road for more normal adult endeavours (me now floating along on a sugar high). It was a lovely evening and made me realise a) how very uncool I am by London standards (who am I kidding, by any standards!) and b) how much more ‘happening’ London is than Southampton. OK I knew this already but it just blew my mind how easy it was and just how much stuff there was to see (and eat). But, still, I would never like to live near or in London…as good as that all is, I’m a hermit by nature and think I’d be overwhelmed (and broke) if it was long-term. Plus I love the friendliness and greenness of the more country-based suburbs.

parkrun the next morning was going to be at Hampstead Heath but after (luckily) checking Twitter on Friday I realised they’d cancelled for some reason. The next best location was Gladstone parkrun which was really easy to get to via the tube.

From the tube station (Dollis Hill) it’s literally about 0.5 miles down one road (Anna-proof!) to get to the park. The park is actually quite big though (and hilly) so I did have to hike around for a fair while to find the start (mainly because I hadn’t actually researched further than “it’s in Gladstone Park”).

Having arrived fairly early (8.20am) and the fact that it was cold and overcast meant me walking around a park for a fair while was actually quite good!

The views were lovely and the park was very peaceful. There was a small pond with ducks and lots of interesting carvings of animals in tree logs about the place. It really was a very good location for a parkrun – besides the hills

When I got to the start area I happily chatted away to the few runners there. It amazes me how in this sort of situation I can easily walk up to people I don’t know and just start talking and be at ease. But in any other scenario? That would terrify me and I’d stand to one side awkwardly. I met some lovely people. I also heard from some people who usually do the Hampstead Heath parkrun that Hampstead Heath is very hilly so I was quite glad not to have gone (that’s where Parliament Hill is sooo…bullet dodged!)

The course was a two lapped course (which, by the way, is now my favourite type of course. Not quite as repetitive as a three lap course and seems to go a lot quicker!). There were some nasty short inclines and some long gradual inclines but also some declines. It was actually a very enjoyable course as it was so varied.

How’s that for a negative split?? I got a new lease of life half-way through and felt far more at ease. The temperature was perfect (very chilly to start!) and I really got into it by the end. I really should do more of a warm-up…starting straight from nothing is not a great idea *sighs*. One day.

I asked the event director to take a photo of me and he was more than happy to. He then turned it to selfie mode and said “but of course you also need one with the event director in it!”

He was so friendly and funny – really made me feel welcome and he demanded I come back at some point: “you don’t get a PB unless you come back!”.

I got back to Laura’s flat, showered and we headed off for brunch (Charlotte had gone home last night). It actually worked out really well me going to parkrun as Laura likes a lie-in whereas I’m not great with sleeping in too late! She took me to the Maida Vale area which was also very cool (and where they did all the BBC music stuff!). We went to The Elgin which was the epitome of hipster.

Anywhere that uses a teapot to hold cutlery is far too cool I had Bavette steak and eggs for my brunch and it was DELICIOUS.

And then it was time for home! I had a fantastic time in London (guided carefully around by friends to make sure I didn’t wander off and get lost). And ticked off number 19 on my parkrun tourism list!

How many laps do you prefer for parkrun?

What would you choose: Crêpes, waffles, pancakes, cake or just gelato?

Do you like visiting London much?

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Olympic Park 5k

While I was in London a Twitter friend and blog reader told me about a cool race series that was scheduled for Thursday evening while I was in London last week. After my disastrous run on Tuesday night I was reluctant to venture out on my own again and the race was 5k which was actually perfect for my training plan.

The race was run by The Race Organiser, who organise a lot of races in and around London. They also provide services to other races to with things such as race management, race timing and photography. A 5k race around the Olympic Park was scheduled for the Thursday at 6.30pm which was perfect timing for me. I finished my course at 5pm, went back to the hotel, got changed and walked to the nearby tube. The tube journey didn’t take long and I was rather chuffed with myself for having figured it out on my own without going wrong(!). However, when I got to Stratford I realised I didn’t know exactly where the Park was.

I ended up walking around in circles for a bit and my lovely accrued buffer time slowly ticked away and I started to panic. Finally though I found the way (I was the wrong side of station I think) and then desperately looked around for fellow runners.

When I go to different parkruns, for example, it’s always handy when you get close when you can see runners heading in the general direction and so I just follow them. There weren’t any runners I could see though and the Olympic Park grounds are actually quite big. Eventually though I asked a security guard and he pointed me in the right direction.

A little race HQ area was set up with a table and marshals handing out the race packs. There were real toilets nearby (opposed to portable loos!) and the race bibs were chipped. I realised it wasn’t a huge event as 16 people shuffled up to the race briefing. I suddenly felt a little nervous as I was expecting a few more people. With so few people I felt a bit exposed…I wasn’t up for a fast run and the guys around me looked rather speedy.

But hey ho, no backing out now! The event director explained the route (three laps outside the Olympic Park, though the first lap included a little out and back to make sure the distance added up as there was a slight diversion on the course due to construction). He mentioned it was clearly sign posted and there were several marshals pointing the way.

I still felt a bit nervous. I mean, I’m not the best at directions (as has been made very clear lately) and if there are only 16 of us I might not have a person straight in front of me to follow if they’ve all dashed off.

But anyway we started and I went way too fast for the first 500m as I desperately didn’t want to get left behind. I think everyone felt similarly and as we got into the first mile we found our more natural paces. Luckily there were a couple of people (including my friend, Dasen) ahead of me who I could follow. I didn’t feel particularly comfortable in my running in terms of my pace and wondered if I could hold onto it for long, seeing a crash in the near future. I reminded myself it was just three miles and to hold on.

I managed to overtake the couple of guys ahead and felt myself getting strong as the race continued and this gave me confidence. The marshals were lovely, smiling and cheering us on and the temperature was a little warm but not too bad. The course was relatively flat with a few gentle inclines and declines and the wind wasn’t strong. So all in all, perfect conditions really and this spurred me on to run faster than I would have done had I been running solo.

I increased my speed at the end, feeling a lot stronger and knowing I didn’t have long to go. I finished in seventh place overall and second female (the joys of a very small race!). My time was 23:22. For not wanting to run fast (for me!) that evening, I was quite pleased at how I got my body moving in the end.

I haven’t done any speed work in months (something I really must improve on) so I can’t expect super fast times but the effort level was there so I’m happy with a good solid workout.

I received a second place prize of some interesting detox drink powder things… (I’m slightly annoyed as I did take a photo of the goodie bag contents but I think I deleted it). The goodie bag was great: Haribo sweets, a health drink, a tester pouch of the detox stuff I won, a cereal bar, a water and a medal.

I spoke to the event director and they were super friendly. I said how much I enjoyed it (well, enjoyed finishing anyway!) and how organised it was for such a small event. I even got a photo of them (which they found hilarious).

It’s not the cheapest race in the world (I think for an affiliated runner it was around £17-18) but I definitely felt like I got my money’s worth as the organisation and location were superb. We were emailed out times later.

I chatted to Dasen afterwards and we got a selfie together, of course 😉 He lives just a tube stop away so it’s very handy for him!

A great race, all in all for a random Thursday night in London! Then it was a quick hop on the tube back to the hotel. No getting lost thankfully!

Do you run many 5ks (excluding parkruns)? I tend to avoid them like the plague ordinarily!

Have you ever done a super small race before?

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21 miles and late for parkrun

For my last long run I’d planned to do between 18-20 miles on Saturday. This was my third BIG mileage run. I’ve previously done an 18.5 miler and a 19 miler.

I’ve been feeling completely different to a few weeks ago when I felt fed up, anxious and just not feeling the marathon training. Now having got two big runs under my belt and nothing bad happening, I was ready to conquer the final one.

I wanted to tick Eastleigh parkrun off my parkrun list as it’s such a close parkrun to me and yet I’ve never done it. It’s literally ten minutes drive from where I live! As usual I got up at 5.45am on Saturday to be ready to run by 6.30am. I’d had a pretty crappy night sleep as the wind and rain hammered against my window and when I woke up it was still raining. I had memories of winter long runs…

I exchanged a few social media messages with fellow runners who were up and about to do their long runs too and we exchanged some good lucks and “God look at the weather” moans. It was nice as it didn’t make me feel so alone and crazy!

I headed out and it wasn’t actually very cold at all, quite humid but very wet. I was thankful that I was wearing a t-shirt and my running skort (and compression socks!). I felt a bit tired but otherwise I felt quite good. In fact, I felt really good!

The miles ticked by so quickly and before I knew it I was at five miles and heading towards Hedge End. I was soaked through and rain was dripping down my face but it was lovely and refreshing. I got to Hedge End after 10 miles and still felt good.

I hadn’t really planned my route past getting to Eastleigh but I knew vaguely where the parkrun started so that would work, right? [Honestly, how I survive daily life amazes me with this supremely optimistic and naive view of the world I have]. I got through the tough hilly section of my route (there really is no way of avoiding these hills if I want to run from Stubbington to Hedge End).

I started to feel a slight bit of worry in my stomach as the time ticked past 8.30am and I wasn’t in Eastleigh yet… but it wasn’t much further. And that’s true. But where the parkrun was was. At 8.45am I decided to stop and check my phone. I knew the road names I needed to find and I knew it was located in Fleming Park. Basically, I knew where it was in a theoretical sense, but when you’re actually on the roads it’s very different. I found I was a fair bit away still.

Thankfully there were loads of signs for Fleming Park and I quickened my pace – my watch beeped past 17 miles. I finally found a park-like place and saw the wondrous sight of the parkrun flag… at 9:08am. I saw some marshals  and gasped, “Can I please start late?”. And they kindly said that was fine and showed me the start. I reset my watch and got going.

Eastleigh parkrun is three laps, pretty much all on a grassy track around a park. I was running on my own as I was so far behind but soon the front runners were lapping me. I said well done to them as they past me, gazelle-like. I eventually caught up to the tail runner and made slow process overtaking the runners at the back. It was quite nice to be running past people and using them as markers to get through the run, which by now was feeling quite tiring.

There’s a horrible gentle incline that seems to go on for ages that you have to do three times and it was a killer. My friend, Aaron, caught up with me (him on his last lap and me on my second – he’s very speedy!) and we had a nice little chat before I told him to push on as he’s a lot faster and I didn’t want to hold him back (he was even running at a slower than normal pace for him as he was doing 16 miles in total!).

My parkrun time was 31:31 (ooh the number symmetry!) as I had started late though my watch said 25:36. I’m really happy with that as I felt like I was crawling by the end. I was completely soaked through and it was still raining. I felt more sorry for the marshals though who looked very cold and wet!

How cool does this map look of where I ran? It really shows how far 18 miles is!

I bumped into my old work colleague, Ian, which was nice. He was actually the person who told me about Hedge End Running Club back in the day. He’s not part of the club but he’s a regular runner and Eastleigh is his usual parkrun. Then I caught up with my friend, Aaron.

He graciously bought me a Fruit Shoot drink (love those things) and we sat in the warm and dry of the café to have a natter. He’s planning on entering the Boston marathon so wanted some advice. He’s a very talented runner and is planning on doing the double – Boston and London (they’re five days apart). Crazy!

When we got up to leave I realised I’d left a little puddle of water in my chair from where I’d dripped…nice. We walked outside and Aaron ran home and my dad picked me up. I was now really cold so when I got home the first thing I wanted was a hot shower before anything else. My hair, though… God what a nightmare.

So knotted and tangled! My hairband was on so tightly I feared I’d rip out half my hair if I tried to pull it out. So I risked it for a biscuit…and used scissors.

Thankfully I avoided cutting any of my actual hair, whew!

When I drove back to my house after showering and breakfast (well, brunch!) I basically drove similar roads to what I’d run and found it ever so depressing how quickly I was zooming along those same streets. It was like Tom Hanks in Cast Away when he spends hours painfully trying to build fire and then at the end of the film picks up a lighter and flicks it on in a second…

Have you ever missed the start of a race or parkrun?

How do you deal with crazy knotted hair?

Do you mind running in the rain?

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Running lost in London

As I mentioned in my previous post, I’ve been in London on a course. The course was really good knowledge-wise but it was a lot of material to get through in four days so I was at saturation point by the end! But what has also been fantastic is actually spending a longer period of time in London. I’ve never stayed longer than a night so this was quite exciting.

As I’m still marathon training I needed to continue my running schedule. How fantastic, I thought, running London!  You see all those “instarunners” run-commuting to and from work looking very cool. London to me in general is very cosmopolitan and exciting. So on Tuesday after my course had finished I walked the ten minutes back to my hotel, kitting myself out in my gear and headed out.

I’d received some great route guidance on Twitter so had a vague plan in my mind, basically going across the bridges and doing a 2.5 mile out and back. Simple. Easy peasy. (I’m sure you can see where this is going).

Just to quickly add a precursor as a reminder before I go on: I’m a country girl, I’m not used to big cities, I don’t go to London that often and, when I do, briefly (and usually under the strict supervision of someone more adult than me) and I’m Anna, the idiot.

My hotel was located in the Whitechapel area near Tower Bridge so I headed there first to cross the Thames. My first annoyance was just as I started going I had to stop for traffic several times before actually making it onto the bridge. This was annoying but I didn’t want to die sooo I couldn’t make any leaps of faith like I can in Hedge End (dodging one car a mile down the road).

Then as I got onto the bridge I was suddenly faced with a sea of people. Tourists and commuters were everywhere and suddenly I was dip-diving through any tiny gaps I could see. I knocked shoulders with several people and my inner-Britishness of being strictly polite at all times cringed in abhorrence. I briefly noticed a 9k race sign and wondered what was going on.

I carried on and eventually got across the bridge and parallel to the water to an equally busy area. It became exhausting having to look ahead to spot spaces and avoid people. I realised I hadn’t listened to any of my podcast. I turned it off so I could concentrate on not colliding with anyone.

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I spotted a race HQ-type area and a sea of blue t-shirt wearing runners. I stopped and asked someone what was going on because I was curious. They told me it was a TeachFirst race (10k Run the River apparently). I pitied their cotton t-shirts as it was so humid that evening and carried on.

Now I’d become a pro at dodging people. I saw so many other runners that I assumed were commuting (backpacks on and a steely look in their eye that they’d seen it all before). I tried nodding and smiling but they had a fixed glare ahead. Even regular runners seemed to ignore me. I think I counted one smile and two stiff nods. Blimey.

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As I got to around 2.5 miles I realised I should think about heading back. I’d gone across a few bridges and knew all I needed to do was head back and find Tower Bridge again, which was super easy because Tower Bridge is a well-known landmark and looks different to the other bridges (dangerous Anna logic).

I had to move off from the safety of the Thames and head into the “wild”. I got myself a bit confused and realised I needed to stick to the safety of the river to keep myself in check of where I was. I quickly checked the GPS map on my phone. Yep, looked about right, just gotta keep heading along the river.

IMG_4754When in doubt, take a selfie

I kept running and running and I couldn’t see the Tower Bridge anywhere in the horizon which was odd because surely I would by now? I checked my phone again and realised I had moved further from the area I knew my hotel was at. What?! I couldn’t get my phone to show me what direction I was pointing and by now, having run almost six miles and no sign of getting back, I started to panic a bit. I asked someone nearby but they were foreign and didn’t know. So I did what I always do in these sorts of situations. I rung my dad. I’d love to say he was surprised but he knows me too well. After he stopped laughing he asked me what was around me and what I could see. Well, the river and Big Ben in the distance and Lambeth Bridge not far from me.

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My dad quickly helped me work out where I needed to go (“go past the London eye”). I now realised I was about four miles from the hotel. Bugger.

I couldn’t follow the river all the way because people had built silly buildings like hospitals right next to it (Winking smile) so I had to veer out again and, my sense of direction being appalling, I got myself mixed up again. I checked my phone and I was running away from the river completely. GARGH!!! I stopped someone and begged them, “please, where’s the river??”.

After getting lost and confused a few more times I ended up on a ridiculously busy area of traffic where cars were going very fast and realised I needed to cross the road. There were no crossing points, limited pavement and no other pedestrians. This was highly stupid I know but I was tired and fed up and legged it across when I could. I then realised there was nowhere for me to go as it wasn’t a pedestrian area. I could see the Thames but I couldn’t get there. Unless I jumped over the wall…which I did. Into a huge stream of blue t-shirt wearing runners. I then had to run against the tide of the race. Much to their and my annoyance – it was not a fun situation for anyone but I just had to do it. The race route wasn’t closed off to the public so technically I was allowed.

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The race then looped back round so I was running alongside runners which made me feel a bit of a fraud as the marshals cheered them on. I was very thirsty by this point as it was so warm and hadn’t anticipated being out for this long (now at 8-9 miles) and wondered if there would be a water station I could beg some water from…but thankfully I spotted a Starbucks and the kind barista gave me some tap water.

I then ran past the lovely scenic Tower of London and got trapped in a garden which didn’t seem to allow me out, but then finally found my way back to familiar territory. At 10.6 miles I was finally back.

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I was tired, hot and bothered. It was entirely my own fault of course but I was just annoyed.

IMG_4762Back at the hotel, not happy and very sweaty

It was now closing in on 8pm. So much for an early night as I still needed to get dinner.

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On the plus side, my splits were fairly consistent and the run itself felt good (albeit very warm and sweaty). I got to see some of the sights and get a few selfies so it wasn’t all bad! It just confirmed my lack of sense of direction and idiocy. Not carrying money on me was probably my biggest mistake as my phone battery got perilously low.

But there we have it, Idiot Anna strikes again! Winking smile

Have you ever ran in London?

Do you ever run-commute?

How do you plan a route in a new-to-you place?