In my three and a half weeks or so of running I feel I’ve hit a peak in experiencing a run that was truly a joy. Running is a pass time which doesn’t, in any way, come naturally to me. It is, without a shadow of a doubt, made enjoyable *only* by the company in which I am lucky to find myself. Thanks to M&D for joining me for the run, and more importantly for the opportunity to reminisce about holidays in the way that only those who have done them can do. This became central to our chat. I’m passionate about holidays, as anyone who has met me will know. They both are too. We came to the conclusion that passing on this reason for being so addicted to the Sense holidays program is a very difficult thing to do. There are plenty of in-jokes and plenty of ‘you had to be there’ moments which we all just sort of get. That’s the magic (cliche of the century, I know but.. it is) of the Holiday experience. We laugh and joke about the comedic moments of holidays where you have to know to laugh, rather than cry, to plough on regardless of the hiccups(!) along the way and just make it all happen. And the reward comes, in the end, when you realise what you achieve. It’s just so difficult to communicate, because it’s a feeling, not a function, it’s an experience.

More on why later, when I have the time to write everything up. David managed some lovely quotes, which, assuming he says it’s ok, will be with you in no time. Michelle was, and always has been, an inspiration… Thanks guys.

Finishing up at the bar (being propped up by it, not vice versa) reminds me I’m evil to my body… failing to stretch and warm down properly, yet again. Old habits (don’t ever even) die hard. I’ll never be a proper runner at this rate!

Enjoy Friday peeps…

Andy.

Miles today: 3.00
Target: 72
Miles to date: 76.06
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Runner's Glee Club: Andy, David, Irene, me, James, Pete and Carl at the end of the run

So this morning I gathered with my little Glee Club of running to head on a circuit of Hyde Park to go past the 1095 mile minimum mileage point that I set myself when starting to run daily back on September 20 last year.

On day 280 of the challenge, my fellow runners included David, James, Irene, Carl, Pete, Andy and Will and we set off to do a huge figure of eight around Hyde Park at around 10am this morning, passing the magic mark two miles into the 5mile run with a very English stifled round of applause while running.

Given it was approaching 25 degrees and Will hadn’t run for a while, he left us around the 2.5 mile mark to head to the start but the rest of us started as a bunch and finished as a bunch on what was a really lovely run.

Questionable refuelling? Not us

While I still have 85 days to run to complete running for exactly a year, I am now actually averaging 3.92 miles a day and am a whopping 258 miles ahead of target!

Post run, we decided to head for some liquid refreshment into nearby Shepherd Market. But despite a proliferation of five boozers in an area four streets by two, none of them were open until noon and none of us fancied hanging around for almost an hour.

James thanked the Lord for creating beer

Luckily, one little pavement breakfast café was open and, after we had to ask a couple to move and we moved another table on (possibly down to the whiffy smell) we settled down to a cold one with a couple of us tucking into bacon butties and bacon and egg as an added refueling measure. It was an Ice Cold In Alex moment – and I can’t thank the guys enough for joining me to do it.

Click here for a link to Garmin Connect for a route map and details of the run

Miles today: 5.27
Target: 840
Miles to date: 1,098.31

Please donate to my chosen charities by clicking here

Back at Hyde Park Corner, with pre-made message in hand

Saturday saw him have to spend time with the family and so we moved the run to this morning, lopping three miles off the distance we were going to do as I wanted to finish on as close to 1,000 miles as possible.

At around 6.50 this morning, I got  a text from him saying ‘ready to go’ at which I have to admit having a small groan when I read it… Last night, Laura and I were at a Eurovision party so I’d woken up with a slightly sore head. Nontheless, I jumped in the shower and then the car to get to our meeting point, Hyde Park Corner.

David – who runs like a whippet anyway – put me to shame by having run from his house in Hackney, so he already had six miles on the  clock when we set off on what turned out to be quite a lovely route.

From Hyde Park Corner, we cut through Green Park to Buckingham Palace and then rounded St James’s Park, coming up by Horse Guard’s Parade where everyone is getting ready for Trooping The Colour: barriers were going up, the chairs in the parade were being laid out and guards were practising their marching.

From here we cut through Trafalgar Square and Picadilly Circus, taking the long steady climb up Regent St, over a very empty Oxford Circus (all the shops were closed, it was so early), past the BBC and on into Regent’s Park. It’s the one central London park I had yet to run around and, as we passed London Zoo, you could hear animals squawking and roaring as we past.

David joins the celebrations

By the time we got to Baker Street, the streets had started filling up, meaning we had to do some pavement dodging before coming back into Hyde Park. We passed 1,000 miles just before coming back to Hyde Park Corner. A fabulous run with a fabulous and supportive mate.

Click here for a link to Garmin Connect for a route map and details of the run

Miles today: 7.40
Target: 759
Miles to date: 1,000.17

Please donate to my chosen charities by clicking here