Beautiful Day

Wow. Today was my first day back running in central London since being injured on the 1st of the month. I really hadn't realised that it's been over three weeks. Luckily today was just a lovely day; warm, sunny and an antidote to the rubbish that the Atlantic has been throwing our way. In St James Park the cherry blossom adorns every tree and the daisies are poking through too (and we know that Daisy Doo loves daisies!). So, yes, I went back to running around the parks this lunchtime and very nice it was too:

I have to say though that I felt a bit out of shape and I can't blame it on my sprained back either (well not so much). The best part of a month off has taken it's toll and this was amply illustrated when a young buck tore past me in Hyde Park on the horse trail; this is my turf, if you know what I mean, but there was no way that I could match his pace even if I'd wanted too. Impressive. That said any run that takes in more than 7.5 miles in less than an hour is a success in my book. Also I think that I've identified the weird sliding sensation that I felt when getting injured - in a particularly slick part of Green Park my right foot slid away from me (on what seemed like potter's clay) and triggered a vivid muscle memory. So at least that's one worry answered. Now I've just got to continue the quad stretching and see where it goes.

Distance: 7.7 miles

Time: 57m 12s