Finsbury Park in the sunshine

It's pretty obvious at the moment that I'm not doing that much running - especially in the week - and the big problem with that is that I've really got to hit my weekend runs. So when it became clear that today was going to be chock-a-block (what with speech therapy, violin practice, swimming lessons, a photo shoot and then going out for dinner) I knew that I'd only be getting one shot at the prize. Luckily at 11am, with the family heading out of the front door, the sun was shining and I had a route down to Finsbury Park that wasn't going to run itself.

Halfway down the Parkland Walk

As I've mentioned before it's a cracking little run and today, coming up to lunchtime, it was swarming with recreational runners. Seriously where do they all come from? I'm sure that I didn't bump into them when the snow was 6" on the ground! Still I felt pretty good heading down the old railway track with the sound of birds singing in the trees, which was the case for most of the run, and even Finsbury Park felt busy and welcoming today.

A bit of perspective in Finsbury Park

The best part of this route is the section heading up to Highgate and not just because it's the way home - today I was hoping to catch some of those fun runners and use them as motivational stepping stones. So I hit the trail with some purpose and set off at about 4 min/km pace. And didn't catch anyone. So I persevered. A little while later I thought that I glimpsed a flash of red in the distance and so upped my pace a fraction. But still no one came into view. This was starting to get annoying but all I could do was keep calm and carry on. In fact by the time the end came I hadn't seen, caught and passed a single runner heading in my direction. What are the odds?!

Either way by the time I got back to Queens Wood and the homeward stretch I felt that I'd put my legs through the mill as there wasn't much left in the tank for even the slightest rise:

The 39 steps?

Hence I was quite glad to see my front door and the chance for a refreshing cup of tea. Ah the joy of being British!

Distance: 9.2 miles

Time: 1h 11m 43s