Regents Park loop

Well the dry spell has definitely broken: at 7:45 this morning it was lashing it down as I ran out to the car! So it was fairly fortuitous that by the time I got to Jack Straw's Castle the rain had petered out and it didn't reappear right until the end of the run. Bonus! Today a very large group, too numerous to name, assembled in the car park and set off through Hampstead (after lapping the pond a couple of times in a holding pattern while Darren caught up!). Ahead of us waited one of the classic routes that arches over Primrose Hill and plunges down into the heart of Regents Park.

A classic route south

As always no one gets left behind when we're running downhill and we all arrived in the park together looking for a water stop at the halfway point. Fortunately there's a kiosk handily sited just near the Inner Circle, above the rose garden, and it's always open. After this we headed back and the sense of anticipation began to grow; everyone knew that we were going to be heading uphill; the only question was which one. Unusually this question was put to bed quite early when Jonathan Green put in a surge along St John's Wood Park, which I followed, and we then continued straight up Fitzjohn's Avenue without waiting to regroup! So that was the deal; a direct push for the top with no prisoners taken!

In a sense this couldn't have worked out better for me but it wasn't easy maintaining a 7 min/mile pace all of the way up to Hampstead village and beyond; even though Jonathan had fallen off of the pace I didn't feel that I could let up and so past the tube station my mouth was hanging open like a yokel on a trip to the big city! In a way I think that these little moments of suffering are great preparation for strong race finishes but I was very glad to make the traffic lights by the pond and bring an end to the pain. Maybe this is just the lot of the recreational runner though - an endless cycle of pain in a bid to maintain fitness!

Distance: 8.3 miles

Time: 1h 09m 04s