Dahn Sahf to Oop North

Today I ran from Surrey to Yorkshire. And back. Kind of. 

The odyssey began with a short (but very early) potter to my nearest train station, complete with rucksack containing warm clothes, laptop, towel etc. Sitting in the heated carriage in my slightly sweaty running gear, the noise of the train drowned out the grumbling of my knees, and I was soon enjoying a nice sleep.

An hour later I awoke, stepped from the train, and jogged across the concourse of Waterloo and onto the dark streets of central London. Heading north over a windswept Thames I pulled my shirtsleeves down over my knuckles, and hoped that by the time I reached the crest, the exertion of the incline would have warmed me up a bit.

Trying to find a comfortable running form between the constant stop-start of road crossings, and pedestrian hip-swerves proved a bit tricky. Too fast, and the weight of my pack was forcing me to hit the ground hard; too slow, and the pack seemed to want to eat my shirt from the back with every step. I’m sure that in my headtorch and reflective ankle bands I looked fetching enough, without adding an exposed midriff to the ensemble. Luggage issues aside, this was a great time to be running across town, and I’m eternally surprised more rat racers don't begin their day this way.

York Minster - a fleeting glimpse



But my journey was taking me further. Arriving at London Kings Cross at the end of this second leg, I then boarded my next train of the day, and settled down to another kip. This is definitely my kind of interval training. Still in my sweaty top, (which is a kind off off-white I like to call "laundry-oversight blue") I had no trouble in securing a spare seat beside me, and with a bit of rare legroom, awoke in time for my stop at York.

Which marked the start of today's third run. I may have mentioned a sporadic work schedule, and less than 24hrs earlier I had been summoned to a team meeting at my client’s offices, on a business park to the north of York. For the first time I wasn’t rushing to make it to my train, but without the clock against me, the rain had a go instead, so I tried not to hang about.

Once at the office I washed and changed, to see the arrival of the other two members of the Planning Team, who’d also just run in from the station, from Glasgow and Edinburgh. There’s no doubt that Adventure Sports Event Planners are a certain breed, as whilst this was the first time I’d arrived on foot, they thought nothing of it, and probably assumed I’d left another folding bike "folded" under a London taxi.



Six hours of meetings followed, which was typically an hour less than we’d have needed to wrap things up (TR=ta+1, where "TR" is Time Required, and "ta" is Time Available). Promptly using up my buffer to extract myself from the meeting, I scarpered out the door to catch my train with no time to spare. The GPS checkers among you will see a manually tweaked track in my RunningFree data for Leg 4, but when you’re pushing eight minute miles just to get the train home, you don’t hang about waiting for your GPS to find a satellite. Fortunately I caught sight of Stewart from our team, who'd left ahead, he's an excellent orienteer, so I caught him up and ran with him along the river. Slightly longer, devoid of pedestrians and road crossings, so suitably quick (thanks Stewarty!).



The illuminating South Bank - London Waterloo



More sleeping on the train back to Kings Cross, and a much more relaxed run to Waterloo. I learnt a while ago that there's no fast link to be had here, so after running almost to Waterloo station, subway works diverted me back towards the river, so I took an five minute detour to enjoy a stretch of South Bank.

By the time I alighted from my final train, my legs were just about shot. My bag felt like it had gained another rock, and my thighs were complaining with every uphill step. Unfortunately, my stubborn streak trumped my complaining legs, and keen to complete the day with another orignal return route, I decided to take the alternative hilly option for good measure.

So there we go. One rucksack, two aching quads, three counties, four trains, six runs, and another fourteen-and-a-bit miles in the bank. That which doesn't kill us......


Summary:
Today: 14.9 miles, 2:01 hrs, 1962 cals
January: 72.0 miles, 9:57 hrs, 9822 cals