After a lovely, relaxing weekend in North Wales with plenty of beach running I knew that it was back to the metropolis for me and in many ways I didn't mind. It's been a while since we spent an entire weekend in London and there's something comforting about falling back into a routine. So off up to Green Park I headed this lunchtime with the plan of putting in a couple of easy laps and seeing how my legs responded. Given the large number of other runners out and about this was clearly a popular option - which might be why I failed to notice a couple of my colleagues also out in their running shorts. Oops!
On the other hand my inattention might be blamed on another cause - my general feeling of malaise as I completed a route that not six months ago was, quite literally, a walk in the park. Oh well. I persevered and even managed to keep up, more or less, with a sprightly middle-aged runner who decided to make a race of it and had the form to be competitive. This gave me a bit of a psychological boost and by the time I returned to Embankment Gardens I was anticipating a few barefoot minutes alongside the office.
Obviously it looks a bit strange when someone just takes off their shoes, puts them down and then runs away but, to their credit, Londoners are a hardy breed and no one batted an eyelid. In fact barely anyone gave me a second glance as I completed a couple of laps around the office! However I'm going to have to find a longer barefoot route in Central London as there are only so many loops one can run around their workplace before tongues start wagging!
Distance: 6.8 miles
Time: 45m 57s