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.

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 milesTime: 1h 09m 04s