Richmond

11 miles in 1:40:28
Route: Richmond circuit 1

I have a long-standing joke with my friend Charlie about going to Richmond. We often used to say on a weekend when we had nothing to do (this was before I took up running) “why don’t we go to Richmond?”, but never actually did. Today, after almost 6 years of trying, I finally made it there.

I was joined by my friend Stephen (fellow York graduate and Serpentine member), which made a nice change from running with my ipod. He is training for the Stratford-Upon-Avon ‘Shakespeare’ Marathon (snigger) which is only a week after London, so we are pretty much on the same training plan. Training is so much easier when you have someone to run with. It’s great having someone to talk to as you clock up the miles and it stops the temptation to lay in bed all day instead of getting up and getting on with it.

We met at 9.30am in Vauxhall and hopped on a train to Richmond. On arrival, after some sketchy map work, we jogged up to the park (about a mile or so) to warm up. There is a track running around the perimeter of the park that is just over 7 miles long, so we had planned to do around one and a half laps. Stephen has a GPS watch – a very nifty device which tells you how many miles you have covered, what pace you are running at and, if you program it, whether to speed up/slow down to reach your optimal pace – so we kept an eye on that to ensure we knew when to turn back.

It was a nice running route – mostly gravel/dirt track. There were so many other runners that, at times, it felt like we were in a small, badly organised race. At one point, we passed someone coming the other way that I recognised as Andrew Smith – the London Marathon ‘Finish Director’ who I had seen speak at the training seminar last weekend. He didn’t wave.

It wasn’t all plain sailing. There were a couple of sections of bad mud, including one up-hill stretch where I was moving my legs but going nowhere. It also rained on us a couple of times, but it could have been much, much worse.

After the requisite distance, we walked back to the station marvelling at the beautiful houses and stopping in Tesco for a banana and, curiously, some chocolate milk. Stephen claims to have read somewhere that it was found to be the best recovery drink for runner. Wish they had found it was a pint of Guinness, or a pie and chips instead. Bloody science.

All in all a very good day: completed the distance ok, felt strong and knee didn’t play up at all. I really feel like I’m ready to push onto the next stage – medium to long distance. Next weekend I am going to do a 12 miler around London somewhere, then probably back to Richmond with Stephen the weekend after that for two laps of the park. The weekend after that, I am going to run a half marathon – slightly less distance than I should probably do, but I think the ‘race’ experience will be worth it.

So here’s to Richmond. I’m glad to have finally made it there.

Chocolate milk-aholic: Stephen in Richmond Park