Halted by a hangover

Yesterday I was in London all day and managed a run in Hyde Park before work. It’s a great place to go for a run with the park usually full of other runners and although it’s in the middle of London, it feels like the air is almost fresh. So it was nice to get out a do 5km in the morning.

One great thing is that I am getting faster with the running – it doesn’t feel like I’m really pushing too hard, but I’m now running at only just over 5min per km.

I was also meant to be going out in Hyde Park again this morning, but I didn’t.

Yesterday I went to a conference in London that I’d help to organise. And it went well. It went really well. So after the conference we went to the pub and because the conference was such a success we stayed in the pub. Which meant it was quite hard to go out for a run this morning, it was actually quite hard to even get out of bed and get dressed!

So, another unplanned day off, but you what, sod it!

Disappointing Day

I had one of those meetings yesterday.

I had thought that I would be pitching my business BoothChat to a few investors and I was excited. We only found out late on Wednesday, so Thursday was a whirl of activity getting things ready and writing a presentation. Friday morning involved an early train and lots of mumbling to myself as I practiced the presentation.

Then when the meeting finally arrived it was one bloke in a room who looked a bit distracted and didn’t seem to “get” it.

It wasn’t necessarily bad, but it certainly wasn’t good. And it got me thinking… and worrying.

This is what I do. This is what puts food on the table for my family. I’ve invested a lot of time and energy and emotion into this (and some money too). I believe in it, I really do, but when someone else appears not to then it’s hard. It kind of knocked the wind from my sails and put me in a bit of a funk for the rest of the day. I questioned what I’m doing and worried about whether it would ever be a success. To have to rely on other people in this way (whether it’s for investment, for sales or just to work with and support you in all the other ways that are important), when some of them don’t quite get it is hard.

I work hard at this, sometimes to the detriment of the time I can spend with my family, almost always to the detriment of the time I can spend on myself and the training I’d like to do and it felt that hard work was being ignored. Sometimes I’d just like the hard work to be recognised and rewarded.

Of course I know I’m not the only person going through these thoughts, but I’m normally quite a positive person (even if I can look a bit miserable at times eh Lucy!) and this is the first time for a long time that it hit me like this.

To bring it back to the swimming etc, what I love about this is that you don’t have to rely on anyone else. You define success and then you strive to achieve it through your own physical efforts. For me last year success was defined as completing the Windermere swim, this year I’ve set some time-based goals, but they’re all down to my work hard. I don’t have to “sell”, to convince others to be a success.

Not only that, but the time spent training can be a great opportunity to unwind, relax, recharge and almost meditate. This morning I got on my road bike for the time in possibly years. I didn’t go far (17km in 50 mins), but I enjoyed it, relaxed and got yesterday’s disappointing day out of my system.

Run out, tube home

I finally got my act sorted and actually took my running kit with me to London for a trip. And not only that, but I actually went out for a run too.

Of course, what I mean by getting my act sorted is that I nearly got it sorted – I still forgot my running glasses and my socks, but I made the most of it and set off at 7am anyway. It was nice to be out and on the streets when it was so quiet. I was staying near Liverpool St, so quite central and busy in normal hours, but quite relaxing to be a part of it just as it was waking up.

I didn’t intend to be out for long as I’m still easing myself very gently back into running. My plan was to run in pretty much a straight line for 10 minutes and then turn round and come back again. I thought I might make it to Old Street tube station and then head back, but what I forgot was that you go so much quicker when you’re running. So after only a couple of minutes realising I was over half way there I decided to head to Liverpool St station and then turn round and retrace my steps… but it’s confusing around Liverpool St station… and I didn’t have my glasses, so before I knew it I was running around St Paul’s cathedral!

It’s not actually that far away, but it feels it when you didn’t intend to be there and you’re half blind.

In the end I didn’t have to take the tube back, although I was very close to it. But my 20 minute run had turned into a 34 minute one. But I’m really glad I did it, because I didn’t have any adverse reactions and I can now be a bit braver with my running. So being a blind, lost, idiot has had a positive effect!

Swimming to work

According to this article on the Guardian and idea to provide London’s canals with a swimming lane has been mooted. This would allow commuters to swim to work.

I love the idea and a 2-3 mile swim every morning (in the summer) would be a great way to start the day. It would certainly beat going to the gym and what a great way to see a bit more of London and to commute to work.

However, the comments on the Guardian piece don’t seem very complimentary.

It’s a shame as it’s ideas like this that eventually lead to real and practical uses for the canal network. You have to have the “wacky” idea first and then the more practical ideas develop from that. I would have thought that Guardian readers may have been a little bit more sympathetic to it.

In any case, it’s not likely to come to pass as it was all part of a competition to come up with new ideas to reclaim public space – and it wasn’t even the winner. However there were some great other entries, you should take a look here.