My second weekend in London was all about the London Marathon. Val was running it on Sunday so Saturday morning I met up with her at 8am. We did a short "shake-out run" to a tube stop further down the line and then went to the marathon expo. It was SO MUCH FUN! I had a great time helping Val pick out her last minute items & chatting with the vendors. My favorite was chatting with someone from Virgin Active (a sports club) with the nametag "Marathon Motivator." The expo was well run & it was great NOT to be running the next day.
After the expo, we went to Portobello Road, an antiques street market in Notting Hill and then did some more last minute race shopping. Around 4 we headed over to Kensington Gardens (where Will & Kate will live) for tea and then Val cooked us spaghetti & meatballs for dinner. At 8pm I left her apartment and headed back to the hotel, grabbed a drink, and went to bed.
Sunday morning I woke up, went for my own long run, and then headed off to meet up with Val's friends to cheer her on. Here are some pics of the marathon -
One of the local charity group - basically 2 out of 3 runners seemed to have a charity bib
CROWDS
Mile 13/22ish
After missing her around mile 13 (somehow), I finally caught a glimpse of her at mile 23! She apparently looked a lot stronger than she felt. She did awesome! After the race I met up with her and a couple of her other friends & we FOUGHT to get out of the area through a sea of people. She changed in my hotel & then we went to her charity's after party where she got food & a massage, meeting up with even more of her friends. I think at least 10 of her friends who showed up at some point throughout the day to cheer her on. It's great to see that she has a great support group in the UK and all of her friends are fantastic and very welcoming. Finally, we ended our evening with great burgers, fries, and an Oreo sundae. I am impressed Val had enough energy to do anything more than collapse.
The rest of the week was fine, although I was really feeling ready to come home. I do not like living out of a hotel. I like making my eggs/coffee in the morning & then having a couch and DVR to come home to in the evening. I also really missed my gym as the 10 X 10 room in the hotel didn't cut it. I went for a lot of runs, both alone, with Val, and with Brian but I really was started to feel burnt out on the runs. I never thought I would say this, but I missed swimming. I also REALLY missed biking.
My last night there, I had dinner with Val and AK (another old coworker) Thursday night at an amazing Indian restaurant. My flight was delayed on Friday night so when I finally landed it was 10pm ET (3am London Time). My amazing dad picked me up from the airport, and after watching some biggest loser, I went to bed.
Saturday I woke up and eventually went for a 10 mile run. I am excited to get back into the hard workouts, but I won't lie, the run was pretty rough. Luckily, the rest of the day was great with lunch with my family and then meeting up with some of my high school friends & one of their adorable daughters! I felt bad because at around 6 I practically fell asleep on her couch, but I did bring English chocolate so I figure even trade!
This morning, I woke up early & headed 70 minutes out of town for a 70 mile bike ride. The drive was long but the view was TOTALLY worth it. Here are a couple of pics of the wonderful views (stolen from the Team Z facebook page) -
These pictures do not do it justice. There was beautiful farmland, lots of animals, a clear blue sky, and very few cars. For the people going 70 miles, we did a 56 mile route & then a 17 mile route from Boyce Elementary school. At the end of the 56 one which I mostly rode alone, I definitely was bonking a bit because I am struggling to eat enough on the bike. After eating, I headed back out with Mary and Mark who knew a shortcut to take 2 miles off the route. I made sure to keep up with them, working hard just to have to bike less. It was definitely worth it. Overall, I averaged just under 15 mph, finishing the ride in 4 hours and 50 minutes. After the ride, we all stopped at the local general store for some great food.
I now have two weeks at home (1 weekend) and then I head back to the UK for 2 more weeks. I have a lot of DVR to catch up on between now and then. After that trip, I should hopefully be home for the rest of the summer. Next weekend is a recovery week for the team (aka short ride) but I think I will try to do a longer one since I will be missing the big one while I am gone. If anyone is interested in joining me, let me know!
Random thoughts about London -
*The tube system is pretty awesome. The longest I ever had to wait for a train was 8 minutes (due to a maintenance worker strike) but in general trains come every 1-4 minutes
*When you enter a London tube station, you still might have a 1/4-1 mile walk to the platform. If you change lines it's antoher 1/4-1 mile walk to the other platform. There is a LOT of walking and very few people actually drive around.
*If you order a pickle, you will get some weird relish thing. If you want a pickle, order a Gherkin.
*Mac = raincoat
*I was thrilled to be there for the wettest month since the 1970s sometime
*If you like hoppy beer, you are out of luck
*A British propoganda poster during WWII had the motto "Keep Calm and Carry On." There is a lot of play on that nowadays (i.e. "Keep Calm and Drink Beer") but I love that original motto. When I go back, I want to get something that says that.
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