Two Cities: Great River Runs

10k Run No.4 – Nike Glasgow Thursday River Run

Distance: 10km

Time:  52min, 30secs

Location: Glasgow Clyde River & City Centre

For my forth run I joined the pleasant bunch of #WeRunGLA,  @ Nike Glasgow running club for an after work Thursday night river run. After a long day at work sometimes you just want to get home, eat, and sit in front of the TV and sticking around until 6:30 to hit the streets running in the cold doesn’t feel all that tempting –  even for a passionate runner (as I seem to be becoming).

However, despite that initial self-resistance to get up and do it, the more I run the more my body craves it. Just like anything in life its all about changing our habits and making the things that are important to us more of a routine rather than an upstream struggle. The motivation has to be there.

This was a beautiful 7km stretch down the Clyde River, over the arch bridge, past the Hydro dome  and the Clyde Auditorium, past the BBC Headquarters and looping around the Riverside Museum and back, before completing a couple of km back through the city.

No.4 GPS Running Stats .

 

10K Run No. 5 – London Thames River Run

Distance: 10km

Time: 49min, 38secs

Location: London: Kensington High St – Tower Bridge

For my fifth run, I was cautious that the recent snow (and the awesome sledging activity that prevailed) had eaten into my plans to run. The interesting part to this whole challenge is that running 2 x 10kms a week can be a challenge with weather, health, work, and travel. Most challenging is knowing that if you miss just one run in a week, at some stage you will have to run 3, and that itself is motivation not to miss any!

So on a hectic work trip to London, I arrived at a hotel at 9:00pm, asked for a map at checkin and as I was staying on the far left of the map in Kensington High Street decided to cover the map from left to right, which took me nicely to Tower Bridge. I dumped my things and hit the streets.

Whilst I am not new to London, I am not familiar with all of these street either. It was just great to be out and exploring free; quite the adventure! I ran past the Royal Albert Hall, along side Hyde Park, and skipped past Buckingham Palace doffing my cap to the Queen, before the road opened up to the sight of Big Ben, which told me I was on track for the river!

I always enjoy sightseeing in London. There are some incredible sights, and even though I was with work it was a pleasant change from airport, train, hotel and office. It felt more like a tourist trip, but what a better way to see it all, than by avoiding the tube, and by running!

As I hit Big Ben, I crossed Westminster Bridge to the sights of London Eye, and ran the south bank, passing St Paul’s, and reaching and crossing Tower Bridge.

As I crossed Tower Bridge, I hit 10km (possibly more as my GPS watch didn’t track it all), and I had clocked my fasted 10km of the year in sub 50mins. I felt great and even considered turning around and running back. Cautious I have another 95 runs to do this year I jumped on the underground and tubed it back across the city for a pleasant sleep triumphant with the memory of a great river run.

No.5 GPS Running Stats .

Whilst my hamstring has struggled, my left kneecap often feels like it is going to fall off, and getting out of bed is far more challenging most mornings, I am only 3 weeks into the year and already this challenge has bought some great experiences running with great people and great places, and I truly can’t wait to see where it takes me next.

Full Results of past 5 runs

Get up, Get active. Find your Motivation.

Thanks for reading.

Paul 🙂