Royal Parks Half Marathon 2016

Sunday 9th October I ran the Royal Parks Half Marathon with some of my colleagues from work! 

Nath had just returned from completing the 3 Peaks Challenge, which I did earlier this year and we had an early start to drive into London with the race starting at 9am. 

It started in Hyde Park, passing Wellington Arch on the East on the Park, then through Green Park getting a glimpse of Buckingham Palace, around the South of St James Park, through Admiralty Arch down past Downing St, past Charing Cross up the strand. We then reached close to Somerset House and back past Trafalgar Square and back through St James and Green Park and then all the way around Hyde Park. So I'm sure you can imagine it was pretty spectacular and not having to worry about cars and tourists was an added bonus.

Here's the route! 

Just before Hannah and I started...

Waiting at the start.

One of Nath's pictures trying to catch me at mile 9.

Despite a returning groin injury (which only seems to pop out during half marathon races) I managed to run the entire time with no stops which is a first! It wasn't comfortable but I was so happy not to walk and I completed it in 1 hour 58 seconds with limited distance training! So plenty of room for improvement, bring on my next one! 

Post race team picture at The Queen's Arms in Kensington where we had a well deserved drink.

Xoxo

Prudential Ride London 2016

So following on from my' Quarter of a Century' post I continued my birthday weekend by participating in the epic Ride London cycle.

Saturday we had to officially register and had the chance to last minute panic buy anything we may need for the dreaded looming day at the expo! 

Registration was super speedy and the queue for my slot only had 3 people in it, ideal! So I picked up my bag with race details; numbers, safety pins, locations and emergency contact details and went for an explore to see how many freebees I could pick up. 

Mum and Dad visited their charity Spinal Research (you can sponsor them here) and were impressed to see their name on the wall at their stand and they gladly took part in a selfie. I forgot to mention this was after Dad went absolutely mental in the official shop, I'm not going to tell you how much he splurged on cycle gear because frankly it's embarrassing! It was like watching a kid in a toy shop, but he did 'treat' mum to a new bike pump and me another water bottle. He sure knows how to spoil us! 

We then obviously signed the wall, I signed in the second '0' in green can you see? 

We picked up a goody bag as did Nath who wasn't even participating! Lots of gels, protein bars, breakfast shakes and other bits of bobs! We also spotted Kelly Holmes who looked great by the way and watched a bit of the people doing bike tricks before heading on our way ready for a carbolicious dinner, last minute bike prep and an early night! Not before we got a photo in the booth obviously! 

This was our route! 

Yeah 100 miles they said, did they mention that the drop off point was 5 miles from the start? No definitely not, or the fact we had to cycle at the end to the train station! Anyway there was really no turning back now!

Nath dropped us off but I made sure he stuck to his boyfriend duties and took a couple of obligatory squad photos before he heading on his way!

Once we arrived at the Olympic Park (not a bad place to start) we all split up into different coloured zones, Diane and I were in the same colour but I was F and she was G so I snuck into her section. The plan was to meet at Sheen Gate (gate to Richmond Park) a good 18 miles in, there was no way I was lone cycling this thing for this long, not what I signed up for! 

The first 18 miles to Sheen Gate went quicker than I thought, I was cycling so fast (desperately trying to keep up with Di) that I didn't even see the mile markets. Also the great London sights were difficult to ignore and it was awesome to have no cars to worry about only the 'MAMILs' which Di told me stood for 'Middle Aged Men in Lycra' a.k.a Dad and Mark! Basically all the gear (including removable sleeves - cringe) and 100% no idea. We zoomed past Canary Wharf, Tower of London, Southbank and the London Eye, the London Pride factory and finally we had arrived at our decided meeting location. 

Mark beat us to in and we just had to wait for Mum and Dad to join us, so I tucked into some Cadbury's chocolate for a quick energy boost! When they finally joined us we headed on our way towards the dreaded Surrey Hills to take on Leith and Box Hill! Yuck!

Unfortunately it wasn't long before we came to a halt around 38 miles! I checked my little Ride London app which tracked our location and we still had a heck of a long way to go and so i text Nath to find out if he knew why we had stopped and to also let him know we weren't just going incredibly slowly and he told me that there had been a huge crash! A guy in front of us had come off his bike and hit a tree, you may think this sounds ridiculous but believe you me cycling is blooming dangerous especially when the MAMILs are about and trying to top each other's speed down the hills! 

Luckily the weather was great and so were the views and it gave us the chance not only to fuel up and hydrate but also plenty of time to contemplate the distance and hills we had yet to cover - taxi anyone?  

We had a few more delays throughout the next few hours and then we found out there would a diversion. This was because we were one of the latest start times and there was a cut off point of 5.30pm to cross the finish line. How disappointing would it have been to almost do 100miles and not get the medal and Mars Bar at the end!

Our diversion meant we missed out on Leith Hill I'm not sure whether this was a good thing or not but we still had to conquer Box Hill. I was expecting a very steep, short but winding hill but no that would have been easy, it was long and winding with a gradual increase in incline and it doesn't help when the road was congested with others and some cyclist stopped in the middle of the road, doesn't really help your momentum.

Cycling through Wimbledon and Kingston on the final straight were great, there was so much support with so many people lining the street cheering us on and pushing us to the end.

I seperated from the rents and Mark and Di as we were running out of time due to delays and I didn't want to miss out on the cut of point plus I was started to feel pretty tired. So I pedalled as fast as my little legs could pedal past Westminster and all the sights I normally run past on my way to work only definitely quicker than my running. And next thing I knew I entered the Mall for the real final straight and it was maybe the best part with so many people there to help us get to the end.

Finally I made it!!! Spot Buckingham Palace in the background, not a bad place to finish a gruelling 100 miles.

And not long after everyone else arrived!

And the medal wasn't bad either...

It was time for a well deserved victory drink before heading home to crash and burn before work on Monday!

Think I'll give my cycling career a break for a few weeks (spoiler I've registered for next year, determined to conquer for Leith Hill)! Hope this encourages some of you to enter the ballot for next year!

Final shout out to Nath for baking me a birthday cake for the first time for my return.

Xoxo

Quarter of a Century

24 is a strange number and a bit too even, so I didn't mind turning 25 as it seems to have a bit more purpose.

The day before my birthday I went out for a 'few' drinks after work with work friends. A few too many more like, safe to say I think I literally introduced Nath to pretty much everyone in the company. I was desperate not to ruin my birthday the following day but I think a hangover was inevitable. 

I woke up early desperately needing a shower and a large glass of water but despite a hangover it was my birthday so I didn't let it tamper with my big day.

Nathan told me the surprise plan for the day... Which I will tell you all later!

After smartening ourselves up we heading into London and made our way to Covent Garden for a spot of lunch. I introduced Nath to Homeslice pizza (which I wrote a blog about earlier this year) and he was impressed! Unfortunately it was rather noisy being a popular lunchtime spot on a Friday, but the food was great. We had chorizo, corn and coriander for one half and ricotta, mushroom, pumpkin seeds and chilli for the other half. We couldn't handle the whole pizza but it seemed to fix me up a treat, I felt back to normal! 

Then finally it was time for my surprise... 

Nath took me to see Book of Mormom and it exceeded every single one of my expectations! It was definitely controversial but hilarious at the same time. So if you want to see it and you're in the UK get tickets now as it ends this October!

We had a bit of time to kill before our friends were joining us for dinner so we walked through Carnaby St stopping to browse a few shops.

We were eating at Piccalinos Heddon St which was just off Regent St and we had a drink in a bar opposite whilst waiting for the others to join us.

Lychee martini for me yum!

Dinner was great- I shared oysters and prawns with Steph as a starter before indulging in truffle mushroom risotto for my main.

After a lovely meal we hit the tiles for a great night out where the boys had far too many shots and us girls were pretty sensible. It was another late night and we only hit the sack around 3.30am but if if its not for your birthday when can you do it!

Saturday was all about Ride London prep, blog post to follow...

Xoxo

Kind of a Yogi Now

For the last month or so I joined a Yoga Studio, because my gym at home screwed up and didn't pay their rent and as a result it closed and I didn't even get a courtesy email. Cheers guys!

So basically I needed to find something before my gym subsiderary from work kicked in which meant I would be able to join the BEST Fitness First ever next to the office. This gave me a month! I follow more than enough Yogis on Instagram to know I basically wanted to be one, is that too much to ask? Here are my top 3 favourites - if you want to be inspired these are the guys to follow;

@Carolinehgroth

@jessicaolie 

@the_southern_yogi

I found my nearest studio, a mere 5 minute walk from the office on a side street just off Tottenham Court Road names iamyoga London. £45 for 30 days unlimited yoga. AMAZING!

So to give you my yoga background, I forced myself through some dull classes at a LA Fitness but wasn't really in the slight bit interested until I joined my auntie Janet at her local hot yoga studio in Canada and I loved it. I left the class dripping with sweat, but super flexible and clear headed. So there you go, this brings me to now. 

iamyoga London has 14 different yoga traditions with 9 different classes a day, so there is more than enough options for 9 to 5 (more like 8 to 6.30) office workers. Whether you are looking for a morning vinyasa flow, lunchtime hot power hour or evening warm Forrest; the options are endless. 

They are very much into their meditation, chanting, spirituality and the occasional acro-type yoga. I literally had the best month there and felt very chilled, clear-minded and all stress levels vanished. I was sad to say goodbye, but unfortunately the price of a regular member doesn't sit too well in my bank account and my new gym actually offers hot yoga included in my membership, winning! 

(Downward dog needs work, at some point I would like to have flat feet)!

Xoxo

The Telegraph | Putney

Happy Sunday!

Today we woke up to bright blue skies and sunshine. After a late wake up we had a quick breakfast and tidy up before driving to Putney to meet up with Jess and Max for a pub lunch in the sun. 

This will probably be my shortest blog, but the pub was super cute and it felt like we were in the countryside not within London so I just thought I'd share with you all in case you were on the hunt for a new pub to try out.

Here's the link - The Telegraph, Putney.

Xoxo

Running London

So previously I've taken a deep dive into my passion for running, now I'm going to tell you all about my love of running around London.

My commute to work everyday takes me on the Reading line to Waterloo and then I tend to walk from there to Tottenham Court Road, by Goodge Street where my offices are. I took baby steps, initially I ran to and from Waterloo a few times (just under 2 miles) and that worked but during rush hour I spent the majority of the time people dodging so it wasn't good as a stress reliever. 

Then I plucked up the courage to join my office Running Club which is run by a personal trainer, I didn't quite do it alone, I dragged along my dedicated pal and now excellent running partner Jason to join me. We were taken through the beautiful Regent's Park and into Camden and through the market. Safe to say I was hooked, I hadn't realised how close all these places were. I vowed to make use of my lunch hour to explore more. 

After several lunchtimes running around the Park, Running Club took us up the beauty and the beast that is Primrose Hill. If I'm honest, the first time I did in fact fail, my mental strength couldn't carry me to the top, next time I took Jason and we did it! So worth it for the amazing views across London.

From then on I decided running should play a key part in my commute. I was blaming the commute on not having time to do as much exercise, so why the hell not incorporate it. 

I decided to get 6.32am (earlier) train into Waterloo but get off at Clapham Junction and run in from there. I did have to carry a bag, always going to be a pain but I packed lightly. I set maps up in my phone and popped my earphones in which were able to direct me whilst running, as I didn't have much time for error. I ran through Battersea Park and crossed over one of the bridges and ran along the river towards Westminster before heading up towards work. I was blessed with the most beautiful sunrise and made a deal with myself to attempt to do this route once a week. 

After a few runs like this but extending the distance a bit, I wanted to explore different areas of London. I'd never done Hyde Park, so I thought why not. I did this last week and it was awesome for sightseeing but there were so many niggily bits it was more stressful than anything. I passed through Battersea Park, over Chelsea Bridge, into Chelsea and Kensington, past the back of Harrods, into Hyde Park and around the Serpentine and into work.

So much running and exploring to do! It's also great for finding tucked away restaurants, cafes, bars and good Summer picnic spots. 

What's stopping you, get out there and explore..

Xoxo

Hyde & Seek Adventures in London

The last few weekends I've been in London with family and friends 

The weekend before last I went in with my family to celebrate Mum's and Adrian's birthday! We got in early and were lucky to have bright blue skies so we walked along Southbank past the ITV Studio and the OXO Tower and then across the Millenium Bridge, past St Pauls and into the city towards New Street Grill for our bottomless brunch. 

Bottomless Brunch seems to be the thing to do, most of the time the food is great with all your brunch favourites; eggs royale or benedict, pancakes with bacon and maple syrup you name it but you can also pick places that just sticks to none breakfast related items and then of course comes the bottomless part; unlimited prosecco, mimosas, bloody Mary's or whatever the restaurant of choice is offering. We picked New Street Grill because it's not just about the breakfast (Mum doesn't like eggs), the food looked great and they have oysters (always a win). 

Yum yum yum! After a long and lengthy lunch we headed out and decided to pop into Heron Tower to Sushi Samba so Mum and Dad could experience the view.

Next stop Madison Rooftop, I had never been here before but had only heard good things and as for the view! Pretty perfect view of St Pauls.

Amazing day spent celebrating birthdays and exploring new places in London,

The weekend just been Nathalie and Jason (Nath's sister and her boyfriend) came to visit! We were lucky to have great weather again and due to an issue with trains we arrived in Paddington, so we hired Boris Bikes now known as Santander Cycles and cycled around Hyde Park stopping for an ice cream.

Around around 5 miles we were in need of some proper fuel, we walked from Hyde Park, along Oxford Street and through Soho to Covent Garden. We ate a late lunch at Fire and Stone and it was delicious, really recommend if you want a great variety of tasty pizzas. 

After sufficiently filling our bellies, we decided to walk it off and head back towards Waterloo stopping off at Rumpus Room at the Mondrian Hotel overlooking Southbank to quench our thirst before our journey home. Top tip, probably wouldn't go in on ripped jeans and trainers again it's kind of a 'posh'(ish) joint!

I literally love London, there are so many more adventures to be had and I'll definitely be keeping you updated with them all...

Xoxo