Running the Tube Lines!

Please re-tune your browsers to the new site!

2011-08-31T23:27:00.000+01:00

Hi
This is for the benefit of the 50+ subscribers who will receive this post as a push into their inbox.
I didn't want to do this until after I'd finished the total challenge but now I have, I can reveal that I have now migrated the whole website content over to a more resilient and versatile platform. The website - including my first substantive post since I completed the challenge, can be found by visiting this site:

http://runningthetubelines.com/2011/08/31/tube-running-companions/

I will continue to write about things and if you've enjoyed reading so far, I suggest that you pop on over to this site and add yourselves up this subscription by following the 'subscribe' box on the right hand side. If you're an existing WordPress user its even easier to subscribe up with a single click. Because of the clumsiness of the Blogger system it is not possible to migrate the subscriber list over to the new site, and I appreciate that some of you might have heard enough now that I have finished running. But there are new ideas in the pipeline- but this will be the last post I make to this platform. So please re-tune your browsers to the new site.

Thank you and good night.

The End... or the End of the Beginning?

2011-08-22T21:23:00.002+01:00

21/8/11 - 6.2 miles

All good things must come to an end... but is this the end?

Clearly, the prospect of how my final run would turn out is something that has been on my mind for some weeks, perhaps some months. When I started out back in November 2010, some 285 days previously, I had no idea what 'tube running' would do for me or indeed for others. Before I get too reflective about looking at the whole thing "in the round" today I will make a stab at the final instalment of the 'tube run', and hope it meets expectations!

I had extended the offer for many many months of people wishing to join me for any of my tube runs. The number of people scheduled to join in for the final run went up and down as we got closer to the day. On Sunday morning therefore I arrived at Orpington station on a glorious sunshine-filled August morning to meet Rupert, Colette, and Chris (T) - all running club buddies. We got the train together up to London Bridge, then changed to the Jubilee Line to Green Park, then on to Earl's Court. Surfacing from the tunnels I had messages from some of the others who were excitedly making their way to our rendez-vous point. A couple of people asked me where the Tardis was - evidently not having seen it before or indeed read my blog, where it has featured a number of times! As the four of us passed through the barriers, a station attendant asked us where 'the race' was. I told him that it was an important day for tube running, and he told me about how some LU staff were at one point going to run end-to-end on the District Line. I amazed him effortlessly with some tube facts and trivia. He was evidently a runner and interested in our exploits, and I hope he reads about this final run.

Outside, two buddies from the world of Twitter - who had never met each other before - were already in conversation. This was Dan (who'd travelled up from Oxford, and who was to run with me) and Kristie (who was keen to see us all off at the start). I wondered how they might have realised that outside this busy station on a Sunday morning that they might have a common connection but Dan had his Twitter ID in rather large letters on his T-Shirt, and so it was a good off-chance given they were both on the same 'feed' that they were there for the same reason. In the 15-20 minutes that passed other runners turned up: Ciaran (veteran of the NE and of the Wembley runs), Alex F, and Chris L (both work buddies).

@kristiewest and @running_dan_w

Kristie took a few photos, tried to get me to do a speech to mark the start of this run (I declined, not having my brain in gear so early to say anything remotely inspirational!) and as I was slightly worried about this being a time-critical run (in that we needed to arrive at the end by 11:15) I decreed that we made the off, from Earls Court!

Team Wabbit - assembled at the start!
L-R: Chris L, Rupert, Ciaran, Chris T, Dan, Colette, Alex, Me

Now the entire of this route I've done before of course - on the District Line - so this was for me a bit of a victory lap. I will in due course work out what proportion of my runs would be deemed 'unnecessary' from the perspective of the routes between the same stations being serviced by multiple lines - but today was all about my sharing the experience with some of my best running buddies. At the outset, Dan and Ciaran zoomed off ahead; with me, Alex and Chris L in the middle; followed by my running club buddies chatting away at the end. I was hoping that the various groups assembled would end up talking to each other - as they did, in due course - without me having to do too much in the way of 'hosting' the run. All I had to do was to set a broad direction and our group, like a small swarm of bumble-bees, made its way towards Gloucester Road.

Here was my first surprise of the day - because as I coaxed the runners into one place a man stepped forward from the crowd - my brother, Pete! You can see him here second in, next to Dan. I knew he was recently back from Thailand and that he was to be there later in the day at the end, but he'd decided that he'd like also to be part of the tube running experience! So we were now a team of magnificent nine! We progressed along side streets towards South Kensington.

Here I turned to Colette, who used to work around here, as to directions towards the Kings Road. A quick cross-check to my map indicated many options and Colette was being non-committal - surprising given that she'd worked here for many years previously. Only later did it transpire that Mrs Wright had abused her being copied into an e-mail to the runners wherein she had instructed for some deliberate slowing down of proceedings so that we didn't arrive too early at the end!

Taking familiar side-streets diagonally, instead of the big L shape to Kings Road, we passed the impressive Michelin Bibendum building and the Terence Conran store and made our ways towards the Peter Jones department store. Dan was being very complementary and telling me how I was one of his inspirational runners. This is coming from a man who himself is running some 800km for fundraising. In fact a lot of people have recently said to me that I am 'inspirational'. I am not sure how this can be the case - after all, - the only thing that I'm doing is running, and writing about what I do. Anyway, self-publicising about how brilliant I am is not part of these posts so I'll stop there and remark that below for the first time you see all nine of us as I boldly asked a tourist to take this photo. There is strength in numbers compared to my previous runs, in which it would be just one brightly-coloured lycra-clad individual acting unusually around stations! This is Sloane Square.

Next I led Team Wabbit through the side-streets of Pimlico, and in roads parallel to Buckingham Palace Road, where I first started work back in the late 1990s. I wowed Chris L with the fact that once, some 10-15 years ago, I too was a nimble finance graduate (as opposed to the cynical middle-aged [yet brilliant] civil servant that I am now). And passing alongside the Passport Office, we arrived at Victoria station, where I got a purveyor of discount international mobile phone calling cards to take this picture. For me, Chris and Alex F, this location was one we travel through every single day, but it was nice to be jogging past it on a Sunday. It is also I recall somewhere I visited on my first ever Tube Run, back in November. I've come a long way since then. Hang on - that's getting into reminiscing territory - halt!

Instead of travelling down Victoria Street, which inexplicably was quite busy for a weekend, Alex guided us through the shopping centre at Cardinal Place and we passed Westminster Barracks and the Ministry of Justice (the 'old' location of the Home Office), and passed quite a large number of police officers on standby duty before arriving at St James's Park. Another tourist took this photo and she expertly got the tube logo in frame. Both Chris T and Colette wanted to take pictures on their phones - I cannot now tell whether this was a genuine thing or a delay-strategy - their intentions now subsequently thrown well into doubt! But I was worried that our projected finish time of 1115 was at risk (given that we had to cover it in some 20 minutes).

We continued along passed Westminster Abbey and approached Parliament Square, with the Palace of Westminster and Big Ben coming into view. Here we had to slow right down as the road crossing for Whitehall was busy with tourists. We made our way to the site that Chris T and I had taken a photo previously back in February. We got in the way of some tourists taking pictures, and found ourselves taking this shot for Westminster - which devastatingly doesn't include the Underground sign but does as a consolation prize include (behind my head) St Thomas' Hospital, the place where Master Thomas Wright was born way too soon.

We continued along the wide pedestrian path that followed the bank of the river, passing a great view of the London Eye. I stayed back with my bro, who was doing an amazing job keeping up with seasoned runners in particular that he was dressed in 'fisherman's trousers' and freely admitting that he was not a runner. As a prospective fitness instructor though this was certainly one way of getting up to speed! We passed under the rail bridge at Charing Cross and stopped for bearly a moment to capture Embankment.

Further on we got to Temple station. The barriers were up at this station and it slowly transpired at the back of my mind that whilst engineering works wouldn't affect our journey on foot, it might be affecting others aiming to meet us at the finish. Actually it didn't cross my mind until later in the day.

Time was ticking and so I sent a message to Zoe letting her know our movements. We continued up along the Thames and veered off at the place where Blackfriars station continues to be refurbished.

As we made our in-roads into the City of London, we passed St Pauls and the Millenium Bridge, and made it to Mansion House.

Then just a couple of hundred metres ahead, Cannon Street - the refurbishment of which was also - like this tube run, nearing completion. I was counting down the final couple of segments...

... as we approached London Bridge the other runners came to explain that they were going to run ahead to the end point and allow me to 'cross the line' by myself. I wasn't quite sure about this, and had visions of us all finishing the line together. But they had decided that whilst they were guests on this final run that the moment should be mine alone for the taking. So they scuttled off towards the river momentarily and then ducking through to the site of the Monument itself, and then turning left up cobbled streets to the station itself.

I waited back a bit, feeling just for a second all alone. Then I crossed the road, picked up the pace back to running and turned the corner, to see the runners forming a pathway to the corner around which I turned, to see Zoe (who had a 'congratulations' balloon attached to her), my mum and dad, and about a dozen other friends assembled to cheer me along. Mum and Zoe - and Rupert's Jack held up a 'finish line' whilst Tamsyn, Alma, and various others encouraged me over the line. It was a fantastic moment that I will treasure.

Zoe awarded the various runners with some 'celebrations' chocolates and I shook hands with all the assembled people - including the rest of Rupert's family; Lorna (from work) and Helen (her sister) - both of whom had looked out for me in an earlier tube run; Richard (from work) and his partner Cathy and Tamsyn (Dan's other half).

For completeness of course, we had to take a picture of us all at the station. I noticed a couple of bemused tourists and onlookers asking people what on earth this was all about.

After a couple of moments it to savour the moment, and video being recorded both by my dad and by Kristie, we got ourselves together and travelled the 100 metres to a nearby spacious bar (The Folly, on Gracechurch Street) for some more celebrations. It was here through the window that I saw the assembled families of (Jane, of the previous Saturday's DLR bike/run, and Todd, along with Maarten and Margot who kindly received me at the end of my first tube run) had already got acquainted with Pete and Lisa along with their delightful children Freya and Finlay - who were off to see the Tower of London.

Here's a picture of me with Mum and Dad, enjoying a well-earned beer (at 11:30 in the morning?!)

Here's Margot, Jane and Zoe, along with an assortment of people in the background homing in on the lunch menus!

Here's Nick (running club) and his boy Daniel, who are showing us that amazingly the puzzle book they'd brought included a crossword which had the word 'Folly' (the name of the Bar) and the first clue was 'Bar'. Incredible coincidences!

And here, a mini medial emergency as Freya crash-tested her head against the table. Luckily someone had ordered a drink with ice-cubes in it!

Here's my #1 supporter and lovely fluffy wife enjoying some well-earned scampi. I'm lucky to have her :)

The family Wright all assembled. Not sure why there's so much fresh Basil in this bar!

And here I am sporting my uniquely-crafted "I've run the tube lines" badge - of which there is just one in existence, because of course I am the first one! :)

Good friends turning up included my former flatmate and one-time tube runner, Simon. My dad hadn't seen him for a number of years and remarked to the Doctor-Who fan that he hadn't aged a bit! As the afternoon progressed, I had the pleasure of a succession of meeting people that had been following me over the previous months via Twitter or through following my blog. It was a little daunting - meeting them for the first time face to face, but I was pleased to recognise Nicky S-C, her hubby Ste (aka "Tall"), and her two friends that were popping by before attending a cupcake decorating course. We had lots of sporting things in common (including our views on a certain organisation that runs a certain prominent running event) and I am sure that we will be doing some future events together.

Next was Kate H and her three well-behaved and three lovely young lads, who had travelled down from Chester for a whole weekend of sight-seeing interspersed with what must have been a very boring visit to a pub to speak to some 'grown up'. I was particularly touched that they had made their visit down to London to coincide with this final run and that Kate had explained to Ben, Stan and Dan what I had done and why I was doing it. We had a good chat about what they were enjoying about London, school and things generally, and I'm pleased to have made four new buddies out of the day.

People started to make their departures but there was one more person that I had expected and not disappointing, Ali whizzed in on her brand new racing bike and assertively chained it up to railings inside the bar before joining us all for some relaxed drinks and conversation. Then finally and unexpectedly someone patted me on the back and said well done - it was George, a school friend from - well - eons ago. He'd also biked it over from another part of town and had made the journey from South London to see that I was here. Zoe, me, Ali and George chatted with my mum and dad for a bit. Mum and dad then departed, and not wanting the afternoon to end, we departed to somewhere nearby for some afternoon tea and cakes.

Feeling tired but contented, we said our final goodbyes and Zoe and I made our way - balloon attached to my arm, towards London Bridge and onwards to home. We got home about 4pm and spent the final hours the afternoon soaking up rays in the garden - sometimes asleep and sometimes awake. Sunday was not a time for doing the writing up but just to think about the fact that I'd done it.

Slowly the dozens of people that tell me that I should be proud of myself will start to diffuse into my subconsciousness. I'm not the type of person to stand up and shout about my achievements. As I said before - I'm just a normal person that - through the circumstances that I find myself in - decided one day to lace up some shoes and go on an adventure, telling people about things as I went. Is that adventure over? In one sense "yes" - in another sense "no" - perhaps it's only just begun.

I had some new donations today - including one whopper from Stephanie Block - at over £100 (to add to her previous donations which were also super-generous) - which almost knocked me off my chair and by that single action took the non-Gift Aid total to over £5,000. The with-Gift-Aid total is now very close to £6,000. A real testament to an ability to capture the imagination and good will of friends of old and friendships new. A fantastic achievement for us all. I know that I haven't been able to speak in great detail to every single one of the over 200 separate donations but I have all the names and I will get round to you in due course.

But there's lots of things for the future - let's just remember the present, or indeed the finale:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPQpeUKfSX0

The Same Day - in other people's blogs

Zoe - http://afterthomas.wordpress.com/2011/08/21/the-end-of-the-line/
Alma - http://oldbagrunning.wordpress.com/2011/08/21/end-of-the-tube-line/

Long Puddles in Long Acre

2011-08-18T23:05:00.000+01:00

18/8/11 - 2.1 miles

The Penultimate Run.

Route: Here. Photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/

Spent the day developing a proposition for pet passports and getting clearance that Orang Utan passports should be Orange. Had made arrangements with Peri, who works at work, to run the two segments that I'd missed out on either side of Covent Garden. At 5:30pm she came over to my desk to proclaim that it was raining. At this time I had already changed into running gear and was waiting for her to get ready. Her revelation was as if to say: "I'm not running in the rain". However, I wasn't fooled by this opening gambit and with some encouragement and bad logic, we were out trotting past buildings in Westminster, along the back of Downing Street, taking a detour past the Olympic Beach Volleyball site, via Trafalgar Square, to Leicester Square.

Oh I should point out that it was still raining. A LOT. Note the clues: drenched runner; lots of umbrellas.

This is the world's shortest tube run. Next stop about 1/3 of a mile away at Covent Garden. Here is Peri seeing the funny side of running in torrential rain.

And minutes later, having passed the building where they pretend is MI5 headquarters in Spooks, we are at Holborn. Oh it was still raining. We are the drowned rats in the front of the picture. Although having said that I think I'd prefer to be there than on the other side of the road squeezing to get inside the tube station.

Mission accomplished, we then jogged back, splashing commuters, down the Strand to Charing Cross. I had no problems with commuters sitting too close to me for the journey back. Was very pleased to be changed out of those clothes though! I think I managed to convince Peri that the next run would definitely be drier.

Next run: Sunday. But you knew that!

Media News

1. I apparently feature in the podcast for MarathonTalk (available on i-Tunes)
2. Look out for an article about me in Friday edition of City A.M.

DLR - The Rest (East, East and West)

2011-08-15T22:19:00.000+01:00

14/8/11 - 20.2 miles

Sunday: the second run of the weekend - covering the lateral arms of the DLR.

Route: (1) early morning bits, 2) NE Arm (to Beckton), 3) SE Arm (from Woolwich), 4) the Bank bit. Photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/

I slept reasonably well on Saturday night and awoke/departed home the same time in order to get to town for meeting my Sunday crew also at Canary Wharf for the remaining part of the DLR. Actually I left home a touch early which was a good thing as there was no such thing as an 0809 train, so instead if I hadn't caught the 0759 I'd have been waiting around for 3/4 of an hour - not so good! So made it to Canary Wharf for 0830. The route planning for today was very complicated indeed involving lots of itty-bitty-bits. I decided that on the basis that my running crew wouldn't want to do all of it with me that it was best to tick off some outlier bits straight away. So I sneakily departed Canary Wharf...

and made my way to West India Quay. I'd actually done this before, but needed to do the bit from here to...

... Westferry. I love photos in the early morning - just look at the sunlight on the buildings and on me!

Next it was double back to Poplar.

So with those bits done I returned to the 'area of the clocks' to see who would turn up. Luckily all three girls did - hurrah! They come from different parts of my life - so below, first is Nicola (in pink) - a running club buddy; then Sarah (in white) a friend from the days of growing up; and Susan (in red) is someone I used to go running with at work until she moved jobs (although I don't think that was connected). We set off just about 0945.

In a twist of route planning, it was decided that instead of travelling West to the Bank arm, which in total was about 4-5 miles, that since everyone was up for doing about 5-6 that we'd head in a North East direction. A quick re-shuffling of the papers and we were off, now starting at Poplar. Whilst the three ladies hadn't met before, it was only a matter of moments before they started to gang up on me, united in the lack of smiles that accompanied my first photo of the day. So Susan managed to get a super-smile out of me:

We progressed down a side-street in Poplar, two-by-two, and passed an old-aged pensioner who had stopped to give a firm hand salute to us as we passed. We arrived at Blackwell, although the herd mentality was such that I was almost cajoled into just taking a picture of the station sign from the wrong side of the entrance. Rules are rules (even though entirely made up by me) and so we back-jogged to the bus turning area and took this picture. With rotation of camera duties it was ensured that I had at least two lovely ladies accompanying me in every shot! :)

Next stop was East India.

Then it was all a bit confusing as to where Canning Town was, as you'll recall from my previous time in this neck of the woods, it is very easy to get lost and online maps don't help. This time we decided to follow the signposts of a cycle route to the station, which almost worked except for us making a mini-detour into an increasingly-industrialised area. "I thought I just saw a rat!" exclaimed Susan. Morale was dropping fast. I made a quick check as to where we were on the phone and we made it back on the straight and narrow.

The power of a self-timer meant that the fantastic four are in shot.

We were now firmly on what I would call "the North Eastern arm". At this time, Sarah (who is training for her first half marathon) and Nicola (with whom I've run two of my marathons with) were happily chatting away some 5-10 metres ahead of me and Susan. I was a little worried that with 0.5 miles between stations that we hadn't come across the next stop. A covert check of the GPS indicated that we'd headed too far East and not enough South. I politely asked the front runners to bear right (at ninety degrees) down a road. This got us to a DLR station but the one beyond where we needed to get to. This involved trying to head down a road closed for major road works. We tried to venture down this but were told to head back.

At this point I was a little worried about dear Susan. She had brought a backpack containing a digital SLR, three lenses, a diffuser, and a change of clothes, as she was attending a 'photo shoot' in Brixton later in the day. The bag weighed a metric tonne. I felt sorry for her as she looked like she was struggling a bit, so gallantly offered to exchange this for my ergonomically packed slimline running backpack. She wavered for about 0.0002 seconds before swapping over, after which her situation had much improved (and mine worsened). Next stop was Royal Victoria.

You see the sky was turning an ominous cloudy dark colour and I didn't want the expedition to lose hope. This improved the outlook greatly. We then continued in a straight line East to the next stop - Custom House. We were able to take a quick comfort break in a hotel, after which we all stocked up on jelly babies that Nicola had ingeniously bought.

Next stop was Prince Regent. Nothing particularly memorable to report on this segment.

The route now opened up (you do have the route open on another tab, right?) and passed underneath Connaught Bridge to a wide expanse on which we could marvel at the vista of the Royal Albert Dock. Here we saw two dragon boat racing teams doing some practising. This looks like a fun sport indeed. We almost got carried away with the view until someone carefully pointed out that were at the next stop - Royal Albert. Susan got a nice shot of me against another unremarkable station entrance.

We then followed alongside the edge of the Royal Albert Way, a dual carriageway above and the DLR line below. Accordingly the next two stations were accessible by descending into the roundabouts. the first was Beckton Park...

... a bit of creative photography by Susan (honest!)

... and the second Cyprus.

After this we arrived at Galleons Reach. I'd carefully been hiding the mileage from the girls at this point because time was ticking away and we hadn't yet got to the end of the line, but I think that everyone was enjoying it. So we had a mini breather here, remarked that aside from the University of East London there would be absolutely no reason that anyone would want to be here in this otherwise desolate place.

We then followed the only main route out of here and followed it for a while, and were pleased to arrive at the slightly more populated place of Beckton, end of the NE line. After a quick pause where we deliberated running down to Woolwich, we decided to take the better option to taking a breather by getting on the DLR and taking it back to Canning Town.

From Canning Town we took the DLR towards Woolwich. This meant that Sarah and Susan would be able to do the other extreme and then work their way back home in the West when they'd had enough. We arrived outside the station to find various bits of road works and boarded up places where broken glass panes had been hidden. We weren't quite sure about whether this was caused by the recent civil unrest but decided that it wasn't a particularly pleasant. As before, there were pretty much just run-down shops and very East End pubs with dodgy old men standing outside them waiting for them to open.

As chance would have it there was as sign that took us through the much more picturesque Royal Artillery Museum - which I would say would be the only reason you'd want to visit there. It consists of historic buildings and some reconditioned warehouses that have been turned to smart residential blocks. We spotted some sculptures done by Peter Burke (see pictures here) and Susan took some pictures there. We then followed signs for the Woolwich foot tunnel. We got to the ferry terminal but then were directed by a road sign back to where we came! An operator came over to rescue three damsels in distress. He advised us that the tunnel had been out of order for some months, so our option was to take the ferry. "How much is it?" I asked. "It's free!" Well, you can't turn something that's for free.

The ferry had ample room for pedestrians downstairs but aside from about half a dozen pedestrians (mostly cyclists who couldn't take their bikes on the DLR), we had the freedom of the ferry for all of the 2-3 minutes it took to get to the other side. We then ascended and made our way through a ropey area where bored teenagers made predictable comments about runners till we turned the corner and saw in the distance the DLR sign. Susan, who had decided that this was the finish of her journey, suddenly burst into a sprint and made it to the end well before the rest of us!

This was the end of the team 'Fantastic Four' to which I was a little sad (with the exception of being able to ditch that incredibly heavy rucksack!) We'd covered some nine miles which was all good.

I sensed that Sarah, who had not run further than 10k (6 miles) before was going to use this opportunity to pull out but she was in fine form and agreed to continue for a bit. We made our way along Albert Road (the main aterary road on this section) Westwards. Whereas we were expecting the smell of sweet caremalising sugar as we were near the Tate & Lyle factory, today the smell of yucky meat from what local resident Trevor calls 'the reconstituted meat factory' filled the air. Eww. We pressed on regardless, even though it was 1pm and we were probably all feeling a bit peckish. I would hate to live near such a horrid smell - fantastic views of the Thames Barrier or not! Soon enough we got to the stop for London City Airport. Contrast to Heathrow, you can basically get up and touch the runway. But I'm sure it only appears that way.

Even though Sarah had the family in town with the prospect no doubt of ice-creams and treats, I think she was keen to get a landmark distance out of this run so it wasn't until the next stop - Pontoon Dock, that she decided that enough was enough. And fair does - she'd covered well over 10 miles.

Now with me and Nicola, veterans of what we both remember to be the toughest and most miserable race ever - a five hour marathon in the rain over the Seven Sisters in Eastbourne - and of a much more pleasant marathon in Barcelona, it was time to pick up the pace. We actually beat Sarah's DLR to the next stop, West Silvertown.

With some slight navigational challenges, we past a bit of a grotty industrial area and returned to Canning Town station. Here I said goodbye to Nic and we went our separate ways, with me heading back into town to start what I like to call 'the Bank Bit'.

This commenced at Westferry...

... and involved navigating through the not-pedestrian-friendly part of Limehouse. I disregarded the printed route which was going to take me through the Limehouse road underpass and instead followed a more picturesque cycle route through some landscaped public areas, and momentarily onto a Thames Walk (sadly in the wrong direction but with great views of the river). Along 'Narrow Street' and then up a Horseferry Road (not the one in Westminster) I was at Limehouse.

It was now well past 2pm, I'd been running since 08:30 and covered 14.5 miles in the sunshine and heat. This is where my well honed endurance skills come into their own. This largely consists of mentally visualising what naughty foods and drinks I am going to reward myself with when I finish. Instead of returning to the A13 I headed slightly south because I wanted to join Cable Street, which in the mid-1930s was the flashpoint of clashes between the British Union of Fascists and the police. It is here that the people of East London forced back this march and protected their communities. And whereas the communities some two generations on are perhaps constituted differently, there was a strong sense of community as I passed through it.

At the heart of this area, an intersection of shops, and Shadwell station. From here I needed to do two 'arms' - one to Bank and one to Tower Gateway.

So I continued on in a straight line to Tower Gateway. What was surprising is that within the space 200 metres before Tower Gateway you can be in an impoverished community area and then you can be on the outskirts of a major tourist attraction in the Tower of London and St Catherine's Dock. Its a part of London that many tourists would never see. There were some people taking advantage of the new Cycle Superhighway which went along this route, but only timidly and looking very much the guest in this part of town.

From Tower Gateway I followed the path of the London Marathon entering the City, then along Great Tower Street and East Cheap, and past Monument Station (where I will be finishing, next Sunday), and along up King William Street to the Bank of England. So it is here that I commenced my last leg of the DLR, at Bank.

And taking a more northerly route this time, along Fenchurch Street (where Zoe works) and along Lloyds Avenue, Crosswall, Minories, Prescot Street, Hooper Street, Ellen Street, through some playing grounds, and through a deeply residential and Muslim area, I found myself back at Shadwell.

Job well done. I went into the nearest shop, bought an ice-cool can of orange Fanta and drank it down in one go. I then hopped on the DLR, made it back to Canary Wharf. Found my favourite place that sells chorizo sausage baguettes with yummy sauce and another ice-cool fizzy drink and ate it on the Tube as I made my way back to London Bridge. From here I got on a fast train back to Orpington, where I jogged back home. I expected to be able to jump straight on the bed for a nap but cunningly Zoe had put lots of piles of washing on it, thus preventing a sweaty mess like me from lying there. I was only allowed to rest after having a shower and changing.

We then spent the afternoon lazing on the sofa watching Harry Potter and then The Kings Speech.

I woke up Monday feeling tired but not achy. I had a really good time with the company, and only wished that I'd organised more people to join me for some of my previous runs. People have got more interested as I approach the end. I've got potentially 5-6 people joining me on Sunday but will have to see how that pans out. There's an absolutely mini piece I need to do in Covent Garden but that won't take a moment. So that's just seven or so miles left! I can't believe it.

I have no idea what I'm going to do when it's all over. It worries me a little. Do I continue to run the tube lines? Somewhere else? Disused stations? Tram Link? Tube lines in other cities / countries? Do some of them again with video? Or just write and hope that people might still listen? I do rather feel like the moment is waning and all good things must come to an end. Part of me worries that whilst I've got people's attention there is a focus on the lives that have been lost. When this is all over, we'll all return to doing other things and might forget about things. And that's a tricky part of it all really. Sometimes you just don't want to let go.

Docklands Light Railway - North and South

2011-08-13T18:48:00.000+01:00

13/8/11 - 9.1 miles

Saturday: the first run of the weekend - North/South axis of the DLR.

Route: Canary Wharf to Stratford, then Lewisham to Stratford

Photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/

Earlier in the spring/summer I had the idea of doing a DLR "five star" marathon. This would involve me running each of the five 'arms' of the Docklands Light Railway in the same day, covering some 40 stations and 26 miles in a single run. I was supposed to do this sometime in mid-May, however the sad arrival of Thomas meant that these plans were put on the shelf. Events take their course, and now in August I find myself with less than 30 miles left of the entire 'tube lines' challenge, and so felt that it would be nice to spread the DLR over a weekend, and to be able to share the running with some of my closest buddies.

You can read about the history of DLR here.

Today was the turn of Jane - who I worked with back in the early 2000s, and Dan (aka Commando Dan) who I currently work with (and who ran with me through Epping Forest a couple of weeks back). We arranged to meet at 0930 at Canary Wharf station. I got there about half an hour beforehand and set myself up in a good position so I could cover all possible approaches. Then it dawned upon me that the Jubilee Line exit to the station isn't the same as the DLR one - erk! Luckily though we were all able to assemble and with a bit of consultation on which way to start, we set off just after 0940.

Early riser - with coffee and chilling out

The thing about the DLR is that, well it is a "light railway" designed to service the financial district, which is inhabited by 'fat cats'. By this I mean that they don't like to travel far on foot. On that basis, the 40 or so stations cover 25 miles, meaning an average of half a mile between stops. Jane was being biker girl for the morning, and I was a bit worried as the most direct route to the next stop (West India Quay) was up and down a few flights of stairs and over a swinging bouncy bridge. She easily kept up however and was nimble and quick. To the left was a Docklands Museum which looked interesting, but something for another day. Here we are at the station:

The next stop, Poplar, was - if we were to use Google Maps, a bit of a higgledy-piggle to get to but luckily common sense took charge and we followed some pedestrian signs and were there in a moment. It did involve Jane having to (a) lug her bike up/down about 4 flights of stairs as it went over a busy road or (b) take a lift. BTW we did offer to help out, being the gentlemen that we are! What was more amusing is that a fully able man was quick to take the lift in lieu of doing any exercise!

It wasn't far to the next stop, All Saints. Here's me and Jane being 'Chad':

We then crossed over, joined Dan and headed towards Langdon Park. Not much to write home about here.

Next stop: Devons Road. Dan had some interesting trivia here about a local pub, 'The Widow's Sun'. It has an interesting story involving 'buns' - which you can read about here.

We made our way out of the residential streets of Bow towards the A11 and Eastwards at Bow Church. Here Dan had arranged to meet a work colleague, Steve, - we were only five minutes late. Jane takes the picture here:

Then over quite a busy roundabout (with Jane rebelliously cycling on the pavements until a pair of community support officers walk by, at which point she is momentarily compliant) ... and left into a non-descript side road we found ourself not only at Pudding Mill Lane, but ...

... just at the entrance to the almost complete Olympic Park. We were able to take a quick look at the stadium and the controversial Mittal Tower, both approaching readiness for 2012.

As you can see also it was sweltering hot now, not like it was at the start of our journey this morning.

Back on the straight and narrow we were fast approaching Stratford town centre, and we found ourselves at the station in less than an hour. It was fun to have two companions on the same run, especially as neither of them had met before but we all had a really nice time. We said our goodbyes to Jane, who zoomed off back to her home in the North-East.

We jumped on the Jubilee Line back to Canary Wharf then hopped on the DLR Southbound. It was a good opportunity for a rest but also to check times and review the route that we were about to complete on foot. We arrived at Lewisham just after 1135, pretty much on target. This used to be my stomping ground back in 2001-4 when I first moved in with Zoe, so knew what was what. And what was what was the need to progress through the side-streets of South East London with quite a pace!

A quick shimmy around the back of a food shopping centre and we found ourselves at Elverston Road. Here, new construction of impressive concierge-facility apartment blocks on one side of the road were flanked by relatively grotty estate houses dating back to the 1980s.

We took a detour from the suggested route along a cycle path and found ourselves at Deptford Bridge.

From here, we passed quite a run-down area as we approached in a matter of minutes the village rich in maritime glory of Greenwich.

The second station just further along the road was Cutty Sark (although that historic vessel is still undergoing reconstruction after the fire some years ago). We passed Greenwich Market, bustling on a weekend morning. I think Dan saw two incredibly-fit looking women in skin-tight hugging lycra (but I don't believe I noticed). I was too busy thinking about how to get to the next station...

... which involved taking the Greenwich Foot Tunnel underneath the Thames. We passed some bemused tourists looking at the 'elevator closed' sign and descended eight flights of circular stairs. The temperature dropped from the 30+ degree heat outside to a cave-cool fridge level. The scent in the air was of damp chalk. The the bowed descend of the tunnel made it look like we'd never return to the surface.

Losing no time we jogged along, as we could hear those tourists coming down the stairs. It was perhaps less than a mile in total and we sprinted up the eight flights on the other side, and returned to the daylight. It was a refreshing cool-down from the mid-morning heat. I hope that Sunday's excursion through the Woolwich Tunnel will be as welcoming! Over the road was Island Gardens.

We then followed a track along the edge of Millwall Park (below) towards the next stop.

For us both, the highly-amusing named station Mudchute was next.

We passed Mudchute Farm on the right, which I thought might be interesting to visit one day. The next stop was Crossharbour, where Zoe and I once looked at a flat when we were considering first moving in together back in 2001. In hindsight we're glad that we lived further South as whereas there are some parks and greenery on Docklands, I think it is a bit of a lifeless part of town.

The next stop was South Quay, that I remember once coming back in the 1980s with my dad when we did a little weekend exploration of the development that was then Docklands. I wonder if Dad can dig out any of those photos from back then? I definitely remember that the overground railway being built at the time was at this station.

Not long to go now and we arrived at Heron Quays, which is just within viewing distance of Canary Wharf tower and our starting point earlier today. We couldn't see any 'station sign' as such so the following picture will have to do.

We then crossed the square at Jubilee Place and made a quick detour to the start... Canary Wharf...

... finishing our run at about 1220, only five minutes later than planned. This was good as we'd arranged to meet our respective other halves (Zoe, and Liz) outside the station. They were indeed both there, but as they'd never met each other before they were both enjoying the sunshine but some 10 metres apart!

Zoe and Liz: Fan club

After making some proper introductions we found a nice outside bar to have a spot of lunch. Which was delightful. After which we then had a quick look around the massive shopping centre, but given that Zoe had run her first 'Parkrun' 5k race earlier this morning, we felt a tinge of tiredness so jumped on the tube and returned to our hobbit-hole.

Progress

According to my records I've now covered over 400 miles (405 to be exact) - in 66 long hours. That's about 91% of the total tube network. In terms of what's left, per my plan I've only got 24 miles left. A fair bit of that will be covered in Sunday's run. There's just enough time for some eating and sleeping between now and then!

North West - Done... Even Northolt!!

2011-08-10T23:12:00.001+01:00

10/8/11 - 11.8 miles

I'm getting close to the end. I say "I've been there" a lot.

Route: Met Line Part 1, then To/From Northolt, then Met Line Part 2

Photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/

I took advantage of a momentarily lull in the chaos at work to some fin-de-tube running. After a morning in the office I changed and tip-toed out, then hot-footed it from Westminster to Finchley Road. The Met Line train that pulled up was a shiny new one, which in contrast to the crappy rolling stock of the 60s, was all open plan. I took a sneaky photo:

Then it was alighting at Harrow on the Hill. Do you remember back in February (of course you don't - here's the write up of that run, here). Anyway, I left the station to see whether my favourite florists of NE London were there. Sure enough, Kerry was looking after the stall and I was greeted by a cheery smile as she remembered me (or at least claimed to remember me - after all, it was some six months previously). She told me that her daughter was coming along fine now - 7 months. She demonstrated her grasp of the local area by having no idea which way it was to the next station, but I'm glad that she wanted to be in a photo, marking the start of this run:

I did a bit of triangulation (my skills at this having definitely improved over time) and found myself at West Harrow. Outside here were two station operators brooming up the pavement. Not quite #riotwombles but near enough.

I then continued through residential streets towards Rayner's Lane. I should point out that this route is identical to when I did it for the Piccadilly Line, so hence why (a) I was able to do it quickly and (b) I'm not going to end up repeating myself. The only thing I will say is that I'm sure the weather is a lot better this time round!

Then it was on to Eastcote.

And Westwards in a fairly un-eventful canter to Ruislip Manor. The same florist was there selling for weddings and divorces. All markets covered!

Then it was on the main road again to the much-too-close-to-the-previous station, Ruislip. Did I mention that there are a lot of Ruislips? Ruislip Pure, R Manor, R Gardens, South Ruislip, West Ruislip? They could have been a bit more imaginative when naming things around here!

I continued on to West Ruislip - which is not part of the Met Line but a suitable break-off point for me to take a pause from running the Met Line (after 5.2 miles in the sweltering midday sun), and take the Central Line a couple of stops back to South Ruislip. From here I needed to catch up on a missing station, Northolt, which inexplicably I had missed on my 'squelch squelch squelch' run some weeks back. I couldn't understand how my GPS route record had gone right past it but was determined to find out why.

I found that Northolt was in a bit of a blind-spot and in the rush to get through the rain I can see where I went wrong. I took many many photos to ensure that I didn't miss it out this time. As rules being rules, I needed to run both to Northolt and from Northolt, so continued on to the next stop. Rather annoyingly I'd chosen to omit this station creating a re-run of at least 3.6 miles. Hmph.

I returned triumphantly to Greenford, and thus completed the Circle Line. Now back on the tube and back to West Ruislip, where I could continue my journey on the Met Line. Are you with me?

Next stop - Ickenham. Not much to say really - other than perhaps: Ick.

You know you're in for a tough slog when you turn onto a road called 'Long Lane'. But I'd been here before so know what I had to do - just head down, and put one leg in front of another. I soon arrived at the lofty Hillingdon.

Avoiding the mistake of the last time - i.e. nearly joining the dual carriageway of the A40, I got straight onto the final road. A nifty feature of the logging tool I'm now using is I can demonstrate altitude - http://www.runningfreeonline.com/act/623188/subView/Height - which shows that rather cruelly, the final stretch of this run in the approach to Uxbridge involves a steep ascent. It was a tough tough climb up that final few hundreds of metres but I felt good that the end was in sight. I arrived at the front side of the station this time, which opened out onto a shopping centre.

There: Met Line also conquered. It was now nearly 3pm, and I'd hardly eaten anything other than fruits in the morning, and some sports drink. It was also hot, so I stumbled across this store, which could make you a milkshake out of ANY thing - well I presume anything yummy anyway.

I decided to opt for one of their top five shakes of the week - Oreo Biscuit and Peanut Butter. I can confirm that the extra-large version is entirely appropriate after a long run in the sunshine! I drank it all by the time I got back into town.

In Other News

Someone very kindly nominated me to be a torch-bearer for the Olympics. There are many many other people nominated but who knows, it might be my only chance to see anything close to the Olympics seeing as we didn't get any tickets! Take a look at the nomination here.

http://www.lloydstsblondon2012.co.uk/en/carrytheflame/Nomination/?nid=5aba90e5-5ee4-4831-9be2-a6f590c5de1f

I don't think there's any way to influence the selection process but I feel touched that someone took the time and effort to nominate me.

Also I had a tiring day following my return to work, not leaving there till 1930. Whereas I had been feeling a little unhappy that several people had ignored my points about how to announce a pregnancy or a birth, I got a nice tweet from someone that thanked me "for raising awareness. two friends recently had sleeping babies so it was good to know where to get support. Good work."

That tweet actually single-handedly made my day. Because I can safely say that had I not spent the time writing these posts, then that person wouldn't have known where to provide support for her friends. Result!

Next Weekend: The DLR

2011-08-08T23:16:00.001+01:00

If you only read my 'running the tube lines' blog you may be wondering where I've got to! Through some amazingly bad planning I've had to do two major sporting events over the last two weekends: firstly on 30/31 July the Thunder Run 24-hour 10k relay (read about that here) and then this weekend my first ever Olympic Distance triathlon in the beautiful Hyde Park (read about that here).

What's left

I haven't forgotten my tube running however and am still very much on track (if you'll excuse the pun) of finishing on Sunday 21 August. This run will be a 6-mile excursion from Earl's Court along the District Line finishing at Monument, after which we hope to join many people at a bar nearby. If you haven't got the details of this then get in contact with me and I will share it with you! Aside from that I have to do two missing bits on either side of Northolt, and either side of Covent Garden. Also I have to complete a nine mile segment between Harrow on the Hill and Uxbridge. These are all of course in hand and do-able, although as mid-week activities. For this weekend coming will be the last buig push: namely the 40 stations or 25 miles of the Docklands Light Railway.

DLR Weekend

I'm planning to run the North/South arms on Saturday and the West/East bits on Sunday. Several people have already got in contact with me to express an interest in running with me - although as I know from past experience, commitment tends to falter as we get closer to the actual dates for some people. Look out for photo and/or video footage depending on how it goes!

Media Coverage

I'm grateful for getting some national media coverage in The Mirror newspaper two weekends ago.

For those of you that missed it, a link to the online version is here. Quite well written I thought.

Fundraising Update

The introduction of donating by text (see the 'donations' tab) has proved to be a new avenue generating £100 so far in new donations. There has been a number of new donations coming from the friends and families of my new Thunder Run 10k buddies - so thanks to Stuart, Linda, Pete, Chris and Rakesh for volunteering to use my charity as the preferred choice for our efforts two weekends ago.

I'm nominally over my £5,000 target but that is only due to the support of Gift Aid. It would be great if in the 13 days remaining that I could get it there 'properly'.

Do what you can - if you haven't donated already, then please do so, and/or send the details round to other people you know. Particularly if you're living/working in the Docklands area and if you have any special requests as we make our way around this exciting and vibrant part of town.

What Next

I've been thinking as to what to do when I finish the tube lines. The raising of awareness has become a really important part of what I do, and I've really enjoyed connecting with new people in the process and sharing in other peoples' own experiences. There remains a gap in empathising with those that have actually been through it, and I'm shocked that after so many months of writing about it that I don't seem to have got through to people that I've known for many years. I will probably continue to write about things from time to time, perhaps exploring other parts of the world, or disused tube lines, or other underground or overground systems. It worries me slightly that all the people whose attention I have for the next fortnight will dissipate away as things move on. In a way, by undertaking tube running I've kept a focus and positive testament to the babies that we lost. In moving on, it worries me that I might start to forget. Let me know what you think would be best for me and/or best for awareness raising. Your thoughts as always welcomed.

Metropolis Heatwave

2011-08-03T21:12:00.000+01:00

3/8/11 - 8.2 miles

The bliss of guided running. Especially when you recently ran 50k in a day!

Route: http://www.runningfreeonline.com/act/616335/subView/Map

Photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/stephen.t.wright/20110831RTTLRun31

Wednesday involved doing a bit of pre-work tube run map printing, which meant that I was on a later train than normal. Smart commuting - avoiding the hoi polloi. This was spoiled when mid-way through the journey the carriage was entirely filled by a Japanese school trip. Suddenly it was time to move carriage. I tweeted this of course and it transpired that a twitter buddy was also late in and heading towards Victoria. This led to an impromptu 'tweet-up' and an entirely pleasant pre-work coffee. I pottered around work for a bit, organising caterpillars and cataloguing bark specimen. Then when the midday klaxon sounded I changed, super-hero style, into running gear and before anyone could ask any questions I was off to Westminster, onto the Jubilee Line and - whoosh - I was at Finchley Road before you could say 'approved flexi-time request'.

The weather in London this week is HOT. Its hotter than Rio, hotter than Mumbai. You could crack an egg on the street and it would fry. The weather was not dissimilar to the weekend - did I mention that I ran as part of a team relay and I completed 50k out of the 240k the six of us completed in 24 hours? Read about that here.

Anyway, it was here that I would meet Ciaran - who we last met in the outer extremities of the Met Line. I arrived a touch early and so sat outside a premium-brand supermarket, having managed to avoid an over-enthusiastic teenager confident in her street ability to get me to sign up to some fundraising form that she jumped across the street to accost me. Her line of 'how bout an attractive lady such as myself talks to an attractive man such as yourself' didn't work on me, no Sir. Not least because it was only half-way true! Having cast them aside I sat on a bench waiting for a little while. Soon enough Ciaran appeared and we started timing devices, and left Finchley Road...

Then it was off in a ... well, actually I even though I'd printed off the map I wasn't really using it because this was Ciaran's 'patch' .. so I could metaphorically sit back and relax whilst he took control of directions. I was quite surprised to learn that it was a whopping five miles at least to the next stop. Weather conditions and my stiff thighs (not massaged since Sat/Sun's excursion) meant that it was particularly tough. We arrived sweltering at Wembley Park...

From then on it was comparatively easy. It was only about a mile and half to Preston Park...

And finally, although initially overshooting - as the Tube station was hidden down an alleyway on a residential road - we arrived at Northwick Park. I found myself in familiar territory a lot, and saying 'oh, I know where I am' - which must have got quite annoying. Just imagine what it'll be like when I've been everywhere!!!

Donations have been good over the last couple of days thanks not least to an article in the Daily Mirror. A freelance journalist did a telephone interview with me, and then a photojournalist came over to our house to do a variety of shots which weren't used aside from the one of me and Zoe hugging. The shot of me running up and down the street in my SANDS top (to my humiliation and to the amusement of the neighbours) was not used. The main picture, which was taken by Chris back in the winter, was the one that took up over half the page in the paper. There's a link to the story online here: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2011/07/30/real-life-i-started-running-the-length-of-the-tube-115875-23305201/

I'm now making my plans for my last three runs, which will cover in two stages the DLR; and the final one being a scenic route on the District Line from Earls Court to Monument (see 'the Plan' page on the website for more details).

Only 46 miles remaining! I can't quite believe it.

Its plane to see...

2011-07-25T21:15:00.000+01:00

24/7/11 - 16.1 miles

The one where I circled Heathrow Airport, at an altitude of 2 feet.

Route: around Heathrow, then from Hounslow E to Action Town.

Photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/stephen.t.wright/20110724RTTLRun30

Sunday alarm at 0605. Even earlier than Saturday. Do I ever get a lie in? Not whilst tube running, evidently. Today was going to be a big run, so I needed some serious nutrition - some of Zoe's cereal - which is basically dust with milk. A banana. Coffee. Juice. Got on my 0710 train to London Bridge, then up to Green Park then down on the Piccadilly to Hounslow Central. Started running at just after 8:30am.

This part of London is home to a predominantly Indian community to the extent that basically I saw no other white people for the first couple of miles. I arrived quickly at Hounslow West station. There was a market nearby; I asked whether they had any Jack Fruit (my fruit of wonder for the moment) but there were none in stock. Don't think it would have fitted into my rucksack so probably a good omen.

Continued along the Bath Road to a roundabout with the A4 (a road that I've stumbled across so many times before, closer to town). Took the A30 - a 2 or 3 lane dual carriage-way, almost deserted at this time of day, towards an increasingly industrial area. I approached a 4 or 5 story concrete building which obscured by trees from one side was indeed Hatton Cross bus/tube station.

I'd arrived at the perimeter of Britain's busiest airport; the world's forth busiest airport; and the interchange for most international passengers anywhere else. How do I know this? Well I must admit that I read up about it here - which is quite interesting and worth a read sometime.

This was the most difficult part of my 400+ mile journey to plan and execute. Firstly I had to write to the British Airports Authority, as owners of the property, to confirm that I would be able to do it without any problems. They advised me that the Perimeter Roads, which fundamentally are the way you'd get around it, are actually private roads, but could be used by passenger vehicles in the 'ordinary course of business' - i.e. travelling to the airport to go on a flight or receive passengers. It is not permitted to take your car to the Perimeter Road and stop for a picnic on the verge. I had wondered whether running around an airport perimeter with a rucksack and taking photographs might cause alarm, but as I was to discover, there are far stranger things going on there.

Leaving the 'safety' of Hatton Cross complex I followed a gravel-lined pavement alongside the two-lane (Southern) Perimeter Road for a while, and within about 400 metres came across someone fully-clothed running towards me with a high-visibility jacket. My first thought was that I was going to be stopped - but it turned out to be a man with a camera, who was making his own way back to the station. He didn't acknowledge me at all. It was at about this point that I lost my GPS signal, but the route shown here is a pretty accurate representation of it. After a while I approached the quite familiar set of buildings that is for Terminal Four. What was unfamiliar was approaching it on foot. Clearly airports are designed for ease of cars and coaches, with few pavements or crossings. But with long straight roads, field of vision was good and once at the building I was able to follow pedestrian-marked signs to the ground floor arrivals point, where most people will recognise bus-stops taking you back to long-term parking. I entered the building, past all the horrid smokers chaining their cigarettes after being on their flights, and made my way below ground to the entrance to the Underground.

I then returned to the surface, retraced my steps, and - seeing that a continuation of the inner Perimeter Road would involve travelling through a tunnel with nothing on either side, decided to head a little further out. I was still hugging the boundary of the airport - which was conveniently designed by a 12-foot barbed wire fence with a big red sign saying 'restricted zone, 1982 Aviation Security Act' on it approx every 10 metres. The road traffic on the A30 had increased in intensity now, as this was the part of the airport where service companies, such as catering and cargo processing firms, delivered their various produce into the 'machine'. I was happy to be running well inside the grass verges that separated me from the juggernauts. I was aware that this was not a place for timid, soft creatures such as bunny-rabbits or indeed humans (although I did see a few of the former darting between the hedge-rows). I believe that the airport is named after a demolished hamlet once known as 'Heath's Row' - although perhaps I just made that up. Anyway, ...

I passed a little loop in the road known as the Sandringham Road Estate and passed a petrol service station. At this point there was a pretty good view of the runway area. From here you could appreciate the hundreds of planes that move through the airport every day. As if the noise of the relentless road traffic wasn't bad enough, there was an additional background noise of jet engines being fired up constantly, with the every-so-often ROAR as the planes actually took off. Very. Loud. Indeed.

So I approached this unusual gathering of individuals: plane-spotters. They came well prepared - garden camping chairs, hot water flask. Hats. Waterproofs (just in case). A lot of camera technology. Zoom lenses not to be sniggered at. Young, Old. Men, Women. Mainly alone. I took this picture of them and invented a new sport: plane-spotter-spotting. I think I'm quite good at it. I don't think they appreciated the irony, so having taken this photo, I moved on.

Yup - that's for reference a lot of planes.

Shortly thereafter I turned a corner quite literally and Southern Perimeter became Western Perimeter Road. I'd printed off lots of maps and directions to assist in the journey - not least because someone was going to join me until comparatively late in the day, and I must admit that I could have done with a bit of company here because it was basically one human passing through the enormous industrial landscape of the airport. Most people travel to an airport to travel somewhere nice, and in doing so minimise their time there. Also they are insulated from the noise and industry of the place; yet here I was travelling comparatively slowly through it. Rather than joining the Western Perimeter Road, I stuck to the A3044 which followed along the outside of it (and was in no way signposted for entrance to T5). The road was a dual carriageway, quite seldom-used, and I ran along the wide green verge. This was okay for a bit as it was mown, then it went all wild, so I had to cross to the other side. The fine architecture of T5 was approaching but it wasn't clear how to get 'inside'.

There was a 'bus only' bridge in, which I followed and found myself on the familiar entrance route to the terminal. This was by far the most modern and pleasant airport entrance so far.

I quickly popped downstairs to access the Underground entrance...

On my way into the airport I'd seen an unusual site and having returned back some 25 minutes later I had to stop to take a picture. On the grass verge about 300 metres from the foot entrance was a luggage trolley, containing one suitcase, and next to it was a man, lying face up to the sky, wearing sunglasses and listening to music on headphones.

I took the picture (above) then ran past (he wouldn't have heard me) then took this one closer in. Clearly enjoying catching some rays in South West London is better than getting on board a jet plane to his destination. Although come to think of it, it does also look like he might have fallen out of the skies. Oops!

The Northern section of the Perimeter Road is one most will be familiar with as its the general way by car into the airport. Lots of rental companies, hotels, and so on, which for me was good because it gave more credibility to what I was doing (i.e. walking/running places) and also a bit safer. Great views of the Northern runway and of the planes coming in short succession to land. After a good while I found myself heading towards the right as the road pinched into the Eastern Perimeter. It was here that I found myself passing a roundabout housing a LOT of plane-spotters. They seemed to be huddled together but not close enough to be talking to each other. Like meerkats, just on the look out for something interesting (or failing that, another almost identical aeroplane to the one that just went past).

I tried my dab hand at plane-photo-taking:

Not particularly exciting. Although quite close for comfort!

From the Cargo centre buildings round the final leg was relatively uneventful. I saw a police car three times going backwards then forwards past my direction. I wondered whether my time was up, and so noted the number-plate down mentally to see whether they'd be back - however luck was on my side as I found myself approaching Hatton Cross once more. I couldn't help but raise a smile when I found myself on top of a footbridge looking back down on the building I'd seen some 10 or so miles previously. I'd conquered the airport!

I should point out that I'd not attempted to run from T5 to Terminal 123 - on the basis that (1) BAA told me I couldn't; (2) the entrance to T123 is via a tunnel under the runway, for which there is no pedestrian access; and (3) BAA told me I couldn't. This is why I travelled the 'extra' distance of the whole perimeter. For completeness however I needed a photo of me at the station, so I jumped on at Hatton Cross, sped through to T4 station, where it waited for about 10 minutes, before progressing to the horrid and grotty T123 station. I got off, took this picture quickly, then returned on the same tube back into town.

My day wasn't quite over yet. As chance would have it, I'd been sponsored by Simon, my former flat-mate of three years back in the 1990s, earlier in the week. In conversation it transpired that this was his part of town and he'd even suggested that his local knowledge might be of some assistance. He volunteered to join me for a little bit of the next part, which would join up this spur section of the Piccadilly Line. I quickly needed to travel from Hounslow Central...

... along to Hounslow East...

... meeting Simon in perfect synchronism at Osterley...

... wherein I appreciated so much more the relative tranquillity of being ... well, anywhere but the airport estate. We followed a path alongside the Grand Union Canal...

... before arriving at Boston Manor. I enjoyed that "off road" route which I'd not have figured out as it wasn't marked on Google Maps. It was also an opportunity to catch up on news - good and bad. I was also pleased that he wanted to do just a little more so we continued on...

... to the next stop - which was Northfields - ironic as we had for three years lived in Southfields.

Again the 'tube running effect' must have taken hold because Simon checked his watch and was able to progress with me to the next station - South Ealing. I am not sure what happened in the picture below because it looks like Simon has gone a bit Jedward... !

We carried on yet further, but we agreed to part at Gunnersbury Park, a stirling effort for a man who couldn't remember previously having last "run". I nearly ran off with his keys though! It was not far to my final destination, Acton Town.

It was at this point that I thought I'd be able to claim victory over the Piccadilly Line but thanks to Simon with his eagle-eye inspection of my Saturday route observed that I'd in fact missed out Covent Garden in my travel between Holborn to Leicester Square. I checked my records and indeed I had mis-planned this bit (admittedly getting a tiny bit lost at that point). So I have to null those segments, and do them again at some point. Its a fair cop guv'nor!

Sunday's Run:
Distance: Heathrow Loop - 9.5 miles; Hounslow Central to North Acton - 6.7 miles.
Total = 16.12 miles in around 2:34 (av pace 9:34/mile)

Running Total:
Total Run: 376 miles - o/w 355 miles was theoretical minimum; therefore 21 miles extra ran.
Total Time: 61 hours, 39 minutes (average pace 9:49/mile)
Miles left to run: 49 miles.

The end feels relatively close!!! It amazes me what has been achieved over these last few months. Thanks for reading, please continue to support and share the news amongst your families and friends. Together we're stronger.

The Return of Zoecakes

2011-07-23T18:57:00.000+01:00

23/7/11 - 7.1 miles

Or, the one where Zoe uses tube running to get back to running form!

Route: Piccadilly then Waterloo & City Line then bit of Met Line

Photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/stephen.t.wright/20110723RTTLRun29

Saturday alarm was at 0625. Ate breakfast then saw it pouring down with rain. Attempted to return to bed, but was kicked out by Zoe who said that "I'd enjoy it". Wasn't convinced but by the time I left, and got a train about 0739, it had cheered up a bit. Got the train to London Bridge, then travelled to Kings Cross on the Northern Line. This was a day for chipping away further at the Piccadilly Line and also picking up some loose ends. It was also a chance for Zoe to do a little more running since back in November (run 4) and also as she is 'ramping' up her running post recovery from Thomas' arriving way too early.

I started out the first bit on my own. I have lost count the number of times I've started at Kings Cross:

And quickly made my way from the busy Great Western Road along quiet suburban streets to Russell Square. As you can see the weather has perked up a bit already.

It wasn't far to Holborn...

... and although not particularly well signposted, I found myself at Leicester Square well before any tourists had started to fill the streets.

I crossed Leicester Square and was at Piccadilly Circus...

... where the famous advertising corner was slightly obscured by scaffolding. They are returning the area to be a two-way traffic system again. I made my way along Piccadilly,

... past Fortnum & Masons, the Ritz, Burlington Arcade, and to Green Park.

I dipped into the Green Park itself to avoid the noise of the traffic and road works, although spied the possible location of Down Street, a disused tube station, and then crossed the roundabout and under Wellington Arch to Hyde Park Corner, which is at the entrance to my favourite place for lunchtime runs.

Passing some very exquisite cars parked outside some hotels, I approached Knightsbridge...

... decided that I was under-dressed for Harrods...

... and passed Brompton Oratory, the V&A Museum, then the crowds assembling at the Natural History Museum and then doubled back to South Kensington station.

Having finished this first leg of today's run, I jumped on the Tube, took it to Piccadilly Circus then via Bakerloo arrived at Waterloo to join Zoe, who was there about 20 minutes beforehand (although I wasn't late, as we'd agreed to meet at 10:30) for our conquest of the Waterloo and City Line. Here we are at the start:

The journey took us past the IMAX cinema, and towards the riverside, underneath the OXO tower (where my brother once had an art exhibition as part of his degree), underneath Blackfriars Bridge (where they were putting the final touches to London's first mainline station with platforms over the river) and past the Tate Modern, to the Millennium Bridge:

... it is on this Bridge that Apprentice candidates 'enter' London at the beginning of every show. Luckily the bridge didn't wobble as we jogged over it.

We then got to St Paul's Cathedral, and along Cannon Street (Zoe helping a tourist with directions) we got to Bank, the destination for the Underground's shortest tube line (of only two stops!)

We then took a stroll up past the Royal Exchange, and along to Liverpool Street where I needed to complete the last piece of the line...

... this took us through Devonshire Square, underneath some building site where some builders started singing "keep on running", past somewhere that I used to work, to the bizarre roundabout at the Church of St Boltoph's and the Aldgate station that is on it.

All in all a good bit of running - for Zoe, the most amount of running she's done all year. We decided to check out one or two bars that might be the location for where we celebrate having completed our final run, which should be in a couple of weeks. In the mean time we went to find some hot drinks and some yummy chocolate treats!

Total segments completed: 339 of 412 (82%)
Total hours tube running over 30 runs: 59 hours, four minutes.
Total left to run: 67 miles.

Total fundraising to date: £4,566 (incl Gift Aid) - still short of my £5000 target. If you're waiting till I've completed it to donate, ... DON'T! I am trying to achieve my total BEFORE I finish the run. So don't delay, get being generous today! And don't forget, if you have donated and would like to 'adopt' a tube segment, take a look at the 'sponsor map' page (here) and let me know what you'd like.

Special Mentions

Running club buddy Eric, who has just started a 1000 mile cycle challenge on 18th July, from Land's End to John O'Groats, http://www.justgiving.com/Eric-Enock.

Paul and Lou - who recently gave birth to Ella Matilda, earlier this month, and who took the simple considerate step of letting us know in advance of sending blanket e-mails / Facebook notifications of their new arrival. Its the humility of people like this, who have been supporting me from the start, which make it worthwhile because it makes me think that the writing I've been doing over the last couple of months is getting the important message across. All too often people forget about the lost potential of a pregnancy that doesn't go to full term. The prospective parents that go through it will never forget, and its emotionally tough for a while.

North by North West | Videos!

2011-07-17T23:12:00.001+01:00

17/7/11 - 16.9 miles

Well actually just North-West. For me, the most extreme of extremities.

Route: http://bit.ly/pmC36f and http://bit.ly/qeiiSD

Photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/stephen.t.wright/20110717RTTLRun28

Today I needed to complete a deceptively small section of the Metropolitan Line:

This required my getting up at 0620 (on a Sunday!), getting a train at 0720 into town, changing at London Bridge for the Jubilee Line, then up to Finchley Road, then changing to the Met Line to arrive at Moor Park at just before 08:45.

In starting my run I was immediately reminded of run #13 (here) which I did with Sarah-Jane back in February. It was here that I was first introduced to the affluent area of Moor Park, which as I ran back through this morning, was a conservation area with exceptionally large houses and gravel-lined pavements. It was about two miles to Rickmansworth, where I had arranged to meet up with Ciaran (@runningto150) to run the remainder of this section. I'd not met Ciaran before in real life and so there was some previous concern that he might be (a) a girl; and (b) an axe-murderer. I was pleased to discover that actually he's a really nice guy.

So we set off in the direction towards Chesham. Whilst the weather had been clear and bright in Kent, in Buckinghamshire it was cloudy and threatening to rain, having already done so earlier in the morning. We followed a main road out of the town and crossed over the M25. Aside from Epping (which I'd run to last week), there are only a handful of tube stations outside the London Orbital, and these were them. We took a left down to Chorleywood Common and soon enough found ourselves at Chorleywood station.

Ciaran was amused at my now patented 'one-arm-outstretched' camera shot but as you can see, not camera-shy. Turns out we'd run the Brighton Marathon earlier in the year, but he'd had ITB 'issues' after the first 20 miles and so hadn't finished in the glorious manner that one might have imagined for a first marathon. Still he was going strong as we doubled-back for our next station, which for me was after 8.8 miles.

We waited outside the station whilst an idling Aston Martin (which I'd wondered might be a taxi) moved away from the station entrance, so we could take this shot. We'd be back here later, but not before we made it to the end of the line, at the most Northwest of Northwest.

Given that we were very much in the country, as opposed to suburbia, I was troubled that we'd been on pavement, and so as luck would have it, some shimmying through some grand residential streets put us at a junction wherein the map route suggested going down a national speed limit no footpath route, ... or - follow an entrance to a public footpath at Walk Wood. So we took to this, confident that it was putting us in the right direction, and we entered a lovely woodland area. I was glad that Ciaran was also a fan of trail running. We made our way out of this into open countryside, and then past a farm, where we saw a lot of hens making their barrk-barrk-barrking noise. I think they liked the camera or wanted to peck it...

We got back onto roads, and a quick GPS check made us aware that we were veering towards Amersham rather than the next stop, so we recalibrated North and - with it now raining lightly - carried on up an A-road for another 2 miles, past a field with a car-boot sale, to Chesham. n.b. in the picture below, Ciaran hasn't broken his neck but may be trying to get some water out of his drenched head!

We then got into the station and waited for a tube to take us back one stop, so we could do the other spur. It was funny in one sense being a the total end of the line, but actually it's no different to any other terminus, e.g. Wimbledon, Morden, etc.

So we returned to C&L...

... and made our way the last 3 or so miles in the light drizzle to Amersham. It was somewhat cruel that we'd made a slight detour and on realising the mistake had to take a sharp uphill road to get to the station. I applied a Beachy Head trick of counting 100 steps of running before we returned to a walk. Then we did 150 steps. "Ha!" I remarked - that's "running to 150" - Ciaran's twitter name. The joke was lost on him - tsk.

Anyway, our hearts leapt when we saw the Tube Roundel, and in the mist/rain made a valiant sprint up round the final corner, and touched the brickwork of Amersham station. Total distance ran: 16.9 miles in 2 hours 26 minutes. Ciaran was cracking company and did about 15 miles of it - the furthest distance he's covered since Brighton. He'll be fine to train back up to the marathon glory he deserves in due course.

We then decamped sharply to the nearest cafe where we were going to have a fruit salad and mineral water, but were manipulated into each eating a full English breakfast with lashings of toast and hot teas and coffees. We chatted for a bit, then went our separate ways. I loitered for a bit whilst I waited for a Uni friend Yvonne to pootle over. We spent an hour or so there catching up on the years gone by and being entertained by young Kitty and her pet monkey. Here she is showing us some of her prize-winning kick-boxing moves.

Whilst waiting at the station I ended up chatting to a guy that is setting out on a personal challenge to climb seven peaks on seven continents. He's already done two, and is now in the process of giving it some fundraising purpose by linking his next ascent - Mount McKinley - to the National Autistic Society. He's in the very early stages of setting up his 'social network' infrastructure - he's just got a fundraising site at the moment (here). But as we made our way overground back to Central London, we had lots of discussions about the different ways that you can make an impact whilst raising money and awareness on an enduring challenge such as the ones that we're doing.

I finally got home, 2 hours after setting off. I then set about doing my first "video" blog, inspired by the videos of Kristie W, whose 'Getting Beyond Grief' website I mentioned recently. She's doing something which I think is awe-inspiring - and you can watch and learn about here.

We actually met up on Friday for a chat in town and it got me thinking about many things. One of those was the extent to which I could use video in my tube running. No moving shots just yet but there's still some 70-80 miles left to go, so watch out in the future! Anyway, here's my first post, which of course has oodles of room for improvement! Just remember though, I had just run 17 miles and then taken 2 hours to get back home, hence the slightly exhausted look about me!

Finding the Tree in the Woods | Speedmarching

2011-07-10T19:20:00.000+01:00

10/7/11 - 10.4 miles

With less than 100 miles left, it's extremities time. Today's run: NE

Route: http://www.runningfreeonline.com/act/597895/subView/Map

Photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/stephen.t.wright/20110710RTTLRun27#

It took nearly 90 minutes to travel up to the most North-Easterly end of the Central Line, but I made it there just after 0840. I met up with Dan, a work buddy, who contacted me some time ago about wanting to do a run in this, his neck of the woods. After the obligatory 'glum shot #1 of the day' at Epping we set off.

Epping is so far North that it is above the M25. This being the case, some of the roads have high average speeds and were poorly serviced by pedestrian pavements, so the first mile or so was a bit hair-raising. We ascended 'Piercing Hill' which was indeed quite bracing first thing, but then turned left to see a village green preparing for a donkey derby, and host also to a few teenagers looking very much like they were doing DOE trekking. It was 2.8 miles before we arrived at Theydon Bois (pronounced 'boy-es') station.

Dan was once in the Royal Marines, and amongst other things in the past has done a lot of things involving maps. So I was pleased that he had brought with him some Ordinance Survey Maps for the next leg of the journey. With his local knowledge of the area, we decided to over-ride the Google Maps route to the next station (which was to be on 60mph roads with no pavements) and instead go cross country. This was perfect because a) it was shorter and b) it would enable us to locate a tree in the middle of the forest.

What a fantastic countryside view. In the distance is the M11 motorway. My Google Map prints were basically useless at this point, and instead we were talking the language of following streams, going over the third fence, and so on. Dan is a speedy - having done a half marathon sub 1:30, and being about 10ft tall was making light work of the terrain. With his ordinance skills we made it to the site acquired by the Woodland Trust, where some friends kindly dedicated a tree for Thomas back in May. I was pleased to be able to visit this site, and see that the saplings, which you can see in the background, which were planted in 2006. It is the aim of the 'Tree for All' project to get one million children planing 12 million trees (not on the same day but over five years). It will be good to come back and see how Thomas' tree has grown big and strong!

We then continued through the open space between the woodland and the M11, then passing through a more established wood before arriving back in civilisation. We passed the very high security fences of the site where De La Rue prints bank notes on behalf of the Bank of England. An interesting local fact (or folklore) is that Junction 5 of the M11, which is the nearest, has only a Southbound access, such that in the event of a robbery at the factory, there is no opportunity for a fast Northern escape up the Motorway!

We made our way through the other buildings on the industrial estate, which I am excited to learn is the location of Lord Sugar's Amstrad Global headquarters. No young apprentices hailing taxis though, as we found our way to Debden tube station, at 5.8 miles in.

Now we were back in urban territory so my map became half useful, although Dan grew up around here, so we made our way past an impressive girl's high school to Laughton.

A combination of the heat, the pace, and bad pre-race nutrition (i.e. I hadn't eaten any chocolate), I was feeling quite weary. Next stop was Buckhurst Hill, a station that I'd run passed when I did the 20 mile Hainault "loop", but which wasn't at that time on my point-to-point journey.

Great conversation meant that we hardly noticed the miles fly by and we made excellent progress towards our end point, at Woodford.

We'd done 10.4 miles at the cracking pace of 9:17/mile (4th fastest run to date).

It was here that we met up with Dan's fiancée, Liz, who had driven over to join us. She managed to secure some very comfy chairs in the window area of a Belgian cake shop. We had some yummy milkshakes and talked of many things for about half an hour, then I had to say my goodbyes and swoop back into central London, to meet Zoe and two friends that were running the British 10k. We met up and popped into... another Patisserie - this time near Charing Cross where we tucked into crepes and drank iced coffee. Delightful!

When Zoe and I returned home, a sudden wave of tiredness came over us and there was just enough energy to put out the hammock and have a little rest. Something that we don't often get to do in our hectic lives!!

Dan's Fundraising - Commando 999

Dan is a nice guy and I'm glad that we were able to organise this run together. He told me about his time in the Royal Marines, including when he served in the Iraq conflict. In November 2011 he is taking part in a 26-mile 'speed-march' through the streets of London. He's raising funds for the Royal Marines Association, which provides support for Marines and their families physically or mentally wounded in the theatre of war.

Here's an extract from his site where he explains what the money raised will be used for:

One project of many that it is hoped we can fund this year is to train a dog to look after a seriously wounded (either physically or mentally) serviceman. The dog is very highly trained helping around the house (switching on lights, opening doors, picking up off the floor etc...) and is a devoted companion. Our dog will be named Yomper Richie in memory of Marine Richard Hollington who was the 300th casualty in Afghanistan last summer. The remainder of the ‘un-ring fenced’ money will be donated to the Royal Marines Association allowing it to be spent at the greatest point of need.

Whatever you may think politically about UK military interventions abroad, I think that supporting the families of those that act professionally to protect and serve their country is a fantastic cause and recommend that you take a look at the link below, and do what you can:

http://www.bmycharity.com/danocommandospeedmarch

via Lords, Regents Park, the City, Mile End Park, and Stratford | Getting Beyond Grief | Fundraising Update

2011-07-03T17:20:00.002+01:00

3/7/11 - 12.5 miles

Why lie in on a Sunday when you can be topping up your tan in town!

Route: http://www.runningfreeonline.com/act/592624/subView/Map

Photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/stephen.t.wright/20110703RTTLRun26

Planning (as usual) was left to the last minute and it turned out the bit I wanted to do was unreachable due to engineering works. No matter- of the 112 miles I have pretty much all of them locked in to run with others, (who aren't just out for a training partner but are keen to help raise awareness at the same time). If I haven't got them partnered up, I have a plan for how they are grouped together. I'm also formulating a plan for the final runs. But more of that later.

So my back-up route involved starting on the Metropolitan Line - I got a train just after 7am and was at Finchley Road at about 8:45am.

Firstly the route took me down the Finchley Road - normally busy but deserted at this time of day - passing the Jubilee Line stations at Swiss Cottage and St Johns Wood. Then to the right was Lords Cricket ground - which I'd never seen before. Lots of smart looking people were up early no doubt to watch some overs. For me, it was on to Baker Street and round the corner for the main entrance.

Now onto the Marylebone Road. I've been down this road many times but most memorable was when racing the tube, which I did back in February (see here). Today was a more sedate pace thankfully as already it was starting to get hot. Quite a few runners on their way to an organised race of some sort in Regent's Park. Lots of newbie runners judging by their kit. No bad thing mind - we all have to start somewhere. My first race was a Battersea Park 10k in around 1998, but my first one in the modern era was a Nike run in Richmond Park, possibly in 2002.

Anyway, I digress - here we are at Great Portland Street. Toilets not open but they should have been!

As I was making my way East I saw this out of the corner of my eye, and stopped understandably! Some body parts look well-worn!

Next stop Euston Square.

At just after 9am I was at Kings Cross - the busiest tube line interchange (6 lines).

I continued down the A201 Farringdon Road, and helped out some Aussie tourists wanting to get to the nearest tube. I pointed them in the direction of Farringdon Station:

Alas the station was shut for CrossRail engineering, so out of guilt I jogged back to advise them how to get to the next station, which was through Smithfield's Market and to the Barbican.

There is an obvious direct route to the next stop but this being my last time in the area I thought I'd do a detour and went under the tunnel at the Barbican, and found myself at the front entrance of the Barbican Centre itself. This was quite convenient as I needed to make a 'donation' (of sorts) and luckily a place such as this wouldn't have the cheek to charge for the privilege. I took a stroll outside and found that there was an internal courtyard that residential blocks surround - very picturesque and an oasis in the heart of town.

There is a high walkway that you can traverse along to get to the station, which I indeed took...

... arriving at Moorgate - around which roads were closed for more rail improvements.

From which it's only a stones' throw to Liverpool Street.

I've just realised that I've left Aldgate out as a sneaky little outlier. Oh well not to worry. Because at just under 9 miles, that is just not sufficient for a tube run so I switched tracks - for only the second time ever - and went Central Line, eastwards. Next stop was quite a hike to Bethnal Green, and in doing so I needed to zoom past Shoreditch High Street. This is an Overground and mainline rail station. On a Sunday morning it was bizarre because there was a street market of sorts but everyone had their wares on the floor. Also their 'stash' of sellable items didn't look dissimilar to the yield of someone having rifled through some coats at a pub or restaurant! I carefully made my way through this, stopping to take this picture of a coin monster...

... and past a very long line of very fresh and tasty-smelling fruits...

... and followed Bethnal Green road, passing countless fresh fruit stalls, many of which sold some highly unusual fruit that I've now realised are Durians (maybe I'll bring one home for Zoe to cook with!). Here is the leafy surrounds of Bethnal Green tube station. I learnt here that 173 people died here in 1943 (read here), making it the biggest civilian tragedy of World War II.

I continued along Roman Road, passing through a residential area, and met up with the Regent's Canal, which formed the Western edge of Mile End Park. I descended here and ran along the footpath, seeing many other runners (all of them grumpy, alas). It was a nice tranquil part of the East End and I wondered about the canal system in London and whether that's worth an exploration. I don't know how many of them have paths along them.

Ascending at the end of the path I turned East onto the A11, stopping at Mile End station.

I'd run out of map here but left written instructions that if wanting to get to the next station it was a simple 2 mile stretch along this main road. I'd done about 10 miles at this point, was quite hot, but still had power in the legs, so onwards I went to Stratford. Plenty of red background signs for OP works traffic. I could also see the towers of construction for the athletes village; for the Mittal Tower, and for the main Olympic stadium. I could see the twin spires that signified Stratford town centre, and approaching it noted the big development of the shopping centre, which should be open later this year (and will be the largest retail park in Europe).

Stratford Station:

Again, I could have stopped but it was such a pleasant day and I knew that there was a little more loose ends out here, so used my phone to work out the route to the next station. It wasn't far: Leyton.

Total distance: 12.4 miles; average pace 9:20/mile.

Websites I read: Getting Beyond Grief

I subscribe to lots of different blogs because I can read them on the train and I think that good writing deserves to be given time. Here's one that I like because often it makes me think. Kirstie's website tackles the many and varied angles on grief and loss. This article I'd like to share with you in particular, as it considers a common 'theory' that has fallen into general acceptance - i.e. the 'five stages of grief'.

Take a read here: http://kristiewest.com/2011/06/30/why-the-5-stages-of-griefbereavement-model-should-be-retired-permanently-now/

And this one as well, which is about expectations: http://kristiewest.com/2011/02/10/why-not-everyone-will-be-there-for-you-when-youre-grieving-or-now-i-know-who-my-real-friends-are/

Oh and this one, again about 'what people expect'! http://kristiewest.com/2011/06/02/why-joining-a-bereavement-support-group-can-be-the-best-and-worst-thing-for-you/

Fundraising - some Analysis after 35 weeks

Anyone who has run a marathon or competed in an endurance event will tell you that the final quarter of the race is the hardest, mentally and physically.

I've analysed cumulative donations since the start of running back in October 2010. Its interesting because it shows you the classic diminishing marginal returns on "further" running. This doesn't mean that I'll be throwing in the towel, but shows that getting to £4,000 was a great achievement, but that to get up to £5,000 will be progressively more difficult. With an estimated 10 weeks remaining, it doesn't appear at the current rate that I'll achieve my target, unless there is a boost to donations.

Someone I know back from University but who I haven't seen in perhaps 10 years contacted me today. She's already sponsored me £50, which was fantastic. She also a few weeks ago said she'd double that amount when I finish. Now she's said that she's not going to do that! Which was a bit bizarre first off. But - then - and this has made me smile ever since I heard it, she has pledged to sponsor me £1 a mile for the remainder of my run! I did point out that this is approx 113 miles at the time - but she was very happy to do this!! Which is incredible really seeing as I've not seen her for a decade.

It would be great if some of you out there, who haven't yet got round to donating, could get in contact with me, let me know that you're following me with interest or indeed with disinterest, but let me know what your pledges are. This personal challenge is of course by far the biggest and longest endurance activity that I will be doing, and I feel so happy to be contributing to raising general awareness and specific funds to go into preventative research via SANDS.

So give me some mental go-go juice... pledge to sponsor me for the remaining duration of the running!
AND forward the link on Facebook, Twitter, e-mail, pony post, etc etc etc!!!

No Sniggering at the Rude Words! | Megadonor

2011-07-01T19:59:00.001+01:00

26/6/11 - 11.4 miles

(Very) hot on the tail of Friday and with the combined additional pressure of exercising every day in June, I arose early on Sunday to run again.

Route: http://runkeeper.com/user/BadWabbit/activity/40903961
Photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/stephen.t.wright/20110626RTTLRun25

The weather was fantastic - bright blue skies as I travelled through to London Bridge / Kings X then up on the Picadilly Line all the way up, up, up, to Cockfosters. It being a Sunday morning there were plenty of people dressed up as if it were Saturday night looking sheepish and rather the worse for wear. Dirty stop-outs on their way back home to crawl under the sheets. Not for me though, and I started my GPS just before 9am.

Turning left out of the station I took the first left down a long, sweeping residential street. Just under one mile later was leafy Oakwood.

I then headed down Chase Road, also a leafy, wide, avenue - deserted at this early hour - to arrive at Southgate at two miles in. Sunglasses were on and I was already sweltering! The station entrance looked like a UFO had landed with the funny beacon tower in the centre.

I continued down the 'High Street' which was named only nominally as it continued basically to be a slightly busier residential street. I saw one or two lovely girlie runners and we exchanged waves. In the distance on an incline I could see Alexandra Palace. My next stop however was Arnos Grove, which was on a slight spur out to the West. It was sweltering at this point so I drank some delicious milk chocolate drink that I'd purchased for the end of my run. Desperate weather calls for despearate measures. Yum!

Back down the road and hurdling my way through road-works on part of the North Circular, after four miles I cut through residential streets pausing momentarily to check direction and arrived at Bounds Green.

I then passed along quite a busy dual carriageway until I reached a much busier, proper commercial area in the form of Wood Green. The light illuminating me in the picture below is actually the sun itself. What an amazing day for running!

I carried on down this high street, and just after 6 miles I arrived at Turnpike Lane. Passing a busy bus-station, I continued South...

... stopping momentarily at Roseberry Gardens (where we live in Orpington) - I noted that this version of our street had an interesting fast-food / coffee outlet. Just what you need when you've run a 10k in sweltering conditions! But - no time to stop, I am on a mission.

The next stop was Manor House, which is just at the edge of the Finsbury Park.

I took the opportunity to run through the park on this Sunday morning. Many more people up and about; this park had the feeling of many other central London parks with the typical mix of dog-walkers; drunkards; people playing tennis, football; children playing; some kind of 'military fitness' going on in the corner; and runners of al shapes and forms and experiences - from those fully kitted out head to toe in lycra (even in 30+ degrees temperature); those wearing sun hats, wired for sound with an smart-phone strapped proudly on their arm; water-bottle carriers; back-pack carriers; tri-suit wearers; a drunk like a beached-whale on a bench; the works. To be honest I think I preferred the tranquillity of the streets! I also reflected that the last time I'd run past here it was as I was progressing my first ever Tube Run, back in November, when I was making my way North-East on the upper-stretch of the Victoria Line. What a lot has happened in the intervening months!

So next stop Finsbury Park. Where's Wally?

Now heading ever-closer to known territory (as I'd never walked around any part of the route thus far) I made my way through back-streets to Arsenal tube station. Beautiful skies; deserted streets. Reckon it would be different on a match day.

I passed alongside the Emirates Stadium, past the A-R-S-E-N-A-L letters, resisting the temptation to make a rude photo, then double-backed to find Holloway Road.

Now I was passing through residential streets en route to my next destination when perhaps the biggest single most amazing probabilistic event took place. As I approached the car below I saw a woman just putting back into place the soft-top of the car. Heavily disguised in sunglasses, I recognised her immediately as Pauline, who sits diagonally opposite me at work! She had just been out for a spin in her little car and had it been 30 seconds either way, she'd have been inside and I'd have passed her! Incredible. She took a picture of me next to her pride and joy.

Next stop, which was just round the corner, was Caledonian Road.

Shimmying through side-streets, I found it almost intolerable but resisted the temptation to take a photo of the street sign at Paradise Passage. I later found out from Pauline that there used to be a mannequin factory there - no doubt the place for many a-prank for local school-kids pretending to have bodies left in the roadside.

I was pleased to be on the final descent Southwards arriving at Kings Cross. Here is the splendid building at St Pancras.

Total distance: 11.4 miles; average pace 9:48/mile.

Normally this would be the end of the day but I have been doing a bit of exercise every day in June, and to write it up at the same time. Exercising every day is quite a challenge; finding the time also to write a blog about it, every single day, is even more so. During June then I did lots more things than I would have otherwise done - namely ran 151 miles; swam 3 miles; cycled 24 miles (including losing my Boris Bike virginity); did 8 hours of gym classes, and met of lots of new lovely people (some of which even in real life).

So back to that story.. I met up with Vicky and Adam, who were following Vicky's splendid idea to spell out the word Boris using the power of GPS recording technology, solely on Boris Bikes. She tells the story the best (here) and I must admit that after running nearly 12 miles, getting on one of those heavy Boris Bikes and (sans helmet alas) darting in and out of an unforgiving London traffic was a bit perilous. But it was enjoyable - I completed the "I" and "S" with them. We then retired to a local pub to celebrate. I didn't stay too long as was starting to slip into a post-run stasis so said my goodbyes and returned home.

Once back we made preparations for a splendid BBQ in the sun, and we watched the sun go down whilst drinking chilled white wine on our decking. Bliss.

Epilogue - 1 July Donation

Now sometimes I get a bit sad about the diminishing marginal returns that comes in this latter stage of my tube running. After all, over those last two runs I clocked up nearly 22 miles and I received just two further donations. Actually that wasn't too bad as each were £20, but that works out at about £2 a mile which actually isn't that much all in all. So I was intrigued to get a standard e-mail from Virgin Just Giving this evening on the way home from work. The infuriating thing about this website is that it sends you a message but doesn't tell you who, or how much you've been sponsored - just a cruel ploy to get you to visit the site. Well, I followed the link and was amazed to see the following:

£100 plus gift aid makes this the single largest donation .. but it's anonymous!! I have absolutely no way of knowing who is my Mega Donor! Very generous, and I'd like to thank them personally, but its now impossible for me to verify who it was. So hats off to you, whoever you are. If you are reading this, then please know that this does a lot to lift my spirits as I look to face the final 113 miles of running.

The End of the East End | SANDS Research

2011-06-25T13:44:00.001+01:00

14/6/11 - 10.3 miles

With another busy weekend ahead and the encouragement to use up flex-time credits from my boss, I left work early to finish off some more of the District Line.

Route: http://runkeeper.com/user/BadWabbit/activity/40648033
Photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/stephen.t.wright/20110624RTTLRun24#

I left work in the mid-afternoon and got the Tube from St James' Park Eastwards to Barking, where I started my journey, picking up from a recent run that I'd started at Upminster (here).

With timer started it was an immediate case of dodging people going about their business. School chucking out time; end of the working week, etc. There was a busy, bustling marketplace that I decided not to run through per the suggested Google Maps route. Whereas the first time I approached Barking, back in December (here), the market stall transistor radios might have been playing "we wish you a merry Christmas (and a happy new year)" ... now they were pumping out "summertime". Albeit that was a bit hopeful because although the morning weather was splendid (at 0530, when we awoke to purchase Olympics tickets), it had got progressively worse throughout the day. Next stop East Ham where road works made an already busy high street more difficult to navigate:

From here I continued down Heigham Road, a residential tree-lined streets, wherein I first noticed that I was the only person not wearing eastern clothing. I didn't feel threatened at all, just more aware that my high-vis sports clothing was totally at odds with the people of Newham. But at the end of the day, I am the guest through their neighbourhood, and actually it makes no difference because as a runner you still have to dodge men, women, children, dogs to get where you want to go. Which for me was Upton Park.

I was surprised how much of the route I'd remembered from my previous run along the Hammersmith & City line. It was good to see it at a different time of year and on a weekday versus a weekend, and on an afternoon versus a morning. Next stop Plaistow.

I knew the route to West Ham...

... but for some reason got confused reading my map which suggested going in a direction that didn't make sense, so I went backwards, then forwards, then checked and decided to just carry on in the reverse of my previous run. Hence the loss in average pace (making this a rather unimpressive 17th fastest and 17th longest run so far). So I made my way through the creepy and sinister Prologis Business Park, and out the other side at the edge of "inner London" crossing Limehouse Cut, the A12 and catching a glimpse of the Olympic Mittal Tower (which will look like this hopefully soon!) So here is Bromley-By-Bow.

I cross through Devas Street, past a DLR station (which I'll need to visit one day), and North onto the A11. Now I'm feeling at just after 6 miles that I'm returning to more familiar territory. I could see the Gherkin Building in the distance. At Bow Road it started to rain. Yay! It was also after 5pm so the rush hour exodus from London on the roads, and the density of people leaving work/University by foot had increased. Luckily the roads were wide enough for me to shimmy through the crowds.

Mile End ...

Then Stepney Green, avoiding the curious stares of some dishevelled rancid women (who'd already started on the 'sherbets', I reckon)...

... then it gets much busier, almost too much so to run as there are road-works and busy crowds on either side going through the markets around Whitechapel....

Much prettier is the Royal London Hospital on the other side.

It was now officially raining now and I didn't stop long outside one of the entrances to Aldgate East.

Now inside the City of London, I made it to Tower Hill, where we can see the Shard construction well under way.

This would have been my final stop but on the basis that I was going in that direction, I continued through now deserted City streets (aside from fat cats dressed in dinner suits) to Monument station.

What a monumental way to spend a Friday afternoon (if you'll excuse the pun)

Finishing the run at 10.3 miles, I made a non-recorded (!) jog over London Bridge, where I managed to dart through a very busy set of tunnels and almost gamble on the departing train actually taking me home - which it indeed did. Hurrah!

Total Distance covered: 302 miles over 24 runs, taking 49 hours 46 minutes - average pace 9:55/mile.
Miles covered above and beyond what was considered 'optimal': 22.7 (oops!)
Miles remaining: 125 (31%)

===

SANDS and Preventative Research

Sponsorship, which is one of the two aspects of my endeavours (the other being awareness raising and getting people to talk about the subject). I thought you might be interested to know that I have requested that all funds that I have raised will be allocated to the SANDS Prevention and Research Fund.

If there are any aspects of Preventative Research that you think are particularly important or that you'd like more information about, please contact me and I will see what SANDS can provide to give us all a better understanding.

Here are some overview details, extracted from my correspondence with them. The bold highlighting is mine:

"Sands is currently supporting the development of a research trial for a combined routine antenatal screening tool which includes screening for pre-term labour, pre-eclampsia and late gestation stillbirth. We are inputting into the trial design and financially supporting the planning process which will lead to a feasibility study, and we hope ultimately to a multi-centre, national trial.

We work in partnership with many health professionals to improve the quality of care that is offered to parents who have a pregnancy loss, a stillbirth or a neonatal death. We know that the care that parents receive around the time of a loss has a huge impact on their perception of what happened and on their ability to cope at the time and afterwards. Whilst we appreciate that good care cannot remove the pain and devastation that the loss of a pregnancy or the death of a baby can bring, but insensitivity and lack of good care can and do make things worse. We know that health care staff can do a great deal to ensure that the memories that parents take away with them are as positive as possible, but we also know that, many staff get little or no training on how to support and care for grieving parents and are likely to feel unprepared for this sensitive and challenging aspect of their work.

We work with many health professionals providing support, training and resources to allow them better care for bereaved families. This is through a number of ways, including the Sands Guidelines for Professionals. These guidelines were first published in 1991, and have been widely recognised as an essential benchmark for good practice when caring for parents who have a pregnancy loss, a stillbirth or the death of a baby at birth or shortly afterwards. These were revised in 2007 and further information about these can be found here by following this link. http://www.uk-sands.org/Improving-Care/The-Sands-Guidelines-2007.html

We provide resources for health professionals in respect of the Teardrop Sticker Scheme, (used to identify the notes of a mother whose baby has died, both in the time following the death and during subsequent pregnancies) support literature, training for health professionals, the Sands memory card and memory boxes and have most recently developed and funded the Sands Audit Tool for units to use to look at the services that they offer and to highlight to units areas that can be improved etc. In addition last year we performed a survey of units across the UK and produced the Bereavement Care Report, which was a really important document detailing the extent to which units were following the recommendations set out in the Guidelines (http://www.uk-sands.org/Improving-Care/News-and-Updates/Bereavement-Care-Report-2010.html)

Many of our support groups around the UK further reinforce the collaboration and relations we have with hospitals and support the units on a closer local level, some supplying the hospital with support leaflets/packs to the bereaved families and memory boxes to being integral to fully developing dedicated rooms/suites that families can stay in, such as the one you describe."

Squelch Squelch Squelch

2011-06-17T22:59:00.002+01:00

17/6/11 - 13.7 miles

I was reviewed my spreadsheet of things left to do and realised that there was a bit of the Central Line I'd missed out - so I for a mid-week Tube Run.

Route: Part 1 - http://runkeeper.com/user/BadWabbit/activity/39796357
Part 2 - http://runkeeper.com/user/BadWabbit/activity/39796456
Photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/stephen.t.wright/20110617RTTLRun23

I started after working an excellently productive morning in the office (during which the quality of lives of many was improved). First thing to notice is that my hair goes through a variety of transformations on this run, ...

Starting at North Acton, it has some kind of bouffant style - however with the light rain that I experienced for the rest of the afternoon, it got progressively plastered to my head. The first two segments took me (once I'd worked out how to get out of the one-way system) along to West Acton, ...

... then I was at Ealing Broadway, where I finished up with my dad less than a week ago.

I'd run 2.2 miles and stopped for a coffee. I hadn't eaten any lunch at that point and I did contemplate running the next 10-12 miles on just one of Mrs W's (excellent) Brownies but suspected that there just wouldn't be enough yumminess to see me through the distance.

Then back to Tube Running. I got the Central Line back to North Acton, ...

... then continued alongside the 3-lane super-highway that is the A40 - being splashed by noisy juggernauts - stopping to check out the view to Wembley stadium...

... before pausing before the subway entrance to Hanger Lane.

I managed to navigate myself out of the right one of about ten exits to the subway system and headed towards Alperton, where I'd been previously, but this was a slight (but planned) detour this being the only way to get to the next station on the Central Line, that being Perivale. By this time the light pitter-patter of rain had turned into proper 'rain'. Hmph. Not a great way to spend a Friday afternoon - but with a busy weekend ahead, the only way to return to the progress form of past months - and now given that I'm over the 6 months' mark, I only have three months to complete the remainder.

The route to the next station per Google Maps was 2.2 miles but taking a common sense approach I saw that there was a route that only took 1.8 miles involving running alongside another busy A-road. I finally found myself after 5 miles at Greenford.

Then it was a case of continuing through an industrial retail park and then through quite a run-down residential area (broken windows, dog mess on pavement, etc etc); then through better residential streets - including past the road where an ex-girlfriend lived (I didn't stop in!!), and past another retail park before getting to Eastcote. Yes, it was still raining. The traffic on the roads was building up as the weekend rush hour was kicking in.

Then through South Ruislip and on to Ruislip Gardens - the rain intensifying. After nearly ten miles on this second leg I'm looking a little tired and withdrawn.

The final push and passing RAF Headquarters at Northolt, I found myself at the end of the line in West Ruislip.

Total Distance: Leg 1 - 2.20 miles in 19:31 (average pace 8:51/mile). Leg 2 - 11.48 miles in 1:48:54 (average pace 9:29/mile)

Made it back home by about 7:30pm where we stuffed our faces with pizza. Yum!

Loose Ends in the West End

2011-06-12T19:47:00.001+01:00

12/6/11 - 8.5 miles

There were some loose ends to tie up in the Western part of the District Line and I was pleased to have the company of my dad on this rainy twelfth day of June.

Route: http://runkeeper.com/user/BadWabbit/activity/39121525

Photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/stephen.t.wright/20110612RTTLRun22

Last weekend at a family lunch my dad said that he'd be interested in supporting me on my next tube run. Also we'd been invited over for lunch at my parents this Sunday. Mrs W had the bright idea that the two activities should be combined and before we knew it we'd made plans to rendez-vous for an early-morning meet in town. Now my dad is more of a snooker pro than an ultra-distance runner so he would accompany me on his fold-up bike which he uses for commuting. Well I say that but today was only the second, possibly third outing of said bike for the whole of 2011. I mustn't comment too adversely on this of course because I also have not taken my bike out of the garage as many times. And I should be more worried as I have an Olympic distance triathlon to do at the end of July! Anyway I digress.

I was conscious that there were two itty-bitty bits of the District Line that I hadn't completed owing to the natural conclusion of earlier tube runs. These were between Hammersmith and Kensington (Olympia); and then between Turnham Green and Ealing Broadway. We arranged to meet at Hammersmith for 0900. Owing variously to engineering works and us both not wanting to be late, I arrived there are 0820 and dad had got there at 0800. He'd left me a text message saying that he was in a local coffee shop. The prospect of a nice coffee and a muffin before the run started to fill my mind but alas when I got to the shop he was outside with his trusty steed unfolded and ready to go. He was sporting a 'fire marshal' high-vis jacket - which was technically because he was a fire-marshall (although not for West London), and also a map pocket which contained more detailed analysis of the route than I would have ever done. Also I learned that he had "done" the route by virtually playing it through Google Street Maps. Crikey - this was serious planning! I knew therefore that we couldn't get lost!

A quick photo outside Hammersmith station (notice the bike in the background) and we set off at 0832.

It was early on a Sunday and so it wasn't really a problem that dad was accompanying me on the pavement, as there was virtually no-one else around. It was just a matter of moments before we arrived just along the A4 at the distinctive building of Baron's Court station.

We continued along the main West Cromwell Road eastwards to West Kensington, past some studios where my aunt/dad's sister once danced when she was a ballerina. We didn't stop to take a photo because it was now starting to rain.

Next we ducked South through residential streets and found ourselves at the back entrance to Earl's Court. We continued around to the main entrance, where that Tardis was still parked illegally.

It didn't take us too long to find Kensington Olympia station. In my early twenties I'd been to the Great British Beer Festival; in my early married years to the Ideal Home Exhibition; and the last few times the Ski Show. There didn't appear to be anything much on today, and as we were at the end of the line, it was time to get back on the tube towards the second leg of today's jaunt.

We swiped in, and seeing a train on the platform, dashed over to get on board. The train then went nowhere for ages. When it finally departed it stopped for ages outside Earl's Court station. Now given that the two stations are 1.1 miles away, increasingly we were annoyed that we didn't (a) just go back on foot/bike; and (b) given that our next route was starting at Turnham Green, that we hadn't taken the route directly there rather than thinking that the tube would be better. Grr. So we pulled into Earl's Court, then waited, and waited, and WAITED for a train going West. We decided that even though it was raining heavier that it would be better to just get moving and so we exited the station and basically did the reverse of the run so far - i.e. back to Hammersmith; and then beyond Hammersmith to Turnham Green. This is about an extra 2 miles of running - so counts against my 'efficiency' stats - but a necessary evil to avoid standing aroudn getting cold in the damp of the Sunday morning.

So we were ready now to start leg 2 - from Turnham Green:

Through a park, which was hosting a rather washed-out carnival/farmers' market of sorts, to Chiswick Park

And now from residential streets through that grotty industrial area - that I got lost in when I was covering the Central Line earlier - up a gentle incline; over some level-crossings (the first in over 200 miles of tube running so far!) - to Acton Town.

Then shimmying over a roundabout it was on towards Ealing, stopping after 7 miles at Ealing Common...

and finally, after a slight over-shoot, culminating at Ealing Broadway.

Total Distance: 8.5 miles in 1:19:19 (9:23/mile pace). The Runkeeper link records total physical distance and total elapsed time, which for a split-leg race doesn't make any sense, but as I've got to write this blog and the 'other' blog (some people will know what this means) I have little time to be fancy with GPX file splitting. We then returned to my mum & dad's house via Notting Hill / Wimbledon / Ampere Way / Wallington. Luckily Zoe had brought a change of clothes so I wouldn't be stinky and sweaty for the afternoon, and we spent the rest of the day having a yummy roast dinner, followed by games and relaxing. Was glad and proud to have been able to share part of my tube running experience with my dad.

===

Some More Awareness Raising: Little Footprints

Our most recent experience of loss reminded us that some people we'd regarded as friends acted in most peculiar ways: ignoring us (and for some, continuing to post bland nonsense on Facebook all the while interspersed by our updates of grief); or being confused as to why we weren't returning our calls; or telling us things that might have come straight out of a Hallmark card - e.g. "words can't express how I feel". Words can't express how YOU feel? How lazy is that? We've gone through a terrible experience and you can't even bring yourself to put your mind to use the great English language to describe your own particular thoughts and feelings at that point in time. Tsk.

Anyway, I found a useful information pack on the website 'Little Footprints' that is helpful if you find yourself in a situation where you need to comfort a couple going through a loss. Take just a couple of moments to read this, and forward it to some people as a gesture of showing that you care.

Very East End

2011-05-30T21:13:00.000+01:00

30/5/11 - 11.2 miles

First Tube Run post Thomas, time to head way out East.

Route: http://runkeeper.com/user/BadWabbit/activity/37471250

Photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/stephen.t.wright/20110530RTTLRun21#

So, back from Cornwall and a week off running, I wanted to continue with tube running - as I said before, with a new focus on helping people to understand not only about stillbirth, but also about birth trauma generally, and what it means for people going through it. This will all come in due course, I have some ideas and some resources to share with you - but first, a write-up of today's run.

I awoke early (0630) and got on a 0730 train into Charing Cross. I jogged down to Embankment to see the support cars for the select few runners performing the Olympic Marathon test event as it passed by. I jumped on a tube Eastbound and took it for a long time until it reached the terminus at Upminster. I started my run at just after 9am.

Obligatory first photo is always a 'non-smiling' one as I don't get any adrenalin making me smiley. I set off with my trusty printed maps, and made it after not very long to Upminster Bridge.

The route (which you can see if you click on the link at the top) now was to take a bit of a detour. Whilst I'd been good at printing off the route, I'd printed it out at a resolution slightly-too-small to see the road names. I followed the route turnings and could see that I was approaching what should be the next station, asking a passer-by for confirmation. She told me the tube was 'just at the end'. As I approached the junction my heart sank as I found myself back at Upminster Bridge again. I about-turned and used my phone interactive map to plot a new route, and slightly later than planned I arrived at Hornchurch.

It was now a further mile through quiet residential streets to the next stop, Elm Park.

The sun had started to show now which was good. I made my way en route but saw a woman taking a picture of the floor. I went over and saw a rare sight - a male stag beetle (taken below with my phone for comparison). We both remarked that we hadn't seen many of these since 'way back when'. She used my tube map sheet to escort the beetle off the pavement to safety.

Between miles five and six, now leaving residential areas and following along the A125, I came across a field of ponies of varying sizes. I took a couple of pictures of one of them, and gradually more and more of them came over - an inquisitive bunch. No long faces here. Someone in a car tooted me; I turned to them - they waved me and I waved back - bizarre.

Next stop was up an incline to Dagenham East.

Then it was Westwards along a residential street and along a high street to Dagenham Heathway. Have to say, not the most idyllic of high streets. There was a newsagents called 'Mags and Fags' which I think typifies the essential purchases for that part of town!

Into the eighth mile and along more residential streets (not as nice as out in Upminster) and I was at Becontree.

I carried along Rugby Road; passed a young guy who was walking some kind of slobbery Doberman. The dog was behind him, walking slowly. The dog did not let me pass; I said 'hello' to it, patted it on the head, then went to move by; then it jumped up and started growling. The guy said 'he just wants to run with you' (or perhaps he said 'he just wants to eat you') but aside from some eager scratches, no major harm done.

I then found myself running through Mayesbrook Park, where I was almost ambushed by a lot of geese (big ones and baby ones). They were quite cute although I don't know if I liked them all staring at me silently!

Next station was Upney. There are a lot of double-syllable station names to the East of the District Line but only one on the West side of it (Earl's Court). Not sure why that is - perhaps people in the West can handle longer words than the people of the East?

A respectable 10 miles now completed, and so I decided to call it a day by finishing at the next station, Barking. Keen RTTL followers will know that I did the identical route from Whitechapel to Barking on the Hammersmith and City Line (the pink one) in the memorable blog for Run 7 (here), back in December.

I will have to complete that Eastern section of the District Line again - I'll do it from East to West to make it different from Run 7.

Some Awareness Raising #1: Varying Standards of Maternity Care

It was a good return to Tube Running. I've got lots of ideas to supplement just describing what I'm doing. One thing that is immediately clear to me is that the "experience" of stillbirth or late miscarriage (if you're not too picky about arbitrary classifications) varies from hospital to hospital. A really interesting read on this is the latest SANDS Bereavement Care Report (http://www.uk-sands.org/Improving-Care/News-and-Updates/Bereavement-Care-Report-2010.html)

Key findings of the survey, conducted in June 2010, were:

that in most maternity units provision and the organisation of care for bereaved parents has improved greatly over the last few decades. Most of the units that responded are able to provide care in line with the standards set out in the Sands Guidelines. This indicates that these standards are realistic: there is no good reason why all units should not achieve them.
However, in about 20 per cent of the units that responded, care is still poorly resourced and organised, and in others it is patchy. In addition, the fact that care in most units is good is of absolutely no help or comfort to those parents whose baby dies in a unit where care and resources are poor or inadequate.

Findings of particular concern were:

52% of maternity units have no dedicated bereavement support midwife
45% of units have no dedicated room on the labour ward for mothers whose baby has died, where they cannot hear other mothers and babies.
In a small number of units, women having a miscarriage are cared for in areas that are clearly unsuitable, for example, on a medical or general ward or in an A&E department.
82% of units have no information in formats suitable for parents with visual impairments and 86% of units have no information in formats suitable for parents with learning disabilities.

Read the report directly - it won't take you more than a couple of minutes, and it will give you a better appreciation of what things have been considered important when a couple has to go through this traumatic experience.

http://www.uk-sands.org/fileadmin/content/Improving_Care/Reports/04266_Bereavement_Care_Report_12-MR.pdf

The Thomas Effect

2011-05-27T10:56:00.004+01:00

If you could reduce the year of 2011 down into one day, then it would be 3rd May, because this is the day that our year split into two.

In the first half of the year we've done many interesting and enjoyable things publicly and with other people - not least for me has been a substantial progress into 'tube running'. I'd have to say that I've had the pleasure of meeting lots of new people through this awareness and fund-raising personal challenge. Also behind the scenes since January we have been ever-so carefully and cautiously nurturing a tiny little person as he grew inside Z's tummy. We approached and passed the milestones of this pregnancy softly-softly, from the first test results, through to a successful 'no bad news' 12-week scan. Even at this point, when many couples would then share their exciting news with the world, we kept it to ourselves. We wanted to be sure - and also we had our own personal milestone - that of the 2007 twins - of 21 weeks and four days. A psychological milestone of course, meaningless as no two pregnancies follow the same pattern, but something we wanted to get through. I had successfully been able to field questions from gym buddies who wondered why Z was no longer going to any classes or going running with various excuses. These excuses were pretty much exhausted now. We got through to the second trimester; we also got to the second major scan series at 20 weeks (actually done at the 21st week). All measurements were perfect; the baby had a particularly strong heart; and although not entirely uneventful (many emergency hospital visits!) we were both starting to become a little more comfortable with the prospect that this might actually work out. So we gradually over the course of the last week of April / first week of May spread the news to some of our closest friends and family. We started to plan the things we needed to do between May and September.

3rd May was simply the first day back after the Royal Wedding 4-day bank holiday weekend. We both went to work as normal, but then I got a call at around 9:30 from Z who was very upset; there was some unexpected complications and she needed to go to the nearest Accident and Emergency hospital, which - as we were in town - was St Thomas' Hospital, just on the bank of the River Thames. I jumped in a taxi to meet her there. We then went through the various registration processes and found ourselves in 'emergency gynaecology'. At around midday we were seen by a series of consultants, who after a series of examinations gave us the terrible news, that it appeared that the early signs of labour were there. At 22 weeks this was absolutely not what we wanted to hear. Without any warning signs or pains whatsoever, how could this be?

They transferred us to the maternity ward on the basis that if things settled down then were would be the remote possibility that they could perform an 'emergency stitch' to save the pregnancy. But they did point out that this was a remote possibility. In our minds, the experiences of 2007 were all coming back but we didn't want to give up hope that this wasn't going to go the same way. I rushed back home to get some things (as we were definitely going to be there overnight). I was able to get back in time, staying in contact all the time, to make sure Z was okay. I was happy that they were looking after her well but that there was the risk that contractions would start and it would be the beginning of the end. The last ultrasound that we saw had a v healthy and alive baby on one side, and the opening of the cervix on the other side. Impossibly unfair.

The people closest to us know about the details of this day, and I won't go into the details again here. But over the course of the evening, we were together whilst going through the physically and emotionally traumatic experience of delivery of a baby that in all likelihood would not survive outside the womb so tiny. Just before 10pm, a tiny baby boy was born, too eager for this world, and immediately became an angel baby. We named him Thomas William; he weighed just 1 pound 1 oz. If born in Australia, US, or Netherlands, Thomas would have been given a birth certificate and the mother would be entitled to maternity leave. Because of the arbitrary classification used in the UK (24 weeks), this was not the case for us.

We were in hospital until the Thursday evening and then spent a further week at home, together recuperating and spending time together. The following week I went back to work. On the Thursday, we had a funeral service for Thomas; he was cremated in a very low-key service conducted by our local vicar and just the two of us. And this week, we have been away together in Cornwall, on a holiday that we'd previously planned, but not with this outcome.

Zoe and me, with the balloon we released after the cremation

We have been moved by the support we've had from close friends and particularly new friends that we've come to know through 'running the tube lines'. I hope to return to 'tube running' in June. But the return to the challenge, and the last 150 miles will be for our Thomas, who gave us so many happy memories for our 2011.

The Next 35 Miles...

2011-05-02T22:07:00.001+01:00

I've planned and scheduled in the next 35 miles of Tube Running.

===

First is on 15/5/11 when I'll be doing the 40 stations of the Docklands Light Railway. I'm attempting to do all 40 stations in one day, as follows:

Click Image to see Wikipedia Entry for DLR

Stage 1a Lewisham to Greenwich (South to North) - 2 miles (http://bit.ly/kMudpi)
[Take Foot Tunnel]
Stage 1b Island Gardens to Stratford (South to North) - 9 miles (http://bit.ly/jAUML8)
Then Get DLR from Stratford alighting Poplar

Stage 2 Poplar 'North East' to Beckton - 7 miles (http://bit.ly/mxEIgS)
Then Get DLR from Beckton to Canning Town

Stage 3 Canning Town 'South East' to Woolwich Arsenal - 5 miles (http://bit.ly/l8P5rj) [taking Foot Tunnel]
Then Get DLR from Woolwich back to Poplar

Stage 4a Poplar, West to Bank - 4 miles (http://bit.ly/lWAdvs)
Stage 4b from Bank, jog to Tower Gateway then to Shadwell - 2 miles (of which 1 mile 'isn't' tube running) (http://bit.ly/iVmNUa)

Then Get DLR to Westferry
Stage 5 - Westferry to West India Quay - 0.5 miles (http://bit.ly/il85R3)

The return journeys on the DLR will give me the chance of a breather. Maybe some people will join me on some of the legs, and I'm hoping to eat rather a lot of food at the end, somewhere in Canary Wharf. If anyone interested, will share details of times and places.

Total Distance = 2 + 9 + 7 + 5 + 2 + 0.5 = 25.5 miles (this excludes the two foot tunnels under Thames)
That makes it just about 26.2 miles, or from this day forward it will be known as the "DLR Five Star Marathon"

===

The Second run will be on 11/6/11 - 10 miles: Central Line: Woodford (North) to Epping Forest (http://bit.ly/fuSJuf) - with Dan O'M from work. Looking forward to visiting the most North Easterly part of the Network, finishing at one of only a few stops that are outside the M25. I've been promised exquisite cakes at the end!

Hot Cross Buns

2011-04-25T22:47:00.000+01:00

21/4/11 - 5.8 miles

Afternoon is sweltering business!

Route: http://runkeeper.com/user/BadWabbit/activity/32617313

Photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/stephen.t.wright/20110421RTTLRun20#

With my finishing the Brighton Marathon earlier in April, lots of short but busy weeks at work, and going away for the Easter Weekend (to celebrate our seventh wedding anniversary) I was getting little anxious that my tube running project was losing momentum. Grasping what spare time I could find I carved out a plan to do a little run on the afternoon of Maundy Thursday - for which every civil servant is granted as leave. We'd had several days of balmy summer-like weather and the Thursday was no exception. So after a morning's productive work I changed and departed West to the very most South West arm of the District Line to meet Helen, my new tube running buddy.

I first met Helen whilst doing some work together, some months ago. This was only fleetingly because she was back then just about to go on her maternity leave. Back in January, I asked how she was doing but was sad to hear that things hadn't quite worked out according to plan. I won't attempt to summarise the story of Helen, Duncan and their daughter Amber that was born too soon, but you can read about the fantastic fund-raising they have achieved, also for SANDS, on their site here (http://www.justgiving.com/AmberMallison). I was pleased to hear that Helen had started running again so suggested that she might want to do some tube running; she said 'when are you next running', I said 'Thursday' and one thing led to another and so I found myself waiting outside Richmond station in the sweltering 25 degree heat for her!

Now Richmond, like Wimbledon, is a bit of a grotty place, being a mainline rail station also. The entrance didn't befit the posh neighbourhoods it serviced. As I waited for Helen to arrive (she'd been a good daughter and picked up her parents from the Airport) I saw all manner of people get dropped off and collected. She arrived just a touch later than planned, which just enough time for me to be given a couple of odd glances at my sporty attire at all the hideously unhealthy smokers, who were also loitering but with less noble intent. Despite professing that she'd be very very slow, Helen was super-sporty and was wearing an even-higher spec GPS watch than me - hmph. We set off in a North-East direction and skirted around the bottom edge of Kew Gardens. We'd had lots of conversations since January but this was the first time that we'd met face to face so we had plenty to chin-wag about. After just over a mile, we turned off this road and found Kew Gardens.

Doubling back up this road and joining the South Circular, we crossed Kew Bridge where normally the breezy expanse of the Thames would make for a cooling of the temperature, but this was definitely the hottest conditions not only for tube running but possibly of all my running in 2011. Whilst the Brighton Marathon was hot, we started early in the morning and I was done by just after 1pm. On that day we were running some hours after that. We skirted around the roundabout at the start of the M4 motorway and joined Chiswick High Road. At just over 3 miles into the run we made a short shimmy to Gunnersbury station - which wasn't really a station but a bit underneath a rather ugly building. This was the British Standards Institute - perhaps it set the standard for ugly buildings? The picture below is a rather un-seasonal tube running picture demonstrating the 'singlet only' look. Maximum tan potential! :)

We continued along Chiswick High Road, dodging the many shoppers that were ambling around that afternoon. We passed a busy Turnham Green, where many people were enjoying the sunshine. At four miles we took a left and detoured to Turnham Green station itself. The florist that I'd seen on a previous visit was fully set up and business was booming.

I should point out that Helen hadn't run more than 5k since at least, well, I can't recall when. So this little excursion, in the sweltering heat, at continual conversational pace, was an incredible achievement. We were working out where the next road was to turn down at a pelican crossing when a woman in a vintage car honked her horn at us, instructing us to cross over the road. We did this out of politeness and then started running down this road; it was then after about 50 metres I realised that we didn't need to have crossed the road after all as we needed to turn back towards the high road. We found ourselves at this unusual entrance to Stamford Brook station. In the picture below, there is some unintentional force perspective here as Helen is not hobbit small. :)

And here we are at the front end of the station.

At this point there was some tom-foolery with maps and a little confusion as to which way we needed to be heading. Once we'd decided which way to turn we looked up and saw a big blue sign telling us the direction that we needed to go. Observation is a key skill when it comes to tube running! The next little station on our journey was Ravenscourt Park.

We didn't stop long because at over 5 miles we were both getting a little tired, and someone had threatened to buy lollies at the next stop, Hammersmith. As you can see we were well pleased to have arrived at this destination on a busy pre-Easter weekend afternoon.

We decided to call it a day there because there was plenty that we both had to do, and six miles is six miles, which ever way you analyse it. I am delighted that Helen will join me again for some of the Western parts of the tube lines yet uncompleted.

Progress Update

I've now run 256 segments, or just over 62% of the total number of segments.
There's about 165 miles still to run. Projecting it on my theoretical run from London to Edinburgh, that puts me at just about somewhere along the M6 near Morecambe Bay, near Lancaster, just South of the Lake District. Looking at that distance from London, that's quite a journey completed over just twenty runs!

Fund Raising Update

With Gift Aid, I've raised £3,471, which is simply incredible.

There was a big boost earlier in the month when Zoe's parents had a fortieth wedding anniversary party and kindly suggested that instead of presents that people made a donation to SANDS. I've got a pile of cheques waiting to post directly to the charity and there have been quite a few online donations. Also I'm excited to have seen a few people that have made second donations to spur me along the way. This is simply incredible and something that adds just that little bit of momentum when the road is still long and winding, and the temperatures and demand for my time ever-increases. I'm approaching the six-month anniversary of starting this journey and said that I'd finish between 6 and 9 months. I need everyone to be willing me on as I crack on with completing all those remaining segments!

Places of Worship

2011-04-04T23:34:00.000+01:00

3/4/11 - 14.0 miles

Finally I finished the Jubilee Line, visiting two places of worship en route!

Route: http://runkeeper.com/user/BadWabbit/activity/30458208

Photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/stephen.t.wright/20110403RTTLRun19#

After many, many weeks of planning a weekend when we could both make it, I was able to do the remaining part of the Jubilee Line from Kilburn to Stanmore with Sanjay, who I first met in 1997 when we started work together. Sanjay also lives in this part of town so it wasn't too difficult to get to. We agreed to meet at 0930, at Kilburn, given that he'd just returned from a week's holiday and acknowledged that his longest ever race was a 10k. I said the pace wouldn't be too bad as I have the Brighton Marathon on the following Sunday. At about 0910 on the way to the start, I was at Green Park when the train paused and we were told the line had been suspended due to someone being on the line. I alighted and crossed to the Victoria Line by way of a detour. In doing so I enjoyed one of the new trains on that line. I made it to King's Cross, then changed for the Met Line to head towards Wembley. This was biding for time as the Met Line was closed for weekend engineering works. As the train pulled into Baker Street, which would have been the end of the 'line', the suspension of the Jubilee Line was lifted so I sprinted through the station to make it back onto the Jubilee Line, and continued on to arrive at Kilburn to meet Sanjay at just before 0945.

The weather was clear and sunny, if only a little chilly in the shade. We consulted my printed route maps and set off through leafy suburban roads and merrily chatting away, it wasn't long before we arrived at Willesden Green.

Sanjay was keen to get the composition right and this captures the quaintness of the small row of shops outside the station. With first segment completed, we continued along residential streets to Dollis Hill station. There was an Eastern European family making their way out of this entrance, which is otherwise situated in between a row of houses.

Chatting away we missed a crucial turning at Denzil Road and instead ascended Dudden Hill road. We were at a major roundabout in Neasden before thinking that we might not actually be approaching a tube station. Whilst I checked the map and the GPS phone backup, Sanjay had already asked a shopkeeper who pointed us back downhill. We correctly arrived at Neasden station bang on three miles.

With another well composed picture Sanjay as official tour guide for this run pointed out Wembley Stadium visible in the distance over the tube platforms. We then sighted a road sign for Wembley and continued along this main road, however something wasn't quite right, and given that I knew that this part of the route involved some curve-y detours, we rechecked position on GPS and realised we'd gone the wrong way.

Passing Neasden station again we saw a footpath sign to "Hindu Temple". Sanjay's fact of the moment was that this temple was in fact the largest Hindu temple outside Europe, so surely worth a detour. I wasn't so sure but this sounded big, so we followed the path, hugged along the A406 North Circular for a bit then followed further signs saying '1 mile', '1/2 a mile' through residential streets. I noticed a pair of pair of people knocking on doors - Jehovah's witnesses. I thought Sanjay was joking when he said he would ask them, but amazingly he did. One large gentleman who had just rung the doorbell to a property was taken aback at being asked for directions to a 'rival' religion but generally pointed us in a direction. We continued on, and soon enough found ourselves outside the complex. We went round to the front entrance and asked the security guards if we could go inside. We were able to enter the grounds but I had to leave my rucksack. There were lots of children in the school adjoining the main temple complex but we were able to get one of the guards to take a break from his chai tea to take this picture.

You can learn more about the Temple here. We left here and cross-checking maps found that with careful attention to roads crossed that we could get back on track to Wembley. At 1:30pm on Sunday was Brentford vs Carlisle United, a cup final. Already the reds and blues were making their way to the ground, either milling around, or heading to the nearest pub for a bit of pre-match boozing.

Sanjay wanted the next shot to be my 'Rocky' moment up these steps, but this was good enough...

So we left the excitement and passed Brent Town Hall then continued North, clocking off our eighth mile and passing through the daffodil-enriched Fryent Country Park. We were making good pace and there was increased talk of all the different types of food Sanjay had awaiting us on arrival at the end of the run. At just after nine miles we arrived at the Indian-themed street housing Kingsbury Station.

We continued on to Queensbury station, which was a bit dirty (broken glass on the pavements, etc.) and so we stopped only momentarily for some re-fuelling before heading North.

With now over 10 miles in the bag this was probably longer than Sanjay had run continuously before, but he was doing well. He was almost in familiar territory. We passed along a road and slightly over-shot but found ourselves skirting a park known as 'Little Stanmore'. Shimmying back we found ourselves heading Westwards into Canons Park station, which is Sanjay's local tube stop (although he hadn't approached it from this angle before).

Just a short distance to go and so we took the scenic route through Canon's Park, which had a nice playground and paths for bikes, to the North side, with some final cut-through residential streets to the end of the route, at Stanmore.

We took a couple more photos to prove that we'd accomplished just over 13 miles of running, but there was still some juice in the legs so we did a warm-down jog as we approached Sanjay's house. There we ate a splendidly nourishing meal cooked by Seema, and reflected on a great day of catching up, sightseeing and exploring neighbourhoods local and distant. On the Sunday Sanjay was certainly keen to do some more tube running. I only hope that he's done enough stretching to not feel too stiff on the Monday!

Postscript

Sanjay did well though to help me get my total tube running distance to over 250 miles. Since the start of 2011 I have run over 400 miles, so about 40% of my total Brighton Marathon training has been done on the tube lines. So my theory from back in November that my tube running might interfere with marathon preparations has been disproved - its actually provided a solid foundation for it! Also I noticed on the journey home that almost all of my Jubilee Line runs have been with other people - Sanjay, Sophie, Chris and Suzie. The only bit I did on my own was on the second run back in November (from London Bridge to Canary Wharf). So Jubilee Line really is a celebration of friendships. I've also broken the £3,000 sponsorship barrier, and got my first international donation. So after the interlude of the Brighton Marathon, I need to plan, plan, plan the remainder of my tube running journey!

Underground Overground Memories

2011-03-28T23:09:00.000+01:00

27/3/11 - 10.4 miles

On this run I reflected on the birth of spring, the passing of winter and that hope springs eternal.

Route: http://runkeeper.com/user/BadWabbit/activity/29780445

Photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/stephen.t.wright/20110327RTTLRun18#

Saturday night was a good evening, a disco/meal celebrating the life and times of Brendan, a friend that we knew from the gym, who sadly died recently. It was a fund raising opportunity therefore for Children with Leukaemia. There were lots of nice people there and the food was scrumptious. We didn't leave too late but by the time we got home we only got about six hours sleep. Additionally, this morning the clocks leapt forward for UK springtime. Alas I did not leap out of bed. This was partly because bed is always snuggle-worthy but especially at the weekend, and even more so with the lack of sleep. Today's run wasn't to be long (as its only two weeks to Brighton) but there was a great temptation just to run some mileage locally. As usual, fooled by Zoe's theory that I would enjoy it when I got out there, I got myself to the station and got on a train around 0900 into town. I changed at Waterloo East, jogged through to Waterloo, then got an overground train out to Wimbledon.

South West London is familiar territory for me. My dad was brought up there, and some of my earliest memories back in the late 1970s/early 1980s are of visiting his mum and dad there in Wimbledon. Also more recently I lived in Southfields 1998-2001 when I'd just started working in London after finishing University. I have to say, for a part of town well known for its wealth, the mainline station is very grotty. So I took my trademark solemn first picture of the day (reflecting the weather - overcast, windy, cold) and started to run.

I followed the arc of Alexandra Road round and slightly up. Due to time of day there weren't many other people about. On the other side of the road a big burly runner went past in fluorescent yellow top and headphones. He looked a bit like a 'rugger bugger'. Gave him a big wave, but he just looked confused as if to say "why would someone that I don't know wave at me?" Must have flummoxed him for the rest of the day but it was the first of many to be tested against my 'grumpy runner' scale.

Shortly I arrived at Wimbledon Park station, a quaint building that basically like many of the others on this route acts as the surface level entrance to which you descend to platforms. There was a tiny newsagents here and other than that it was just an interlude in a row over (very expensive) houses.

I couldn't see the Park itself but had a recollection whilst seeing it on the train there about going there with my dad and with his parents back must have been in late 1970s when I was a mere lad, possibly on a new bike. I was very small indeed. I remembered the very tall trees (which are still there) and extensive playground at one end. Isn't it amazing that you can retain a memory in your mind even though some thirty years have elapsed?

Anyway, I was excited about the next stop because that is where I lived with Simon for some three years back in the late 1990s. This was when I'd just started work in Victoria. Southfields station was a direct tube line to work. This area is also famous for being the place you go for Wimbledon Tennis every summer. For those two weeks, residents of the area have to endure their little station being turned into a jamboree of sponsorship. I remember one year they put pretend grass all along the steps. Crazy. I arrived from the South, I recalled that in all those years living there I never really explored any of the streets other than the ones between our flat and perhaps Wimbledon Common. Contrast that to the last couple of months where I've explored over 200 miles of London's streets and suburbs. So it was with a bit of nostalgia that I posed for this photo, started to ascend the hill that I'd walked on my commute for three years then dart down a road that I'd never stepped along.

Next it was East Putney, home back then to another work friend and close to trendy Putney. The route took me up some inclines but was in residential streets, except for when crossing the A3. I was unable to take a better photo of the station as the concourse had a big florists' cube in the middle. I was now suitably hot to remove my hat (still possibly not washed after all these runs!)

Now on to the River Thames. In celebration of the Oxford/Cambridge Boat Race, which took place on the Saturday I paused to take a photo on the middle of the bridge and you can see on the river - on cue - some rowers. With lots of greenery all round and with the sun breaking through the clouds at this very point its no wonder that South West is one of the most traditionally pleasant parts of town.

Putney Bridge station is just a little removed from the riverside, with the tube crossing on its own bridge. There was a bus station here.

It was when I crossed Putney Bridge that I first came across the Marsden March, which was taking place on that day. I've since learned (well, solely for the purpose of this write-up, actually) that the route was ambitious - coordinating around 2000 walkers between the hospitals two sites - the first in Fulham and the second down in Sutton. Raising funds for a cancer charity, a noble cause and to a hospital indeed that is local to me. Lots of people dressed in t-shirts with balloons on ribbons flying up in the air. Men, women, teenagers, the elderly, some with dogs, some in groups, some on their own. A real good vibe along the way with people chatting away. Now the only problem I had with it was that it was going the other way to the way I was going! Now yes, I could have crossed to the other side of the road but actually I, and anyone else on that side of the road had proper right of passage. So why was it that these people were oblivious to the fact that they were basically steamrollering through the route, not really giving much room for anyone else that happened to be around?! If they had been looking ahead, understanding what was coming, then they could have at least accommodated other people along the way! After a while trying to make eye contact for my test of 'grumpy marchers' I decided that it would just get me progressively angrier and so I crossed over.

Heading towards Parsons Green I was amused to see this butchers' shop with cow outside. The cow is plastic (or marble, I didn't feel it) but the butcher in the window chopping up (possibly chops) was very real.

Now perhaps the fury of the march had made me lose my bearing so I had to ask a cop near Fulham Broadway where the station was. There'd been a slight over-shooting of the mark, and I retraced steps about 1/4 a mile and found the station (not signposted at all).

Next stop was Fulham Broadway - station inside the shopping centre.

I then had to double-back and pass through a little village area with some nice shops and restaurants then shimmy through some side-streets till I got to West Brompton, which is a possible entry point to Earls Court Exhibition Centres. There was a Vitality Show going on which looked interesting but given that I'd only done six miles there was more to be done. A quick swig of water and a handful of jelly babies and I was off again.

A very short distance along a crescent street and I was back to Earls Court, where I'd visited last weekend.

Because of time of day it was busier, and lots of horrid people smoking outside station. That 'box' was still there...

Now having finished the Wimbledon-Earl's Court branch of the District Line, the remainder of the run would be on familiar territory as it twins up with the Circle Line. So from Earl's Court I found the Brompton Hospital and then took the same road as before (this time in the opposite direction) to High Street Kensington.

I didn't stay long on this busy shopping arcade but this time took Campden Hill up towards Notting Hill.

I took a mini detour at this point at the request of Lorna S who had suggested I visited Rabbit Row - possibly for obvious reasons but perhaps something to do with A-Ha, perhaps she can explain.

Anyway, I was now hugging the North side of Hyde Park so quickly made my way through morning (grumpy) runners and foreign tourists for Kensington Palace and side-stepped to Bayswater.

Then I remembered that this would be the last time I would be tube-running through this cut-through towards Paddington and so I needed to find Leinster Gardens and those houses with the false facades. I took quite a few pictures outside this end of terrace at 18-23 but the Wikipedia says that its just a little further. I get the general point though. V interesting. Worth a look - or worth sending your least favourite taxi company or pizza delivery to!

Next stop Paddington Station...

... and finally Edgware Road. Total of 10.4 miles in 1 hour 35 minutes, or 9:12/mile (second fastest run to date, but only 12th longest).

Deliberately short as its all part of the Brighton Marathon taper. I wasn't finished quite there however and without map I made my way towards Charing Cross (3 miles - my route here). This actually wasn't too difficult as all I had to do was find Hyde Park, which was generally south, through the "Hyde Park Estate" (of very posh houses). It was nice to run through the Park on a Sunday seeing lots of people enjoy it in various ways - whether running, horse riding, walking, doing some kind of military fitness, paddle boating on the river, or just sitting and enjoying the flowers.

I left the Park on the South East exit, through Wellington Arch and then (joy!) realised that Constitution Hill and the Mall were closed to road traffic, so I was able to run (although with another couple of runners) straight along the centre line of the six lane avenue. Perfect! Made me think about when I ran there with Zoe on the Royal Parks Half Marathon, and also of course finishing both London Marathons on the Mall.

On the journey home I continued to reflect on the cyclical nature of things. We are where we are because of where we've been. There is sadness along the way but from this we build a solid base and from this foundation, no matter how hard we are hit we can make it onwards and upwards. And with heads held high, and hands holding those of loved ones, hope springs eternal.

In memory of Samuel, who last week was born just a little too soon.

Liebster Blog Award

2011-03-25T20:44:00.002Z

Today, I was delighted to see in my e-mails that I've been awarded a Blog award!

It's a Friday night, I've just had a yummy meal courtesy Mrs W, and thinking about tube running efforts this weekend (possibly around the Putney Bridge area, but one day after the Boat Race). Anyway, ...

The Liebster Blog award is for people with ‘little’ blogs (less than 300 subscribers or followers) to share blog love and spread the word.

The rules are:
1. Post displaying the award, (on the right hand side of the page!) linking back to the person who awarded you
2. Choose your own blog picks (below) and let them know they’re awarded
3. Hope everyone discovers some new favourites
4. Revel in the blog love!

Ok, so my favourites of the moment would be as follows:

After Anabelle (http://cazandbelle.blogspot.com/)- is written by Caz (who nominated me!) who writes openly and honestly about the loss of their baby, who was sadly born too soon back in March 2010. Read her posts, and learn about how this experience affected their family and what it means for them going forward.
A Year In Photos (http://zoecakes365.blogspot.com/) is written by Zoe, also known as Mrs Wright, who has been very diligent at keeping a photo blog since last June when she was given a shiny new smart phone for her birthday. Its a snapshot of the things that keep us amused throughout the year and a way of recording her experiences! Luckily I am tagged many times being a 'good husband' - which I am! :)
http://www.helsbels.org.uk/ is the blog of my new twitter friend, Helsiboo. I'm pleased to be acquainted with none less than an international-level bowling person! She's also turned to running recently and diligently records her observations as she is now just a couple of thousand paces away from being at the start line to her first marathon in Brighton!
http://www.corinneellison.com/ is also another friend that I found through Twitter and is someone that you can take true inspiration from. Corinne is super-smiley and is very bubbly. She has run a few marathons and is an aspiring triathlete. But what makes her extra amazing is that she had open heart surgery for a congenital defect in June 2010 and now she's looking not only to run a marathons in the spring 2011 but also she has much bigger plans to complete an Ironman in 2012! On this blog you can read about her progress!

Run Long and Prosper

2011-03-20T22:56:00.000Z

20/3/11 - 23.1 miles

I planned a "very long" tube run in preparation for the Brighton Marathon.

Route: http://runkeeper.com/user/BadWabbit/activity/29083033

Photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/stephen.t.wright/20110320RTTLRun17#

I was feeling unusually tired when the alarm went off at 0600 this Sunday morning. I wanted to have a wincy bit more of a lie-in but I was partially convinced by Zoe that I would enjoy it once I started running. I suspect there was an ulterior motive at hand because after I returned from eating my porridge she had made a big star shape on the bed and was fast asleep. With the maps I'd printed out the evening before, two bottles of water and the usual 'kit' in my ruck-sack I was off out and on a 0740 train heading into town. When I arrived at Charing Cross there were dozens of very sporty people getting on the train - which was bizarre - until I remembered that they were heading down to the coast to take part in the Hastings Half Marathon. I've done this race at least three times but I needed to run a fair bit longer in preparation for the Marathon I'm doing in just a couple of weeks' time. The battle for a marathon is won or lost in the last six miles, so it was just not sufficient to rest on the laurels of last week's 20 mile race in Surrey (which you can read about here). Now although I've still got about 200 miles of running left to do, the available routes are curtailed by the number of routes unaffected by planned engineering works. I was able to plot out a route on the Piccadilly Line taking me to just over twenty miles (getting lost permitting!)

I arrived at South Kensington to start running at 0830. There wasn't much activity here; just the florist setting up their stall. A few tourists meandering around having been kicked out of their B&Bs but realising that aside from coffee shops there's not much to do until the museums open. I followed the same path as I did for the Circle Line to get to Gloucester Road.

I then turned right to get to Earl's Court, only to find that someone had parked their 'vehicle' on the pavement - how careless!

There were quite a few people around, with many B&B and hotels in this part of town. I followed a side-road underneath the A4 then joined the Cromwell Road proper to arrive at West Kensington.

I continued West for a short distance to find just a stone's throw from the busy A4 the quaint building at Baron's Court. As you can see the clement weather meant that I could run 'sans hat' for the first time in quite a while.

The next stop was Hammersmith, which was hidden underneath the flyover and near the great building that looks like a ship. The view from outside the shopping centre wasn't very inspiring so I took this picture just inside the entrance to the station proper.

As most of the traffic was using the flyover, the A315 of King Street was almost deserted. It was quite pleasant after passing the rows of shops that it became almost residential for a short time before turning into Chiswick High Road. It was in this part of town that I did my first 'work experience' kindly organised at the place my dad used to work back in the 1990s. I couldn't imagine that I'd be running all over London some 10-15 years later. Taking a back-street I arrived just outside Turnham Green, which overlooked Acton Green Common. Again, another florist setting out their stall. They looked quite busy so I didn't speak to them. Instead I headed through the Common, past dog-walkers and noting a girl being made to do a 'plank' on the floor with her coach standing nearby ordering commands. I can never understand why people pay money to be humiliated in public thinking that this one-on-one training will somehow be better than just going to a gym class like everyone else?!

The map that I'd printed for this section didn't seem to have all the road names highlighted so I sent down a road that was actually about two roads before I should have veered off. I realised that this was the case pretty soon but decided to continue along as I'd be able to make a course correction later. The problem was that with many overground rail tracks it was difficult to see how I'd be able to get to the next stop. I got the A-Z out and worked out where I was, and found myself in a very small park. I asked an elderly lady to point out where I was on the map but she was none the wiser; in the mean time the dog that she was walking had circled us about three times and knotted us together. Having untangled myself I got to the far side of the park and made my way through what was basically quite a rough industrial/residential estate and towards Acton Town.

Now pleased that I'd found my bearings again I set off into the sunshine with new enthusiasm. I'd had two 'wave-backs' from (female) runners going in the opposite direction, so I was starting to wonder whether my earlier theories of 'grumpy runners' (here) was limited to the weekday. This was corrected however by seeing another (male) runner come towards me who although he'd made eye contact, failed to muster up any kind of response to my 'hi' remark. I figured that the (ridiculous) headband he was wearing that circumnavigated his head was preventing him from actually thinking. With now entirely pleasant weather overhead I made it onto the Uxbridge Road and past Ealing Common.

Having covered about 10k I took a sports gel and took off my jacket (leaving just two layers on top). Now it was a case of hanger right onto the Hanger Lane, heading North with a momentary side-step for North Ealing, a nice little station off from the busy A406 North Circular.

Staying off the main roads I carried on through quiet residential streets until I got to Park Royal, at just over 8 miles into the run.

I now had the Great Western Avenue (A40) before me as a T-junction however for whatever reason the angle of all the side-roads or perhaps that the right-hand side was heading downhill, I took this and cruised merrily downhill until I was making the approach to Gypsy Corner, which set off alarm bells as I knew that I was supposed to be heading towards Hanger Lane. Reluctantly, I turned around and retraced my steps. The detour took 18 minutes and just under two miles.

Before I could get to the next station I had to navigate the Hanger Lane Gryratory System which essentially is a massive roundabout that needs to be crossed using a series of subways. What was confusing was that getting out of the subway at the right exit is confusing because when you think you've made it out to the other side of the roundabout, when in fact you've made it onto the roundabout. By a process of elimination I was able to find the right direction onto the A4005 Ealing Road. Past a series of retail parks, the next station Alperton was shared with a bus station. In the picture below you can see a bunch of guys in Sunday football gear, all enjoying a couple of cigarettes before having a game. Crazy!

On the return leg I passed a bus driver who scanned me, my singlet, and gave me a thumbs up. I stopped and told him what I was doing and he told me that he did a bit of running, but just locally. We said our goodbyes and I continued North. The road now headed uphill and at this point, almost 12 miles in I really needed a 'tinkle' but there were no obvious places to 'go'. I decided that none of the cars were particularly bothered and the park to the left was not accessible because of a large hedge. I did however find a place to duck into the hedge and what a relief this was. I came back out of the hedge only to notice out of the corner of my eye about 10 metres to my right were four runners: two very attractive girls wearing impossibly tight lycra, with long athletic legs. There were also two guys but can't remember a thing about them. We all continued uphill and they didn't overtake me until the top of the hill where we went separate ways. All I can say is .. when you've got to go, you've got to go. A little further up was Sudbury Town station, which stands rather grandiose at the end of a long station approach with space for many buses.

Crossing the 13 mile mark and after a short distance, I arrived at the similarly-looking Sudbury Hill station.

Passing along residential streets then past the expansive grounds of a private school on which Hogwarts must have been based, I arrived at South Harrow station. I took my second gel here, at the 15 mile mark.

Then it was along Eastcote Lane and onto the A4090 through South Harrow to Rayner's Lane. Note that all the stations look pretty much identical.

Down the hill and taking a left along Village Way, the next stop was Eastcote.

Ducking back onto the same road and passing the 18 mile mark, I arrived at Ruislip Manor. Another florist outside the station, and she was looking at me wondering what I was doing so I started to explain - she looked a bit distant and vacant but then I realised that it was because she was wearing headphones. I repeated the story but alas she still was a little vacant, perhaps she gets people running 20 milers all the time, or perhaps she's an Olympic athlete in training. Or perhaps she's just a typically bored teenager.

What is amusing is the sign of the florist (to the right of photo) which indicates that flowers say it best, whatever the occasion.

Next stop, Ruislip. An Australian lady offers to take my photo, having observed my multiple attempts to self-portrait, but I decline because I didn't want to stop for too much longer.

Next in the sequence was West Ruislip. I think they could have been a bit more adventurous with station names, perhaps?!

Although that having been said, Ickenham makes me think 'Sick-en-ham' and there wasn't much to see or do here. I'd crossed the 20 mile mark, was reasonably ok but had drunk both my water bottles and had consumed over half of my (generous) stock of jelly babies. An American Twitter follower asked me whether jelly babies are like gummy bears, for which I will commission a small research project. Watch this space!

Heading South it was time to approach that A40 Great Western Avenue once more; this time Hillingdon station was situated 'above' it, and I was now actually feeling quite weary. The legs weren't achy as they sometimes get when you totally push them to their limits, but I could feel them getting stiffer, so didn't want to stop for too long. Ideally a 5-10 minute Body Balance track might have been in order but the youth in the red hoodie top was looking a bit menacing so I decided to make a sharp exit. I momentarily took the slip road onto the A40 before realising my error.

The final furlong was along Hercies Road, crossing the 22 mile mark and ascending a Hill would you believe! A little shimmy along some back-streets and I found myself finally in Uxbridge, stopping at the bus station / shopping centre at just over 23 miles and with a run time of 3:48:08 (just a couple of minutes over my Barcelona Marathon time, which was the previous time that I'd run longer back in March 2010).

The route home took a while because of the extensive planned engineering works affecting the Metropolitan Line. I made it back to Victoria at about 2:30pm, got a suburban train at 2:50pm and was home to a smiley wife who promptly steered me to the direction of the shower. We spent the rest of the afternoon generally sitting and eating and relaxing, which to be honest is well deserved all round. I will tube run over the next couple of weekends but they won't be as epic as this run!

Analyse this!

2011-03-12T18:53:00.001Z

There'll be no tube running this week, as I'm doing a 20 mile race on Sunday and need to prepare.

Progress Update

Instead, just so that you don't forget, here's a reminder that I've now done over 200 miles of tube running - that's over half way!! So thanks for your support over the first half. I wonder what excitement and adventure the second half will bring with it... I've also had nearly 10,000 visits to my website, which is very exciting.

Planning Update

I've been taking steps to work out how to I am going to get round the bottom part of the Piccadilly Line - namely the three stations beyond Hatton Cross that service Heathrow Airport. There are three stations on the property of BAA Ltd, so I wanted to make sure that there weren't any problems. I wrote to them a couple of weeks ago but got zero response. This week I inquired of the Heathrow Twitter account and they suggested contacting their 'community relations' team. I e-mailed them at the address per the website, but no response for a couple of days. I had an afternoon off this week so contacted them by phone. A lady picked up the phone, and I started to explain what I was doing - in terms of a charity 'thing' - to which she immediately got very excited and animated. I continued on but then inexplicably the phone went dead. I rang them back directly and explained what I needed from them. On one hand they provided some useful information - that namely whilst the perimeter road connecting Heathrow T4 and Heathrow T5 was technically a private road, I would not need any additional paperwork or permissions to travel on foot between these. I asked her about the bit between T5 and T123. She explained that the only access to the main terminal building was via car, and hence no pedestrian access. This I already knew, because of prior research. I explained that I knew this and this was the reason I was contacting them, namely because I was seeking their help to try and make this charity thing work. For example, would it be possible for me to run through the access tunnels which must exist in the event of cars breaking down etc, at a specific agreed time, in order to complete this segment? Well, I didn't get the chance because although in theory I was speaking to someone from 'community relations' I got the impression that they were really keen to end the phone call - e.g. by the way they ended each sentence as if it was the penultimate sentence in the conversation. I wasn't at all impressed by this. The next day I got an e-mail in response to the mail I'd sent to the 'community relations' inbox which wasn't even signed by a named individual but just said 'I think we spoke yesterday so I assume that this query is all dealt with'. The 'team' evidently didn't read the full two page letter that explained background and a range of possible options. Therefore where I am at the moment is in a bit of a predicament whereby the only way I can get from T5 to T123 is by bus. I guess this will have to be the way that I do it. In terms of the geographical coverage I might have to look at doing some kind of distance that covers an equivalent of that bus route so that I can say I have covered the 'distance'.

I remain unimpressed at the lack of flexibility from the person in the community relations "team". If anyone has any bright ideas as to how to speak to someone of greater influence and innovation, I'd love to hear from you.

Donations Update

The totaliser on my fundraising page (here) shows £2820 including Gift Aid. I manually recalculated the total donations from both the VGM page and from the previous Justgiving Page (the total of which I've simply added to the offline section of the VGM page) and actually taking into account the Gift Aid on the first £678, my total gross contribution is £2,984. This really is a fantastic amount and I will get round to speaking to all donors whether I see them at work, at running club, via Twitter/Facebook, or elsewhere. It got me thinking about where my donations come from, so I did a little pie chart:

So is there anything surprising here?

What really strikes me is that donations sourced from Social Networks is the 4th biggest category: over £400 from people that I definitely did not know when I first started out.
To note also an extra £250+ from people that I don't know or who prefer to remain anonymous is also incredible. I mean, how generous in spirit are those people that are prepared to take the time to make an online donation? Truly incredible.
I'm also grateful to running club buddies who do so much fund-raising work themselves. Some of the kindest words of support are from those people who themselves have run colossal distances.
For group donations, that's the combined efforts of individuals doing a raffle, bucket shaking, and sweepstakes to further propel awareness about what I'm doing, and hence what the cause is all about. Thanks in particular to those individuals that got these things organised. There's barely enough time for me to plan and do the tube running with work and home commitments so it means a lot that you take the time to do things to help my cause.

Other things in the Pipeline

I've been racking my brains to think of something to come anywhere close to the tube vs foot race. I have an idea to be conducted after the Brighton Marathon which is to run all of the Docklands Light Railway on one day. That's 40 stations, some 25-6 miles. I've noticed that there are five arms to the DLR: South to Lewisham; West to Bank; North to Stratford and East twice on either side of the Airport. So a little bit like a star, right?

And also off the top of my head that works out at about 5 miles per arm. I figure that 25 miles is a bit long to do in one continuous go and as it's not a loop that would actually be impossible, so if I started at the middle, ran out to the end of one arm, then got the DLR back, then that enables me (a) to take a breather; and (b) to get to the middle in order to tackle another arm. I reckon that a number of other running buddies would be interested in joining me for 5, 10, 15, 20, or the full 25 miles. Then we could all finish back in Canary Wharf for some lunch and celebratory drinks at anywhere that would take a bunch of sweaty runners. What do people think? Need to connect to the larger collective brain of the Twitterverse to develop this plan further... working title = DLR Five Star marathon. (#dlr5* as a hashtag perhaps??)