Running commute #2 and a half

Although Ben kindly sent me a more scenic route for me to follow on my running commute, I decided to be an ungrateful bint and disregard it and stick to my usual route, due to me thinking that going into a park in Hackney/Clapton/Murder Mile in the evening might not be the best idea I’ve ever had so I decide to do my usual route although it’s only been usual once but I decide to do that route and try to do it without stopping and looking at my map and getting lost.

And as I’m on my usual route, as usual by the time I get to Angel which is ooh, all of less than a mile away, I’ve had enough (moan moan). I’m thirsty (moan moan), I’m too hot (moan moan) and my shoulder which has been aching all day (moan moan) is hurting again (moan moan) and I don’t think I can last the whole distance.

But on I plod past all the people drinking outside pubs in the sunshine and I’m thinking I wish I was sitting outside a pub in the sunshine, and the roads are v. busy and I have to keep stopping for traffic and people (moan moan) and the traffic and people are getting on my nerves (moan moan) and I get to Dalston Lane and I get paranoid that someone will mug me for my rucksack in Hackney if I’m looking weak and feeble and they’d probably mug me anyway, even if I was looking like a finely tuned athlete, and I don’t want to be mugged for my rucksack as it has my keys in it and I don’t want to have to get a locksmith out again and it has my phone in it too and I won’t be able to call anyone and say waa I’ve just been mugged and it has my travelcard in it and I won’t even be able to get the bus home and I’d have to walk three miles on my own without anyone to say waa I’ve just been mugged to, so when I see the train station, I go up to the platform and twenty minutes later I’m at home wondering whether to have hot chocolate or a glass of wine and so I have both. Not in the same glass though.

Today’s route

Stats:
Miles: 3.54
Total time: 47:52
Average pace: 13:31
Total calories: 223
Whole running commutes: 0
Music:
Hot Chip – And I Was A Boy From School
Graham Coxon – Freaking Out
Kaiser Chiefs – Ruby
Blur – B.L.U.R.E.MI.
Charlotte Hatherley – Kim Wilde
Good Charlotte – Keep Your Hands Off My Girl
Justice v Simian – We Are Your Friends
Mark Ronson – Stop Me
Scissor Sisters – She’s My Man
XTC – Stg. Rock (Is Going To Help Me)
Calvin Harris – Acceptable In The 80s

Running commute #2

After consulting the BBC weather website at the end of last week which told me that it was going to rain today, I had planned to do my running commute on Thursday, but after consulting the BBC weather website again on Monday, it said it was going to rain on Thursday so I decided to do my running commute today.

So off I went armed with my trusty map and the bewildered looks of my work colleagues, especially the one who lives in Hackney and says you’re mad, I get the bus home, I’m too scared to walk from the station, it’s too dodgy.

I got a mile and a half before getting v. thirsty even though I had had the government recommendation of over 2 litres of water today and thought to myself I’ve only gone a mile and a half, I can’t stop yet, I’ll stop at the next shop and get some water. So I went into the shop next door to that one and got some water and soon after entered the not so nice bit of Islington and got round the corner and stuck to the main road this time instead of going up the side streets which wasn’t a whole lot better really and I got to Dalston Lane and there’s a man in my way and I’m not sure if it’s safe to speak to people round here but I risk it and say excuse me please and he gets out of my way and a bit further on I stop and consult my map and hurrah, I’m going the right way, but after a little while I come to a crossroads and in true Hackney stylee, all the road signs have been stolen and I ask a postman is this Pembury Road? He says it’s Dalston Lane. I say where’s Pembury Road, is it that one, and point to the next road. He says he doesn’t know. I resist saying you’re a crap postman, you should know the streets, and show him my map and he says, yes, it’s that road. I say thank you and go down the road he says it is and look out for a road sign to check that he’s not lying and he wasn’t lying because I see a road sign that tells me that yes, I am indeed in the right road. And not only am I in the right road but I should actually know this road because I go past the estate where many years ago a Scottish skinhead acquired a squat for me. And yes, Will, if you read this I have still got your Jimi Hendrix album, but no, you can’t have it back.

Then a bit further up the road it starts to look extremely dodgy and I’m thinking my workmate has a point. I see some traffic lights up the road so I go up to the traffic lights thinking where there’s traffic lights there should be some traffic and then I realise I’m on Murder Mile and I consult my map to see which way the roundabout is as I don’t want to stay on Murder Mile for too long and I decide to go left and hope it’s the right way and hurrah, it is the right way and I see the roundabout and I go up to the roundabout and the first exit I come to is Kenninghall Road which is the bastard road I got lost trying to find last time and I consult my map again to see which exit I want and I eventually find it and think aaaaah, just two miles to go and then I wonder if it’s light enough to take a detour and go up the alleyway and whether it would make any difference to the distance anyway and I decide that no, it’s probably the same distance but more importantly it doesn’t go past Somerfield or any other shops licensed to sell alcoholic beverages off the premises so I continue on my journey and dive into Somerfield and remember that I had to buy cat food anyway so it’s just as well I’m a pisshead otherwise my cat would have gone hungry in the morning and as I’m deciding which wine to get and wondering why Somerfield is more expensive than my local shop, the security staff rush outside and there’s some kind of commotion going on and it reminds me of my journey to work this morning when I was walking up the street and the police stopped everyone and wouldn’t let any traffic through or people walk down the road and then a few police cars came zooming up the street, sirens wailing, and two policemen with machine guns got out and a woman near me asked a man what is the building over the road and the man said it’s the Old Bailey, they must be bringing a criminal in, and then a big prison van turned up and pulled into the Old Bailey and then the excitement was over and we were allowed to continue our journeys into work and when I got into work I told my workmate what had happened and said I want to know who it was, I should have gone in there and she said but you had to come to work. So I said yes but I could say I got held up by a policeman with a machine gun and she said yeah, like they’re going to believe that and I said but it’s true, I was held up by a policeman with a machine gun and she said yes but not for the whole morning. Hmm.

Today’s route

Stats:
Miles: 6.25
Total time: 1:22:27
Average pace: 13:11 minute/mile
Total calories: 483
Times looked at map: 7
Squats acquired by Scottish skinheads: 1
Policemen with machine guns: 2
Music:
Fall Out Boy – This Ain’t A Scene It’s An Arms Race
Patrick Wolf – Running Up That Hill
Courtney Love – Sunset Strip
Soft Cell – Sex Dwarf
Baby Teeth – SixFootOne
Guillemots – Made Up Lovesong
Baby Teeth – Sarah. feat Bobby Conn
Hot Chip – And I Was A Boy From School
Ween – Push The Little Daisies
Black Wire – Attack Attack Attack
Good Charlotte – Keep Your Hands Off My Girl
Pit Er Pat – Nick Those Prawns And Burn Them
Siouxsie And The Banshees – Spellbound
The Killers – Indie Rock And Roll
The Gossip – Standing In The Way Of Control
Stereo Total – Mother’s Little Helper
Neneh Cherry – Buffalo Stance
XTC – Sgt Rock (Is Going To Help Me)
Kaiser Chiefs – Ruby

My first running commute

It’s official. Running is the new tube journey. But without the getting stuck in a tunnel squished up against someone’s armpit bit.

Last night after consulting the AA Routeplanner which took me through Dalston, Clapton and Hackney and said it was 7.41 miles and the RAC Routeplanner which took on a slightly less dodgy route and said it was only 6.8 miles, I did a bit of a google and came up with www.walkit.com which gave me a walking route of 6.8 miles which I thought would be better than a route made for a car and then I sat down with my A-Z and tried to the follow the route, but couldn’t find some of the roads in Hackney and anyway, they were side roads and I didn’t fancy going down side roads in Hackney so I deviated from the route and plotted out one which went along busier roads but then today I looked on the map on the website and the roads they plotted looked ok and so I thought ok, I’ll highlight those roads too on my A-Z and decide which way to take when I get there.

After a mile and a quarter I got to Angel and thought bloody hell, I didn’t know Angel was just up the road, I usually get the tube here from work and it takes about 45 minutes, I’ll walk it next time. And then I was happily motoring trotting along Upper Street and turned into Essex Road and was happily plodding down there until I got bored and stopped and looked at my map to make sure I hadn’t gone too far but no, I hadn’t gone too far and there was a bit further to go and then I turned off and got to the bit where I had to decide whether to go my route, or to trust www.walkit.com‘s route and I decided to trust their route so I turned up a side street and came across the grottiest kids’ playground I’ve ever seen, although there were some daffodils in there and not wanting to be outdone by joggerblogger, who took a pic of a daffodil this morning (and it’s the nicest pic of a daffodil I’ve ever seen), took a pic of the daffodils, then realised I probably wasn’t in the best part of town to be taking my camera out of my pocket, so continued on my way.

I was plodding along quite happily hoping I’m not going to get mugged or shot or stabbed and then I get to a junction where I have to turn off somewhere and I’m not quite sure where and the map’s not very clear and I carry on running and then I consult my map again and decide I’ve gone too far up the road so go back down it and then I look at the map again and it’s still not making any sense so I go down a road and look at the map again and it’s still not making any sense so I go back up again and then go into a shop and ask the man how do I get to Downs Road, I know it’s right near here? I show him my map and I say we’re here, aren’t we? I want to go there. He stares at my map. And then he stares at my map some more. I say don’t worry, I’ll ask someone else. He says no no no, just turn right at the lights, it’s there. I say ok then, thanks. I turn right at the lights then consult my map and no it’s not the right way so I go back down the road again and twist my ankle by treading on a woman who I don’t hear coming up behind me and I say sorry and she just gives me the evils but luckily doesn’t shoot me or anything and I’m thinking this map is really crap, none of the roads are in the right place and I go back to the road I first went up and go down a road which doesn’t have a road name and decide that’s the right road and then I have to go up some more side streets and it’s dark by now and I’m lost in Hackney and my only worry about running home was being lost in Hackney so I think to myself it’s good to confront your fears but I still wasn’t very happy about being lost in Hackney and then I realise that not all the roads have road signs and I’m thinking where are all the road signs, have they all been stolen? How am I supposed to get myself unlost when there aren’t any road signs? I continue up a side road as I can see a bigger road at the end and there’s a big biker bloke fixing his bike in his front garden and I consult my map again and then go to ask the big biker bloke if he can tell me where the road is I want to go to and then I see it’s a big biker woman not a big biker bloke and I ask her if she knows where Kenninghall Road is and she says um, I know it’s right near here, not sure exactly where. I show her my map and she says oh, your map’s not quite right. I say I know, I’ve been going round in circles for ages. She says if you go back down there, then turn left, you should get to Kenninghall Road. I say, well, actually I want Lea Bridge Road, is there a quicker way to get there? She says oh yes, just carry on going and turn right, then you come to the roundabout. I say great, I didn’t want to go back down there, it’s a bit dark and isolated, thank you very much, I’ve been lost for ages. She says you’re welcome and I continue on my way and get to the roundabout and manage to find Lea Bridge Road and I think yay, only a couple of miles to go and I go past the ice rink and then suddenly it’s all dark and isolated and I think to myself since when has Lea Bridge Road been all dark and isolated, it doesn’t look like this on a Saturday morning and I thought the marshes were kind of caged in but I’m running alongside the marshes and they’re all open and anyone could just drag me in there but after a little while it gets more built up and then I’m almost home and I dive into Somerfield and get a bottle of wine and eventually make it home, yay.

Today’s route

Stats:
Miles: 7.30
Total time: 1:42:52
Average pace: 14:05 minute/mile
Total calories: 651
Times looked at map: 15+
Maps not making sense: 1
Road signs in Hackney: not many
Music:
Scissor Sisters – I Can’t Decide
Strokes – Last Night
The Fiery Furnaces – 1917
The Damned – Nasty
Cardiacs – Jibber And Twitch
Rachel Stamp – Homemade Sex Change
Black Eyed Peas v Britney Spears – Toxic To Shut Up
Cardiacs – A Little Man And A House
Ween – The Mollusk
Stereo Total – Liebe Zu Dritt
Adam And The Ants – Stand And Deliver
Baby Teeth – The Three Sisters
The Music – The Truth Is No Words
Dixie Chicks – Not Ready To Make Nice
Human League – Louise
Seahorses – Love Is The Law
Ween – Even If You Don’t
The Cinematics – Break
The Cure – Bloodflowers
Muse – New Born
The Gossip – On The Prowl
Eminem – Stan
Neneh Cherry – 7 Seconds
The Police – Spirits In The Material World
Scissor Sisters – Comfortably Numb
Babes In Toyland – Won’t Tell
Soft Cell – Seedy Films

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