Rat Race 2011

Date: Sunday 25th September
Time: 9-5pm, 8am rendezvous
Location: London (Tower Bridge, Isle of Dogs, Canary Wharf, Arsenal, Stoke Newington, St John's Wood, Mile End and Kennington)

One a rather pleasant late September morning myself, Fiona and her friend also handily called Fiona(meaming I only had to shout one name for the two of them to respond) embarked on cycle tour of London with varous challenges along the way. Over the course of the day we covered 11.2km on foot, 53km on bike, 1km in a kayak and a 20m swim! - why you may ask? Because it is fun and we got to do things that you can't do otherwise.

Afte a quick challenge on foot (1000 runners in black t-shirts running around central London, bemusing tourists), we cycled to the isle of dogs where we hopped off our bikes to do a spot of orienteering followed by a cold 20m swim in the Thames (in all our race gear - which was lovely as it helped cool us down as we were already working up quite a sweat).

It was then back on our bikes to cycle (whilst getting slightly confused with the directions) to our next water experience kayaking by the Excel centre. From there we cycled to Arsenal and arond the stadium and onwards to Stoke Newington where we had to travese a climbing wall.

From Stoke Newington it was a hop and a skip to Lord's and the highlight of the day - abseiling down the side of the cricket ground (last year it was the Oval - so if you are a cricket fan this is the race to do).

If that wasn't enought it was on to Mile End for a little spot of circuit training in the park before heading off to Kennington and the Imperial War Museum where I got to clamber over one of the cannons!

Luckily for us that was the last stop of the day before we cycled off to the finish line crossing it 8hrs and 1 second after we started! It was a fanatastic day, and I would recommend it to anyone. For more of their crazy events check out http://www.ratrace.com/events.aspx

Chilly morning; Regents Park 10K

With all the snow at the beginning of the week, I was secretly hoping that the race would be cancelled as I didn't really fancy skidding around the park. However as the roads/paths were clear I didn't have a good enough excuse not to run!

Although the snow had melted the morning was still freezing cold, luckily running warms you up and after 5k I was starting to get some feeling back in my hands (even though the rest of my arms were like ice cubes). I really must find some gloves which I can run in.

Despite conditions I thoroughly enjoyed the event, the 3 laps round the park were varied and each km was marked. The runners were spread along the course making it a great place for a p.b. - I broke mine, with a time of 47.30 so I was very pleased. The race also make me feel very virtuous and smug as when I got home just after 11, Martin was only just getting up!

Thanks to Frank who provided the lift and who also recommended the race. The next one in the series is the 2nd Jan (which I may miss as it's too close to the New Year), however I'll definitely be up for the one in Feb. For more info click here.