Late Leytonstone

What a day today was, from a running perspective. Endurance was tested and a record fell.

Thursday night means Nike Run Club at Westfield Stratford but due to strike action by all the 4 main unions (due to the introduction of weekend night service) there was no service on the London Underground today, so a plan B had to be implemented.

I have run the route to Stratford before and it's about 8 miles which given the heat still left in the day and the fact I'd have to run 8 miles back after run club, I decided to drive to midway point and park up.

A spot in a Wanstead side street located (it was residents only till 6:30 but w/ option to "pay and display") I set off on the 4 miles to Stratford. Due to the heat and busy roads I took it easy but still felt exhausted by time I arrived, and I still had run club and the return leg to contend with.

4 Miles - 37m51s - 09:26 avg p/m

Run Club this evening had a twist. We were split into 3 groups and charged with task of #FindYourFast which entailed running a 1 mile square route near to the Velodrome as fast as you can. I was in the 'Volt' group and we set off first. Unsure as to what I had left energy wise I decided to #justgoforit, after all it's just a mile right?

Amongst the Volt crew was Delase, (whom I owe a debt of gratitude for my 10K PB earlier in the year where he paced the group that I desperately tried to stick with) and he hit the front right from the start so I clung to his heels and gritted my teeth. Well for 3/4 of the mile I kept up, only dropping back on the final straight, however as I crossed the 1 mile point and stopped my watch I had unbelievably achieved my first sub 6 minute mile! 5 mins 47 secs to be exact. Chuffed wasn't the word! I now owe Delase big time!

All finishers were either bent over recovering (an indication of the effort they put in) or were high fiving the finishers from the other 2 groups.

Once we were all finished we set off for a gentle 2 mile trot back to the Nike store, via a couple of laps around the outside of the Velodrome. Back at the store water was distributed and 'So Fast' Nikemiler technical t-shirts were awarded to the 4 runners whom the Coach and Pacers felt deserving. I was chuffed for the second time when I was the recipient of one of said t-shirts! *happyface*

Before the run back to my car I needed some fuel so a few of us went to Nandos where I had their Quinoa Salad with sliced chicken. The salad was very tasty, with avocado, roasted squash, feta, sunflower seeds, as well as the quinoa. Highly recommended.

After a short time to allow my food to go down a bit, I set off on my 4 mile run back to the car.

I can't lie, it was hard, with the fatigue and full belly but I made it and my stats were not much different to the outbound run.

4 Miles - 38m38s - 09:37 avg p/m

Anyway, after all that, my picture today has nothing to do with any of the above running antics, it's of a lonely pedestrian in Leytonstone. I took several shots from different angles of the lit up 'Leytonstone' sign, but this was by far my favourite. Processed in VSCO app with X1 filter.