Saturday 8th March

 I have been finding recently that I am waking up pretty early everyday. That'll probably change as I being to take anti-histamines. The trees are just beginning to flower, although it has been quite cold recently which has probably slowed Spring down a little bit.

I was awake from around 7am, but as there was a new parkrun nearby to the hotel, I didn't actually start to leave until 8am. The new parkrun is at Battersea park which is about a mile south from the hotel on the other side of the Thames. I had actually been past this park last time I was at the hotel, when I had run to the other nearby parkrun at Clapham Common.

It was slightly chilly but still very nice in the early morning sunshine.

As expected, the parkrun was very busy. I arrived at the finish area about 8:45 and they were already doing the briefing. They then attempted to sort us by finish time and walk us to the start. I just ducked out and waiting close to the front, about 100 back.

The start was a bit furious, similar to when I ran at Clapham Common. I had a weird back spasm when I got going, maybe due the fact we were standing for quite a while before starting. The conditions were perfect, a bit of a cool breeze but quite warm. The course was extremely fast, all wide and tarmac paths, definitely a PB course. Probably a bit too flat for me, I seem to have run my fastest times on courses with slight inclines (think Leazes park, or Heaton park).

I was trying to give it full gas, seem to pace it quite well and managed to overtake a few people as I went round. I was a little disheartened to find out my eventual finish time was 19:40. I ran without a watch, and the guys behind me at the finish seemed to suggest we had done about 20 minutes. I guess if I take off 10 seconds or slow for the fatigue of carrying cases and walking around London, that isn't too bad. I was also surprised to see that was the first park run I had done this year, and the first for about 12-14 weeks.

I headed back almost immediately so I was back at the room in good time. I grabbed some coffees and was back by about 10am. Me and Kathryn sat and had some breakfast before getting ready. My tummy was a little poorly after the food yesterday.

We decided to go straight to the Mexican as it opened at 12. We were a bit sad to have missed it yesterday, we booked a table for 12:15, and sat in the park briefly until we could do in.

We were waited on by a strange fellow, by eventually all became clear. We had some cocktails and ordered some food, although we had to ask for the menus first! I later mentioned to him that we were hoping to come yesterday, but it was booked for a private party. He said they had been open until 4am, and hence he was super tired. Kathryn also found some glass on the seat which he was mortified at. I think he eventually warmed to us, he took our photo, and a rather cool thing was that he gave us a list of places to visit in London.

We actually ended up starting for about 2 hours until we needed to leave for our train. This actually worked at really well. We popped to collect a cake from Hummingbird bakery and then our bags from the hotel. We arrived at Kings X about 30 minutes before I train was due. So we got a coffee from Pret and Kathryn bought a new notepad in the shop, and then before we knew it our trains as boarding.

For the first time in what has felt like ages, we didn't have any problems getting the back. The train arrived in Leeds on time at 5:50, and then we immediately got the train at 18:03 to Burley in Wharfedale.

So, it was a bit hectic, the overnight stay would have suited us in December, but it was still a nice little break all the same. I popped out for a bike ride on Sunday morning, the first since my accident. The weather was still super nice, and then jet-washed the patio and had a nap in the afternoon!