to london and back-2 days worth

got up early and ran before we left for london. it was a really pretty morning and i tried to take it as easy as i could on my sore and tired legs. fortunately they weren't as bad as they could have been. my morning heart rate was 46, which was pretty good, though higher than yesterday's 44.

went up binsey to the church and then back and over to port meadow and down the thames. cut over the temp. bridge to the train trail and north to the trail to the canal and then south. very pretty. the sun was out and it was mid 50's. will be hard to go back to the usa and deal with 90's and humidity i am sure.

came down the canal and across the bridge back to the thames past the railway station. then down swan trail and back to botley road. did a little of the loop around king george's park and headed home. about 7 miles and a bus to london to catch now. the legs were not great but nowhere near as bad a yesterday. just need some stretching and rest. later.....

and off to london we went. did the bus, walk, tube and walk thing. had a nice lunch with michael and mary and then did the walk and tube thing down to chelsea and walked around that part of london and over to the Chelsey physic gardens. walked around the pretty gardens fo awhile and then left and walked around london and found a nice restaurant in Sloan's Square and had a really nice meal which was meant to be our anniversary celebration meal as gail had to stay in london and work today while i headed back to oxford to deal with the house inspection.

got back in oxford about 10pm and walked home about a mile. quick note- on the bus while going down what would be like I95 at home, the emergency door of the bus flew open. was weird to have all that air come pouring in right next to where i was sitting and i would not be typing this now had i been on an airplane.

but homeward bound i was and it is always interesting to walk around oxford at night while the kids and everyone else start their clubbing and partying. but i had work to do and so on i went back to the tent house and continued the earlier work of getting it ready to be inspected for whatever reason.

Monday i was up early and out again. ran over to the bike path towards north hinksey village. i forgot to mention that yesterday when i went to the thames trail there was a sign saying the trail would be closed for construction work for the next 4 weeks, so i guess we have done our last runs there for this year. did about a two mile loop and came back to run some striders. was trying to see how relaxed i could go and at what pace i could run with minimum pain.

and that pace seems to be around 7 minute mile pace though not for that long. ran 3 sets of 7 with some stretching after every 7th one. never pushed all out and kept a really good eye on how the legs were. each set i went just a bit faster, but mostly because i was warmed up and looser from the stretches. after the three sets i stretched and ran the warmup loop backwards. got in about 8 miles as i extended the run home just a bit.

stopped for some fruit at the store and went home. finished getting the house ready and dealt with the inspection people which was easy enough and done in 20 minutes. mentioned the work they had forgotten to do and the unkept promises and they said hey would look into it. ha.

off to town to get a few things and go to the bank and food store. then home and to the driving range where i did my drills after yesterday's day off. was bad for the first balls but got going and paid close attention to what i was doing. will build on that i hope.

and home to call family and have dinner with gail who came back from london. highlight was a nice Belgium chocolate cheesecake. read two papers and now this. and now off to sleep. not much sleep in 4 days now and could use some. may or may not go to wales later this week. 16 days to go now. hope it cools off before we go home.

btw- what joy is there in showing miss america falling down at the miss universe contest?

2nd btw- just for kicks yesterday i kept my heart rate monitor on while doing the london thing-the entire time. 13 hours and 32 minutes and i burned up 1797 calories according to the watch; 60% from fat. i figure we walked about 7-8 miles yesterday so with the 8 mile run it was a lot of movement. will have to give up food when i am back home and in my car.

did i mention we had 16 days to go? so i did. today's run put me at 2890 for the year here so far. will most likely run 10-12 days of the next 16 given the travel coming up. at 7 a day average that would put me at 2960 - 2974. a shame to be that close to 3000 and not get it. i would need to average 10 a day for 11 days to hit 3000. will see if i think it is worth it to crowd it in.won't run the last day for sure; not sure about the days in wales as i had hoped to give the legs a little recovery break of sorts and just do some hiking. who knows?

can still get 6 hours of sleep if i stop now -bye.....