Adam in Runderland

Another street sign challenge completed. This time it was the name of my running group - Bald Monkeys.

Coronavirus has put paid to all running events for the foreseeable future. This includes the iconic London Marathon. In response organisers asked people to join the twopointsixchallenge. The challenge is to come up with a fundraising idea using the numbers 2 and 6. Some people have set themselves the target of walking 26,000 steps or bouncing on a trampoline for 2.6 hours. The money raised will go to the charity of your choice. I have decided to raise money for MAF - the charity I work for. My challenge? As there are 26 letters in the alphabet I will be running to 26 different locations in London beginning with each letter in turn starting with A and ending with Z. X and Z may be tricky but I'll work on that when I get there. First up is Abbey Wood ...

For the third of my four Lionel Stanhope runs I was heading north-east to Charlton and Plumstead. These railway signs differ from the others as they are longer and go over bridges rather than under. This was also the day I started my 2.6 Challenge - the London A-Z . I began by making my way up to Blackheath and then into Greenwich Park. It was meant to be the day of the London Marathon which had been moved due to the Lockdown. Instead of thousands of people warming up at the start line, there were empty roads and only a few other joggers. It was a beautiful clear, warm day as I made my way down the hill to the National Maritime Museum and onto the A206 heading east. This would take me directly to my destinations. It didn't take long to get to Charlton but I overshot the station and decided I would get it on the way back. Continuing through Woolwich Arsenal I was soon at Plumstead. The artwork looked good. Unfortunately railings obscured the view. The low sun made it di...

For the second part of my Lionel Stanhope Run I ventured East - well South-East. My destinations Chislehurst and Shortlands. I reckoned on the distance being roughly a half-marathon. I'm currently signed up to the Lockdown League. This is a competition between running clubs where individuals run a set distance each week and the results are compiled in a table. This week we have been asked to do 5 miles. I planned to include this in my run. It was a warm evening, probably too warm, when I set off. I began to wish I had gone out in the morning when it was still cool. It was a toss up between doing the 5 miler first while I was fresh or on the way back when I was warmed up. I decided on the former. I started with a warm up mile and then let my legs go. Unfortunately it was a new route for me and I ended up climbing Bromley Hill. After the first mile I was feeling it and gasping for breath. Mile two I began to find my rhythm. Just before mile three I hit the hill. I eased off...

Since the second of my 20 parkruns in under 20 minutes in 2020 a great deal has changed. Coronavirus has appeared and parkrun is suspended until at least the end of May. I have also moved from Folkestone to Lewisham in London. At one point I had decided to abandon the challenge until next year when I would get a full 52 weeks to achieve it. That didn't feel right. It had to be 20202020 not 20202021 or 20212021. So I have decided to continue the challenge by running parkrun locations on my own or with others at least 2m apart. The first of these, and my third of the twenty, was in Catford. The parkrun takes place at Mountsfield Park, half a mile from my house. It involves three clockwise laps of an undulating course on grass, tarmac and woodchip trail. It was a clear, warm spring morning when I started next to the bandstand. The route took me 50 yards to the children's playground that has been locked up, left onto the grass around the activities and along a line of tall...

There are many initiatives taking off (going viral seems an inappropriate term to use) at the moment. One such is to show your support for the NHS by running the rainbow. This involves six runs each in a different colour top making a rainbow - Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Indigo, Violet. Here is my effort. It was nice to pull on some less common tops as well as the usual suspects. Bottom photo left to right shows: Paris Marathon 2019 Orange North Face Bald Monkeys RC Parkrun 250 Clifftop Challenge 2018 12 Marathons in 12 Months

Lionel who? Lionel Stanhope is a London street artist. He has painted murals across the capital including a number of rail signs. I came across these while running and discovered that there were a whole series of them sponsored by Network Rail. The idea came to me that I could to try and run to all of them. I used the Internet to search articles and images of the signs and plotted their locations on a map. It would be a long run! They stretched from Chislehurst in Bromley to Clapham in Lambeth and from South Croydon to Plumstead. Altogether there are 19 signs. I divided them into four separate runs; South, East, North and West. On Sunday 19th April I ran the South leg. This began with a dog leg to the East to Hither Green and Lee. There are two signs in Hither Green, a green one and another that has been made to look like a old faded one. From Lee I headed West on the South Circular. (I do go South eventually). This brought me to Catford where two signs face one another ...

There are many challenges being thrown out during this Lockdown. I like challenges. Whether they are my own creation like Run The Date or someone else's doesn't matter. The latest one I saw was for parkrunners to spell parkrun using road signs - the first letter of the name spelling the word. I set off at 6.30 am and headed for Blackheath. I had decided to run around the heath and Greenwich Park on my route seeking out signs. The first one came easy. An A at the end of my road - Aldworth Grove. On the way up Lewisham Hill I saw a P - Prince's Rise. Half a mile later I was on the edge of the heath and started to run around the edge in a anti-clockwise direction. My route took me along Mounts Pond Road and Hare and Billet Road, past Grote's Buildings, down the beautifully named Tranquil Vale and onto Prince of Wales Road beside Prince of Wales Pond. A handsome crescent called The Paragon featuring 18th Century houses took me to St German's Place. I crossed Shoo...

As there are no parkruns at the moment I am using my Saturday for a long run. This week I decided to head over to Crystal Palace. I had done a shorter run there a week earlier and it looked like a good place to explore, but I was in a hurry to get home. This time there was no such time limitations. I also took a slightly different route there. Rather than following the main roads I had discovered a more picturesque route along the Waterlink Way. This winds it's way along the banks of the Ravensbourne River from Catford to Lower Sydenham. Along the way passing the River Pool Linear Park. My run began at 6:30am to help with social distancing rules. It was cool out as I made my way along Lewisham high street and into Catford. At the train station I crossed the main road and entered an industrial estate which was an ugly entrance to another, beautiful world. Once through a small gate all I could see was fresh spring vegetation and the tranquil flowing ri...

Since the Lockdown I have still been running and ensuring that I keep 2m away from others. This has become increasingly difficult locally as many people are visiting the parks, walking their dogs, exercising etc. The BBC News website recently featured an article by Sophie Raworth in which she wrote about how quiet it was running in the centre of London. It was accompanied by photographs of deserted streets. Now, that was just what I was looking for, and the last place I ever expected to find it. So on Sunday I headed out at 6:30am from my home in Lewisham and headed north. My route took me first of all to Blackheath, a steady climb to the wide open spaces and grassy common. There were a few runners dotted around, but as the sun rose all I could hear were birds. I crossed the heath and the empty A2 and entered Greenwich Park. Wow. I love that place for the memories of starting two London Marathons there. On this day it was the beauty of a spring morning. The sun filtered soft ...

I'm now in London and safely ensconced in a new home. I have been looking forward to getting out and about and seeing the sights. Also attending the local running club and doing some of the Capital's parkruns. Well....obviously, none of that is happening. London is locked down and the streets are deserted. parkrun is cancelled until at least the end of April and the running clubs are likewise suspended indefinitely. Not what I was expecting. Still, looking on the bright side, I am healthy and able to run. We are still allowed out to exercise each day and I am taking full advantage of that. I have thoroughly explored my local park - Mountsfield Park - with numerous loops of the playing fields, bandstand, local allotments and wild area. Another local park is Ladywell Fields where Kent AC and the running track are located. I managed a couple of laps there too. I returned to Folkestone for a day to hand back the keys to the old property and managed a 10k along the Leas,...