Link to my fundraising page is here: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=runningthetubelines

The match offer starts at midnight Thursday  so the earlier on in the day people donate, the more of the chance you have of your  donation being matched as the £25,000 is capped.  Please share this news widely!

RTTL Update

I been so busy recently at the weekends:

• A few pre-London races (including getting a 2 minutes PB at Tunbridge Wells Half Marathon in sub-zero temperatures, and completing a 16 mile ‘breakfast run’ at Kingston – also in approx zero degrees) and also
• Taking forward my studies as part of my Diploma in Sports and Remedial Massage Therapy (see http://stephenwrightmassagetherapy.com/)

That said, I’m still hoping somehow to complete as much as possible of the Overground and Tramlink, by the time we get to April 21.  I may slightly over-run but the aim is still to remain the crowned champion of having run between every point on the London Underground and its close cousins!  So stay tuned, more blogs posts will come over the next few weeks.

With Love,

Stephen

GPS/HRM Record of Route: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/273567143

I’m writing this up on Friday 15 February, which is unusual because I normally write up my tube runs same day. After I had spent the whole morning running and returning home, we decided that it would be nice to watch ‘Les Mis’ together at the cinema, which was ideal post run rest (although difficult when you want to take a snooze, as there was lots of singing to be had in that 2 1/2 hour film!)

The route started at Euston Station, where it was already drizzling mildly. It wasn’t too cold, but it was hats and gloves weather.

From here I passed along residential back streets and entered Regent’s Park, passing up along a route that I once covered the BBC running club 10k route, and then exiting the Park at the North side (passing the Zoo), I crossed Regents Canal, and entered Primrose Hill, a place that I’d never been to before but heard lots about. I ascended the path to the top to enjoy the view looking South to London:

Over the apex of the Park and continuing North East, I crossed the A41 (Finchley Road) and found South Hampstead, almost hidden behind scaffolding where they were strengthening the road bridge nearby.

From here, I followed Belsize Road along a (not very well kept) neighbourhood (evidenced by lots of smashed in gas meter reading boxes along the street) to Kilburn High Road.

From here, I was delighted to realise that I’d been here before – indeed some years back as part of the early Tube Running years, I’d met Sophie (@sophontrack) and her buddy (@wowser) at the [highly recommended] Betsy Smith pub – where, over cooked breakfasts, we’d concocted the idea of ‘tube versus foot’.  If you’ve not seen this, punch the phrase into the search engine and look at the video clip of that monumental day. Anyway, I turned down Brondesbury Villas and then arrived at Queen’s Park.

I was now effectively following the course of the Bakerloo Line, that I completed (all 22 miles!) in an adventurous second ever tube run (RTTL2).  Having covered the ground before didn’t absolve me of the need to check against the map, although it was relatively risk free to follow the path of the rail to the next stop, Kensal Green. 

It should have been easy to take a picture of the entrance to Willesden Junction although a bus pulled up just as I was approaching it from the other side and hovered here, hence I had to cross over and take it side on.

It is a deceptively long way to the next station, Harlesden, which if you’re a resident I’m sorry but it isn’t the greatest of places.

From here, you follow a few residential streets to Stonebridge Park, just on the other side of the North Circular A406. The high rise office blocks around that area are still an eyesore.

From here, you follow residential roads that follow the route of the Wembley Brook until you reach Wembley Central. 

A quick continuation, avoiding the now increased pedestrian traffic on this Sunday mid-morning, and heading North, arrived at a more residential North Wembley station.  Note in the backround an advert for the excellent ‘Black Mirror’ TV series that is currently making a return.

We’re now well and truly into the residential districts, and so passing along alley ways at the end of cul-de-sacs, I knew where I was arriving at South Kenton.

Heading further, via a very muddy Northwick Park, it was time for a jelly baby boost at Kenton station itself.

The good news is that I knew I was now on the final straight, and following a familiar set of streets I arrived at my destination, Harrow and Wealdstone, after nearly two and a half hours and covering a distance of just over 13 1/2 miles.

I rewarded myself with an instant power boost meal consisting of: a vegetable samosa; a bag of peanuts; a snickers bar; a can of Rubicon.  I consumed these on the Mainline train taking me speedily back over the course just ran, to Euston, and then returned home via the Northern Line to Charing Cross.  All in all a quiet (companion free) journey but with a good part of the remaining Overground covered.  Quite a challenge finding the free time in the weekends this year with marathon training and also my massage diploma training in full swing.  But I hope to complete all of the Overground, and all of the Tramlink, before April 21!

GPS/HRM Record of Route: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/266541382

It was the bright idea of Mrs W on Saturday at Wimbledon parkrun when we were talking to two new running buddies that I could incorporate my long run of Sunday with a spot of Overground tube running.  My RW 3:30 marathon schedule said “do 12 miles fast” and I know from past experience that tube running generally is tantamount to interval training, coupled with a bit of getting lost and therefore having to do longer than planned.  The OG network and Tramlink are a lot smaller in aggregate than the 435 of the conventional underground as done back in 2010-11, so in order to carve out a decent course, I selected a route that would take in over ten miles. I chose the route on Saturday night, but unlike runs of previous didn’t set my alarm at a totally unsociable hour, opting instead to have a bit of a lie in. I rose and had broken fast by around 8am, wherein I plotted my route, printed it, and as an afterthought, posted it up on Facebook for the world to see. I then left and headed up into town from Orpington to London Bridge and then via some tube shimmying, made it to Kensal Green Underground. (Historic note: I’d first visited this on RTTL 2).  I realised on the way up that Kensal Green doesn’t represent the start point of the first segment that I’d plotted as terminating at Brondesbury Park, so I thought I’d do a bit of blind navigating to try and locate Kensal Rise, which road signs indicated were within 1/2 a mile of there. If you check the GPS records (above) you’ll see I added nearly 2 miles trying to find this, but to no luck, so I decided instead to make Brondesbury Park my first start-point of the day.  In contrast to the overcast and rain threatening Orpington, by now the skies were blue, although the temperature was just 3-4 degrees and so two layers on top and long running trousers were in order:

One of the layers was the obligatory Tommy’s charity running vest, over my lovely lush Helly Hansen thermal base layer. By the way, I am still fundraising between now and April 2013, as I made a personal commitment to do with Tommy’s back in early 2012. Work troubles prevented me from coming true on this promise for the 2012 marathon, so I’m making up for it just 12 months late!  But after the London Marathon, I won’t be doing any further fund raising for any charities for the forseeable future.

Next stop was Brondesbury.  The mist on the camera is partly because of ‘steam’ off me but also the melting snow creating a micro-climate underneath the bridge here.

Still following residential streets in relatively wealthy areas (wide streets, large semi-detached properties, with the street names written in tiles rather than mass-produced signs), there was a mild incline to West Hamstead station.

Then up some further mild inclines to Finchley Road and Frognal.  Not quite sure what / where Frognal is but it was deemed sufficiently important to be recognised in this station name.

Now, the next half-a-mile, up Arkwright Road, took in the biggest incline perhaps on any tube run that I can remember, rising from 218 ft to 352 feet above sea level, to the highest point in today’s run.  After crossing Fitzjohns Avenue I’m pleased to say that it was sufficiently downhill to arrive at Hamstead Heath station at just 222 ft again.

Anyone that lives near Hampstead Heath is blessed not only with a large spacious green area with fantastic views towards the City of London, but there is also a series of lidos and some splendid shops and restaurants in the town. There were quite a few ‘runners’ that were assembled around the station or the edge of the park. Many were in nice shiny new running gear which was good although I rather suspect that they were there with all their posh mates looking for somewhere to have a morning coffee or pint (overhead two groups discussing this!)

Now on flatter ground I passed along Constantine Road then shimmied over a foot bridge into the edge of the Heath that contained a good few runners; a kids playground adjoined to an ‘adult’ playground; and at the end, I think that I saw the location of Parliament Fields Lido.  It was then that I needed to double back momentarily to find Gospel Oak station.

A lot of people think that I’m taking pictures of them when I use my iPhone 5 on reverse camera mode. Tsk! Now its a case of heading South as the train route veers that way, and I followed Grafton Road through an estate, and through a small park at Wilkin Street to Kentish Town West.

Another friend (Amanda) lives around here and although it was closeby, with my 2 mile detour at the start, I needed to crack on, so passed along the quite nice main street (Prince of Wales Road) before turning south onto a much busier main road heading towards Camden.  Doing a bit of a shimmy near the Grand Union Canal, I found myself at Camden Road station. The station was a little tricky to find…

… unless you couldn’t read the big clue on the nearby rail bridge.

A straight 1.2 miles Eastwards through an industrial area and I was approaching the next stop, when I stumbled across HMP Pentonville. I was impressed by a hoarding on the outside declaring the government’s ‘war on drugs’ … “will power is real power”.  A slogan that you could apply to any kind of sin – be it cigarettes, alcohol, internet addiction, work addiction, apathy, self-doubt, etc.

Anyway, next stop was Caledonian Road and Barnsbury (being renovated).

Now at this point I found that I was to be joined by a surprise RTTL companion – my first of 2013 and perhaps the first to join me ‘mid-route’. This was a consequence of me posting up my route earlier in the day.  Lisa, from work, is running the London Marathon also in April although she hasn’t fully sorted out her training plan, and because of snow/ice has been stuck inside on the ‘dread mill’.  The nice weather, or perhaps my charm, persuaded her to get outside and unpack her Timex sports watch out of its box.  This was her first run outside for the year, and so it was a case of away we go for what she said would be just a few stops along the way.  Because I was running a little late, and I’d covered over ten miles, I was no longer sure that we’d cover all stations today and that Stratford might wait until another run.  We therefore started our first segment proper at Highbury and Islington (note: covered on RTTL 1 as part of the Victoria Line!)

Within a very short distance we’d arrived at the next stop, Canonbury.  Lisa was now reassured that this run wouldn’t be at some crazy break neck speed and that it was all about conversational pace and just having a bit of an adventure out on the streets of London.

Following streets broadly straight Eastwards, we were soon at Dalston Kingsland.  Unusual name (pronounced Dawlston, rather than Dallston) – no idea what the Kingsland is all about!

Continuing Eastwards we arrived (after my reaching 13 miles) Hackney Central.

These stations weren’t the greatest in terms of ‘quality of environs’ so we did a bit of a shimmy through side-streets to get to Homerton.

From Homerton it’s just a short distance through industrial streets to Hackney Wick, wherein you are within visual distance of the Orbit Mittal Tower; the Olympic Stadium, and the Power transformers on the Hockey Stadium side of the Olympic Park.

With the prospect of a scenic canter for the remaining distance, and endorphins streaming around the blood, it was time to push on through for the final stop on the line, which involved running along the towpath of the River Lee navigation, around the bottom edge of the Olympic Park, and then up the fairly-busy A12 towards and terminating at Stratford.

Two happy bunnies – Lisa having done her first 10k of the year at a good pace, and me having knocked off 17.3 miles in just over 3 hours.  We said our goodbyes, I went off to get a whole load of rather unhealthy snacks for the journey home, and just as my tube was about to depart Stratford, Lisa jumped on board and reminded me that I had her house keys in my bag – which would have been highly annoying for all concerned had I travelled the 20 miles back to Orpington with them!!

Another great uplifting adventure across London, seeing lots of new things and having made significant inroads into the Overground segments of the Phase 2 of RTTL.

GPS/HRM Record of Route: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/244482775

It’s great when you rise early for a weekend run and you can see that although there is frost on the car, the skies are blue.  This means that in a few hours, the weather is going to be fantastic. So it was a case of departing the house just before 8 am to get the train into London for my 39th run in the RTTL series.

I watched some downloaded TV programmes on my phone whilst heading into, and then out of Victoria Station, getting to Clapham Junction just after 9 am. There I was greeted by Ali “M” – resplendent in high-viz clothing (safety first!).  This morning’s run was set to be just over five miles / five stations, with quite a straightforward South to North route with a short diversion across the river. Ali was very keen to get started, full of beans. We almost forgot to take the mandatory photo:

Then it was off in the most obvious direction given a cursory look at the hastily printed route map. We were engrossed in conversation and I assumed that because we were heading North, we’d eventually we’d hit the natural barrier of the River Thames, and then be over one of the bridges to be firmly in the territory of SW1 lunchtime/evening running.  I did recognise that we were approaching Vauxhall Cross, which was kind-of right although a little off-target, as we should have been approaching Albert Bridge.  Instead we had made a terrible detour and were crossing Vauxhall Bridge – oops!  The weather was pleasant but I feared that Ali would go “nuts” if she had realised that we were making such a colossal mistake from the outset!  That said, it was an excellent morning weather wise and we tested the engagement of other joggers running along the Chelsea Embankment as we passed the estate of the Royal Chelsea Hospital and made our way alongside former dockland areas to Chelsea Harbour and the Overground station of Imperial Wharf.

After a short stop to deal with a pummelled banana (the first casualty of a poorly-packed rucksack) and some consolatory Haribo Starmix (used by all top athletes), with more careful attention we traversed the streets of Chelsea until we found the entrance to Brompton Cemetery. This had the potential to be spooky, but it was broad daylight and the direct pathway through this substantial area of public reflection was both tranquil and distinctive with the passage of the seasons against the Winter sunlight.  Before we knew it (relative to the last segment) we found ourselves at West Brompton.

Onwards and upwards towards at a good pace, we were distracted by a sudden change in the weather.  We found ourselves momentarily in a winter wonderland…

An inexplicable snowstorm…

What an unusual phenomenon.

With disbelief unsuspended, we made a sharp perpendicular route alongside the many rail lines along Warwick Road and then dashed across the A4, before arriving at Kensington Olympia.

Then without a moment’s pause, we were following (Charles) Sinclair Road, passing a discarded feather boa, along some residential streets and found ourselves suddenly at journey’s end, at the entrance to the refurbished tube station and then Overground entrance to Shepherd’s Bush.

After just under 9 miles at a cracking pace, we’d arrived just outside Westfield shopping centre before most of the Sunday shops had opened, so decided that a treat of coffee / (weak) tea, and two slices of cake were well in order.  We sat outside and enjoyed this sumptuous repast whilst continuing to digest the important topics of discussion for the day.

After a short while we ducked underground and tube-d it back towards our respective homes. I got back just after 1pm, and then found myself suddenly very sleepy, and spent the afternoon variously having bursts of enthusiasm for doing things, and then snoozing on the sofa.  Another satisfied companion inducted into the chronicles of Tube Running – and quite rightly.

17 November 2012: World Prematurity Day

Yesterday was World Prematurity Day (see info here), the product of an international collaboration between several (principally US) organisations as well as Save the Children and the World Health Organisation, as well as Bliss in the UK.  The aim was to highlight the tragedy of the >1 million deaths of newborn babies across the world, of which it is estimated that >75% would be avoidable if there was a more equitable sharing of available medical practices.  (Over 85% of these pre-term deaths are babies >32+ weeks).  As part of the awareness campaign, several public buildings were illuminated in purple across the world. A number of examples are shown below. Not sure what they did in the UK, and there was relatively little media coverage in the UK (although some of my buddies that I’ve met through RTTL showed their support) so this is my way of sharing some awareness.

Empire State Building, New York City

Peace Bridge, Canada

Poland

GPS/HRM Record of Route: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/240278548

Drowned rats would be an apt way to summarise how me and new tube running companion Ivan (@ipedrazas) looked at the end of our two-hour run today.  The first sign that we might have been facing adverse weather was the second I woke, to the sound of a torrential downpour outside.  ”Rain before seven; fine by eleven” were Zoe’s words of weather-wisdom from beneath the blanket.  Donning several layers, and a running cap (not something often worn, I might add), I travelled (via Orpington / London Bridge / Westminster) to Richmond, arriving just before 0930.  Whilst not having met Ivan before, I’m pleased to say that we’ve been “connected” for some years via the power of Twitter, as he followed my exploits during “Phase 1″ (2010-11).  In a surge of Autumn season planning, we were able to schedule in this run in his neck of the woods – although I was aware that Ivan was on the recovery of a cold earlier in the week.  I also counter-balanced this by his admission earlier in the week that “I’m Spanish. I complain, therefore I exist ” Obviously we were in no position to “throw in the towel” for a few droplets of rain so we departed on schedule, from Richmond Overground Rail just after 0930.

Adopting a slightly different route to the one I ran with Helen during RTTL20 (Hot Cross Buns) (and noting the completely different weather we had back in April 2011!) we arrived at Kew Gardens station and the rain had started to subside, meaning we could travel ‘sans caps’ for a while.

A nice little market was in the process of setting up at the station, and the following stall looked quite appealing – particularly the pile of enormous carrots to the left.

For us it was the case of heading towards Chiswick Bridge, but carefully navigating our way past this roundabout that had become somewhat deluged by rainwater. We hadn’t brought our flip-flops though!

Passing the huge cemetery at Mortlake and over Chiswick Bridge, we continued NE and passed a number of sports grounds and then had to traverse the busy A4 road before doubling back to arrive at Gunnersbury station.  In the background we saw the blue spire of a Russian Orthodox church (here), which would have been an interesting place to visit.

We then followed Chiswick High Road East, then North, passing Chiswick Park tube (where I’d spent a similarly wet Sunday morning in the company of my dad, on RTTL22 (Loose Ends in the West End) in June 2011.  We did not pause at the Gunnersbury Triangle Nature Reserve, but but instead continued NW, side-shimmying rightwards before the level-crossing to reach South Acton.

The reverse-facing camera on the iphone 5 confusing onlookers, we quickly snapped this picture before following the route of the rail line towards Acton, although making a horrendous round-about route we managed to steer ourselves back on travel to make it to Action Central.

We crossed over the level crossing, progressed about 10 metres ahead before realising that we needed to be back over the other side, just as the barriers descended.  We waited (alongside a chocolate Labrador) for the train to pass, then continued back on course towards what was for Ivan “home territory”.  This was not without the need for one further course correction, when a bridge over a railway was mistaken for a bridge ove a canal.  Luckily mapping software kicked us back into touch, and we arrived at our penultimate stop, Willesden Junction.

The journey to Kensal Rise, our final stop for the day, criss-crossed with an adventure back in RTTL2 (Rode to Joy) back in October 2010 when I was still metaphorically wet behind the ears in the tube-running sense, and I’d embarked on a 22-mile take-on of the mighty Bakerloo line.  Happily, the coming-into-view of the station marked the end of this 2 hour entirely pleasant run with Mr Ivan. Not a complainer at all.

As we rose the stairs, I saw this sumptuous looking stall of oranges – surely a welcome sight after nearly running a half marathon on just some water (oops – bad planning!)

Post run activities were in this part of town top notch; Zoe had managed to surface from Bedfordshire and found herself meeting up with Ivan and I, and we strolled to his house (on a street topically ‘fruit’ themed), wherein we were treated to the delightful hospitality of Ivan’s family: Juliet, two charming boys and their super-cute 6-month old daughter.

Luckily for this Sunday meal invite, Zoe had brought a change of clothes for me. It’s not often that you arrive at someone’s house for the first time, and within seconds of meeting them jump in their shower to freshen up.  For all concerned it was the right thing to do.  We had an absolutely delicious lamb hot pot with all sorts of other hospitalities fitting of a very nice bunch of bods indeed.  We would have quite happily rested on the giant bean bags in the lounge were we not 20 miles away on the other side of London, so reluctantly we made our way home in the mid-afternoon.  So that’s a total of 37 miles covered in two weekends.  Good stuff!

GPS/HRM Record of Route: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/237988918

As usual my planning was done well in advance. About 6 hours in advance – right about midnight when I should have been tucked up in bed! Erk.

Getting to the start of this run was a little tricky because I was coming in from the South East of London, and a good proportion of the Overground network. My route in was Orpington to London Bridge to Swiss Cottage, where – for reference – there is actually a Swiss Cottage:

It was quite chilly – being end October – and I was surprised to see quite a few people out in lycra gear – either jogging, or walking to a nearby leisure centre, or whether they were a pair of cyclists about to embark on some biking in town. I make the ~2 mile jog across “quite nice” residential (leaf strewn) side-streets, until I arrived at Gospel Oak.  This was  to be the first of around 95 miles’ worth of journey following the various parts of the Overground.

I had a feeling that this would be different to my Phase 1 runs because trying to follow the route of an overground railway could either involve lots of serious detours on the roads nearby, or needing to travel under lots and lots of railway bridges (as above).  It was just over a mile to Upper Holloway, whose entrance was similarly unimpressive but near a nice-looking church.

My joining of the Holloway Road (A1) was brief as I continued NE along Henley Road in quite a nice neighbourhood to Crouch Hill.  All of my photos today are using my iPhone 5 with its front-and-back facing cameras, so for the first time I was able to see a preview of the images, rather than for Phase 1, where it was a bit of guesswork on the old telescopic arm. Passers by may have thought I was taking a picture of them when in fact – yes, it’s all about me, I was just posing for myself.

Then it was back down the road and North towards on the steepest incline of this run, of about 70ft ascent in four minutes.  My new Garmin 610 with Heart Rate Monitor attested to this challenge. From the elevation of 213ft I was able to enjoy spendid views of Alexandra Park and Alexandra Palace.

Actually the excitement of the view meant that I’d gone off my route plans and so again the phone came in handy with a bit of last-minute hand-held navigation to get me back on the straight-and-narrow. Before I knew it I was at Harringay Green Lanes.

From here it was a case of passing a retail park, then heading along quite an industrial estate, before joining the A10 and seeing the entrance to South Tottenham.

From here I passed along the same route as I did almost 2 years to the weekend when I did my first tube run of the Victoria Line. I am sure I will reflect over the next few weeks over the similarities and differences between the routes (who I’m running with; time of year, etc.) but for now, it was a case of hot-footing it (subject to an 85-90% HRM pace) to get to Blackhorse Road.  I was quite keen to see what one of the reservoirs that I saw on my first run looked like two years on – you compare this one:

With the one taken two years ago:

I think more ducks, a tree looking a little different, and now a lot of scaffolding!

So over to Blackhorse Road, then on into Walthamstow (around 8 miles in 1:17).

The path towards Walthamstow Queen’s Road required a bit of left-and-right shimmying, but I found myself at station without too much bother. This area was highly residential and if you had a car it would have been a bit of a maze with lots of one-way streets and blocking off of roads. With the nimbleness of a racing hare, I was able to dart myself SE towards Lea Bridge Road.

Here it was time to pay homage to RTTL #1 (Victoria) and also pop into the home of Jane, who received me at the end-point of my first run.  JK also became one of only two bike-companions later in the chronicles on RTTL #33 (DLR North to South). There was a nice symmetry in seeing Jane on the start of both Phase 1 and Phase 2, and also as you can see from this picture below Family JK are moving to Canada, so they are about to put everything in boxes and head to Halifax (the town, not the bank). Sad to see them go

After a short tea break, it was on to Leyton Midland Road, at around 10 miles into the run.

From here, then onwards on residential streets, where I had to stop to take a picture of a typical grocery store in the neighbourhood. When you’ve run 10 miles on not more than a banana and a few jelly babies, there’s nothing quite as appealing as a shop full to the brim with the wonderful colours and scent of fresh fruit.  This chap didn’t mind me taking his picture and was keeping warm with his phone tucked under his hat next to his ear. To be honest he had absolutely no idea what I was doing.

I guess by the marking on the rail bridge sign, Leytonstone High Road is the epicentre of all things Leytonstone.

From here, it was along some residential streets then onto the edge of Wanstead Flats, a wide expanse that on a Sunday afternoon I’m pleased to say was being used for lots of sports. Took the opportunity to test the panorama function out on the iPhone – quite good. 

Wanstead Park was 12.7 miles into the journey.

From here, along residential streets in a clearly Muslim/Sikh neighbourhood.  Noticed this rather nice feature outside someone’s house – a wedding perhaps?

On the way to the next station, passed a bridge just after the Cemetery which had been painted with all sorts of inspiring messages.  Thought the following ones were the best:

14.8 miles in, I arrived at Woodgrange Park.

Then it was South along a now-busy High Street at East Ham, then following a path already trodden at the end of RTTL #7 (slip-sliding …) I made my way, over the A406 and so officially into the Outer part of London, …

To terminate at Barking.

An immediate purchase of two samosas (one vegetable, and one chicken), I was on a C2C train back to West Ham, then tube to London Bridge, then mainline train home.  16 miles on the Overground with the 2 mile warm-up was a good set of miles in the bag for a weekend’s running – and all helpful as I make my way to my 10th marathon in London, where I’m hoping to achieve a time of 3:30 or better.

Why Run to the Beat?

Sunday was also the date that London’s second best half marathon of the same name was held.  Also the beagle-eyed amongst you will notice I was wearing headphones throughout the journey. Normally I frown with full-blown Paddington-Bear frowns anyone wearing them whilst out running, and especially out on races. The obvious reason is that people can’t hear when someone is about to overtake them and so they end up startled or confused. Also you end up losing a valuable sense when listening out for traffic or other things along the way.  My rationale was clear – with no running companions for nearly 3 hours, life can get a bit dull, and so it was time to put the fruits of a separate project to the test and randomise the selection in my cleansed music archive. [I have around 9000 songs on my phone, of which many of them are 'rubbish'. Therefore about a month ago I started a long process of listening to every one of them, or judging by the track and artist name, deciding whether to keep or trash the tracks.  I'm about 1000 songs into this. It's going to take a long time!]  Anyway, here is a shot of what I listened to:

I don’t know whether this reveals too much about my own music tastes but I enjoyed the mix that the randomness brought up. Particularly great tunes to run to include:

• #1 Respect / Erasure
• #15 And I will Kiss / Underworld (from Olympics OC)
• #16 Take me to the Clouds Above / LMCvsU2
• #33 Elgar (surprisingly marching like)
• #39 Flying Turtles / Lenny Ibizarre (great to get into the zone)
• #42 Time of my Life (cheesy)
• #44 Where the Streets have no Name / PSB
• #49 Like a Prayer / Glee (better than Madonna’s?)
• And finally – couldn’t have picked a better final song – Bohemian Rhapsody / Queen – to drive on through to the finish, at the corner of the High Street at Barking, followed by: “I feel Fine” / Beatles.

And I didn’t feel that bad, to be honest!

• Have an adventure across London
• Meet new people and share experiences along the way
• Photograph and document the journey, and share it via social networks
• Raise awareness of suitable topics at the same time

I haven’t set a firm time to start #beyondtuberunning but I welcome your thoughts on how I might best approach this given your enjoyment (or otherwise) of the first 435 miles covered November 2010 – August 2011. 

Firstly we visited the London Transport Museum, near Covent Garden, for which we effectively had free tickets after our recent visit to Aldwych tube.  Its well worth a visit because it takes you through the history of the development of London’s transport infrastructure.  One of the things that is fascinating both in visiting the museum and in the authoritative book by Christian Woolmar (‘The Subterranean Railway‘) is that the network we use today grew organically out of commercial, private interests. In the late nineteenth century, limited tunnelling methods, scarcity of capital to fund investments and difficulties with permission over land meant that the early lines grew slowly.  For much of the Tube’s history lines were under different private ownership until the early 20th century when US financiers progressively built larger organisations, integrated with bus networks, and in due course working more with the state to facilitate larger investments for deeper tunnels and integration (or otherwise) with over-ground rail companies.  All fascinating stuff particularly for me who has visited every single station.  If I were to plan the tube runs again I would look from the perspective of the historical expansion of the network to see how original lines were extended. I would also have a better appreciation of why there are spurs or certain oddities – e.g. how Mill Hill East was never supposed to be a terminus but the start of a now abandoned extension of the Northern Line.

Anyway, the book is worth the read but if you want to digest the same within about 1-2 hours and also have an interactive experience either as a child or grown up, then this museum, on the former site of Covent Garden Flower Market, is the place to go. Here are some pics:

An advert extolling the virtues of the 'new' Victoria Line.

The original name for the Northern Line

Poster advertising the creation of the Central Line

Me riding in the carriages from late nineteenth century. Narrow windows!

Zoe not wanting to disturb her fellow commuters!

District Line Carriage circa 1960s

Zoe with friends in the 1960s on the Northern Line

Metropolitan Line extends to the leafy countryside of Watford...

The Met Railway extends far into the North East!

The Metropolitan. Way back in the 19th Century.

We stopped for a bite to eat in Leon, on the Strand, before walking over the Hungerford Foot Bridge, through a Christmas Market, and towards St Thomas Hospital.  This was our second prominent location of the year.  Today we were visiting the Shepherd’s Hall, inside the Evelina Childrens Hospital, to attend the memorial service held for the parents of babies and children who have died at St Thomas’ or Guy’s Hospitals. We were unsure initially whether to go because of uncertainty as to what it would be like.  We passed through the main entrance of STH, passed the places where we went back in May when we made our unexpected first visit there. The entrance area is always chaotic, whatever time of day. Making our way through to the ECH, the first thing that struck me was that the air temperature was much warmer; something good for a children’s wing.  There were a lot of tiled works of art for children’s stories on the walls.  We noticed one or two other couples clutching the same invitation issued from the spiritual care services.  We made it through to the Hall, were ticked off the register and asked to confirm the name of our Thomas William, and then made our way into the main hall.  There were rows and rows of chairs set out, and we noticed strategically placed alongside the end were lots of boxes of tissues. A sign of the emotional service that was to follow.  We went to the front of the room where a Christmas tree had adorned on it tags – one for each child/baby that was being represented there that day.  We added our tag for Thomas, which also had a special message for Sam & Bob too – his elder brother and sister looking down on us all some 4 years previously.  We then took our places amongst other couples and families.  There was a great mix of people – skin colour; age; some with children; some with pregnant bumps – perhaps rainbow babies – difficult to tell.  On a table at the front there were some framed pictures of the people being remembered there – ranging from young children – some in wheelchairs, some with breathing support; to the most tiniest of babies – some even smaller than the very private pictures we have of our Thomas.

The service started at 3pm and consisted of a number of readings; hymns; and music. There was the reading out of the names of all being remembered.  It was a long list, considering that it represented broadly the period of the last 12 months (and not even that period).  There were a lot of Thomas’s. There were a lot of names such as Hope; and Elijah.  Some twins.  One set of triplets.  Each little person was very special to the people in the room.  In some ways this service was more sorrowful than a single funeral as everyone present was there as direct representatives of someone who was no longer with us, as opposed to a congregation present to remember a single individual. We were all similar in that we had been through the experience of love and loss.  Candles were lit.  There were lots of hugs and hand holdings. Lots of smiles and nods of understanding. We didn’t stay long afterwards but left with a quiet strength of hope for the future and comfort that whilst we weren’t able to get to know our babies, that we loved them all the same and do not forget them, and that on Earth they didn’t experience any suffering.  They remain safe up above until we will meet them someday.

Thomas' own entry on May 3rd.

Each tag represents a message of a baby or child that has died this year.

We arrived just before midday at the station location which was on the intersection of the Strand and Surrey Street, just about 150 metres from Temple tube station.  The viewing party was some 35 strong, and ranged in age and gender, just a typical cross-section of society (i.e. not all train/tube fanatics!)  We were led inside and given a quick safety briefing.  There was no official video or D-SLR cameras allowed but they did permit compact photos, hence the ones below.  We broke up into two smaller groups, and we were in the first one that stayed in the entrance hall whilst the others were first to descent the 162 step spiral staircase to the platforms.  We were given a short talk which explained the context to the station’s creation.

It opened in 1907 as an obscure appendix of the Piccadilly Line, which went as a spur to/from Holborn.  It was a two-train shuttle service from Holborn. Given that Holborn is only an 8-minute walk away, and the journey by tube was 2 minutes from platform to platform, and it took some few minutes to descend to the platform in two ornate (but now non-functioning) electric lifts, it hardly seemed to make sense in its own right commercially.  There were plans to extend the line to join at Waterloo, but these never materialised as in the early days it was prohibitively expensive to tunnel deep into the chalk/clay approaching the river.  By the late 1980s it was a loss-making part of the network and hence closed in 1994.

We were told about the important role the station played during the Blitz where it was used for the storage of valuable artwork and housed many Londoners.  It plays a role in the present day for planning (e.g. used to mock up future stations) and for emergency training drills. It closed in 1994 and since then has only been open to the public for a very short time in 2010 (due principally to health and safety concerns about getting in/out, and of the progressive effects of corrosion to the facilities through lack of maintenance).  The open days advertised for 2011 sold out very quickly indeed.  It is funny to think that in the 1990s it was usable (hence in my lifetime) that much of the materials down below – e.g. advertising billboards, stem from the 1970s (e.g. advertising for whether the UK should enter the Common Market) and also some reproduction of wartime banners.

We found it to be a really interesting experience and made us want to learn even more about the impact and history of the Underground.  If you find yourself on the Strand you may walk straight past the station entrance not aware of the history below your feet.

Take a look at the photos below!

One of three lift shafts. Water corrosion of much of the metalwork apparent

The station exit on Surrey Street

Me and Zoe on the station platform

Note the bricked up end of the platform and erosion in the walls

Poster from 1970s

... since September 1994!

Nature starting to reclaim the station

Curious members of the public enjoy this rare opportunity

"Eat greens daily for health" and "staggered commuting saves busy workers time"

Original station roundel taking a rest

More public safety adverts from 1970s

1970s tube map

This is not me with an afro!

Anyone fancy living in Epping?

Careless talk costs lives!

That train isn't going anywhere fast...

Winding tunnels, 162 stairs below ground

Exactly one year ago I completed the first part of a running adventure which would take me 435 miles along the length of the London Underground.  Regular followers of my website will recall the write-up, (here), and will have an idea of what I did over the last year; namely that I raised £7,300 for preventative research into stillbirths; and had lots of ups and downs along the way.

I was going to re-do the first run today, and had made arrangements to descend on Jane’s house in Walthamstow as I did one year previously. This time it was going to be with Zoe joining me at the other end and quite possibly with a change of clothes, and more of an idea of when I might be likely to turn up, and so on.  Turns out that an annoying cold put paid to that.  I hardly ever get ill but I’ve been putting in quite long hours at work recently and also a trip to Weymouth and back last weekend must have lowered my defences – coupled with the horridness of commuting with the great unwashed meant that some kind of germs got into my otherwise impeccable ’system’.  So I didn’t run today – and haven’t been out for the last 13 days actually. Annoying, but since I don’t have any specific near-term running challenges, not a disaster.

Instead we had a bit of a lie-in and then both travelled up to Jane’s house using the Victoria Line for about half of the journey.  The weather was similar; a little chilly; overcast but not raining.  This time round we enjoyed the cleanliness of a new Victoria Line rolling stock carriage – much lighter than the previous ones. Also we had the benefit of me knowing exactly the route to Jane’s house.  It was less than two miles to the house – past familiar fresh fruit and vegetable market stalls and the vibrancy of East 17.

I felt a little sad that I hadn’t re-traced my steps exactly one year later.  I may do it at some point, in order to reflect on how much more familiar I am with that route through London; but I can already say that the route between Brixton / Stockwell / Vauxhall / Victoria (not Pimlico) is one that I take quite often now when I run from work to home (a 16 mile journey in total).

I thought that Twitter would be an on-line  medium to publicise sponsorship links and to broadcast what I was doing on a blog – primarily a ‘one-to-many’ process.  I have found however that it has been an excellent medium through which I have come to know lots of wonderful people. It is a privilege to say that I have over 600 followers and that not only do people follow but they are engaged in what I have been doing. I’ve been touched that people are prepared to reach out with their own stories and share them with me. I am glad to say that in the last 365 days I have made an incredible number of new friendships!  I will have to buy more Christmas cards this year and in fact should have probably started writing them already!

Visualising onwards on this route, the area that I’d cover with Green Park and to the left of Oxford Circus are the lovely royal parks that I’ve not only run around in general training during the summer, but where I completed my first Olympic Distance Triathlon in Hyde Park.  I have also enjoyed meeting up with several Twitter people since June for runs and drinks by the lido!  Also I remember that around Warren Street / Euston / Kings Cross I did some Boris Bike cycling with some Twitter people after a particularly hot run down the Piccadilly Line.

Beyond Kings Cross, I haven’t spent much time over the year other than when I crossed Finsbury Park as part of a return leg of that Piccadilly Line.  As a South London boy I’ve seen so much more of (North) London than I’d ever seen previously.  In fact I should at some point do a check but I think that I haven’t previously been to nearly 1/4 of the tube line stations before I visited them on a Tube Line run.  And the stations are just the way-points that link  some fascinating communities of London.  I’d love to visit some of them again.

It is the fondness of these journeys that I look with excitement on running the Tramlink and the Overground network.  I have planned these out (see here). As to when these runs will take place, I have to slot them in amongst our ongoing primary journey in life – that of becoming parents – and other things such as Christmas and other things that go on.  As to who I’ll travel with on those runs – I would say that I have loved those times when I’ve run with others and so will be trying to get my friends (new and old) to join me on the adventure. At the end of the day its not about the run itself but how you get there.

As to whether I’ll be doing any “fund raising” or “awareness raising” as I go… well, I did immediately set up a new charity page, to be linked to the charity Tommy’s.  I had lunch with Jane, the Chief Executive of the charity, and we had a very useful discussion.  It was useful because she challenged me with the question: “What are you setting out to achieve with your running?”   I thought that the answer was simple: “To do some running, write about it, and raise awareness about a charity.”  But actually is that the real reason?  Why is it that I get passionate enough to write about this and to make a photographic record as I go?  The running itself is not an end but a method to capture peoples’ interest.  But now that I have peoples’ interest, what is the story that I actually want to tell them? Is it that we are prospective parents that have experienced two miscarriages? Is it about the heartbreak and the lost hope?  Is it that 1 in X pregnancies end in a similar manner?  It is not my purpose to create anxiety amongst expectant mums and dads.  Raising awareness about potential issues is important but it must be a balanced view; after all the majority of pregnancies end with a healthy baby in the cot.  How about raising awareness in things that increase the likelihood of a successful pregnancy?  There are plenty of resources about that.  But actually through the conversation with Jane, from Tommy’s it became apparent to me that the thing that I really want to tell people about is our own story.  It is a story which has so many levels; from not only the pregnant/not-pregnant status; but of all the other things that have happened in between; from the things that mean we might be trying or things that mean we might not.  There are the attitudes of people that we know – do they avoid us, thinking that this is well-meant, but in reality making situations hundreds of times more awkward, or do they engage with us and genuinely try to find out how they can help.  And there is also just how we feel from day to day, which has no rhyme or reason – its just life.  So if anyone reading this is interested in any of those types of things, as well as hopefully my attempts at humour, then stay subscribed, RT and share widely.  365 days in I have 693 follwers (Twitter) and 126 likes (Facebook). How long will it take to organically grow this to be, er, well a little bigger?  Who knows.

So in short – as I enter my second year of ‘Running the Tube Lines’ I invite you to join me as I share my story with you – hopefully with good humour, positive outlook. Let’s explore London together, and lets travel onwards towards my ultimate destination: parenthood.