Connecting parkruns plus some sightseeing at Olympic Park

It was parkrunday again today, and for the fourth time this year I headed out towards North East London for a parkrun.  This time I ran Barking parkrun in 22:14 – my best time for the year.

I arrived early – 8am – so started the day with an easy 5km walk before parkrun.  But the main plan for the day was to walk a 15 mile loop taking in the venues for all four of the parkruns I have run this year in the North East and East London area – Barking (today), Valentines (on Valentine’s Day 2 weeks ago), Wanstead Flats (on New Year’s Day), and Mile End (3rd of January).

Today's map - four parkrun venues and a detour through Olympic Park
Today’s map – four parkrun venues and a detour through Olympic Park

What I didn’t intend to do, but ended up doing anyway, was take a detour and check out Olympic Park in between Wanstead Flats and Mile End, but I am glad I did.  It was the first time I had seen Olympic Park and what an amazing venue!  I took heaps of photos, some of which are below, but as a result of that and a little bit of getting lost, my planned 3 hour 15 mile walk ended up being 23 ½ miles in 4 hours 50 minutes.

When I sent my wife a txt message to tell her that I had got lost but was now back at the car in Barking, she replied that maybe we should change the name of this blog to “Richard gets lost in London” as that seems to be a recurring theme of most of my long walks 🙂

Overall I was happy with the walk.  I faded a little over the last 60 to 90 minutes, but I hadn’t had anything to eat or drink since breakfast at 6am, and in total I covered 30 miles today so maybe that was to be expected.

The original plan for this weekend, until I got sick a month ago, was to race the Bourges 24 hour race in France.  Based on today’s walk I am glad I decided not to do the race as I don’t think I am in the shape I was in before getting sick.  But hopefully two weeks of long walks followed by two weeks easy will see me in shape for a good 24 hour race at Château-Thierry in 4 weeks time.

Photos from today:

 

Barking Park - the start of my walk
Barking Park – the start of my walk
The lake in Barking Park
The lake in Barking Park
And into Valentines Park
And into Valentines Park
The lake at Valentines Park
The lake at Valentines Park with the clocktower in the background
A muddy Wanstead Flats
A muddy Wanstead Flats – it was muddy the day I ran there too

 

The Olympic Stadium
The Olympic Stadium
The Olympic Stadium
The Olympic Stadium
The Aquatic Center
The Aquatic Center – which was just across the river from the Olympic Stadium
Some Olympic Art
Some Olympic Art
More Olympic Art
More Olympic Art
The Olympic Stadium
Leaving the Olympic Stadium and heading towards the Velodrome
The Velodrome
The Velodrome in the distance
The Velodrome
The Velodrome
The Olympic Rings
The Olympic Rings
Mile End Park
And the next stop is Mile End Park
Barking Park
And after 4 hours and 50 minutes we are back at Barking Park again!

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