This next week will be a week of travel, and I am writing as I journey to my next destination. I will be running in a different city today, taking in the streets and parks of West London, hopefully having a comfortable but reasonably fast run. I find running a good way to get acclimatised to being in a new place, allows me to breathe the air, see the sights and hear the sounds that make up the unique local area. The fact that I run everyday means I generally get to run and explore in every place I visit, giving me a much wider view than the average visitor and is a wonderful bonus of my hobby.

London is a fascinating place to run as the environment and scenery changes so quickly and can be so diverse. It can take just a few minutes to go from a busy international metropolis to the quiet of a park to the bustle of a local neighbourhood. Each area reflecting its purpose and ethnic makeup with the buildings (or lack of), shops, and restaurants as well as the faces and dress of the populace as they go about their business.

Today I will run in an area I know so I can be relaxed, but being the wimp that I am, I do get nervous to be out in a new place. I will study the local maps to find a suitable route, trying to keep to a simple “turn every first or second right” to ensure I end up back where I started, although with my terrible sense of direction I often end up getting lost … which can be fun too and never really a problem if you keep your mobile with you to find a way home.

I try to run during daytime until I know a place is “safe”, although, touch wood, I have never had any issues in any of the multitude of cities and countries I have run in. Well, that is apart from regular run-ins (pun intended) with my mortal enemy, the one thing that I can’t mitigate against and the sight and sound of which can strike irrational fear in any runner or cyclist, yes I speak of he who can’t be tamed, the dreaded dog! A head to head meeting with one of these devil hounds can happen anywhere and anytime, and neither size, location or even the fact of whether it’s leashed or not seems to make any difference to the chances of whether they decide to attack, and I have many a tale of close calls and full on hand to hand combat(or more accurately ankle to jaw combat) to regale you with at a later date!

But for now I will stop writing, sit back and relax, looking forward to #gettherundone !