My 11th ParkRun was supposed to be Riddlesdown near Croydon, well that was the intention. A parkrun that couldn’t be further away from my home in Kentish Town! I thought that while the summer was still upon us it would be good to do this one as i probably wouldn’t want to be travelling there in the winter!
But then my friend Nick called me and invited me over for lunch, and he lives in South Mimms, which is on the A1, and only a short drive from Canons Park. I couldn’t refuse lunch with one of me besties, so Canons Park it was. It was decided!
For those of you who don’t know it the beautiful Canons Park is in a suburb called Canons Park in the London Borough of Harrow in North London. The area is south of Stanmore, west of Edgware, and north of Queensbury (you’ll just have to look it up on a map!).
The north side of the park is part owned by North London Collegiate School, an independent girls school.
The park takes its name from its mediaeval roots, when the site was a part of the endowment of the Priory of St Bartholomew’s which operated St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London.
Here is the London Borough of Harrow…….
Here is the entrance at the south of the park!
Funnily enough as i was making my way around the outskirts of the park, I remembered that Canons Park was where my prep school used to bus us up to (from the centre of town!) for athletics and football, twice a week. I guess the traffic must’ve been much less in those days (so many years ago…….. 39 to be exact!)…..
walking across the railway bridge that leads to the park……
A lone runner walking to the start line…….
While i was waiting for the run to start I popped my head around a door that led to a secret walled garden, only to find a group of people taking a yoga class! What an idyllic setting! Make the most of an unusual summer, I say!
I’ve been doing lots of HIIT training, as i described in my last blog (#10 Hampstead Heath) and I’m reaping the benefits in terms of feeling a greater sense of wellness in general. And it is soooooooo easy to fit into a busy daily routine, as it’s only 20 minutes long!
Here are all the runners gathering at the start. It was a relatively small gathering, much the same sort of numbers as Beckton Park, which I really like. I don’t like it too busy! I’m so fussy!
The course was pretty much flat, and it was 2 anticlockwise laps of the park, as you can see below.
As always, the volunteers were fantastic, and so very enthusiastic. A big thank you to all the volunteers!
Strangely, even though I’m losing weight and gaining fitness through doing the parkruns and from doing the HIIT training, my times are as of yet stagnant. I think that fitness has been offset by tiredness. At least I hope that’s the case! And so theoretically as i get fitter and actually take care of myself by getting some good sleep, my times should improve.
I’m also still being plagued with hamstring problems on my left leg. I’m going to try some approaches to treating what i think is “High Hamstring Tendonitis” in my case. I’ll let you know what approach i take, and how i get on, in the next blog.
Here’s the picture of me, as always, with the run director, Andrew. He suggested I sent this blog to him and he would post it on the Canons Park Parkrun facebook page, so that is what i will do as soon as i have finished it!
I thought i would finish with a pretty picture of the park, over some pointy wrought iron gates. What a lovely place………
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