April 7, 2008 at 9:03 pm
· Filed under Commuting, Running
5:30 arrived and there was no getting around the fact that I had packed for another running commute. I did a quick risk assessment and decided that if I left immediately I’d be able to take the canal route while all potential murderers were still dithering on their doorsteps, wondering whether to grab their umbrellas or not.
There were a remarkable number of people enjoying the Grand Union this evening and I followed Jogblogs guidance and decided solitary blokes were ok so long as they had dogs with them and runners of all varieties were fine and dandy so long as they were running in the opposite direction to me.
There is one particularly spooky part of my route - a dark, disused wet dock, harboring bats and bird flu. I hate going through there, I always feel like I’m entering the murder scene out of a new Prime Suspect. Today I turned the corner and bumped into a runner and then an old geezer on a mountain bike. I would have screamed but the biker saved me the trouble, he looked terrified and wobbled so much on his bike that I had to grab him before he fell in the oily harbour.
Job done, I think I may force another running commute upon myself this week.
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jogblog wrote @ April 7th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
And I thought I was the only one hardcore enough to do a running commute on a Monday. I’m doing another one tomorrow too.
i’ve a canal on my doorstep that i’ll try and brave this sunmmer… i didn’t fancy the bridge/tunnel parts in the winter…
They are lovely peaceful spots to run but you have to carry out your own risk assessment - I cannot be held responsible for canal related mishaps.
If that cyclist had knocked me in I might have been bobbing around for days before anyone passed by to help fish me out.
Steve wrote @ April 8th, 2008 at 12:58 am
Next time I watch Prime Suspect or like shows I’ll be thinking of your runs. Over here, it’s wide open spaces.
Once read a book about a british man who started to cycle round the world in his gap year (like you do..). Ended up taking about 15 years and he went ALL around the world.
He wrote that sleeping in a field or a wood was hedge was scary at first but once he got over the feeling that all the locals were not thinking;
“Oh I’ll just pop to that deserted barn to see if there are any man english people sleeping out in it that I can kill”
He was fine….
OH MY GOD! I WAS SCARED FOR YOU…
for one minute….I thought you meant 5:30 AM! EEeeek!
I swear I almost choked on my coffee. But it turns out you’re normal/mortal after all. Phew!
And I am sure that the lighter evenings will make that canal route look less and less scary all the time. Though it may also make it more popular! Blah! You can’t win. I’d be prepared to be shoved in at least once, and chalk it up to cross-training.
Emma wrote @ April 8th, 2008 at 9:28 am
I run along the river opposite my house most days, and see a few dog walkers and the occasional jogger. Hopefully they are not serial killers or murderers… we’ve had our share in Ipswich just lately.
Karen wrote @ April 8th, 2008 at 9:44 am
I’m with TriGirl Thea - thought you meant 0530… phew you meant pm!!
I think I know where that canal dock is…. near Isleworth I bet - there’s a VERY SPOOKY dock there… makes me shiver just thinking about it…!!!
the risk assessment will say that as i can’t swim i’ll have to run with a life jacket… that’ll look good!
Rest assured folks, I will never be starting a run at 5:30 am. Feel free to shoot me if I threaten to get that keen.
Karen, sounds like you know the place, I would say it’s Brentford more than Isleworth but they are practically the same place aren’t they?
“I would have screamed but the biker saved me the trouble” HAhahaHAHAha. You’re lucky you live in the UK, because if a crazy lady with a flushed face jumped out at at a biker and grabbed him/her on an abandoned path with bats and bird flu and oily water floating about, any self-respecting American geezer would have pulled out his gun and shot you.
I love the run commutes! Keep it up… until you are murdered, of course. Then I will miss the reports on the running commutes terribly.
That’s good to know but if the worst came to the worst you could always go through a random selection of archived commutes and convince yourself that I was still out there, grumbling through my runs.
Karen wrote @ April 9th, 2008 at 10:13 pm
Yeah maybe more Brentford - they do merge about there… and for the record… that dock IS very VERY spooky and has not doubt had numerous nasty acts carried around about (including red-faced joggers bumping into bikers!…LOL)…. Last time I ran down that way I thought I’d see a floater (body I hasten to add not some other dodgey canal way tripe)…. shudder…
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