River Thames Half Marathon

It’s quite a novelty these days for us having a short break for a single event – probably the last minute dash over to listen to the fascinating Johnny Ball was probably the last one – but this trip was for the sole purpose of getting over for my only half marathon of 2023, the River Thames Half focused around Walton-on-Thames.

We’d grown quite some affinity for the town during our Thames Path walk. It just seemed pleasant even if our taste for it was probably limited to a single Thames-side pub.

The trip to the event was fine. The walk to our hotel was a bit lengthy but ok really and that first evening we has a nice time finding somewhere for a drink and then a really lovely pizza.

Race morning was good. The build up was enjoyable and being placed right underneath Walton Bridge was quite cool. Things felt a bit more disorganised right up to the start but it was ok.

I started the run really comfortably, probably far too much so looking back, running the first 5k quickly, the next 5k somewhat quickly and the rest of the event really really slowly. I don’t know if it was lack of endurance or because as the race went on it just got wetter and wetter to the extent it was pretty much a trail race at the end of it trying to dodge puddles. I’ve had slower halfs but not many, but I look back on this now as pretty much a trail half so it sort of stands on its own.

After the run, we had an incredible Sunday pub lunch. A proper huge, beautifully cooked meal, and that on its own will see us back to Walton-on-Thames next year for a 10k.

It was a good weekend with great company and a reminder that trail endurance races really aren’t my thing. I look forward to coming back though.

Three more shows

We pick up this story from another lovely evening in a Gatwick hotel, and the next morning we made our way to Ealing. Given where our first show was the choice of Ealing was an odd one but it worked.

Making our way to our first show of this part of the trip, we arrived at Charing Cross station, and only then realised we are at the hotel which we used as a base several years ago when the two of us completed the Winter Run 10k together in torrential rain on my wife’s birthday. It was a lovely hotel (and a lovely run) which has changed owners several times since so I’m not sure it’s still the same. Good memories though.

Knowing we were early for our show we picked out a spot for a drink beforehand and ended up at a place literally around the corner from the Theatre – the Nell Gwynne, a nice friendly pub in a back street alley but actually felt very comfortable at this time on a weekday afternoon.

The show was Back to the future and we really enjoyed it. Not the best show ever but a really good one for sure, with a jaw dropping ending I’m not going to spoil here. But still looking back we have no idea how they did that!

We had a leisurely scenic walk back to Tottemham Court Road then on to Nandos for dinner and then on to our hotel for the night.

The following morning – a Friday – we had a brief wander around Ealing then the obligatory visit to the local Spoons and then travelled on to our next hotel just off of Leicester Square. We’ve had better hotels but had many worse too.

It was a lovely day in London. I extended a trip to Tesco with a stop at the Moon Under Water in Leicester Square itself and generally had a lovely day.

The evening entertainment was The Play That Goes Wrong. It was a great experience overall but they did occasionally take a joke just a wee bit too far and much too long but still it was great.

On Saturday morning, I headed to Clapham Common parkrun. It was a good run but the course was definitely not designed for the numbers it gets. It would be fair to say it was a bit crowded. On the way back to Clapham Common tube I saw a bunch of apparently grown adults playing Quidditch! As you do.

That afternoon we went to watch Matilda. That again was an excellent experience, but perhaps not the best show I’ve ever seen it was still really good. Very well performed for sure, and staged perfectly. We had a great time.

The rest of our trip featured a wander around Covent Garden, dinner at a place we’ve seen around Leicester Square for probably 20 years but had never previously visited, and then Sunday was quite relaxed seeing us head back to the airport.

This was the end of a really quite an excellent trip or two.

Tunisia was great and relaxing. London was really enjoyable. It was the holiday we needed, but now already it feels like ages ago.

Looking forward now to the next trip to Walton-on-Thames for a half marathon at the end of October.