Just a quick report from me for now. I've had a good weekend of running in London. Ran Southwark parkrun yesterday, with a nice PB to show for it. Royal Parks Half today, with another PB in store. Finished in 2:21, which I mostly put down to the lack of hills. 
I'll report back later. It'll be interesting to compare race impressions with my fellow runners from this group. Now I need to finally shower after having had some nice tea and cake at Harrods to celebrate.
Well done C3PO thats very good going! I'm not running parkrun before the HM next weekend, to stop myself I've volunteered for the 1st time so no running it is possible 
was thinking of doing it!
Congratulations on your HM PB! Bet that cake tasted good! 🍰🙂
Well done - sounds like a good weekend.
Well done and well deserved cake
yay great result Cristina!
So here's my report. Sorry about the length.
I arrived in London on Wednesday, but have had fairly hectic days, so not much rest in the lead-up. What was worse was that my body was clearly more excited than I realized, so I was only averaging about 5-6 hours' sleep each night, waking up at 5 am every day. The one thing I was successful at was focusing on eating healthily, and sticking to sushi and salads during my stay. I didn't want a repeat of my fish and chips debacle from this summer!
As Parkrun was celebrating its anniversary on Saturday, hubby and kids were busy running and volunteering back in Oslo, and I felt I had to og to a run here. I chose Southwark, and following advice from other runners, decided to take it easy and not wear myself out. As usual, I turned on my running app, so when my app told me after 2K that my pace was really high, I was surprised. I decided to take things even more slowly, but at 4K it turned out that my pace was still high. The thing is that I've never run 5K in less than 30 minutes, and this was now a possibility. So I couldn't help myself – I had to try. And I made it! For the first time ever, I ran 5K with a pace of 5:53/K. My official parkrun time was 30:40 – but the distance was 5.17K.
I had planned to take the rest of the day easy, but a very nice lady from the parkrun offered to take me on a walking tour of the East End, so instead of resting my legs, I ended up enjoying a nice 3-hour walk. So no fresh feet for Sunday!
After waking up bright and early again yesterday, I wrote ambitious target times for 5 miles, 10 miles and 20K on my arm. Then I made my way to Hyde Park, enjoying the sight of the empty streets, and feeling sorry for the marshals sitting by the roadside, looking cold. After long lines for the baggage drop and the toilet (where I had a nice chat with a couple of other runners), I made my way to the yellow funnel. My lack of sleep was starting to catch up with me, and I stood there at the starting line, yawning. I was determined not to set off too fast. This turned out not to be a problem, due to all the runners. In fact, I found it hard to get much speed at all. During my training, I've done a little sprint of about 125 steps every 2K, but that wasn't possible here.
I found the first half of the run easier from a mental perspective. There was plenty to look at, even though they were mostly familiar sights. I had been dreading the second half, and I was proved right. There wasn't enough variety in the landscape for this to provide stimulation. I also found the cheering areas really noisy and tiring. Possibly they motivated me to keep running – so that I could get away from them! I did appreciate the Tommy's groups cheering for me, though.
I was pleased to see the halfway sign, which provided a needed boost. Otherwise, I just kept plodding on, feeling pleased by overtaking so many people. When running down Whitehall, I had seen some Stormtroopers, Yoda and Chewbacca far ahead of me, but I caught up with them in the parks. As a member of the Norwegian science fiction community, I really appreciated running with them for a while. The Stormtroopers were playing the Star Wars music, which also helped motivate me. I was really counting the miles as they added up, and starting to realize that I was going to manage to run the whole way. I was also pleased as my times were perfectly matching the times I'd written on my arm.
I was thrilled when I saw the finish line, and managed to do a nice sprint to the finish. I couldn't believe my finish time – 14 minutes better than 3 weeks earlier in Oslo. Unfortunately my app decided to go haywire, and deleted the workout, so I won't be able to study it, but according to the Royal Parks app, I was really consistent, with paces of 6:42-6:44 throughout. At the end of the day, the greatest thing was that I ran without stopping for 2:21, beating my record of running nonstop of 2 hours a couple of years ago.
Differences between Royal Parks and Oslo:
I felt this race was a bit hyped. Yes, the views were nice, but not amazing. The support was very good in the parks, but spotty during the urban section. I'd say that on the whole, overall support was better in Helsinki. I did enjoy my charity focusing on me – even when I was deep in a pack.
Very little music en route. I wouldn't say that Oslo has got it right. Most of the music is too heavy on the bass for me, but I was surprised at the lack of music in London.
There were lots of people were walking in the middle of the narrow paths in Hyde Park. I'm used to runners moving to the side during walking breaks, so that it's easier for the other runners to pass. The sides were also fairly packed, so it wasn't easy to pass there either.
The event village was new for me. In Oslo and Helsinki, there's no reason to linger in the finishing area. The big Ecotrail race is clearly trying to emulate this, though.
All in all, a great weekend. However, by smashing my HM PB so thoroughly, I think it's going to be a long time until I manage to improve on my time. I'm satisfied with having done Royal Parks, and will be looking to run other UK races in future.
Fantastic, enjoy London.... we are going in 2 weeks as a treat for my son who will be 16..... gulp!
Great race report C3PO, and huge congratulations on both PBs - that's an amazing result from the weekend!
I was nodding as I read your thoughts about people not moving to the right when walking or slowing down. I think you're right - we're not very good at that in this country.
Great result, C3PO!
Well done some great time, sounds like you deserve that cake! i guess there is none left to share around to celebrate your achievement!
London Vitality 10,000 ❤️🏅😀
