I live in Stratford.
Not Stratford Upon Avon home of the bard, or Stratford Ontario home of the Beaber…NO. I live in Stratford, East London the birthplace of petrol (yes that is true) and home to the London 2012 Olympics & Paralympics.
In fact I live less than 10 minutes away from the Olympic Stadium where Usain Bolt and Mo Farah both did the double in 2012. During games time it would take a little longer of course to get into the park due to the airport style security, but that is a thing of the past now as bit by bit the park opens to the public.
Last summer the north park opened where I spent a few lazy days in the sun feeling like I was in a different country all together and very, very soon the south park opens including the aquatic centre which opens to the public on 1st March. (where I hear I will be able to swim in a state of the art facility for less than £5)
I simply can not wait to get into that pool. After running, swimming is my second love, but my nearest pool is a twenty minute drive away at the moment and a little grim, so its not something I do very much anymore.
Stratford really is coming up in the world.
As well as being a longterm resident of Stratford I also had the privilege of working on a number of 2012 related projects. From about 2004 onwards when London were only thinking about hosting the games. So you can imagine the transformation I have seen. The picture to the right shows you just what the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park looked like in about 2006/7…basically a building site.
Anyway, back to the running.
Today I went along to a new social run group called @runthepark (check them out on twitter) They meet every Thursday at 12.30 by the RUN sculpture just outside the Copper Box
The group is relatively new and seeing as it was the first week back after the holidays there were only two of us, but hey that was plenty.
I ran 8.27K in an hour with my new friend Gary a hockey player who runs for fitness. We ran out of the park and along the canal towards Hackney Marshes and then back. It was an absolutely gorgeous day out with blue sky and bright sunshine. My pace was pretty slow but I needed to take it stead as I have had a bit of lower back pain the last two days.
I was happy with my lunch time run, and happy to see the park taking shape into a space that can properly be used by the people who live in close proximity to it.
Comments are closed.