30.1.10

The Inaugural Cambridge Park Run

Today was the first ever Cambridge Park Run. In sub zero temperatures and with a layer of icy snow to contend with, 71 hardened runners converged at 8:45am in Milton Country Park to participate in a 5K run. I was amazed at such a good turn out for the first ever race meet. At 9am sharp, after a quick brief on the route, we were underway. It felt great to be running in a group as so often I'm out on my own. I started a little too fast with all the excitement but found a nice rhythm over the first kilometre. The first 20 or so runners (including me!) took a slight wrong turn and ended up running out of the park. We stopped to consider where we'd missed a turning and as other runners started to catch up we had to run back the way we'd come and pick up the correct route. No great problem and only 0.2K added to the distance. I was happy enough with my performance. It's not really a contest between runners, more a case of competing with yourself each week to see if you can improve your time over the same circuit. I'm really looking forward to next weeks race. This will be a regular weekly event at 9am every saturday morning. I'll go as often as I can. A great way to start the weekend instead of lounging in bed for hours wasting the day. For those that don't know about Park Run visit "http://www.parkrun.com". There are events all over the country. It's free to take part and you get an official time for each race. It is run by volunteers and financed through sponsorship deals. Check it out if you like running.

6.1.10

Yotel - the smallest UK based hotel rooms

I had to take a trip to Jersey on an early flight so booked myself into this place at Gatwick South Terminal
http://www.yotel.com/. From the company that brought us Yo! Sushi comes Yotel!. Remember Simon Woodroffe who was a Dragon in the first series of Dragon's den? It's all his idea. He wanted to mimic Japanese sleep capsules but with a more sophisticated westernised edge. Inspired by first class sleeper beds on British Airways he contacted the designers and worked with them to develop the Yotel cabins. Your room is very small and compact but it actually has everything you need to rest your weary head. The quality is excellent. I'd go again for sure.