They Shoot Polar Bears Don't They.

.. but not in London, not this morning.

Have I mentioned that I am one of the great procrastinators? No? Well I am and every year at this time I promise myself that I will not leave my income and expenditure report for my accountant to the 11th hour to file my tax return.

And every year I fail.

So it was this year where I found myself working all afternoon on Friday and all through the night to finalise the I&E report that would mean I avoid a £100 fine. In fact it was not finished and emailed to my accountant until 12pm on Saturday lunchtime.

What I hear you ask is the point of this preamble for my Sunday Blip? Well I am glad you asked because I was signed up for the Cancer Research London 10K Winter Run this morning and believe it or not, running any distance on about 6 hours sleep in 43 is not straight out of the running good practice handbook!

My expectations then, when my alarm sounded at 5:45 on Sunday morning, were not high.

To further add to my ire, TfL engineering works meant no Central Line from Loughton this morning so a car ride to Newbury Park at 7am was needed. Before that, porridge was consumed and a conversation with BorisTheCat was had. Fortunately I had pre packed my bag and laid out my days running attire so after cat chats I was quickly on the road and headed for my train.

Skip to arriving at Charing X and a rendezvous in Caffè Nero with one of our own, _JoannaBanana_, Jamie her husband, and friends Nicola and Veronica.

1 chai latté later we were off to drop our bags and wait to be called to the start line. Outside temp was chilly and rain had started to fall but it was considerably warmer than the same race last year.

After some "forced fun" whereby the announcers had us doing a Mexican Wave, we were off to the start line. I believe the amazing Jo Pavey was running the race too but we were not near enough to the front to see her.

We finally got going around 09:40 and after picking my way through the initial congestion I found some space and tried to settle into a steady running rhythm. The route today took us from the start line at Trafalgar Sq, along The Strand to Aldwych and on past The Royal Courts Of Justice. Continuing on up to Chancery Lane before heading down to St Paul's and then round the back of The Bank Of England to Bank Station, marking the halfway point. On the return we went via Mansion House before picking up our outbound route in the opposite direction. The finish was on Whitehall in front of Horse Guards Parade.

High fives and hugs from polar bears were the order of the day after finishing and after collecting my medal I headed to the agreed meeting point.

Not long after we were all in The Admiralty pub; my month long abstinence from alcohol broken by a cheeky pint of London Pride to wash down my sausage and mash. We also had an unofficial Blipmeet when (by arrangement) we met math1e and his wife Kas18 for the first time. They had also run in the race and it was really nice to meet them face to face, to share our Blipfoto experiences and to chat about our upcoming challenges.

My official time of 47 mins suggests that sleep is overrated :)