Clapton Pond Blog

Olympic Distance

It isn't far from round here to the 2012 Olympic Park, but it often feels that way. I speak partly as a runner who pounds the Lea canal towpath all the way to Old Ford Lock and the left turn beyond it, which bears me up onto the Greenway and a close view of the stadium. By then I'm starting to feel the strain of trying to make it back home again in less than an hour, but also trying to envisage precisely how I and my fellow residents of this part of Hackney are going to benefit from the largest urban renewal exercise in Western Europe.

At The Gym

Part of the pleasure of the King's Hall gym is that there's plenty to take your mind off the agony of exertion. Soundless televisions pump news or pop videos, many of the latter mining that old, rich seam of soft core S&M imagery and so reminding you that some truly savour suffering. Occasionally - very occasionally, for a gentleman of my advancing years - the day's selection of radio station will serve up a track that picks up your treadmill pace cathartically. It's the surprise of it as much as anything. I'd never dreamed that Jocelyn Brown and I would together trim a full 23 seconds off my personal best for five kilometres.