Bumper to pamper

When I was approaching St John's Church in West Ealing, running from South Ealing, I found myself racing a bike for a while. Eventually, I got left behind but it wasn't a reason to slow down. It was Friday night and another GoodGym weekend was just kicking off! I was on a mission to deliver groceries for Ms S from Greenford.

In the land of the traffic, the runner is king

Overtaking a bicycle might have been beyond my fitness level. What about taking on cars? Argyle Road was packed with them and the vehicles seemed frozen in time. I realised I ran past several northbound buses that never caught up with me. Sadly, the traffic jam meant inhaling more fumes, but the thought of being faster than the fossil fuel-powered machines made me happy.

School of loud knocks

I got a tip from Mission Control that Ms S's house has a broken doorbell and the only way to get in without compromising my identity (Ms S's phone wouldn't accept a call from a private number) was to loudly knock on the secret window.

Ms S responded immediately to the secret knock combination and showed up at the doorstep with cash, a shopping bag and a simple grocery list for me. The destination was Iceland.

"It should take you an hour... if the traffic is good." - said Ms S.

Ms S was surprised to hear that I was beyond traffic as I was going to run. She trusted that I could do the job though, and handed me the money, the list and the bag.

Even though I walk through the darkest alley

The closest Iceland was on Greenford Broadway. One of the routes led through A40 and then Greenford Road. The perspective of breathing in more exhaust fumes scared me so much, that I chose the other way: through the whole length of Perivale Park. It was much shorter and quieter. A tiny problem was that it was pitch black out there. My phone's torch did a decent job, and I managed to dodge a few muddy puddles and avoid bumping into an invisible cyclist. It felt a bit sad that the adventure was over when I emerged at Costons Lane.

Running alone after dark is not everyone's cup of tea. GoodGym is all about community and safety, so you can join fantastic events like the Women only night safety run led recently by Ana. It was a fun and social way for women to run together and reclaim the dark streets without worrying about harassment and threatening behaviour.

Schoolgirl error

The shopping difficulty was 1 (choose the scale yourself). I had to figure out how to run back with a bottle of mulled wine, a pack of eggs and two big tubs of Quality Street chocolates. I packed the liquid stuff into my running bag, and the large but light items and breakables into the shopping bag, then off I went.

I was so thrilled about running through the dark park with the eggs, that I missed Ms S home and had to go a few houses back. The job took me 38 minutes. I did beat the traffic, oh yes.

"That was fast. Did you take the bus?" - Ms S asked.

If I took the bus, I'd be still on Greenford Broadway, I thought.

I handed over the change and the shopping list Ms S wanted to keep. Sadly, despite I remember putting it into my left pocket, I could not find the receipt. What a blunder! It must have fallen out when I was taking my phone out of my pocket to use the torch. I apologised for being so unprofessional. Ms S was still grateful for the shopping. I ran back home, topping the total mission mileage to 12 km - or should I say 7.5 miles? Hopefully, Ms S will pamper herself in festive style with the chocolates and mulled wine.