LSE Summer School x GoodGym week 7

Braving the rain, seven sprightly runners enjoyed a sociable run through central London.

As I made my way to Holborn, the rain was torrential and I really did wonder who on earth would want to run in it. I half expected to be standing there all by myself but no, six other runners turned up and the rain stopped falling. Perfect! As people arrive, I like to find out where in the world they come from and tonight was dominated by Europe, with participants from France, Austria (NOT Australia!), Denmark, Slovakia, two people from China (and Welsh me)!

Our run this week took us along the river. We crossed Waterloo Bridge (built by women!), ducked down to the Southbank and headed over to the London Eye. Continuing along the river's edge, we paused briefly to take a photo with Big Ben in the background, much easier here, with fewer tourists to contend with! We ran alongside Lambeth Palace (though we couldn't see this) and over Lambeth Bridge to run through Victoria Tower Gardens (always in spy movies), home to a statue of Emmeline Pankhurst, who I was surprised to find our runners hadn't heard of! Have a look here to find out about the impact she made on the lives of women in Britain.

Parliament Square was quiet post-rain and we headed up Whitehall to poke our noses through the gates of Downing Street. It seemed wrong to miss out Horseguards and The Mall, so we jogged briefly over this way before running through Admiralty Arch and on to Trafalgar Square (as busy as ever). Down the Embankment we ran and back up the steps to Waterloo Bridge and home. As we slowed towards our stretch we were stopped briefly by a police cordon which, a passer by told us, was due to an unexploded World War Two bomb! This run had it all!

A smiley police officer let us through and we tentatively stretched, not sure how safe we were in the vicinity of aged explosives, interesting when you;re trying to get your heart rate back down! Have a great week everyone, it was a pleasure running with you all.