A mile isn’t always a mile. Some miles are better than others and the 8 miles I ran on Saturday were close to my favourite ever.

On Saturday I joined Liz & Simon on the 21 ponds run through Richmond Park.  We met at the Lululemon Richmond showroom and along with Isluk & Gary we made our way around the Park using the ponds and history as our guide.

As we entered the park we ran past the Parkrun and down some of the trails towards Kingston. The run could have been called the 28 ponds run if we counted all the temporary ponds we had to run through.

There is so much history to the park and Simon stopped every little bit to explain interesting bits of history we probably just would have ran past.

Being the stormiest winter in London, there were a few detours along the route, but why run in a straight line? How boring.

Running off the paths we had to yield to the deer who call the park the home. Being in culling season they weren’t too keen on us and mostly kept their distance.

It was one of those runs my legs were exhausted from (cross country on muddy fields uphill into the wind) but didn’t want to end.  My Brooks Cascadias were up to the challenge and did well in ankle-deep puddles and slippery mud. Even soaked through I didn’t get one blister or sore spot.

Running 8 miles with this smiling lot – how can you go wrong?