Morning Run - 16km (heading down to Hartsholme Park)

dannewton just finished a 16.26km run, that lasted for 106 minutes.
This run helped dannewton burn 1223.0 calories.

---

Description from Strava: Trying to make the most of an unexpected day off, and chose to run down to Hartsholme Park to enjoy some Autumnal sunshine

full description to follow...

---

Right, so lets start with that unexpected day off. I got an email from British Gas 6 weeks ago stating that due to changes in the way our electricity meters work, our one needed replacing and turning into a 'smart meter' which basically means I will now have a little LCD screen in the house. They've been around for a while, but I've never felt the need to have one.

The email told me that the old meters are being phased out and so we urgently needed to upgrade... but when I went online to book an stallation time, the earliest they could give me was today (ie 6 weeks time... so it was not that urgent I guess?!)

As the installation only happens during the week, and my partner is away, this means I have needed to book a day off from work, just so I can sit here ready for them.

And then last Friday i received a text from them: "Due to some unavailability of our engineers, your smart meter installation has been cancelled"

Great, so my day off that I've booked is now no longer needed. My manager did mention I could cancel it and keep it for the date the installation gets rescheduled for... but by that point I was already looking forward to a 3 day weekend, and wasn't prepared to give that back

So here we are on Monday morning.

As I had a day off, I thought it was only right to try to do something different with it, to make the most of that extra time.

I studied the maps of Lincoln, and decided to aim for a run down to Hartsholme Country Park. Its located on the edge of Lincoln and North Hykeham, and fetaures a large lake, some woodland trails, a small cafe and even a campsite for people passing through.

The map below shows my route, and what should be a fairly easy 10 mile run

After a lazy morning, I get my stuff together and headed out around 10:30

I left the village and headed down into town. There was a left turn down Newark Road, and then a sharp right which took me into Boultham Park.

Regular readers will recognise the name as a location of one of our 'local' parkruns

I had menat to do a parkrun at the weekend, but got sidetracked doing other stuff, I'll again this weekend to visit one of them

The small lake at Boultham Park in the sunshine

After a quick detour through the park, I rejoined the main road.

It was a boring 2.5km running through this suburban area... and then I tuned off and headed into Hartsholme Park itself

As a family we used to visit here many times when we were younger. Its a nice little place, it was easy to travel to, some nice walks around the lake, and during the summer there was a place to get ice cream at the end of the walk.

Its been ages since I last visited, and it was a lovley trip down memory lane as I bimbled around the park. I wasn't running overly quickly as I kept stopping to take pictures as I went round

There are various paths criss-crossing all over the Park, but I just stuck to the main one which followed the edge of the lake

Due to its proximity to both Lincoln and North Hykeham, the park becomes super busy at the weekends, and during school holidays.

Today however, on a random Monday lunchtime, it was actually quite nice and peaceful, and I suspect I saw more Grey Squirrels then actual people!

I did ty taking pictures of them, but I was always going to struggle with just my phone camera, and this guy (sat on the far end of the bench) was the best I managed

After slowly working my way around the edge of the lake (and taking too many pictures) I left the park behind me and started to head for home

rejoining Skellingthorpe Road

I did cut back though Boultham Park on the way back

And after watching someone else feed the ducks for a few minutes, I then carried on heading back home

So there we go... it wasn't what I had hoped to achieve today, but the run today made a nice change, and it helped that the weather was gorgeous too. I'll have to remember this for future runs, and return to Hartsholme park soon

It would be great to come back in 3 or 4 weeks time, as the leaves will be changing, and I'll get to see a landscape of yellows and oranges....

For now, I need to crack on with some chores, and I guess I need to try to contact British Gas to see if I can book another time slot (perhaps they'll turn up to the new one!)

---

If you would like to check out this activity on strava you can see it here:
https://www.strava.com/activities/12652353746

About the Athlete: Living in the UK, I am an intermittent Runner, but always striving for more consistency. When I'm not training I can be found photographing insects or listening to really loud angry music (which is the best type of music obviously!)

This is an automated post by @strava2hive and is currently in BETA.

If you would like to know more about the @strava2hive service, you can checkout our Frequently Asked Questions.