Last week, it was pictures of the Christmas decor in London– this week, it’s pictures of the Christmas snow! Apparently, it hasn’t snowed like this here in many years. I guess I brought the bad weather from Minnesota!
The snow made running a little challenging this week (kinda missed my treadmill, just a little!), but I still got out there.
Here’s my weekly recap!
Monday: Rest day from running, a snow day in London. It would have been a great day to work from home, but I kind of wanted to see London in the snow…so even though the tube was a bit of a mess with lots of delays, I still made it into the office, which was very quiet (most of my colleagues had opted to work from home!)
Tuesday: I decided to try to run, despite the fact that London doesn’t really plow or shovel! They just don’t have those things since its such a rare occurrence.
The sidewalks were a mess, but once I got out of our neighborhood, I was able to find clearer paths that were mostly runnable. I made it around Regent’s park and back for 7.2 miles at a very conservative pace to avoid any slips. After a lazy day the day before, it felt good to run, even though I took it extra easy.
After work, I met up with my old college roommate Carolyn in Covent Garden for a celebratory drink; she’s lived here for 5 years and recently passed her “Life in the UK exam,” which basically means she is on track to stay here. Congrats Carolyn!
Back again in Covent Garden!
Wednesday: There had been some melt & refreeze overnight, so I decided to just take a bonus rest day. After work, I joined a few colleagues to see a show called La Clique, which was held in Leicester Square right outside our office.
Thursday: Okay, time to get back to it! I ran Regent’s again for 7 miles followed by a 30-minute Iron Strength session (focusing on the posterior chain) before settling in for a work from home day. Good timing, as there were more train strikes this day; not tube strikes, but when there are national rail (train) strikes, it does affect the tubes with delays and overall crowdedness.
Friday: Dustin and Ruth joined me for a rare weekday run, a 5-mile jaunt to Primrose Hill. Later that day, I did a 2nd Iron Strength session for the week, a 30-minute full body workout (it was a good one!)
Saturday: What a treat! Dustin joined me for my long run, which was a 12 mile run to Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens and back. It is still wintery here, but the forecast calls for temps in the 50’s this week, so all the snow should melt soon. (I know, I know, I have to start quoting temps in Celsius!)
Sunday: 7 mile run with Dustin; we usually bring Ruth on Sunday runs, but it was raining and I knew she wouldn’t enjoy it, so we left her behind this time (but she still enjoyed her zoomies at Hampstead Heath after we got back!)
Summary: 38 miles of running, 15 miles of walking (that I tracked), and two strength sessions. I hope to fit in a 3rd Iron Strength session later today.
This upcoming week will be front-loaded with running and fitness, and then we fly out to the Laplands (in northern Finland) on Friday. We are meeting two of our friends from Minnesota there, and will be there for 5 nights; it will be a very unique holiday, (but no real plans to run much, though of course I’ll still bring my trainers just in case!)
We will be staying in the town of Levi, which is apparently a very Christmas-y location, with lots of activities for the kids (they are bringing their daughter), plus plenty for the adults as well. We will be snowboarding, taking a husky sleigh ride, a reindeer ride, staying overnight in an ice hotel, chasing the northern lights, some time in a sauna (of course), and more. I’m excited as its not a place I probably would otherwise have visited, but our friends invited us to join them (and honestly they did a lot of the planning- thank you!)
Well, that’s a wrap!
I’m linking up with Running on the Fly and Confessions of a Mother Runner; check out their blogs to connect with other fitness bloggers for workout ideas and inspiration!
I bet London looks so pretty with the snow. I’ve never been to Finland! It must be quite cold this time of the year. Looking forward to seeing your pics. Have a great trip!
First time in Finland for me! It will be cold, but if it were warm, I don’t think it would be such a popular Christmas/snow destination!
I just got my Christmas edition of therightfits.com – and was glad to see that London was able to whip up a little snow to make it seem more like Christmas for the Minnesotans!
Your trip to Finland should be a very memorable one. Finland has had years of practice making the most of their long winters! Enjoy!
Thanks Dad 🙂 Bensons feel most at home with snow!
Ooh, your trip sounds amazing! No, no Celsius! I’ll be lost.
I was turning over in my mind when to take my next running break; but oh well, that got solved.
I continue to enjoy all your photos — keep ‘em coming!
I’m lost when everyone else is quoting temps in Celsius, so I am trying to learn!
What a lovely picture of London covered in snow – I can understand you wanted to go into the city rather than working from home. Your trip to Finland sounds nice and I can’t wait to see pictures! Have fun!
Thanks Debbie! I’m looking forward to the trip.
That is extraordinary to have snow like that in London! When we lived there we had snow once but it was melted that same day. Have so much fun in the Laplands! Sounds like you have all kinds of wonderful activities planned! There’s been talk of us possibly going back to Finland this summer! We’ll see.
One of my sisters was here for two different master degrees and it only snowed once for her as well and barely lasted the day!
I’ll have to look back on your blog to read about your Finland visit. Were you in the Laplands?
Both the snow and the strikes made our news this week. I hope the strikes end soon. On Celsius vs. Farenheit, are you learning what the Celsius numbers mean? The real test is if you switch your Garmin to Ks. 😉
Your trip to Finland sounds amazing — I hope you share updates!
That’s so interesting that the snow and strikes made the US news! Thank you for sharing that.
It’s interesting, as a lot of British runners seems to go back and forth between miles and km when talking about pace and distance!
Your Finland trip really sounds exciting! Ha, Celsius would really mess with my mind. Thanks to running, I’m pretty adept at converting back & forth from kilometers to miles, but the temps would really be confusing (and I’m a math geek, LOL). Hopefully the current snowy conditions are easing any homesickness 😉
I can quickly understand 0 as 32F, but when it was -1 or -2 I wasn’t sure offhand what that meant!
Your photos of the snow are so pretty! Interesting that they don’t plow–but maybe it doesn’t stay cold enough for the snow to stick around. It’s bitterly cold here with deep freeze temps to come later this week. I’m sure you don’t miss it!
Enjoy your trip to Finland. I read somewhere that the happiest people in the world live in Finland! Let us know if you find that to be true! :p
Yes, exactly, they don’t normally need plows as if it does snow, it never lasts. This was an anomaly for sure!
Interesting about the Finnish- I read that they have a very dry sense of humor and can be very introverted. And right now, there is very limited daylight so their happiness must come from the long days in the summer, ha!
Loved your snow pics. I just missed snow in London on my first trip.
Enjoy Lapland, can’t wait for all of those photos.
Our weather is reverse drunk, it’s going to be a cold christmas but we’ll be in the 50s and rainy this week
All the snow is gone now and its 55 degrees! I’m not complaining 🙂
What an adventure! London in the snow, and then your trip to Finland= it sounds incredible and I CAN’T WAIT to hear all about it! Oh, and no you don’t have to start quoting temps in Celsius! You’d think after all this time I’d be able to convert celsius to Fahrenheit, but I still can’t do it. Unless it’s 0 celsius- that I can do. Enjoy your trip!
Yep, I totally can handle 0, but it was -1 and -2 this week and my fast math wasn’t fast enough 🙂
I will definitely share pictures from the Laplands!
You got some serious snow in London! Melt and refreeze is awful and even the picture of you further down looks not-runnable to me with the patches of snow. I suppose you also have mild temps at this stage! I’m slowly getting some kind of hang of F temperatures, I try to always quote both now when I have so many Americans reading my blog, and doing that helps to somewhat know the Fahrenheit system (or, at least that 20-30 is cold, 50 is ok, and 100 is really hot!). How exciting for you to spend Christmas in Finland! In… Read more »
Way more snow than expected for London!
I will try to keep both C and F in mind when blogging 🙂 Good plan!
Snow is pretty until you try to run in it.
A trip to Finland sounds mazing… can’t wait to see the pix.
Another good week of miles… considering all the snow.
Thanks Darlene, happy holidays to you!
When I saw that it snowed in the UK it was surprised me because I didn’t think they got snow like here in the US! I hope that the strikes end soon. Our employees in London weren’t able to participate in our Global volunteer Day last month due to the train strikes 🙁
The strikes kinda seem never-ending…the baggage workers at Heathrow were striking and the army stepped in. Unfortunately our snowboard bag was left at Heathrow 🙁
Sooooo much fun stuff here! I am looking forward to hearing all about the Laplands. Sounds cool! Speaking of which, you will have to start reporting in Celsius with Fahrenheit for me 🙂 The name of the residency test is very interesting. I’m googling it all! No matter how slow it makes the town, the snow looks so beautiful. Merry Christmas!
I think I’ll include Celsius and Fahrenheit! Trying to teach myself 🙂
The residency test is kinda nuts! She had to memorize all kinds of random facts, like all Olympic gold medalists in the UK!
While I am sorry about the strikes, your vacation sounds AMAZING. An ice hotel? So cool! Tell the huskies and reindeer I said hi.
Thanks Jenn. It was a fabulous trip!
Lovely to see Covent Garden there, as I lived there with Mr Liz for a couple of years and our thing we did on Christmas Day afternoon was go for a walk around the deserted Piazza (they started opening stuff on Christmas Day eventually but in the early 2000s it would be all ours for once. We didn’t get as much snow as you did up here, weirdly, but it was still too cold to run a few days! Hope you’re enjoying Lapland, can’t wait to see the pics!
How neat that you lived there!