Jogging on the River Thames

Jogging on the Thames

I truly enjoy exercising in both cardio and strength
training. Physical exercise invigorates my body, mind, and spirit. My favorite
cardio is jogging. I started jogging on a regular basis about four years ago.
We have approximately 13 mowed acres, and we utilize about 8 of those acres “manicured”
to use as a jogging track. In fighting middle-age fat, we’ve also had to up our
jogging time to approximately 45 minutes to help keep our weight off. The
sights and sounds of the mountain and fields keep us occupied, and often times
the 45 minutes pass by very quickly.

The deck of the Crown Princess we were on two weeks ago was
very “cut up”, and did not have an extensive track to jog on. Its only complete
track was tiny: 16 laps made a mile! It was terribly
boring. Sean and I started jogging up and down stairs and meandering around the
decks to make the 45 minutes go “faster”. When we returned to London for our
last two days, I needed a place a jog. What was I to do?

We were thankful to get a motel (the Park Plaza at
Westminster Bridge…I recommended it to everyone) in an excellent location. It was a block behind the
London Eye and the Thames River. Parliament, Westminster Abbey, and Big Ben
were in view from our motel room. We had seen joggers
every day and at all times of the day in that area. On Thursday morning
(6-16-2011) in London, I woke up about 6:00 a.m., and I decided to jog around
the river.

For 30 minutes, I jogged from the Westminster Bridge, beside the
London Eye, over the Embankment Foot Bridge, back along the river, and returned
to the London Eye side.

It was awesome! The two things I kept imagining were the Elizabethan era ships coming and going from that area, and all their Age of Exploration
cargo ships emptying their riches from “newly found places” and the Ancient
Female Warrior, Boadicea. Boadicea is on the Parliament side of Westminster
Bridge. Boadicea was queen of the ancient Iceni who fought against the Romans
who had taken over their lands. She lost and was killed in A. D. 60, but she was heroic none the less. I jogged under her statue and thought of the courage of this beautiful and regal lady.

When I finished jogging, I couldn’t help but consider the
stark contrast of my house’s calm, quiet fields with the ancient, rich history of London’s
River Thames, but it didn’t matter. Both are awesome places to jog! ;o)