Wildlife Marathon

One if the reasons I am creating this marathon route is my love of nature. It is not a course designed for running a personal best time. It is designed for getting closer to the natural world, even in the midst of one of the world's major capital cities.

Something that made me very proud recently was when some people we know came over from New York, and stayed with us as part of a whistlestop tour of Europe. We had time for a brief visit to Hampton Court one morning and when we returned to the car in Bushy Park, to our guests’ amazement we saw a small herd of fallow deer. I suggested we go closer to get some photographs. We sat still on some logs, and the deer gradually came right up to us, quite unconcerned. We didn’t pet them or feed them, and as soon as enough photographs had been taken, we backed slowly away. Our guests said it was the highlight of their stay, and were astonished that it was possible to have an expeience like that in London. It was like being on safari.

So my suggestion is that, if this is to be run by more than one person at the same time, they each take a camera with them and photograph whatever interesting wildlife they see on the way round. Then get someone independent to judge who has taken the best photograph and declare that person to be the winner. It’s not about being the fastest from A to B. Completing the distance is acheivement enough in itself. It’s about taking the time to appreciate what we have right here.

Many mobile phones nowadays have cameras, and I hardly need to explain to someone experienced enough to be considering running this route, that it is a good idea to carry one when running on your own. I carry one in a small pouch on my arm and it does not interfere with my running. I have been practising taking photographs whilst on training runs, and am including some of my results here. Many of my efforts suffer badly from camera shake, but some are respectable, I hope you will agree.