If there’s an excuse for missing training, I’ve probably used it. But there’s one excuse I won’t be using not to run: the riots in London. Because, us Londoners have had to put up with a lot of shit over the years – but we carry on. That’s what we’re good at. On the morning after the 7/7 bombings, Londoners got up and went to work. They got on the buses and the tube: they wouldn’t let a minority of idiots win.
The mobs rioting on the streets are thriving on a power that comes from intimidation and violence. They want us to be scared, because scared we stay at home and leave the streets to them. They want to disrupt our lives and make us take notice of them, and that’s exactly why we should carry on as normally as we can while remaining safe.
Tonight I ran at the gym, and this was the view from my treadmill. BBC news showing the destruction. But I want to assure those that aren’t in London that the view from my window is very different. Yes, I saw a young woman get mugged by a group of youths last night. Yes, there are sirens and in the distance smoke. But there’s also a lot of good, honest Londoners out there that won’t stand for this.
All over London, residents are coming out on the street with their brooms, bin bags and gloves to clean up the streets. People are making cups of tea for police officers. Crowds are cheering police and fire crews as they drive through the streets. Communities are standing up for the places where they live.
So, although I ran in a gym today, I will be pack on the streets this week running. As runners, we need to make a stand. These are our streets, we run them every day. There may be hunderds in the mobs in London, but we runners far outnumber them. There are thousands of us. We need to come together, to make our presense on the streets known, to show people that intimidation won’t keep us from our daily lives.
So, run safely: run with others, run in a group, run before it’s dark – but keep on running. Because we’re running – but we’re not running away from anything. We’re right here and we won’t be intimidated.
I’ll leave you with a few positive pictures from the past 24 hours…

And this one.

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