Author: Maria Runs

A long run in the autumn and a run cut short

Last weekend I realised that it wasn’t long before I would be running 10 miles in Brighton for the Bright10- one of my favourite races- I love 10 miles as a distance and I don’t need an excuse to go to Brighton! Due to one thing and another, I hadn’t managed a long run in a few weeks so I knew I needed to go a fair way on Sunday. It was a bit damp but not too cold when I set out. I was planning 9 miles so checked my Strava to see the last route I did, because I still don’t really have the hang of the longer routes.

At one point I join an old railway line- you can join it further up but it’s easier to go down these stairs which then join the path next to a tunnel- although the tunnel is horrible and full of rubbish and graffiti- it always makes me think of Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia as they have a bit of a think about “bridge people”. Thankfully I don’t need to run through the tunnel as my route takes me left and away from it.

I was enjoying the autumn colours and taking some photos when it started to rain quite hard- I was still about 4 miles from home so I tried to pick up the pace a bit.

Anyway, home for a very hot shower and then breakfast.

There are blackberries buried under the muesli- very tasty.

Then I did some work, walked into town and got my free drink (went for a green tea latte this time) and did a bit of baking (coming up later) and some pottering in the garden. All very lovely.

On Monday we went to see Wind River, which was a film based on true events about a girl being murdered on a native reservation in the US (well, about trying to solve it and catch the people who did it)- it was a bit like a long episode of Longmire if you have ever watched that. Very gripping but a few things made me jump. I didn’t seem to be on in many cinemas but it’s worth hunting out if you like that sort of thing.

On Tuesday my run was rather rudely cut short. I’d got home too late for the club run, so went out on my own. I was planning 5 miles but 2 miles in I felt a ping on my shoulder- yes, my bra strap had broken*.

I could cut the run shorter by running the 2 miles home, but I had to basically run holding my arms across my chest- and I’d had a bad shoulder from Sunday (from probably doing work on my laptop on the sofa instead of in my office) so that didn’t help matters at all.

*It had in fact not broken, but worked its way loose, which was just as annoying as I could not fix it whilst running.

It does seem to be a flaw of the shock absorber run design that the bits that you adjust to make the straps the right length are only held in place by a small plastic hook- in some of my old bras I had actually sewn them in to stop it happening, but I have lapsed recently.

Coincidentally the next day Andy recommended this podcast episode for me (which was very interesting- about how the sports bra was invented).  I hadn’t even heard of a sports bra until I was in my twenties and read a few fitness magazines when I had joined a gym- no wonder I wasn’t keen on running at school as it’s very uncomfortable without one.

Yoga on Wednesday went some way to helping my shoulder- we did lots of twists and used the straps to get into poses more deeply, although we also did a lot of the warrior ones so my legs were a bit jellified after!

On Thursday I had a bit of a headache so just did 4 miles again (no malfunctions this time) and then on Friday after work I had a back massage to sort out my shoulder.  It was a bit painful at times, but the fact that after I finish I can actually move my shoulders and look over my left shoulder again is so worth it. And most of it is relaxing with some lovely scented oils in a diffuser and some zen like music/sounds going on.

I felt quite thirsty after so I wandered into town to get a drink- my phone is on Three and there is an app for customers with little deals and offers- there was a free Costa drink so I got one there. I had to get a few boring bits, and then went into Hotel Chocolat- they had chai latte chocolates, so of course I had to get some. When I got home my 10 mile number had arrived.

Then I was off out for bowling and dinner as a work social.

When did you first learn about sports bras? Do they mention them in secondary school PE kits I wonder? Do you have any routes with parts that you don’t like? On our club runs we sometimes go through some dodgy underpasses- I wouldn’t run them alone that’s for sure.

Cassiobury parkun- one down, one to go!

So last weekend I carried on my quest to complete all of the parkruns in Hertfordshire. The list at that point was:

Completed: Aldenham, Barclay, Ellenbrook Fields, Gadebridge, Heartwood Forest, Panshanger, Rickmansworth, South Oxhey, St Albans, Stevenage, Tring, Westmill (12/14)

I still needed: Cassiobury (it’s been on my list for ages) and Castle Park (Saturday was the inaugural event as it had moved from Hatfield Forest in Essex)- will I ever get there?

I was pondering going back to Westmill- my dad and brother were away cycling (they were doing 30-50 miles a day, cycling somewhere in Spain) and Westmill is fairly local and I’d like to do it again. But then I saw on facebook that Letchworth parkrun is coming soon- another Herts one. I mean it’s great, but can’t they just wait a bit until I have finished?

Mum had invited me for breakfast, so I decided to head over to Cassiobury- it’s been on the list for ages, but we have never made the effort because it is a busy one (several hundred people), it’s laps (which we are not so keen on) and the parking looked tricky. But I needed to do it (well, to do my challenge) and then I would drive past Mum’s on the way home so it sort of made sense.

I had a bit of a panic as I only decided late on Friday night, and I didn’t have enough cash for the parking- it said online that the machines took cards, but when I got there (after a stressful journey around Watford’s one way system) the machine didn’t seem to be working. I ran across the car park to the other machine, but that only took cash- argh! I didn’t know the area so had no idea if there was a shop nearby to get some change with. I went back to the other machine as I could see some people using it and it turned out that the screen wasn’t working but if you followed the steps on the sign it still issued a ticket. Phew.

From there it was a very short walk (400m or something) to the finish area in the park. I was there fairly early in the end so I wandered about a bit and took some photos- there was a huge tree trunk with some interesting animals carved into it.

The start was a little walk from the finish area, but there was a sign in the ground mentioning the new runner’s briefing, saying “follow this sign”- it looked like someone would pick it up and we would walk after them. However, at 8.50 nothing had happened and I started to wonder if they had forgotten about the sign. I noticed a few other people waiting around, and one of them asked a marshal, who pointed up the path, saying “the start is that way”, so we wandered off. We got to chatting on the walk up- she usually ran at Harrow but had just moved to the area so was going to give this one a go.

The start area was full of high viz people, so we asked one of them where the briefing would be, as it was just about 9am. We were shown where, and then told that it wouldn’t be on time as they weren’t known for their punctuality at this parkrun! The briefing was useful as it was not quite a 3 lap course- basically you started part way around the course, running gently downhill (it’s hardly noticeable), turning left at a sharp corner by a marshal, running along the bottom of the park and then up past the finish area to the start area. We were told to pass the marshal at the bottom three times and the marshal at the top twice, which sounded confusing but when you traced the route out, made perfect sense.

It was very congested at the start but after the first downhill section it had spread out enough. I didn’t look at my watch but I felt like I was pushing fairly hard at times. I liked seeing the Run England markers all around the route, and I saw loads of squirrels.

The gentle uphill on each lap (well two of them) wasn’t too bad, and you got to run downhill three times which was great. There were lots of people out in the park, some walking dogs or with kids on bikes, and some watching. Watford Joggers, the local running club, even had a banner/flag thing on the downhill section and when I looked on Strava later it must be a regular thing as one of the segments was called Join Watford Joggers!

I was pretty pleased to head into the finish feeling strong.

Finish position 139, with a time of 27.36- around a minute quicker than last weekend.

You can see the start (green circle) and then it was anti-clockwise from there:

You can’t see them but my splits were 9.20, 843, 8.39, 8.05- a good old royal flush right there, and nice to see a few miles beginning with 8.

The barcode scanning wasn’t immediately obvious, but I found them a little way up from the finish area, and then had a wander around taking a few more photos- the morning had started off damp and cloudy but during the last lap the sun came out so the autumn colours were looking great.

I headed back to the car and had half a clif bar before braving the drive home (where I managed to get a bit lost in a housing estate and ended up coming home a totally different way). When I got to Mum’s she had warmed up some croissants in the oven and made us some Earl grey tea and we had a lovely catch up- a great start to the weekend.

So, another Hertfordshire event done- and currently only one left to do- Castle Park. Not sure when I will manage to get there, hopefully November, and I can finally celebrate!

I could see the appeal if you lived close, as it’s pretty flat, not too congested even though it is busy, and on tarmac so no worries about mud in the winter, but I still can’t quite understand why South Oxhey (also in Watford, only a few miles away) gets so few participants in comparison. It’s a mystery to me.

Do you have busier and quieter events near to you? What do you look for in a parkrun?  If I see it’s one lap then I am pretty sold!

A cinema trip, nearly a handstand and a few parcels

Last week was a fairly normal week- walking on Monday, a club run on Tuesday (the route was great and according to my watch was 4.94 miles so I ended up running laps of a statue to make it up to 5- if I was further I wouldn’t bother but I was so close!).

Yoga on Wednesday was great, and I was so pleased as I was the closest I have ever been to a handstand. We were shown a new way to get up (we usually do them against a wall but you have to have your hands on the floor and jump your legs up, and I can never jump them high enough)- this time we stood with our backs to the wall, put our hands down on the floor and then walked our feet up. If my hands hadn’t been so slippery (I was nervous too) I think I would have managed to hold it!

These coconut goodies arrived in the post this week- of course the first flavour I had to try was the salted chocolate (basically coconut chips with a little coconut nectar, cocoa and sea salt);

They made my fingers all brown from the cocoa powder. Really tasty though.

I’m looking forward to trying the other flavours, although they don’t do a salt and vinegar one which would be the king of flavours in my opinion!

On Thursday we had booked tickets to see Borg Vs McEnroe, and happily I was home a bit earlier so I managed a quick run before a shower, dinner and then heading off to the cinema. The film was really enjoyable- I didn’t know the actual outcome which probably made it more dramatic, but the rivalry and their backgrounds were shown really well- it was a bit like the F1 films= you don’t need to be a fan of the sport to enjoy the film. We also had a load of good adverts- The Battle of the Sexes (another tennis one- again I don’t know the outcome so am going to avoid finding out until I see it) looks fab, the Armando Iannucci film about Stalin looked funny, and the Jo Nesbo Snowman film looked gripping (I have read some of the books but not that one I don’t think- good old Scandi crime fiction). It made me look forward to a few more trips. We’ve recently signed up for the Vitality health insurance (only a basic package, but there are things like an online GP which would be so useful) so if we earn enough points each week we will get a free cinema ticket and free Starbucks, and this was our first free trip.

I had caved into ordering some Bluebird tea- I was going to wait until we go to Brighton in a couple of weeks, but they posted that a lot of their pumpkin spice teabags had already sold, and I needed some more gingerbread chai teabags (an evening treat as they are rooibos) so I ordered myself a little top up- the marketing clearly worked on me!

They included a couple of recipe cards for banana bread chai loaf and a gingerbread chai latte- I am sure I will be making them soon!

I also ordered myself another one of these hairbrushes- they are totally brilliant for de-tangling hair when it is wet or dry. One of the things I struggle with used to be de-tangling my hair after a run in the rain as my hair would get so tangled (and I can’t plait it for running as it is too heavy and bangs around on my shoulders- I’ve tried it once and learnt never again!). Anyway, I think my hairdresser mentioned it to me once and so I got one and it’s been a revelation! You can use it on wet or dry hair and it’s so gentle- so I got myself one to keep in my bag (as the other one lives in the shower).

What are you looking forward to seeing in the cinema? Could you do handstands and cartwheels when you were a child? (I never could!) Which is your favourite crisp/ crispy snack flavour?

* I was sent the coconut snacks for free, but all opinions are my own.

A Waffle House trip! And other weekend tales

Last Saturday, after Thetford parkrun, we headed off to a couple of National Trust places in Norfolk.

First up was Oxburgh Hall, where we had a look inside the building, went up the spiral staircase to the roof, wandered around the gardens and enjoyed a hot chocolate in the cafe. Then we headed to Blickling which had an RAF museum (as it was an air base in WW2), and lovely large grounds to walk around. We knew we would be heading to The Waffle House early in the evening, so we shared a sandwich in one of the tea rooms for lunch.

By late afternoon we were ready to head to Norwich (where Bush were playing later)- we had a little wander around the shops but I had a headache and didn’t feel great (probably not had enough to drink in the day) so we mainly sat outside in the fresh air with a cold drink, before heading to dinner.

As you may well know, I do love to go to The Waffle House in St Albans. The original is in Norwich, and personally I think it’s better, as it has a bigger range on the menu, plus you can have small or large sizes. I love both the savoury and sweet waffles, but having two is a bit much so I have to choose each time (tough choices). I’d explained to Andy that we would be sharing a sweet, and so in the end we both went for the small for our mains (still a perfectly good portion size).

I went for my favourite- the hummus and avocado- the one in Norwich was slightly different as it had sundried (not cherry) tomatoes and was sprinkled with poppy seeds. It was so good. Andy had a bolognese one which wasn’t on the St Albans menu- good to try something new.

We decided to have a dessert that we couldn’t get in the St Albans one, so we opted for a waffle with mixed nuts baked into the waffle and sprinkled over the top, with chocolate sauce and then added a scoop of ice cream (meant to be pistachio but they had run out so we had vanilla). It was so good.

Then we were off to see Bush- we had a slight fail here as we thought they would be on stage at 9 (this is the normal time for London gigs)- we turned up just after 8 thinking it was the support band playing, only to realise Bush were already on! Whoops! It was a great gig though, in a very small venue so we were really close to the front without being squashed by anyone. The bonus was that it ended earlier, and as we had a two hour drive to get home this was no bad thing.

On Sunday we went to Crews Hill to get some bargain plants for our garden (including a little crab apple tree for £3!). We were meeting Andy’s parents there and I’d woken up too late for a run before, so when we got home I headed out, but it was hot and I was hungry as I hadn’t had lunch, so I didn’t manage to go as far as I had originally planned. Andy spent the time putting most of the plants in the garden (I think I planted one when I got back).

Bottom right is where the huge patch of weeds was- the one I started tackling a few weeks ago- so nice to have some plants in there now instead of five foot tall thistles!

Are you often late for things? I hate being late but I also often underestimate the amount of time it takes me to do things (e.g. dry my hair) so I often end up rushing and feeling stressed. Do you often have a dessert if you go out for a meal? Although I have a sweet tooth, I find that often desserts are the most disappointing as they are from the freezer, and Andy would usually rather share a starter (plus if I order something like a brownie I will then feel like I could have made a nicer one myself and for less money). The main exception is The Pudding Stop in St Albans which makes the most amazing puddings (the clue is in the name)- you can go somewhere else for a meal and then head over for the pudding= perfect.

Thetford parkrun with the Honey Monster (I think)

On Saturday we had tickets to see Bush play in Norwich, so we had booked a hotel in Thetford for the Friday night, with the aim of going to some National Trust places on Saturday before heading up to Norwich for the evening. Handily the Premier Inn in Thetford is just under a mile from the start of Thetford parkrun, so my decision was made!

After a slight google maps based hiccup (telling me to turn left into London road when the street sign said Norwich road) I arrived at the meeting point (in the drizzle). At first only a few people were milling about but I think they were all waiting for the last possible moment to get out of their cars and brave the rain!

Clockwise from top left- the jelly baby corner, one of the bridges, the car park meeting place, and the sign for the town.

There was a new runner briefing and they even had a big A2 laminated map of the course- it looks pretty complicated but in reality it was well-marshaled and I didn’t go wrong once!

We did a slightly altered route due to travellers camping on part of the normal route. We walked a little way to the start from the meeting point, and then it was a bit like the shape of clover (3 leaves meeting in the middle) as there were 3 sections of the course, and you ran each section twice before moving on to the next section, with a little bit added on to take you to the finish area. I was pondering this as I ran- I was lapped during my first lap of the second section, but other than that I didn’t see any front runners. I think I went past the tail walker on my second lap of the second part, but it was never too congested.

As it was a town centre park, I didn’t know what to expect, but it was really pretty. The route went through parks filled with trees, and alongside a river. At one point someone warned me of a hill at the end, but in reality it was a slope leading up to a bridge- it had a marshal dressed as the Honey Monster (I think – he had a big yellow fluffy head..) cheering everyone up the hill. On my second lap of the loop I tried to take a photo while I was running but I took it too early so when I looked at them later you couldn’t really see him.

At a couple of points the course narrowed (middle bottom photo) as you had to pass through metal gate things, but everyone was very courteous and friendly and as it wasn’t a really busy one it wasn’t an issue. I briefly stopped once as I was not sure whether I needed to repeat a section, but the marshals were great at saying “if you’ve only run over the bridge once, repeat this loop” to all of the runners so I realised as I slowed that I needed to go around again.

It was a super flat course, and it turned out that I managed my fastest parkrun time since May (28.22) with a nice negative split too- always nice to manage a final mile beginning with an 8.  The marshals were brilliant- I feel like I say this about all of the parkruns (doing a Brucie- “you’re my favourites”) but they were honestly just fantastic. There seemed to be lots of them too- I think maybe the nature of the course meant that you passed the same people a few times, and also the timekeepers and RD could be in the middle seeing the runners, so you passed a bit more of a crowd at times. The honey monster marshal was brilliant, they have a jelly baby corner (I’d seen a plea on their facebook page for a top up as it was running low) and this week it was manned by a lady and her daughter, and then at one point there were maybe three marshals all in a row singing “if you’re happy and you know it give us a wave” and various versions of the song. I passed them twice and they didn’t let up once- very enthusiastic!

When I finished, I then realised that the barcode scanning was taking place back at the little car park where everyone had first met. I think it was because of the rain (possibly they didn’t want to move all of the kit)- this did seem like risky business and I was very paranoid on the little walk back that I would lose my token!

After being scanned (and being told very helpfully by the person my token number in case I hadn’t read it) I had a little wander around the priory to admire the stone ruins, before heading back to the hotel.

It turned out that a lot of the route was near the road that I ran along, so I could take a few photos (for example, of the jelly baby marshals) while I was heading back.

I am so glad that I visited!

Have you ever lost a finish token? I live in fear of dropping it or throwing it in a bin with a tissue by mistake or something!