Author: Maria Runs

IKEA trip and not-quite a parkrun sandwich

On Saturday I had a brilliant time at the athletics, but I’m going to do that in a separate post, so on to the rest of the week.

On Sunday I was up early for a run- I decided to run along the old railway line and back as I wanted to be home for about 10am so I could just turn around when I had got as far as I could go. As I got to the path I saw an animal on the path ahead- at first I thought it was a fox, but then it jumped and I realised it was a small deer. It jumped up to the bank on the side of the path and then stood still, so I walked over, but as I went to get my phone out of my belt it hopped into the bushes.

Andy’s dad came over to help with some bits in the garden, and then we tackled the rest of the wallpaper (the steamer ran out just as we reached the very final strip of paper!).

I bought this cup last summer but had totally forgotten about it until this week- it’s fab as it has an infuser basket and a lid, which can double as a sort of coaster for the basket. I have a lot of loose leaf tea but I don’t always drink it as it is a bit more of a faff. I have been loving this tea which is rooibos with almond and coconut- plus as it isn’t black tea I can re-use the leaves later in the day.

On Monday Dad came over to help with the decorating (he is so keen to do this which is great)- we finished the last few bits of wallpaper (there were a few tiny patches here and there) including getting most of it out from behind the radiator. He had a brilliant tip which was to soak a tea towel and then put it behind the radiator, pulling it up and down- this was brilliant and I have managed to get all of the top layer out and most of the bottom layer too. While I was finishing that, Dad sanded down the walls and woodwork.

We enjoyed a cup of tea (and some of those lovely wafers) in the garden as a well earned rest, before painting the ceiling.

Dad was itching to paint the walls but we need to leave that until the fireplace has been sorted.

On Tuesday I headed out on a 5 mile run – I’ve pretty much perfected the route now, although I thought I could detour through a park but could not find the path to the right exit so I think I ended up cutting a corner there somehow. I was then off to brunch at The Waffle House- I had the banoffee one which is a waffle topped with sliced banana, toffee sauce and flakes of chocolate.

The weather was gorgeous so I decided to stop at Heartwood Forest on my way home and have a walk around.

They are doing something to the car park though so it ended up being a bit stressful as the entrance is along a road with passing places, but all the passing places were closed, and on either side is a big ditch so you can’t even pull onto the verge- I got a bit stuck between a lorry and a people carrier when I was leaving. Anyway, the walk was lovely but next time I’ll park in the village!

So, when the weather is lovely, it’s the perfect time to buy winter running kit right?

Tribesports were having a sale, and I really like their kit (and my beloved Thoosa winter tights have seen better days) so I got a pair of thermal tights, a long sleeved top and a long sleeved jacket (they both have thumb holes! I am so easily pleased…).  I do find their sizing a big difficult to work out though. On the parkrun milestone range (the 50/ volunteer tops, plus the apricot range) the small is a perfect fit for me, leaving me a bit of room but not too baggy. It does say that the parkrun range is relaxed fit (or something to that effect) which is fair enough. Anyway before I had ordered some long sleeved tops and chosen a medium, which is basically the same size as the milestone small, so the medium has been fine.

So I got the jacket and top in medium- the top is fine but the jacket is a little snug- I laid them on top and you can see that the top is a fair bit bigger than the jacket- and I would think it should be the other way around as you are going to be wearing the jacket on top of other things? Anyway, it’s fine (I mainly can’t be bothered with the faff of sending things back)- it will keep me toasty in the winter!

After dinner on Tuesday we drove up to IKEA as I have decided to get a bigger desk for my office. In our old house my desk was in a sort of cubby in the spare room, behind the airing cupboard, and it fitted perfectly. But now I have a whole room to myself I could do with a bigger desk. The one I had before was a build-your-own desk; you choose the size of the top, buy separate legs and then the options of cupboards or drawers to go under. I had drawers on one side and the smallest table top (120cm I think) but really I need a bit of space next to my laptop for paperwork, so I got a 2 metre wide table top, and a second set of drawers to go at the other end.

I also bought a laptop stand as I think it will be better to have the screen more at eye-level. I did look for the standing desks but we didn’t have a great deal of time. It’s something I will look more into as now I have a bigger desk I will have space for something like that.

My favourite bit of IKEA is the little food shop at the end- last time I got some organic mixed berry jam and it is really tasty, so I went to get some more of that. I found cloudberry jam (I had only heard of them as they were mentioned in my Hygge cookbook), and those green things are basically marzipan filled chewy oat things so I was never going to not buy them. At the moment I am reading “A Year of Living Danishly” and so I could not resist the mini cinnamon rolls either (they seem to eat them a lot in the book).

There is a new half marathon taking place at Knebworth House (by Stevenage) in the autumn, and after thinking about it for ages I signed up. I then panicked about not being able to run that far, so I decided to attempt a much longer run as I had some time on Wednesday morning. I was pretty sure that I did a half marathon in December last year with a parkrun sandwich to Ellenbrook Fields, so I decided to run there, do the parkrun route and then run home.

I set off later than I had intended as we had got back very late from IKEA the night before, and of course there was the usual pre-run faff of getting enough podcasts etc.

I actually enjoyed most of the run, and made it to the parkrun course just fine. It was pretty good weather as it was fairly overcast and not too warm.

I forgot to turn back at the end of the first little loop (it’s one small loop which goes back to the finish, and then a big loop repeating some of the first loop, so when I got back to the start/finish area I was a little under my target distance. I felt so thirsty though. Recently they have had a stand pipe fitted, with a dog bowl at the bottom. I spent ages looking at it, (and then a bit more time trying to work it)- first I splashed my face with it and then I decided to risk it and have a little drink (from the pipe, not the dog bowl I must add)- it’s a new pipe right? Then, even though by that point I was at 7 miles and had only 5 to run home, I decided to head back. Then I spent most of the run home worrying about the water that I had just drank in case it wasn’t drinking water…

(I was fine though, just very thirsty)- in the end I did 12.2 miles, but it took me ages- 2.15. I was questioning how on earth I managed a half marathon in less time than that, but of course races are different, and I haven’t been training for anything, I have just been pootling along and enjoying running, so I managed to talk myself out of the panic after a bit. The half isn’t until November so I think you can agree that I was being a bit irrational.

By the time I’d had a shower it was basically lunch time, so I went for a big brunch- soya yoghurt with cherries (I’d defrosted them before my run= more pre-run faff) and almonds, coconut water, tea and a pain au raisin- these are brilliant as they are frozen and take about  20 mins to cook= shower time.

I had a few hours to plough through some work before heading into town as I had a massage booked. I have been trying to go about once a month or once every 3 weeks when I can afford it, as I find it helps so much. I get terrible tight shoulders, and it also keeps the hip issues at bay. The lady I see (Katie) is brilliant- it feels like a treat as the room is lit by candles and she plays zen-like music, and there is a diffuser with lemongrass and other lovely scents. Most of the massage is relaxing and wonderful, but some points are not exactly painful, but not such a treat as she works through the knots. This time she paid a lot of attention to my lower back and it really felt like bliss (for the most part). I notice it so much too- I reverse onto my driveway and as the weeks go by I find it harder and harder to look over my left shoulder- I’m nearly as good as new when I get back from a massage!

On Thursday I had to stay in as we were having the log burner fitted- I spent the morning taking apart my old desk, building my new one and then moving the shelving unit (which meant take all the books off, move the shelves, then put it all back on again). Now I have two sets of drawers I feel like I can be so organised- I have one drawer just for sharpies and highlighters at the moment!

After the builders left I walked into town for some fresh air I was getting a bit of cabin fever! Friday morning has been the same so far ( they are finishing off) but I am hoping for a run before lunch as I think they will only be here for a few hours.

Do you buy clothes online? And if so, do you have problems with the sizes? Do you do much work at home? Would you have risked a drink from the stand pipe?

Heartwood Forest parkrun tourism- possibly the closest yet!

I sort of have three home runs really, (St Albans where I started, Panshanger when that started, and then Ellenbrook since that got going), but any different venue counts for tourism for me. I am still trying to visit all of the Hertfordshire parkruns (I think there are now 13), and last weekend was the turn of Heartwood Forest.

Heartwood Forest was recently created by the Woodland Trust on some land outside Sandridge, a small village on the outskirts of St Albans (which is why a lot of the trees are only a few feet high at the moment as they were only planted a few years ago). The parkrun has only been going a few weeks, and we chose that day as I was off to the athletics in the afternoon, and Dad and Tony had a football match to get to so we all needed to be finished fairly promptly.

There is only a small car park on site, so they ask people to use other parking in the village, or better yet, to cycle or run there.

On Thursday I had been to my parents for lunch, so on my way home I parked in the village and headed along the bridle path to a walk around the woods, as I had not actually been there. It is lovely, with meadows and paths and amazing wood carvings.

I pondered how to get there- I could park at my parents and then run there as it’s a couple of miles down a track, but my dad and brother would be cycling so I wouldn’t keep up with them and would take longer to get back. In the end I parked in the  village about half a mile away and jogged to the start- I got there so early (as I was worried about it being busy) so I ended up running around the course a bit.

We had the new runners briefing (loads of people- as it was only the third event so most people would be new to the course) and I chatted to a lady from Milton Keynes parkrun (it’s on my list) before I noticed Dad and Tony.

Then everyone walked up to the start, right by these amazing carvings of badgers.

The course is nearly two laps- you start half way up a hill, run a lap (which is a funny shape and at one point is two-way so you have to keep right) finishing at the bottom of the hill, and then have to run up the entire hill on the second lap. Annoyingly because I had used my Garmin for the warm up, although I pressed to do a new run, when I thought I pressed go, I actually must have selected run, as it beeped to go into power saving mode around half a mile in, so my Strava is incomplete!

I ran with Dad, and it was very enjoyable, although on the second time going up the hill I think I would have walked if we hadn’t been running together! I was aiming for under 30 minutes, and we started fairly near the back as we were not paying much attention on the walk to the start!

I loved this archway that you ran through- so many amazing carvings on it.

You were rewarded by fabulous views once at the top. They also had really brilliant marshals. I know parkrun marshals are always great (especially any OH ladies at Ellenbrook Fields), but we had cheers from every one- one lady was playing music on her phone and dancing as we ran past, a few people had children with them and loads of instruments- they really were very encouraging- we commented that perhaps they had been borrowed from the Gamesmakers at the Olympics.

From their facebook page

A few also had cameras (including this one placed at the top of the hill- I promise we enjoyed it even though we don’t look like it!).

After the hill there was a flat windy part through meadows and slightly taller trees, before heading to the long downhill to the finish area- it was the perfect downhill gradient as I didn’t feel like my legs were running away from me, or that I would trip as the surface was fairly smooth. When we reached the end of our second lap there was a sharp right-hand turn at the bottom of the hill before a final sprint to the end. My time was 29.03, for my 114th parkrun and my dad’s 99th!

Badger Selfie of course- I took this before the start as I knew we had to head off quickly at the end.

As we had to be quick, I jogged back to my car and Dad and Tony got their bikes- they had their photos taken to advertise cycling to and from the parkrun:

Image may contain: 2 people, people smiling, people riding bicycles, bicycle, outdoor and nature

From their facebook page

Then it was time for pancakes made by Mum before we all headed off to our respective afternoon sporting activities.

It’s great that there is another parkrun close by that we can all easily meet at, and it also means that if I fancy incorporating a parkrun into a longer run, I could adapt it and park at my parents before running there and back. I need to go back and get the Strava route correct!

So, now the Hertfordshire count is here:

Done: St Albans, Panshanger, Ellenbrook Fields, South Oxhey, Aldenham, Stevenage, Rickmansworth, Barclay, Tring, Gadebridge and Heartwood Forest.

To do: Cassiobury, Westmill

I will miss the next two weekends, and then it is Dad’s 100th so we will be at a home run for that, so touristing will have to take a break until mid-September.

How do you usually travel to parkrun? If you have several near to you, how do you choose which one to visit each week? Are you aiming for anything particular at parkrun at the moment?  Once I have done the Hertfordshire parkruns, I might look at the alphabet challenge but that seems to make touristing a lot more complicated! I’d also love to add a few more countries to my list, but that will be a more long term goal.

The week where I remembered just how much I dislike steaming wallpaper!

Seriously, I don’t understand the appeal of wallpaper- it must be a pain to put up with mixing the paste and measuring the paper and making sure it goes up straight, not to mention lining up any patterns. I think we were lucky as our last place was a fairly new build, so when we decorated we just had to paint over the old paint.

(Ignore the big hole- we’re having a fire put in next week). Luckily my parents have a steamer so I had hours of fun this week – the wallpaper is so thick that it has to come off in two layers, and the top layer is woven which makes it a right pain. We are most certainly not going to be putting up wallpaper- the walls seem nice and smooth so paint it is- then at least if we want to decorate again we won’t have all this faff first.

So, what else has been going on this week?

I’ve had lots of nice runs- 5 miles on Monday before a lot of sorting of unpacking/washing and a walk to the shops, and 8.5 miles on Tuesday before visiting my oldest friend (not my oldest friend, but my oldest friend- we went to Nursery together) and her gang of children (5 of her own plus 3 she was looking after..)- it was so lovely to catch up.

It poured on Wednesday- I think we had a months worth of rain in one day. I needed to post a letter, so I decided to get some fresh air and walked for about 1.5 miles.  I had to shelter under a tree for a bit.

I’d recently had my boots re-soled, and it turns out that they are not water tight against this sort of downpour- I had to change my socks and jeans when I got home. What are you playing at August?

One of my friends was visiting later in the morning and she brought along these amazing galaxy caramel cupcakes (she is a brilliant baker and has a lot more patience surrounding piping than I do!).

Then, as it was still pouring, I decided an afternoon of baking was required.

I have wanted to make this for ages- Earl Grey tea cake- it has ground up tea leaves in it as opposed to “normal” tea bread which is dried fruit soaked in tea- this had no fruit in it which surprised me- it did have lemon zest in the icing though.

It didn’t have much tea in it, but it’s really speckled inside. I also made two tea bread cakes (the proper ones where you soak dried fruit in tea) for my parents and for Andy’s brother and wife (they’ve just had another baby).

On Thursday after another 5 mile morning run (I have nearly perfected my route now) I went to see my parents for lunch (and to pick up the wallpaper steamer), and had a wander around Heartwood Forest, to scope it out as we were planning on parkrunning there on Saturday. I also managed a big weeding session where I filled our green bin with brambles and assorted twigs. As Andy finished work fairly promptly we headed over to St Albans for dinner at The Waffle House (a waffle topped with hummus, avocado, tomatoes and sweet chilli sauce) and then a walk around the lakes.

Then on Friday it was all the wallpaper stripping.

Some fresh tomatoes with my lunch (grown by my parents- and you can never leave their house empty handed) before more pre-decorating.

I’ve done just about 3 walls, and the final wall is mainly porch doors so it won’t take long (hopefully)- I’ve saved the rest for Sunday now.

I also had a little post pre-decorating treat of some of these wafers- I love them and bought a few packs from Vienna- basically they are a bit like wafers with nutella inside each layer.

Do you have wallpaper or paint at home? Do your parents like to insist that you take something home with you? Usually I get given eggs, but their hens were eaten by a fox and they got some chicks on Friday but they are not quite old enough to lay eggs just yet. Do you like tea bread or tea cake?

 

Germany recap

So, after a few days in Austria, we got a bus from Salzberg to Berchtesgaden, a national park in Germany.

We arrived too early to check in, so we left our bags in the hotel and then got a bus up to the mountains. Andy wanted to visit the Eagle’s Nest, so we headed there. I didn’t know much about it, but it was interesting. At the main stop there was a small museum (although it only took cash and we didn’t have enough with us for the audio guides, and all of the exhibits were in German so I didn’t understand much of it), and the bottom floor of the museum was the bunker. You could walk around the bunker and see the different rooms, as well as graffiti from the troops who found it.

No cars were allowed to the next part, so you had to buy a bus ticket (or it was something like a 3 hour hike)- at most parts the road was only wide enough for one vehicle so the buses leaving the top and bottom left at the same time and met in the middle for the passing places. At the top, you then queued to go up in a lift to the very top. The views were beautiful, but it was a strange place to visit. I think they said Hitler only went there maybe 9 times, and the actual home is now a restaurant (which seems weird to me too).  I did find it uncomfortable seeing people take selfies and things up there- I mean, they don’t want it to be some right-wing extremist pilgrimage place, but it seems a bit too far the other way.

Anyway, on the bus on the way back down to the main part, the most torrential downpour started, and of course our rain coats were back in the hotel. We were drenched within seconds of getting off the bus, but luckily there was a bit of shelter, so we waited for it to ease off before running to the next bus stop, to get back down to the town.

This was our hotel, by the water- no sign of the downpour by then! We had a lovely wander into the town, admiring all of the buildings with their window boxes full of flowers.

The next day we got the bus out to the national park- there is a huge lake there and you could get a boat ride (45 mins ish) to the end of the lake, where there were lots of hikes. At one point they stopped the boat and someone played a horn (or trumpet, or something) because there was a famous echo point.

We did a 3 mile walk along to another lake (I put my Garmin on for the way back to see how far it was)- at some points it followed the edge of the lake, and at others it followed large stone steps up and down the side of the cliff edges. The scenery was beautiful, but it was so hot. We took a break at the end before walking back to catch the boat again.

Loads of people were swimming in the lake- I bet it was freezing but so refreshing after walking in the heat.

To get to Munich (where we flew home from) we had to get the bus back to Salzberg and then a train to Munich.

I didn’t know what to expect with Munich but it was jam packed with tourists. After a shorter wander on the afternoon we arrived, we spent most of the next day in the main park, the English Garden. It was a bit like Central Park- huge. A river ran through the centre and at one point there was a bit of a whirlpool and people were taking it in turns to surf in the river. Loads of people were swimming and sunbathing, we saw people playing cricket, playing football in those big inflatable zorb things, people horseriding and cycling…. it was clearly the place to be on a hot weekend day.

We could have got the underground or a tram back to nearer our hotel, but we ended up walking- it didn’t quite beat our Salzberg days but it was close.

The day we flew home it was due to rain, so originally we were going to head to a museum, but when we got to the train station to buy the ticket (you could get a day ticket that included travel to the airport as well as the trains and trams in the city centre), it turned out the machine wouldn’t take cards, so we walked to the main station (probably a 30 min walk) and looked there for a bit. Andy found out by then that he could get an app and buy the tickets that way, but by the time we had worked it out, there wasn’t enough time to get out to the museum and back again to get the bags from our hotel, so we ended up just having another walk around the centre. It was a bit quieter, but not much. Pretty much all of the shops and cafes were closed, which was a bit strange. I do wonder what the American tourists think when they come to a fairly big city and then find out that not much is open. Anyway, despite the rain (and it didn’t come to much luckily) there was still plenty to see- lots of huge buildings (some looked like they belonged in Paris, whereas others were the more typical Germanic style), statues and fountains to keep us busy.

It was a lovely 10 days- lots of scenery and interesting places, but of course we have also added other places to the list now (we think we’ll head back to Austria with a car so we can visit more of the smaller places).

Have you ever visited somewhere with a bad past? I remember going to Pearl Harbor (which also had people taking selfies all around)- it was a really sad place as the bodies hadn’t even been recovered. I know some people visited concentration camps as school trips but I don’t think I could actually visit somewhere that awful.

 

Austria recap

Last Friday we flew out from Heathrow early in the morning, to Vienna. We had been there a few years ago, for the Christmas markets, and decided that we wanted to go back in warmer weather to enjoy all the parks, so it seemed a great place to start out trip. It was totally baking though- they were having a heatwave so heading to a city didn’t seem quite so appealing! Luckily the places we visited had lots of parks to wander around, and plenty of places selling cold drinks!

Here are a few highlights:

The (free) gardens of the Schonbrunn Palace- a perfect place for an evening picnic with views of the gardens, palace and then Vienna.

Admiring the plants (hollyhocks are my favourite) in another palace in Vienna.

I didn’t take a photo (I really wish I did) of my delicious salad bowl from Freshii as it was totally made to be on Instagram- I had a bowl of salad with almonds, beetroot, goats cheese, mango, some other stuff- (you could add tofu but it was filling enough as it was)- instead of having it all mixed in, each section of the bowl had a different ingredient so the colours stood out. But I was hungry.

After a couple of days in Vienna we got the train to Salzberg- I’d never been before but have always thought it looked good.

A walk by the river into the old town was very scenic.

Views of one of the many castles in Salzberg from a slightly cooler walk in the woods.

Mozart cake (the town is either obsessed with Sound of Music stuff, or Mozart stuff- any cake with hazelnuts and pistachio marzipan is a winner in my book, and we actually had a piece each instead of sharing, plus it was topped with a piece of Mozart ball, which is basically chocolate made with praline and marzipan).

Views of the Austrian and German countryside from the top of Untesberg cable car (we got a pass for the day that included buses, the cable car, another palace which was something else to do with the Sound of Music, museums etc.).

Delicious soft gingerbread from the Pirker gingerbread shop (as it comes from Mariazell it is only right that I would love it so much)- so many to choose from and in the end we went for one with a filling of marzipan and nuts. It was amazing. Off to see if they deliver to the UK….

We managed to beat the 11,000 steps per day pretty easily- on the day of our train journey it was “just” 14,000, but one day in Salzberg was over 25,000 so we were on our feet for most of the day.

After that we headed to Germany, but I’ll save that for another day.

Have you been to Austria? As my Grandma was Austrian, we used to go and visit family a lot when I was little, but my trip to Vienna was the first visit as an adult.  Do you like to walk a lot when you are sightseeing? I much prefer it to a sightseeing bus as it means I can take my time (or not) and pop into places that take my fancy.