Author: Maria Runs

I gave the new event touring a rest to have a revisit to Leavesden Country parkrun. It’s a fairly local one to me (around 30 minutes) and a really nice route, plus handily as it is the newest event in Herts it’s good for those low Wilson Index numbers.

I enjoyed the run- as mentioned previously it’s a 3 lap course, with each lap starting through woods and then finishing around fields. As they are varied, it doesn’t feel monotonous like a lapped course could. There is a narrow part where you see runners heading in the opposite direction, so you can’t overtake in that section, but it’s only a few metres long so there is no need to stress.

After running and scanning I headed to the cafe for breakfast. This parkrun has all the facilities right there- the parking is right by the start, as is the cafe. I popped back to my car to get a hoodie, and then joined the queue and was sat down by 9:45, with my tea and blueberry croissant. I even got to have some parkfaff, although not with parkrunners. After a while, the cafe was getting busy and so a couple of women asked if they could join me- we ended up chatting and it turned out their kids were doing gymnastics in the building nearby, but one of them was interested in parkrun but worried about running, so I explained to her about the tail walker and park walkers, and also junior parkrun as there is one in the same park. Hopefully she gets to one at some point.

I know that the Wilson Index does not appeal to all parkrunners, but I quite like having some of the choice made for me. After achieving the alphabet and my 250th run (and well on the way to 100 locations), it’s a long way to any other milestone, official or not. Where I live means I have lots of local parkruns to choose from- if Dad is about we will most likely do Jersey Farm, but if not I have lots to choose from and so having something like this to focus on means that some weeks my choice has been made. As someone who is not good at decision making, it helps a lot!

On the Sunday of that weekend we had a little day out in London planned. Off to see Six (tenuous link here as it’s to do with numbers?), dinner at Mildred’s and then to the Disney Wonder of Friendship exhibition.

The Disney Wonder of Friendship exhibition was quite fun too- you had a time slot to enter, and before each experience you were greeted by a cast member, who would explain how it worked. They were all interactive in different ways- the Lion King section had swings that you sat on and had to swing in time with the music, plus drums to play with, and the Lilo and Stitch area had wobbly surf boards to go on.

Another busy but fun weekend, and getting ready for my 99th venue for the coming weekend!

Originally this was planned for the start of the Easter holidays, but things don’t always go to plan. I was looking forward to it as I had seen a club mate go there, although after it turned out she had been to Peter Pan parkrun and not Pocket- I mean, they begin with P so in my mind they are the same!

My dad picked me up on the way, with my mum and brother coming along to watch and then to join us for breakfast after.

The parking was in a leisure centre close to the start, and the start was in a field next to a nature reserve. Pocket have two courses, and this was the summer course- a two lap course through the nature reserve, alongside a river and then back to the field. It really was my kind of parkrun- I loved Ellenbrook Fields as it was through varied terrain (fields, woods, alongside a river), it was flat, shaded in places, scenic. Bury Fields reminded me of this too (slightly less flat) and Pocket had the same vibe.

It was the weekend of “man puts on hat” so some people were wearing red, white and blue- the RD explained that people were celebrating the first weekend of the summer course. As someone who purposefully wore no red white or blue that day, pleased me greatly!

We ran together, chatting, although a bit less chatting from me on the second lap- finishing in 28:36 for my fastest time of the year.

I’d seen a statue on the way around so after scanning we wandered back to have a look. It was a life sized model of the tallest man who had lived locally- I liked the style of the metal, and a photo had to be taken to compare our heights of course. We did think about going to the cafe that the team mentioned, in the leisure centre, but when we went in the leisure centre staff told us that the person running the cafe hadn’t turned up yet, so we headed into town. I had seen a new vegan cafe, Oscar’s, open fairly recently and was keen to try it, and happily my family are always keen to try these places too.

They did waffles which I was tempted by, but in the end I went for avocado on toast which was a good choice. My dad went for the same, and both my mum and brother went for the vegan sausage sandwich, apparently very tasty too. They also had these amazing looking cinnamon buns, so we all bought cakes to take home and have later. Later on in the day we met my parents at a garden centre and did some plant shopping (as most of the customers were occupied elsewhere…). The cinnamon bun was very appreciated after some gardening in the rain!

So that was location 98 for me! The Cowell (100 locations) is in sight!

We had tickets to a comedy gig in Birmingham on a Friday night, and as it’s a fair way away, decided to stay overnight after. Of course this means a new parkrun on the Saturday morning.

I’d not been to any Birmingham parkrun before, and it seemed there were plenty to choose from. In the end I went for Edgbaston reservoir as it was the closest to the hotel. It was 1.5 miles away, which meant a nice warm up in the morning.

I’d checked the future roster and added it to the planner in the 5k app, and it was good to go. For some reason on the Thursday night, after packing, I checked their facebook page, only to see a cancellation message- due to some event (rowing?) happening that the event team didn’t know about. On to find a plan B. Thankfully there are loads of parkruns, and the next nearest one, Cannon Hill, was only around 2 miles away, so still a nice distance for a warmup. I’m so glad I checked, as if I had run there, I would not have had enough time to get to a different one.

Confusingly, Cannon Hill parkrun was by Edgbaston stadium- I checked that many times before setting off. Our hotel was on one of the canals, so I did get slightly lost when heading out, and I think the tall buildings confused the satellites as part of my run was a straight line through several buildings. Anyway, after the initial getting lost it was a fairly simple route. My phone battery has been getting worse and worse (I did take it to the shop for them to have a look at and to see about it being replaced, but they said it wasn’t worth it)- by the time I got to the park I had used over half, so had to remember the way back without using google maps which is always challenging for me.

The park was very pretty- a manicured park with plenty of flower beds, a band stand (where the volunteers were meeting), a lake and various buildings, cafes etc. It was a sort of two lap course, with an out and back bit too. It reminded me of Stevenage parkrun in that it’s a similar park, all flat apart from a little hill up to the finish funnel. It was very busy, with 668 runners that day. The finish funnel was very long, and one of the volunteers told me that they usually have around 500, but probably with Edgbaston being cancelled they had a few more. It was well managed, and with wide paths it didn’t feel that busy after the first few metres. At one point I was running along and a buggy runner passed me, and then a toy dinosaur fell out. I picked it up and called out but they didn’t hear, and another runner told me to catch them up- I had to sprint very hard as he was going super fast! I handed it over, and then as soon as he handed it to his child, they dropped it again so I picked it up again! Thankfully that was the end of catch the dinosaur!

At the end they had boxes of the parkrun magazine- this was the first time I’d seen this issue, so I picked one up for me and one for my dad. I managed to get back to the hotel and only had to get out my phone to look at the maps once, so that was not too bad.

After a shower, we headed into the centre as we’d booked lunch at The Ivy (as we had vouchers), and then had a little wander around the centre. It reminded me that I am not a Saturday shopping person. We did see some cool penguin art by the station.

That was my 96th different event. Another really enjoyable one (aren’t they all?). And an important lesson to always double check social media in case of cancellations!