Author: Maria Runs

Highbury Fields parkrun- plenty of laps!

It’s been a while since I’ve had a solo parkrun adventure, but the start of half term coincided with my dad being away, so I decided to head to Highbury Fields parkrun. I’ve quite like going to parkrun via train, and have been working my way through the parkruns on the train line between here and Kings Cross. Highbury Fields was the only one left, and as it’s 5 laps I’ve been intrigued to see how it works. I have been to a 5 lapper before, at Heslington in York- it was on a cycle track- so this would be quite different.

The quickest way for me to travel was to get the train to Finsbury Park, and then change to the underground and go one stop on to Highbury & Islington. You can pay contactless on that route now, rather than having to buy tickets, so that made it easier., and the park could not get closer to the tube station- a very easy one to get to via public transport.

I had written out my instructions as I am very liable to forget them. It all worked out well, and I got to the park nice and early, around 8:30, so had a little jog around the outside of the field. This was when I really wondered how on earth the parkrun fit in there. On the map, the park looks like a triangle shape and so I headed up to the wider part, but it was still really small and I don’t think I managed 1km.

There were lots of people warming up, and some friendly volunteers standing around and chatting- there seemed to be a lot of tourists but I wonder if half term had something to do with that. There was a couple who I wanted to speak to but were always a bit far away, wearing t-shirts that when they stood together said ‘we love parkrun”- fantastic.

I left my jacket on the tarpaulin by the start/finish area at the last possible moment as it was quite brisk, but of course I warmed up as soon as I started running.

I also got to see The Garage- I wonder how many gigs I had seen there in my younger years!

Once we started, the course became clearer- we actually ran laps around the outside of the park, mainly on pavements and a small part in the top section of the park on the paths there. They had told us we had to keep track of our own laps (of course) and I ended up running behind the same 3 people, so that made it easier. Each lap went gently uphill for one side of the park, across the top, then downhill and around the outside/bottom of the park. I wondered how congested it would be, and I did start getting lapped by the super speedy runners in my second lap (I think), but it wasn’t ever too bad, and of course by the time I was on my third lap onwards, the speediest ones were finishing so the course was thinning out. At the final corner was the most enthusiastic marshal who was cheering everyone and ringing a handbell- he was brilliant.

After I finished, I jogged along Upper Street towards Angel, via Bird and Blend. They weren’t open until 10, so I hung around outside for a bit before getting a chai latte (they do the best ones and I wasn’t passing up an opportunity to visit). I was going to get some breakfast too, but the trains back from Kings Cross were only every half an hour and I didn’t want to have to wait until the next one, so I waited until I got back to WGC, heading into Caffe Nero for a vegan croissant and tea.

That was my 94th different parkrun location and number 305, and I am quite pleased that my map on the parkrun challenges chrome extension joins up home to central London without any gaps.

Have you ever run a parkrun with 5 laps before?

Itchen Valley parkrun – name badge complete!

When Itchen Valley Country parkrun started, I had it in mind for the I for my alphabet, but despite going to Southampton fairly regularly, I ended up going to Irchester for my I. It was still on my list as a parkrun to visit, and as I am having fun with the parkrun Chrome extension, the name badge challenge meant I needed a second parkrun beginning with I.

It all finally fell into place this January- Andy was going to the football, we were going to visit his family down there, and so we drove down on the Friday evening, stayed in a hotel (around a 6 minute drive to the parkrun)- perfect!

Of course, any sort of touring at this time of year is not as easy as that. The cold weather, following on from lots of rain meant that one by one, parkruns were cancelling due to ice. Itchen Valley posted that they would do a course check in the morning but that they should be on. But I didn’t really have a plan B, as the next closest ones had cancelled. There was one around a 30 min drive away that was on, but that was really too far as we had to be out by 11. (One slight worry was that it seemed to disappear from the 5k app overnight- not sure why).

Left is the 5k app on Friday night, right on Saturday morning where Itchen Valley no longer seemed to be there.

I left leaving as late as possible, but there was no confirmation post that they were still on. I then had to scrape the car (had forgotten about that joy) and so despite being so close, I parked up at something like 8:47 am. Rather too close for comfort- as I walked up to the start area the new runners welcome was just about to begin. At least it was on!

The actual park was beautiful. Of course the frosty weather and blues skies all helped, as it was one of those perfect wintery days. The team showed us their new tourist board (a whiteboard for people to write where they were from), but the condensation on it had then frozen so no-one could actually use it. It was a fab idea though- hopefully next time.

The course was described as one lap, but if you look at the map it wiggles all over the place, with lots of twists and turns and meeting points. It did make me laugh when the volunteer said to us to all have a look at the map to try to remember it- there was no way! They said it was clearly marked (it was) and I just need to follow the person in front anyway.

It started off on a field, which was totally frozen solid. Any small ruts were proper ankle breaker bumps, so I heeded their advice and took it as a scenic gentle run, no thoughts of pb’s in my head.

Mid-run scenes-a few icy patches and a beautiful section through the woods.

After going around the field, we headed into woods, and here it was so interesting as some of the puddles were frozen solid, with all the bramble leaves coated in a layer of frost, and then other parts of the path had big muddy puddles. It shows how sheltered some of it must be. At points you could see people much further ahead, as the course loops around- I passed a marshal standing by some tape, and later passed him on the other side of the tape.

It was still super frosty when I finished, so no chance of even a speedy run into the finish funnel. My time was 36:53, and as we had to speedily check out I headed straight back to the car to get back to the hotel. It does seem like a lovely park and I would happily run there again if I was nearby.

The Strava route shows how wiggly the one lapped course is!

On the 5k app it soon showed up that I had finally completed my name badge- I quite like that it took ten years. As I have an S in my name, my first run at St Albans, back in March 2013 is on there, as well as my first tourist run of Crissy Field in 2015 (now sadly closed). I also had a notification that I had achieved another badge, Old MacDonald, which was a parkrun beginning with E, I, E, I, O (the second letter I finished it off for me)- happily that badge contained Ellenbrook Fields for my first E.

That was my 93rd location too- I am still working towards the 100, hopefully this year.

Church Mead parkrun for my 300th!

Over Christmas I realised that my total number of parkruns was creeping up, and my first one in January was going to be my 300th. I have an agreement with my dad that we’ll celebrate all the arbitrary milestones (as it’s going to be at least 5 years until the next official one between us now), and so I requested a new event. Church Mead started up last year, in Amersham, around a 45 min drive from St Albans, so doable in a morning, and it was finally time for us to head there.

The weather was not very inviting- pouring rain and strong winds- we were quite pleased that the start sign was visible from the car park. We had to walk along a very short path from the car park to where everyone was assembling. It actually wasn’t too bad once we got out- we sheltered from the rain under a tree before the new runners welcome took place (along with very enthusiastic volunteer children rounding us all up). My Dad (without me realising) had spoken to the RD so I even got a little shout out in the main briefing for my 300th! I was shouting “arbitrary” in my head!

The course is two laps, muddy and very hilly. We were warned of so called chicken sh*t corner being particularly muddy that week. It does make me chuckle when event teams have names for various parts of the course.

You start off right by the car park, so we walked back to the start together once the run briefing had been carried out. After a shortish flat part we were soon heading up the hill, and my, this is some hill. It just kept on coming- after a mile we were still not at the highest point of the course! After most of the hill was done, the runners headed into the woods- this was also tricky ground as there were big flint rocks half covered by mud and leaves, so it was hard to see where best to place your feet.

Once out of the woods you headed back down the hill on the other side of the field, along the bottom and then back up the hill for the second lap. If I had not been trying to keep up with my dad I definitely would have walked on the second time going up that hill, but somehow we kept on going.

As we headed downhill it felt like we were running into the wind and rain, but then on the uphill of course you can’t feel the wind helping at all.

I was surprised to get token 24 when I finished as it felt as though there were more runners ahead of us. I think we did overtake a few people on the way up the hill the second time around, and I suppose the rain kept a few regulars away.

We had to head back quickly as my parents were having some of their friends around, so we head to speedily get back, shower and change before breakfast. We did have time to thank the RD and also have a quick chat with someone who went to parkrun for the first time that morning- in that weather and with that course it was not an easy first visit!

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day parkruns!

It’s always a bonus at this time of year when we get more than one parkrun each week. As Christmas Day fell on a Sunday, it meant that we could do two in a row if teams put them on.

My chosen pair of parkruns was Jersey Farm on Christmas Eve, and then Panshanger on Christmas Day. Panshanger feels like a tradition for Christmas Day for me now- it’s the only one I’ve been to on Christmas, both running and volunteering. I can run there from home so it’s perfect to not have to worry about busy car parks, traffic or things like that.

The weather played ball on both days, with sunshine on Christmas Eve. I forgot to take a photo of my finish token, something which is a bit of a habit/superstition with me (for example, if they have an issue with results I can then at least know whereabouts I finished). The text came through though so I needn’t have worried.
After breakfast at my parents, I headed off to pick up Andy as we had ordered some buns from the amazing vegan cafe in Letchworth (Vutie Beets), and they were shutting at 3. A gingerbread bun was enjoyed in front of some classic Christmas movies (Home Alone).
The three of us trying to do a selfie, running through the woods on the way, at the end, and my barcode pic.
I wore my Christmas hat on Christmas day but it was really mild and I was too hot- I basically carried it and then put it on for a photo at the end! It marked the end of the Run Up 2 Christmas challenge. I managed 140km in the end, which included some walks (I started tracking walks in the snow as I couldn’t run). Our team did really well as we didn’t have a huge number of members. I really enjoyed this, as sometimes at this time of year going out for a run isn’t that appealing, but you know you will feel better for it.
Back to parkrun, my Dad and brother met me at Panshanger which was lovely- nice to run around with them and enjoy the bonus parkrun. I’d run there through the woods, listening to my Christmas Spotify playlist and generally feeling very cheerful.
Once home and showered I had a Christmas Day bun while watching the With Me Now, including an appearance of PSH!

I also had a look on the app and appear to have achieved single-ton (100 visits to a single parkrun) but in fact this includes volunteer visits, so I have 13 runs to go before I officially achieve this. (The app is great but the running achievement chrome extension is the only one with “official” challenges that I will count).

After all the runs leading up to Christmas, I had a few days off running. We had a lovely walk another day with my parents and were lucky enough to see a kingfisher for ages (diving into the water, sitting on reeds and even on the fence). My mum took this amazing photo of it- the colours are just so beautiful.
We watched Glass Onion (thoroughly enjoyed it) and generally chilled out. Plus the final bun (chocolate orange). It’s probably a good thing that the cafe is not closer to home!

We were off to DLP for New Year, so no parkrun double (or even single) for me over that weekend, so that marked the end of 2022 parkruns for me, and what a great way to finish the year.

Snowy runs and St Albans parkrun repeats

On the 10th December I went to St Albans parkrun with Dad. I had realised that I’d not been there for about a year, and was keen to try out their newest route. It was the first parkrun I did, and it used to be out along a path, 3 laps of the lake and then back. For a long time it’s been on the alternative course, laps of a field, because of flooding by the lake, but they have created a course that takes in the lake (confusingly, still 3 laps but not like the old route at all).

It was a frosty and beautiful morning- some of the lake was frozen, the grass was covered in frost but with bright sunshine so it just looked amazing. One of those perfect winter days.

My hands were so cold- I took my gloves off briefly to collect my token but that was it. It really was freezing.
The Sunday was just as cold, and my long run was another freezing but beautiful run, although this time under cloud rather than gorgeous winter sunlight.
In the afternoon I popped out on a walk to collect some greenery for making a wreath, and saw holly leaves just draped in frost. We also put up our Christmas tree.
On Monday I woke up to loads of snow, meaning work was closed (well, we had to set online work). I made the most of being home by heading out on a run at lunch time as I knew that I would not be running before work on frozen pavements on the following days. Of course I made a snowman in the garden too- I am sure that is a rule?
I could not get over how much snow we had! Back in 2021 we had some snow on the Sunday night, but it was all gone by the Wednesday. This was still around the following Sunday, and of course unless pavements had been cleared they were really dangerous. We attempted a few walks in the week but that was not easy as the pavements were so slippery. (We do own a snow shovel and had cleared our driveway and the pavement in front of our house on the Monday, but I appreciate that not everyone can do that).
One day I went out on a lunch time walk as the snow was not as bad there. I spotted some cool Christmas postbox toppers!
(Snow on my Monday run, Stitch Christmas cup and my wreath)
Snowy St Albans parkrun and our garden a week after the snow, all the cancellations on the 5k parkrunner app, and Christmas gear on at parkrun)

On Saturday 17th December I was meant to be heading to Letchworth parkrun for a meet up with the Herts branch of Vegan Runners. However, the snow was still around and loads of parkruns had already cancelled. Letchworth were on, pending on a morning course check, but you have to drive along narrow residential side roads and I wasn’t confident that they would be OK (lots of the side roads around here were still terrible and icy), and I would have had to leave before their course check had been made, so I made the decision to go to St Albans again as they were on (as they have their off road course that they can use). It was great fun, crunching through the snow, and it felt easier than when it’s muddy. I wasn’t even as cold as the previous week as I had taken my gloves off before the end.

It was only after that I realised I could have tried for Groundhog day (2 identical times, 2 weeks running) as I don’t often go to the same parkrun twice in a row, but with the two different courses it would not have been easy. 30:24 the first week and then 33:05 on the snowy (and hillier) route. But as ever, very thankful that the event was still on.