Author: Maria Runs

Recently we needed to pop to the garden centre, and went to the little farm shop that is next to it to have a mooch- I was quite excited to give the vegan lemon curd a go (I love lemon curd on a toasted hot cross bun) and the chai drink too. The March tea club had another adorable postcard (they are all so good at the moment) and of course some fab themed tea including Hot Cross Bun tea.

I also got these Oggs millionaire bites in my latest vegan box- again, so delicious. But the best news was that the mornings are now light enough to go for a run around the fields instead of sticking to streets! (This only lasted until the clocks went forwards, but will be back to being light again soon). I just love running around the fields and through the woods, hearing the birds and being away from traffic.

A happy face in the woods and some beautiful sunrises!

It feels like such a treat to be around to view the sunrise- because it’s so quiet in the morning it feels like not many people see them.

I was up early one morning (not a run day) and decided to head out for a walk as I could not sleep.  It was a frosty clear morning so again I was treated to wonderful views. I was meant to be getting my hair cut so it was a pre-haircut photo, only the cut ended up being postponed.

On the Saturday, Dad had asked me to pick him up and take him to Stevenage as he had to get the train from there later, so of course I was happy to oblige. We had a wonderful morning at Stevenage- the weather was again glorious and it was fantastic to be out enjoying the sunshine. After we went and got breakfast from the café and sat outside on the terrace looking out over the water. Such a good start to the weekend. I dropped him at the station and then headed home, where Andy had ordered Crosstown doughnuts for the weekend. After some work, I headed out for my haircut, and it was so warm I got a smoothie on the way back home. We get a drink from Caffe Nero each week via Vitality, and they have recently included Innocent smoothies, which I would prefer over their barista fruit drinks (not quite sure what they are made with?). I am always a bit suspicious of spirulina as I tried some once and it tasted so fishy, but luckily this only had a small amount and I could not taste it.

The “green juice” did make me think of The Dropout (the series about the Theranos company)- but I promise that’s not why I had it!

A couple of years ago, WGC created a 20km circular route around the city, to mark the centenary. In the first lockdown I started to explore the paths and eventually joined them all up, and often used part of it as a running route. However, the parts close to me are quite muddy so I’ve not been on them during the winter at all.

On the Sunday following my Finsbury Park trip, I decided to rectify that and head out on part of the route. It was a beautiful sunny day and most of the paths were fine (a few small muddy patches here or there, but no need for trail shoes). I had forgotten quite how hilly it is though! I don’t think there’s a good way to run it, but I tend to run anti-clockwise as I think the hills are slightly less steep in that direction.

I enjoyed most of it, although when I was running though some fields I kept hearing shots (like bird scarers but more frequent) and realised I must have been near a clay pigeon shooting range or something, which made it not very relaxing.  Also, near the end I had one not very nice dog encounter (and I did pass lots of other dogs that were either on leads or their owners distracted them while I ran past). I was running down a path and a dog raced over to me, barking. The owner was way back and not paying much attention. I stood still and it growled as it got closer and then sort of shoulder barged into my leg- it was very strange. I called to the owner to control his dog, and he raised his hands and laughed in a sarcastic way, saying “she’s not usually like that”. I did tell him that it didn’t matter if she wasn’t normally like that, but she just really hurt me (my knee sort of twisted and is still a bit sore a few weeks later) and she should be on a lead if she can’t be safe around others. Honestly, I know it’s a small minority of dog owners but they really impact negatively on my impression of dog owners.

Anyway, the rest of the run was good. Once home it was time for an amazing cinnamon bun (we’d picked it up on the way back from the station the day before) and then time to get on with some baking. I hadn’t baked for ages and really fancied it- I made bourbon biscuit tiffin from the Slice of Sunshine blog, and it was very tasty indeed.

After the usual weekend errands we settled down for a movie- Turning Red, which I really enjoyed. It reminded me a lot of Studio Ghibli films- not just the panda being like Totoro but the style of music too.

On the 12th March I took myself on a little solo tourist trip. Dad was away, so I could either go to Panshanger, or venture further afield.   I had seen that the Vegan Runners were doing a takeover a Finsbury Park parkrun, and it is fairly near to me but I’ve never been, so I decided I would head there. It’s on the same train line from Welwyn Garden City, although the train aren’t that frequent (2 or 3 an hour), so I had to be prepared.

I was at the station just before 8am and arrived at Finsbury Park station at around 8.20am. Plenty of time, and I’d allowed time in case of delays and cancellations etc. It turned out to be very lucky indeed, because I first got lost in the train station (there are two exits and I tried to go out of the underground exit and so my ticket didn’t work- I had to go back under the tunnel and out of the over ground exit), and then once out I got totally confused about the direction, and turned right rather than left. After walking for a bit and seeing no park (on the map the park is right next to the station), I did what any sensible person would do, and first put on my Garmin to track my run, and then looked on maps on my phone to see where I was. Yup, the wrong direction totally.

Once I was pointed in the correct direction, it didn’t take long to find the park, but I am glad that I didn’t get the train that was meant to arrive at 8.45 as I would have been panicking at that point.

The park had huge wide paved roads, and was filled with runners going in all directions. I was not quite sure where the start was, so wandered around taking photos until I saw a big group of people gathering. There were lots of people with the Vegan Runners vests and tops and buffs, and most of the volunteer roles had been filled by the club. I was on the lookout for Ed Miliband as I hear he often does this parkrun, but no joy this week.

The new runners briefing (which I think is soon going to be called the “welcome” which I really like) was super- 2 laps, and a hill- simple.

Then we walked to the start and the main briefing was given. The RD was a vegan and gave a few wry comments about how poor vegans are all malnourished and how he hoped some of them would make it to the finish line…

And then we were off! It seemed very busy- possibly the busiest one I’ve been to since lockdown (over 500 runners) but it was well spread out so it felt fine in that respect.  There were a few hills- one was OK but the second of each lap was much tougher. All the cheerful marshals helped of course! As I was coming up to finish my first lap, the leader raced past on his second, and I saw later in the run report that he had broken the course record in 14:58- what an amazing time!

I really enjoyed visiting there, and when I looked at my results later I realised that it was my 80th different parkrun event- 4/5 of a Cowell! I love going to parkrun with my dad (and brother when he comes along), and of course the fab OH ladies, but sometimes it is nice to take yourself off and do something on your own. It also made me realise that I need to do a bit of prep before my next parkrun tourism as I cannot just rely on getting my phone out once I am already lost- I need to look at the directions properly in advance!

Post run, the lake before the run, mid run photo and finish token

I had a while before my train so took my time heading back to the station, and popped into Pret to get a croissant for breakfast (when in Rome…). I had looked up the train times and there were 2 around 10am, one was a slow train which departed first but got home a few minutes after the fast train. I nearly got on the slow train but when they announced the stations I didn’t hear WGC- turned out it was stopping before then, so it was lucky that I listened to the announcements and didn’t just rely on the train times that I’d looked up.

Andy walked to meet me in town, and so by the time we’d walked back and I’d had a shower it was quite a late breakfast, watching the latest With Me Now vlog as is now tradition for Saturdays.

Do you like to tour alone or with others? How are you with directions?