Maria Runs - Maria Runs

Portmouth Lakeside parkrun- tourism but not where I originally planned…

The two of us had planned to go away for the long Easter weekend, and possibly some of the following week. Originally we had Wales in our sights, and so I was of course thinking of Conwy parkrun for some amazing scenery and another parkrun course. The weather hadn’t been great (and our fence totally blew down and the bill for a new one is rather high), so we decided to save Wales for when the weather could have been better, and head south instead. Now I am keeping half an eye on the parkrun alphabet (still loads of letters to do – D, I, J, N, Q, U, V, Y, Z) and so I looked into Queen Elizabeth Country Park parkrun (I think it’s the only Q in the country?). There are no hotels nearby but we found one around 20 minutes away, so we planned to head down on Friday stopping off at a few places on the way, drive there on Saturday morning, I’d do the parkrun and then change in the toilets after (I would not be running too fast as it looked like a slippery and steep route), and then we could head off for the day. Anyway, as the weekend got closer we had more and more rain, and it seemed that the parkrun would be a total quagmire. It then turned out that the hotel we booked (the Village hotel close to Portsmouth) was right by the start of Portsmouth Lakeside parkrun, so it seemed sensible to change plans and do that one instead.

We ended up heading into Southampton town centre on the Friday- the traffic was awful driving down and it was still pouring so we wandered around the shops for a bit (I needed some new trainers for general wear as my current ones are years old and have started to rub the back of my foot) and had dinner before driving to the hotel.

I did get confused as on the course page it mentions the Starbucks where they get a drink after, and I thought it was the Starbucks in our hotel lobby, but it turned out to be another one. Of course this made me panic for a bit but when I looked at a map it was 0.3 miles away and really the next block of buildings along the road. All I had to do in the morning was walk across the car park to the path (the photo above is of the hotel from the path) and then I’d be on the parkrun course. As I was a little early I did a bit of a warm up jog around the lake.

Here is where I wished I had packed my trail shoes as there were some big muddy puddles.

Not too bad but my ID is now covered in mud and you can see how deep some of the puddles were.

After my warm up I headed to the start area- nice and easy to find. The route is sort of an out and back, as you go along a path to by the hotel, turn back on yourself and run towards and around the lake, then back around the lake, back along to the hotel, and then back to the finish.

I went to the first timer briefing where they explained the course and welcomed lots of first time parkrunners- always good. Then it was time for the main briefing. I tried to stand about half way back but it was hard to work out where exactly to place. They had a sort of siren thing to get everyone’s attention, but the megaphone was not helping at all. Everyone near me was quiet, but I could only hear a muffled noise, with pauses for claps. You can of course fill in the gaps yourself (thank the volunteers- clap- well done for someone reaching a milestone- clap- well done for someone else getting a milestone- more claps) but it’s a shame to miss out on this because I think this is where the community feel comes from. Otherwise it’s more like a normal run if that makes sense? I’m not sure what the solution is really, but it’s a shame that even with people being quiet they can’t hear the briefing. Anyway, onto the run.

It was all very flat (at one point you run under an underpass but that’s it for elevation changes) although it felt very busy. I started too far back (behind some walkers it turned out) and it was hard to overtake as the paths were narrow, and you had to keep to one side because of the faster runners heading in the other direction. At one point everyone was told to keep left, as there were runners heading back, but this one girl (wearing headphones) was still over on the right. All the runners were shouting at her to move left as the first runners were charging towards her, but she didn’t hear and so the lead runner actually bashed into her and knocked her over to the grass. She looked pretty surprised, and I do feel that they are both partly to blame because she really should not have her music on so loud that she can’t hear people shouting to her, but then both of them should have seen each other as it was a straight flat path.

The route was quite enjoyable, as it was good to run by the lake, however it was close to a busy road and you could hear the loud drone of traffic the entire time. Someone kept on shouting “go Maria” from the other side, and it would confuse me for a second before I realised I was running close to someone else named Maria. I ended up chatting to her at the end as she was cheering on her mum and dad, so was walking next to the course as I was walking back to the hotel. I managed to keep overtaking people the whole time, with splits of 9.39, 9.06, 8.40 and then 7.55 for the final bit, so I felt pleased with that. 28:36 was my official time. Of course the bonus of visiting a new parkrun is that you “PR” in all of your Strava segments.

I could see a few runners on the far side of the lake as I walked back to the hotel.

All in all a successful bit of tourism and it finished with a Starbucks from the hotel lobby. You can’t get a hotel much closer to the start line (the Village hotel in Maidstone is also very close to the start, with the Premier Inn being even closer). If only hotels would post their closest parkrun it would make touristing so much easier.

Do you know any good hotel/parkrun combinations? What did you get up to over the Easter weekend? How does your parkrun make sure that everyone can hear the briefing? When I went to Bushy they had speakers in the trees, but seeing as they have 1000+ runners it is not surprising that they need them. At Ellenbrook the RD just has to climb onto a gate and shout, but then with less than 200 runners and a fairly wide path it’s not too hard to hear.

Postponements, cancellations and a few random photos

A few weeks ago on Monday we were meant to be going to see FOTC (very exciting as I love their show, and their songs, and they only tour once every million years no exaggeration…)

Then this happened:

Image may contain: 1 person, beard

From their facebook page- you can’t be playing instruments if you have broken your arm…

Sad face indeed. I’m not crying, it’s been raining on my face. At least they have rearranged the dates so hopefully we can still go, although it seems that the dates and days don’t match up which is very confusing.

We also had Peter Kay tickets but that tour was cancelled (for very good reasons of course)- now we are just waiting to find out if anything else we have tickets for gets cancelled as these things are meant to come in threes.

The other Saturday I walked into town in the afternoon and got my free drink (Vitality is keeping us in Starbucks at the moment- you get a free drink and a free cinema ticket each week)- I was pleased to have exactly 13000 steps at that point. It’s like when you fill up with petrol and manage to get exactly to the pound- little things make me happy!

My Tropic stuff arrived! Each produce comes with a little sleeve with the ingredients listed in English as well as Latin, which means you have actually heard of most things.

I bought the starter kit with cleanser, toner, moisturiser and a scrub, some sun cream and then my favourite, this little bottle of Elixir (age defying facial oil)- it smells amazing, like marzipan, and contains lots of good sounding things such as rosehip oil, kiwi seed oil and plum kernel oil (which I think is where the marzipan scent comes from). It has a little dropper and you mix a drop into your normal face cream and especially after a long run in the cold (the combination of cold air and salt on my skin makes it very sore after long winter runs) it makes my skin feels loads better. One happy customer so far. Plus the dropper is fun to use and reminds me of my science lessons at secondary school.

We’ve had some very impressive skies recently. I was out on a run one evening after work and I was heading towards blue skies and a few clouds. I turned a corner to start heading home and these black clouds greeted me. I think with the sun on the trees it looked even more dramatic.

Yoga has still been going well. A few weeks ago we had a lovely session on the day of the spring equinox (it was also a full moon, or maybe a new moon, something to do with the moon anyway). We finished the session with some candle meditation (basically we sit in a circle in the dark, wrapped in a blanket, and look at a candle, and then close our eyes and picture the candle, and once you can’t see it any more, you open your eyes to look at it again)- I sometimes struggle with waking in the night and I have found that picturing the candle in the middle of the night is one of the things that helps me get back to sleep, so it was good to have a refresher of this. Towards the end of term I was feeling pretty shattered and I nearly didn’t go to the final yoga session, feeling like I didn’t have the strength for holding a downward dog for any length of time, but of course I came away feeling much better for it.

I’ve also been doing a spot of baking recently- these were requested by someone at work (peanut butter blondies). I had not made them for ages and had forgotten how good they are.

Also, I was watching the celebrity bake off the other day and had to freeze the image because of the necklace that was being worn. We have these little construction toys at school called clever sticks (basically little circles and lines of plastic that clip together)- the children will often make the members of staff lovely necklaces using them- I feel this had happened on this occasion too!

Do you like it when your petrol (or other things) end up on round numbers? Do you like going to see shows? I love seeing live bands, orchestras and also comedy gigs.

Lee Valley 10K 2018

Last year I did the half marathon (with my Dad, it was great), but they also offer a 10k which starts a bit earlier (always my preference) and I could not decide which one to do, so I left the decision until after running Cambridge. I was pretty tired all that week, I picked up a cough which mostly affected me at night, and I was ill one weekend so I decided that the 10k was the most sensible option. The half marathon is a two lap course with the 10k being one lap (slight deviations in both cases as a half isn’t double a 10k), so I thought at least I would see all the pretty scenery.

I was more worried about driving there than the run- I was up early to have a piece of toast and some nuun in water, and had plenty of time to drive and park. The journey was actually fine and I had plenty of time to collect my number, use the toilets (there are real toilets as there is a cafe on site) and chat to a few running friends.

I took my jacket off and tied it around my waist so I was just wearing my vest, but it was really cold. The start was delayed by 15 mins due to queues inside, which I didn’t realise until I’d been waiting for 10 mins, so I got quite cold stood around, but soon we were off and running around the park.

I wasn’t going for a pb, but I wanted to push the pace a bit. I’m not good at racing 10k’s as I think I should be able to go faster but I hate that feeling of pushing hard. I was aiming to get in the low 9 min per mile, and ended up hovering around that mark (9.25 as the first mile was quite congested, then 8.59, 9.02, 9.04, 8.56, 8.52 and then 8.01 for the final bit) which I was pleased with. The route is pretty flat apart from some bridges that you run over- some of them are fairly gentle but some are pretty steep so a bit tough when you are trying to run fast.

At times the route curved around and so up ahead I could see runners and then their colourful tops reflected in the waterways. I tried to take some mid-run photos but I didn’t want to slow down too much! At one point I caught up with a runner from our club so chatted to her briefly, and then later I was overtaken by one of the speedy runners from our club- she’d started right at the back so had been working her way up the field for the whole race. I wondered if we would see any half marathon runners, but as the routes were a tiny bit different we didn’t end up getting lapped.

The finish felt long- you run through the field where the cars were parked, over a bridge and then down towards the main centre- everyone was saying “nearly there, final push” but then you seemed to go away from the finish a bit, veering around the building and through a small car park. I think I started my “sprint” finish too early.

As I finished I got given a medal and picked up a bottle of water and a banana. I suddenly felt really hungry, but then that piece of toast was a long time ago.

I chatted to the runners who had finished ahead, and we waited for the others to come in. After a team photo we all headed home. On the way back there is a big retail park with a Starbucks in it, so I decided to stop and get a cinnamon roll and a chai latte as a sort of brunch as otherwise it would be a 30 min + journey and time was getting on.

When I got home I had a lovely hot shower and then looked up my results. My chip time was 56:23 so I am pretty pleased with that.

All in all a good race, although I think next year I might do the half marathon there as I did really enjoy the route and it seemed to finish really quickly this year. It would be such a good place to go for a walk too, as there are paths everywhere and lots of spots for picnics and things too.

Do you like lapped routes? Are you good at driving to new places? I was more nervous about the journey than the actual race!

Oak Hill parkrun for a new letter

Snow leftovers on Monday morning

This week has been super busy and felt longer than usual. Yoga was on Tuesday (the museum people had booked the hall for the Wednesday), so I spent all of Tuesday thinking it was Wednesday- the most disappointing way to have your days mixed up. This feeling continued during the week which is never good. I managed a short run after work on Wednesday, but got home late on Thursday and needed to walk around to the shop so decided to do that instead of rushing to fit in a run. I was going to head to Panshanger on Saturday, but then on Friday night I remembered that I had looked into Oak Hill parkrun before- it’s near to Cockfosters tube station (we sometimes drive to park there, or by Oakwood, when going into London) and seemed fairly straightforward to get to, with a car park at the start. Panshanger was really muddy last week and Oak Hill looked like it was all on paths (it was), so I decided if I woke up in time on Saturday I’d head there instead.

The journey was about 30 minutes, and in the end I left at around 8.10 (I need to leave lots of time for getting lost)- the journey was fine until the satnav told me I had reached my destination when I was driving along a residential road. I drove down a big hill and saw some runners running up it, and briefly considered putting the window down and shouting to see if they were going to parkrun, but I was too slow. As I looked for a place to pull over at the bottom of the hill, I saw the entrance to the car park and cars pulling in- phew!

It was about 8.45 but cold, so I sat in the car for a bit, watching loads of people with hockey-type bibs on gather around. It slowly dawned on me that they were some sort of fitness group and nothing to do with parkrun, so then I had a panic that I was in the wrong place. I got out of the car to look and then thankfully could see the finish area taping and the blue and white of the RD’s vest- phew!

It was a proper “flash mob” parkrun- stood around at 8.50 am there were maybe 30 people, and not many when they did the new runner briefing. The course was just under 3 laps, and the run briefing was done at the finish area, and then we walked the short way to the start. By the time we were at the start there were loads of people (239 in fact).

As I am running a 10k race tomorrow, I didn’t want to push the pace too much and just focused on going steadily and overtaking a few people in the final lap. I managed to speed up each mile, with 9.39, 9.17, 9.04 and 8.10. The park was quite pretty with a small river running through it with willow trees on the banks. It would be a fairly fast course I think – there was a gentle uphill and then a slightly steeper short bit, followed by a downhill to the finish area, but it was all on paths and although it was busy at the start you could always overtake by running into the grass. It reminded me a bit of Mile End parkrun- not pancake flat but felt like it could be fast.

Once finished I had my token scanned (the token said 265, but then had a sticker on it saying 143, and then when the results came through I had position 140) and then did a few stretches before heading home. Thankfully the forecast rain had stayed away. I’d worn my new apricot half zip top (I caved when they had them for 30% off)- I’d tied it around my waist after the first lap when I had warmed up, so as soon as I finished I put it back on again as it was fairly chilly.

The drive home took longer but I was still home at about 10.15 which wasn’t bad, and I had a lovely breakfast waiting for me at home.

Chocolate almond croissant, mango and berries, and some love potion tea from Bluebird.

I am sort of ticking off the letters from the alphabet for parkrun, although I am still really just doing parkruns that happen to be nearby when I am somewhere else. I was quite pleased with the time of 29.15, and another letter ticked off and my 39th different parkrun course.

Did you enjoy a parkrun today? Are you good at navigating to new places? I really find it hard to drive when I don’t know where I am going, and I have a terrible sense of direction so I can feel like I am going around in circles- going to places like this is good for me I have decided because it forces me to get out of my comfort zone and also show myself that I can usually find my way on my own.

Seriously snow, what is the deal???

Yes, I know we have had snow in April before, but really I feel like we have had enough of snow now, and spring really needs to sort itself out.

The snow started sticking to the bench and falling through the gaps and our poor palm tree had several inches collecting in the leaves.

During the last bout of snow, I ordered some snow boots from Decathlon (I had ordered them in the first lot of snow and then cancelled it because they wouldn’t arrive in time, and then realised that I would probably use them a lot, even when marshalling at parkrun on cold days, so I re-ordered them). The snow delayed their delivery (of course) and I thought I’d be putting them away until next winter, but I’ve been wearing them this weekend!

They are lovely and cosy, with good grips on the soles, but are not too heavy so comfy for walking into town or longer walks.

At Panshanger on Saturday I was running along and a dog kept running in front of me and around me. The park is popular with dog walkers so you do get some off the lead as you run, but after a while I realised that a guy was running along the parkrun route, putting the dog on the lead when he went near a marshal and taking the dog off the lead as soon as he passed. This happened a few times and so as I was running alongside him I just asked “are you running the parkrun?” He told me he was, so I said “the dog needs to be on a short lead the whole time, not just when you pass a marshal”. He then said to me “well she’s a nightmare on the lead” so I just replied “it’s the rules for parkrun- if you don’t like it run somewhere else”. He sped up after that (and I got one of those horrible adrenaline rushes- I really hate confrontation so I am not sure why I did it really)- he did keep the dog on the lead after that and I only finished about 5 spots behind him. I did consider mentioning it to the RD, but in the end because he followed the rules after that I hoped that perhaps he would from now on. It just annoys me when people don’t follow the rules and there are always people who think the rules apply to everyone else but not them. Anyway, rant over.

After parkrun on Saturday we went out on a walk together as then I was off to a “pamper” (not a party), for the company Tropics, who make natural skincare, free from things like parabens, SLS, palm oils, alcohol, microbeads, lanolin- all the products are vegan and not tested on animals.

I was keen to find out about the suncream mainly, but we got to try cleanser, toner (which I don’t think I’d used since trying one as a teenager and finding that it stung so much), facial oil, moisturisers and face masks. It was good to sample the products and of course I ended up ordering more than the suncream, but I did manage to stick to products I will actually use.

When I got home I wasn’t feeling very well, so Saturday evening was spent dozing in front of the fire and not doing much else. I was originally planning a run on Sunday but as I still didn’t feel 100% I decided to watch some TV and have a bit of a walk later instead.

Once in town I decided to get my free drink from Starbucks and enjoyed just sitting and people watching for a bit, before walking home. I got back just in time as once home the snow started coming down really hard- my car had been clear earlier but then it was covered, as was our road.

The dry air has been making my hands so cold- I had a little sample pack of these hand creams and have been putting them in all my pockets and bags so that one is always close by.

On Sunday evening we went to see Game Night, which was very refreshing after the last few serious/gory films (Red Sparrow being particularly graphic and I am really surprised that it was a 15 and not an 18). At one point they referenced Cyberdyne Systems and I laughed (because of going on the Terminator ride in Florida many times)- literally no-one else in the cinema laughed! Anyway, it was fairly funny and a bit farcical, which I like (although the girl sitting next to me eating nachos really loudly was driving me crazy- I really do not like hearing people eat at the best of times).

Do you have a good skincare routine? Do you think that is the end of the snow now??? I hope so- I’ve got a 10k race on Sunday and I really hope it goes ahead.