Author: Maria Runs

A catch up and happy birthday NHS!

How is the weekend over already?

Last weekend was full of unpacking, weeding, a little visit to the garden centre and a 10 mile run (my first in double figures for a while). This peach cobbler tea is delicious (in my new mug).

I’ve been having success with the viridian sports mix- I have been adding it to either coconut water or iced tea (this was lemonade iced tea) and so far I’ve not had a headache when using it.

I saw this Hazelnut milk in the shops and could not resist- it is pretty amazing and although it’s been way too warm for it this week, would make a delicious hot chocolate.

This week looked like this:

Monday- 10 mile run, plus a walk into town later on

Tuesday- 3 mile run (I was feeling pretty shattered so just took it slowly)

Wednesday- yoga including a bit of time outside on the grass attempting handstands- it was the closest I have got and my shoulders were really achy the next day from it.

Thursday- 3 miles in the morning (I was on a course so made the most of needing to leave a little later)

Friday- home to find that Andy had bought these little peanut butter caramel things from M&S- so a couple plus a cup of tea made the perfect start to the weekend. We had a nice walk after dinner once it wasn’t quite as warm.

Saturday was parkrun celebrating 70 years of the NHS. I was going to go to Panshanger as I’ve not been there for a while, and then early on Saturday morning I got a message saying we’d be out on Sunday morning, so I decided to run there and back on Saturday (parkrun sandwich) to get my long run in then.

The run there is just over 4 miles, and I always panic about missing the start, although I got there at about 8.50 so good timing really. There was bunting up all over the car park entrance, by the finish funnel and where the scanners stand. It was brilliant to read so many of the amazing achievements- vaccines/ transplants/ screenings (although how was it that in 1954 the link between smoking and cancer was discovered, and smoking wasn’t banned in public places until 2007???). Before the start they asked everyone who worked for the NHS to come up so we could give them a clap, and a local nurse (who I think they said was an MBE) did a little speech. A few people had paper on their backs saying things like “thank you NHS for saving my life” and listing various illnesses.  It was brilliant to hear that some GP’s in Hertfordshire are exploring prescribing parkrun to people- I really think that being involved in a community like this is way better for your mental health than your physical health, and just getting people outside for some fresh air is so beneficial.

Then we were off. I was in no hurry, knowing I had to run the 4 miles home, and just really enjoyed the scenery. I saw someone from my running club but she was ahead of me and I didn’t catch her up.

I finished with 30:30, and made sure that as soon as I was scanned I started running home so I would not get too stiff.

I saw this pretty plant on the way back- lovely red leaves and layers of pink flowers- I need to work out how to search google for it.

Did your parkrun celebrate the NHS?

Why York parkrun? Yes

I was rather happy that we stayed in York for the final night of our trip to Scotland, because this meant not only more parkrun tourism, but ticking off a rather tricky letter. I think the only other one is Yeovil?

After leaving Newcastle, we drove down to York, stopping off at a NT place for a walk around the gardens. As a side point we found it good to break up the journeys with stops this time, as our default setting is to power through and then feel all stiff when we finally get out of the car. We managed good amounts of steps each day, with a high of 27,000 steps on the Thursday and a low of 13,000 on the first Saturday.

I was very pleased to see amazing looking scones, so I treated myself to a cream tea as a sort of late lunch- it was so good.

Once in York we had a wander around- it was jam packed with people, and such a hot and sunny day. We went for dinner in Source, which had loads of veggie and vegan options, I was spoilt for choice. We shared a lime-grilled avocado to begin with. I’ve not had warm avocado before (I don’t think) but it was really tasty. It was served with a little bit of crusty bread, so it was a bit like warm guacamole or something. Very creamy and delicious.

On a rather damp and drizzly morning, I set off to the parkrun on the Saturday morning. It was around 1.7 miles from the hotel, so good distance for a warm up. I’d much rather run than have to navigate bus timetables and that sort of thing, and although I needed my phone out at first (the roads in York are a bit twisty) once I was on the main road heading out of the town, it was all fine. York parkrun is held on the racecourse, so there were signs once I got close which helped too.

The website does say to allow time to get from the road to the start, and it ended up being a kilometre, so you do need to be aware of this. Confusingly there were signs for a cycle event (cue a slight bit of panic in case all the lycra people were cyclists) but then I saw a couple of milestone t’s so I knew I was OK.

By then it had started to rain a bit harder, and there is really no shelter here at all either. Everyone was trekking along the edge of the track to the start, and of course as soon as I stopped running my glasses steamed up more.

The new runners briefing was very welcoming, and they had a few pacers including a run/walk pacer who came and introduced herself in case anyone wanted to go with her.

Now, I had read it was pretty much pancake flat, so thought it might be good for a pb, or at least a fast time, but I wasn’t feeling it, so in the end I decided to aim for the 28 min pacer. The route starts at one side of the race track, you do a full lap (3 k approx) and then a final 2/3 of a loop (around 2km) to the finish. I must admit that if I ran here each week I would find it mentally very tough. It started off feeling a bit interesting to be running next to the race track – we were inside the fence on a path, with the track going around the outside (although my thoughts wandered over to the morbid side of horse racing, wondering how many poor horses had been shot on the course), but you could see the whole route the entire time. It was amazing how quickly the front runners steamed ahead of everyone else, and although I managed to get to the finish on my first lap without being lapped I don’t think I’d need to be much slower to be overtaken (this doesn’t bother me but just makes it more congested and surely more confusing for the volunteers).

The scenery around the outside changed a little bit- there was a lovely wooded area to one side and you passed the grandstand near the finish area. But it was pretty much the same view all the time. I am not a huge fan of long straight roads as I just feel like I am not moving. The finish at Ellenbrook Fields is along the old taxiway and it’s a km from start to finish,  and that can feel like a slog. I must admit when I got to the 3km point I wasn’t enthused about running 2 more with the same views. I do think it would be tough on a sunny day too, as there was little shade on the course.

There were however some lovely cheerful marshals out on the course, and a few runners milling around the finish area cheering people in. The pacers did a great job too- I started further back and so took a while to catch up the 29 min pacer, only getting the 28 min pacer in sight near the end.

I finished in 28:07 in the end, so not too far from my aim, and although I didn’t look at my watch I managed nice negative splits of 9:10, 9:03, 8:59 and 7:56 for the bit. (Position 279/474)

I tried to take a pondering selfie for the “Y/Why” question…

Then it was time to head back- the rain that had eased off during the parkrun was back so by the time I got back to the hotel I was totally drenched- the hot shower afterwards felt so good (or could I have saved time by just putting the shampoo on my hair while I was running?).

We headed to The Cosy Club for breakfast- lovely pancakes with bananas, berries and creme fraiche, plus a pot of tea, and then it was time to drive home- in keeping with tradition we of course stopped off at a final NT place for a walk around some woods and gardens.

Are you a fan of parkrun tourism? Are you hunting any particular letters or doing other challenges? I quite like the pirates challenge (7 c’s and one r) but I’ve done all the local C’s already. I enjoyed my Herts challenge too (running all the parkruns in Hertfordshire) so I feel like maybe a new county would be good to consider.  I still mainly aim to be a tourist if I happen to be away somewhere, although the closer I get to finishing the alphabet, the more likely I am to become more serious about it!

Sunny Scotland!

For half term we headed up to Scotland for a bit of a whistle-stop tour. We could not have been any luckier with the weather. My theory is that if you go to Scotland (or the Lake District, or pretty much anywhere north of where we live) then if you get rain, then that’s what you expected, and anything better is a bonus. After work on Friday we had dinner, packed up the car and headed up north.

Andy had diligently researched hotels close to parkruns – originally we were going to stay in Leeds on the Friday night so I could go to Temple Newsam, but our route in Scotland changed so we stayed in Warrington. A few weeks ago they announced on their facebook page that the event wouldn’t go ahead on Saturday due to a community event taking part in the park- annoying, but I was glad I knew in advance. It meant we set off fairly early the next morning. We stopped in Sizergh castle (a NT place) to stretch our legs and of course sample some cake- we shared a piece of sticky toffee cake (a local speciality apparently) and it was so good although I think if you had a piece to yourself the sugar crash would be epic.

I enjoyed watching the goslings, and we had a good wander around the grounds before heading to Glasgow.

All the sunshine!

It was such gorgeous weather, and so after dropping off our bags we walked through the town centre out to one of the parks (Glasgow Green) and along by the river. I was also very excited to find that the Hotel Chocolat had a cafe, so we had to share a hazelnut hot chocolate.

On the Sunday morning I went on a run, to the same park,enjoying the somewhat quieter streets.

After breakfast we walked along the river in the opposite direction to where we went on Saturday, then drove to the botanical gardens for a walk and picnic lunch. The park was rammed!

Then it was time to head off to Loch Lomond- another place crowded with people out enjoying the spectacular sunshine.

We walked along the lake for a bit, and then also through a loop in some woodland.

Our hotel was on the shore of the loch with more amazing views. It was light until so late in the evening too.

On Monday we had a longer drive to Inverness. We broke it up by stopping in Aviemore for lunch- we’d been to the amazing Mountain Cafe last year (possibly the same day) so we were keen to go there again. I had a delicious falafel and hummus sandwich, but the slices of bread were about a thick as two normal pieces of bread- we didn’t need dinner that day!

We did however have room to share a piece of caramel shortbread- it had the thickest caramel ever- so good.

One of my friends lives in Inverness, so I had asked her for recomendations- she told us about the Ness Island Walks, basically paths linked by bridges going over the river, up to the town. Again, beautiful weather and such a fantastic place for an evening walk.

On Tuesday we had arranged to meet up with my friend and her two little children. We went to middle school together, and by a weird coincidence moved up to Scotland the same week that my family moved to St Albans. Despite only knowing each other for three and a half years, we kept in touch and often used to visit each other in the holidays, although as we have got older it has become harder to meet up. We had arranged to meet in Nairn (apparently the Brighton of the north) but the sea mist (I forget the Scottish word for it) had rolled in, so after a walk up and down the prom, we headed to Logie Steading, a farm with a cafe, shops and art gallery in the old stables, next to a river with lots of marked footpaths, where we had lunch in the cafe, a long walk by the river to the canyon, and then back to the cafe for ice cream. It was so lovely to catch up- of course we are in touch via social media and all of that, but in person it is different.

From there we drove to Aberdeen, although we didn’t end up seeing much of the town. We parked in the centre and went for dinner, but our hotel was on the outskirts and as we were headed to Edinburgh the next day, we didn’t go back into the centre in the morning.

In Edinburgh we visited the botanical gardens before heading to the centre. It was a bit overcast that day, but still warm.

As it was rather overcast, of course we went to the Hotel Chocolat cafe, this time for a mint one (we shared a large each time but I am very sure that the Edinburgh large was bigger than the Glasgow large).

On Wednesday morning I had a run in Edinburgh- stupidly I was remembering my run in Glasgow, thinking I’d be out before it got busy, but of course forgetting it was a work day. The run had a lot of stop-starts as I had to wait to cross roads, but I still managed to do around 4 miles looping around the city centre. It was so misty that morning that I could hardly see the castle, although it did clear during the morning.

Then it was time for my favourite- breakfast (well, brunch really by the time I’d had a shower, we’d checked out and left our bags in the car and walked there..) at Loudon’s.

I love French toast, and so of course had to have it- I went for banana, salted caramel and toasted coconut. They do special blends of tea too, so I had one with black tea, cocoa nibs and coconut, which was delicious.

After a final walk around the park, it was time to head south and leave Scotland behind. We stopped off in Alnwick for a bit of a walk, and then drove to Newscastle for our penultimate stop.

The blue skies were out in force, and it was enjoyable to wander around by the river, remembering when we were last here (for the Great North Run).

I’ll save our final stop for another blog post as it involved some parkrun tourism.

Have you ever been to Scotland? I suppose having a friend living there meant I had a reason to visit, but I have been a fair few times. It always surprises me when people haven’t been when it’s so close (and easy with options for going by plane, rail, even bus).

Working in the garden and lots of nature

After parkrun on Saturday I went back to my parents house for pancakes. Once we had finished breakfast, we headed into the garden to have a look at some plants that mum has been growing for us in the greenhouse. As we went outside, we could hear some chirping from one of their bird boxes, and then we saw a great tit flying in and out of the box- the chirping got so loud each time the bird came back.

We moved away a little, and then while we were watching that we saw two red kites courting (is it called that? sort of flying into each other and then away), and then a buzzard really low, being chased away by two jackdaws- it was all go!

When I got home I was so chuffed to see a goldfinch on the nyjer seeds- I’ve only seen them being eaten a handful of times, but it seems at long last that the finches have learnt that there is food here, as I’ve seen one or two every day for the past week, sometimes for a good ten minutes at a time.

Any had been busy cutting up the final pile of wood and moving it off the circle of paving slabs in the middle of the lawn, and then he’d moved some plant pots onto it- it has made a huge difference.

We headed off to the garden centre, thinking it might be empty (according to Andy, people that like garden centres probably like the royal wedding, so it would be emptier than usual, but of course ignoring the fact that we like garden centres and not the royal wedding….)- anyway, we have been planning a garden project for a while so wanted to get a few plants to add to the project. I then had a few hours of work to do before the day was out, so we left the actual garden work until Sunday.

On Sunday I went out on a lovely run- in the end I did 9.5 miles and although it was warm, there was a light breeze which really helped.

I passed this field with an amazing streak of purple flowers in it- I could not work out what they were as I couldn’t get close enough, but it looked so pretty.

Once home, I quickly had a shower and breakfast as it was time to get on with the garden project. We went to B&Q to get some soil and trellises, and then did a few hours of work but it got so hot, so we had a break and headed into town to get a few bits (and use my Starbucks free drink voucher) and then went back into the garden once it was a bit cooler- we didn’t stop until 7pm when we were both totally shattered.

It doesn’t look so big here, but this is the root that he finally dug up- it left a bit of a crater!

My parents had given me a pot with an olive tree, buddleia and foxglove growing in it- they wanted the pot but not the plants so I divided that up and planted them (which involved poor Andy digging holes in very solid ground). We filled in the big hole left when he finally dug out a huge tree root, and then added loads of plants including a little fig tree, lavender grown by my mum and a few plants we bought on Saturday. The tulips and winter pansies in the pots had finished flowering so we dug those into the ground. Mum had given us a load of bedding plants so we planted them around the garden and in a few of the pots- I’ve put some in the stump of the willow tree as it’s a u-shape so I thought that might look good (at the foot of the bird bath).

Clockwise from top right- geraniums in the willow tree stump, patio pots ready for the trellis, view from the living room, pots moved to the middle of the lawn.

I’d been given lots of garden things this year including a little ladybird, thermometer and bird box, so we put those up.

As well as a load of weeding, we also got on with the garden project of putting up the trellis (although we finished that on Monday night) and planting out some climbers in pots so they will cover the wall.

The plan is to fix the mirror above the bench- we are nearly finished!

On Monday we finished some of the bits off, and had a nice walk in the sunshine in the evening. I started sneezing a bit on Monday afternoon, and on Tuesday was feeling a bit more cold-like. I was OK at work so decided to have a gentle run on my own instead of going to the club run, which I think helped to clear away the cobwebs in a way. When I got home, I made a drink (iced tea with some of the salt drops) and then sat on the bench in the garden and enjoyed it- we definitely need to sort out the ratio of working in the garden to actually just using it.

Do you like gardening? I find it very satisfying seeing all the changes. Do you have much wildlife where you live? The fox cubs have been back in our garden which is always lovely to see.