Category: General ramblings

Last Monday I had to head out pretty quikly after getting home from work, as I was off to the second Hertfordshire parkrun Celebration of Volunteers.

It was a free event held at the uni in Hatfield, and anyone who has ever volunteered (or who is interested in volunteering I think) could get a ticket and attend. The evening began in an atrium, with the St Albans parkrun band playing and a buffet available (although I’d had dinner and only just got there in time so didn’t have any of that), and then we all went into the auditorium for some talks and presentations. While we all filed in, there was a photo montage by Bruce Li (he seems to be a sort of unofficial parkrun photographer – he was the one at Northala Fields the other week, and I noticed that he was credited in this article about how parkrun makes you happier)- he takes fantastic photos of people running, laughing, smiling, and just captures the spirit of parkrun perfectly.

There was a talk from Nick Pearson, the chief executive of parkrun. He was interesting as he talked a lot about the change of direction for parkrun- it used to be more about having parkruns where people wanted them, and now they are trying to help create a happier, healthier planet so they need to try and target areas and groups where people are less active. He took a few questions from the audience too.

I liked the facts on the back of the flyer- last January (the last evening for parkrun in Herts) there were 11 parkruns in Hertfordshire and now there are 21, and apparently with more planned (athough I didn’t find out where just yet- I’ll need to visit them to keep my Queen of Herts status). 3000 children take part in junior parkruns which is fantastic as they are all relatively new ones. 14% of runs are by people aged over 55.

Later there were talks from people about project PROVE. One guy talked about his experience with heart disease (he was a runner, and had a check up and was told that he had had a heart attack but didn’t realise), and was now supporting others with heart disease to take part in parkrun. One woman talked about trying to encourage obese people to take part (and they praised Bruce Li here for taking positive pictures of overweight people instead of the usual media focus of people eating pies or sitting on a sofa). Sadly a lot of people would register but not go, or drive to a parkrun further away so they would not bump into anyone they knew. The final woman talked about supporting people with learning difficulties and/or autism. What I thought was poignant here was that you cannot always see a disability, so if someone behaves in a certain way (refusing to take a finish token) don’t assume they are just being awkward. They had all set up facebook groups and Strava groups for people to join, and had recommended things like speaking to the event team beforehand so they could support in any way. You can find all of the various support groups (for example the facebook groups) here.

After that, awards were given out to the parkrun teams, before we headed back into the foyer for tea/coffee and cake (of course). It was such an interesting evening, and just reminded me how brilliant parkrun is.

What do you think puts people off going to a parkrun? 

The last couple of weeks have flown by- I feel like I’ve hardly stopped to take a breath.

I’ll try to do a quick recap of the last couple of weeks:

After my little parkrun adventure to Northala Fields, on the Sunday I decided to run along Cole Green Lane, which is the old railway line near me. It was my first run of the year along that way, and I thought it might be muddy but it wasn’t too bad. I did an out and back route for just over 7 miles.

When I got home I had a cheat’s version of Cafe Coho’s pancakes- pancakes topped with Koko yoghurt and defrosted summer berries.

Monday- more chopping up trees in the garden after work

Tuesday- only just made it to running club where I wished I’d worn a vest and not a t-shirt as it was so warm (it was 26C at 7pm!).

Wednesday- lovely yoga of course.

Thursday- a yoga session at work (someone has started coming in for the staff which is brilliant). As I don’t like to run for 3 days in a row (and like to run on Saturday and Sunday) I tend to do a 4th run on a Thursday, so I stopped on my way home for a short run around the lakes. It was so hot (28C) and I rushed home for a shower as then we were off to see Grease at the cinema.

Grease was great, although it started 5 mins after the show time (as opposed to the normal 25 mins of adverts)- this caught a load of people out. Also, it was not a singalong version but that did not stop the people behind us wailing like strangled cats…

Friday- I stopped off to see my parents on my way home from work as it had been my mum’s birthday- we sat out in their garden for ages and it was just lovely.

Saturday- I met Dad at Ellenbrook Fields. We ran together and until the final mile I was managing to chat to him. I finished in 27.12 which matched my first ever parkrun time at St Albans. When I mentioned this to Dad he told me that I really should have run more slowly at the start to give myself a chance of getting more pbs!

After pancakes at theirs, Dad offered to help clear some of the junk from behind our shed (left by the previous people), so we spent a while in the garden clearing out so much rubbish (old incinerator bins with no bottom, lumps of concrete, bits of old trellis and broken bird feeder tables…). Andy’s parents then came over, bringing us some plants they had kept in their garden for us. We all headed off to Crews Hill for the garden centre (it is basically a road with garden centres lining it). Once we got home we had to spend another hour or so planting everything. After having our new fence put in the other week, we can now actually start to plant close to it now. We’ve got a couple of little crab apple trees, and bought a few other plants (some gorgeous blue ones) to go on that side by the blue shed.

One the other side we had a few gaps, so got some pink plants to go on that side, as we have a pink magnolia and a little apple tree with pink blossom.

On Sunday morning I went for a run to Panshanger park- our clump of bluebells had started to flower in the garden, so I thought they might be out in the park- I was right!

It was such a beautiful morning, and the bluebells looked amazing, but again it was really hot and I felt pretty thirsty by the time I got home. I’d only run 9 miles (compared to the poor people running the London marathon). I’d taped the race so after a shower and breakfast I sat down to watch it while I got on with my work. It was pretty exciting, but I don’t envy the runners at all.

Once the work was finished, I went into the garden with the aim of weeding a little area at the back. There were (or so I thought) a few lumps of concrete, but it turned out that the entire bed was made up of concrete lumps covered with a thin layer of soil. I managed to lift most of them, but some I could only flip over.

(Flower bed and lumps of concrete, plus the newly cleaned area behind the shed).

What I thought would be a quick job took me 90 minutes- who needs a gym?

This week has been just as busy- on Monday evening I was out at the Herts parkrun volunteer evening (which I’ll do a separate post about).

On Tuesday our club run was aiming to be 3.7 miles for the runner who died 3.7 miles from the end of the London marathon (you can donate to his Just Giving Page here). We did an out and back to try and get the distance right, and it was pretty chilly each time we stopped to regroup- such a change from the previous week. One of the people out running had run London on the Sunday and was telling us about it- it seems that so many people started too fast (for the heat) and she had not seen that many people collapsing before.

Wednesday was yoga, and Thursday was yoga, run and cinema (Rampage= questionable CGI but totally relaxing as it was just silly).

Where has the spring gone? Do you have summer and winter running routes?

So on the final Saturday of the holidays I decided to have a little parkrun adventure on my own. I looked at a a few options including Valentines or Victoria Dock for a V, but the train + tube times were adding up, so in the end I went for Northala Fields- I would tick off the N, and also complete the compass challenge (having already run Eastleigh, Southampton/South Oxhey and Westmill).

It meant I had to drive, and although it was 45 minutes away, this was on the M25 so I left at 7.45 to allow loads of time. The journey was actually really easy (even for me)- M25, then M40 into London, which would then turn into the A40, and then at some point (when the satnav told me, and also when the big mounds appeared to my right), exit and turn right. The car park was right there, although filled with the most enormous pot holes so I did briefly worry about getting my car stuck!

Northala Fields have these cool hump hills, which were from when the original Wembley stadium was dug out. One of them has a path spiralling all the way around to the top, so of course I had to run it to get the cool shape on Strava!

I had a little wander around before heading up.

Mmmm, cinnamon swirls…

It took longer than I thought- I’d run 0.8 miles and it was getting closer to when they would do the new runner briefing, so I took a few moments to enjoy the view before heading back down. It had boards up showing what you could see- the weather was beautiful but a little hazy so I couldn’t see everything on the boards.

I had planned to put my long sleeved top in the car before the run, but as time was getting tight I tied it around my waist instead. I headed along to the briefing, where all the tourists were given a lovely welcome.

I saw a few other people with their cow cowls and said hi to them (although they were from Guildford and I just could not remember where it was at all- my geography is not great as if two places begin with the same letter I get them muddled). The guy doing the briefing had been to Panshanger and said how beautiful it was (it really is)- it was on the parkrun profile this week so check it out if you are interested. The main briefing was great- they had big pieces of paper for the milestone people to hold (eg a big purple 25, a red 50 and so on)- the people celebrating milestones stood on the bench holding the paper, so that even if you could not hear the briefing, you could see who was celebrating.

The course was busy with just over 300 runners. It started off on a fairly wide path with grass on either side, so even though (again) I started a bit far back, I managed to overtake people and get into my stride.  The route looped around the back of the spiral hill, went past the start/finish area through some wooded parkland and then around playing fields.

The view from outside the cafe- you ran past this to get to the playing fields section. 

On the far end of the playing fields we ran along the pavement, before heading back into the field, back through the wooded area, past the start/finish area (which I wasn’t looking forward to but was good to be cheered on by the runners who had finished), back around the edge of the spiral in the other direction, and then along to the finish. I felt like I was going fast, but I didn’t look at my watch at all. My miles were pretty consistent according to Strava- 9.11, 8.42, 8.45 and then 8.22 for an official time of 27:41

I like to take a picture of my finish token, and as I was getting my phone out, Bruce Li (who takes brilliant parkrun photos) came and asked me if I wanted a finisher photo. I agreed (we all love a photo at parkrun) and then I chatted to him for a bit. He saw I had Panshanger on my t-shirt, and then I realised that he had visited Ellenbrook and created a video of the course.  It was really lovely to chat to him- he told me that as this is his home run he takes photos at the start, runs it (in around 20 minutes I might add!) and then takes finisher photos for as many people as possible. What a lovely way to be a part of the parkrun community.

I did look in the cafe as I had heard good things, but there was a huge queue and I could only see cooked things on offer- I was hoping for a toasted teacake or something. I had a nakd bar and some water in the car so in the end I headed back and did some stretches before driving home.

So, another letter added, and a new club achieved (totally unofficial of course).  I think every parkrun is worth visiting, but this one felt quite special. The spiral was good fun, and the local just felt really different to other parks.

Then this week I got a message from someone saying I was on the parkrun instagram account (and also on the facebook page it turned out)- they had used one of the photos of me at the finish for their post about where everyone had been this weekend- fame at last!

If you like touristing, how do you decide where to go next?