Category: General ramblings

Westmill parkrun- getting closer to all the Herts ones (possibly..)

A couple of months ago, Westmill parkrun began in Hertfordshire (around the time I went to South Oxhey for my then penultimate Herts parkrun)- it is only a few miles beyond Panshanger (on the outskirts of Ware) but due to holidays and celebrating Dad’s 100th we just hadn’t had a weekend to visit there until this week. The plan was for a visit there and then back to mine for breakfast after.

As Dad would have to drive past me to get there, him and Mum picked me up at 8.15 and as it is fairly close we were sat in the car park at 8.30. The parkrun takes place in a sort of outdoor activity centre, with a go-ape style climbing section, a golf course and apparently axe-throwing (although I didn’t notice that). We parked in the first car park and then found someone in a high viz vest who directed us down a gravel track to where the parkrun finished- there was an additional car park here (and to be fair the directions on the website did mention a gravel track but as we also drove down one from the road we thought we were already there)- it was only a 5 min walk and as it was such beautiful weather it was fantastic to enjoy the views across the valley and down to the lakes.

Mum was going to watch (and basically chat to anyone around, especially anyone with a dog) while we ran, and was very handy as she also carried our jackets once we started as it was a bit nippy- it definitely felt more autumnal.

The first timers briefing was fairly busy- this was only its 8th event so as well as tourists there were lots of local runners who hadn’t run it before. We could see it would be a little hilly as we could see markers down in the valley and the finish funnel half way up a steepish hill. It was described as “flat with added gravity”- the RD had seen my Ellenbrook top and commented that it is very flat there, but I reassured her that we used to run at Panshanger before that started so we are OK with hills. Once the briefing was completed, we walked up the track (back towards where we had parked) as the start was a little further up. They mentioned to us that there was a waffle house cafe as a place to get a hot drink and breakfast once you finished so we thought we’d have a look at the end.

The route was nearly two laps- you started half way up a hill, ran to the top, across fields and a golf course, then down (including some very steep downhills where we were all warned as last week someone had fallen into a bush at the bottom) to the lakes, around the lakes before a steep uphill to the finish area, then you continued up the hill (next to the track we walked along to the start) before repeating the loop again.

I ran with Dad for the first loop and then he decided to push on for a quicker second lap so he sped off and I took a few photos while I was running.

It was such a gorgeous setting for a parkrun- the course didn’t feel that long (in fact I got to the lakes for the second time and wondered when my watch would beep for 2 miles, and when I glanced at my watch it was on 2.6 miles)- it was fairly twisty and really varied so it kept your interest on the scenery. At one point we ran down a shaded track and the drop in temperature was really noticeable. The short steep uphill was tough for the first time around- much like the old short and sharp finish at Panshanger- and I wasn’t particularly looking forward to it the second time around! As I ran into the field I could see Dad up ahead just finishing, so I made sure I pumped my arms on the hill and put in a bit of a sprint finish on the flatter section to the finish funnel as he cheered me through.

He finished in position 32 with 27.03, and I was position 48 with 29.30 (and second in my age category). Only 78 people ran so it’s a fairly small one still, which adds to the community feel.

As we walked back to the car we had a look inside the cafe at the menu, and have decided that in the spring we will come back and aim for breakfast there. (I’m sure I’ll head there at other times too as it was such a pretty place to run- I love the parks that feel more like countryside than a city centre park or cricket pitch). We then drove home and enjoyed watermelon (loving this after a run), croissants and tea (or coffee for my parents).

Now, the important thing is how am I getting on with the Herts parkruns? Well, as of this weekend I only have one left to do (Cassiobury in Watford still), but there is a parkrun currently in Hatfield Forest (Essex) which is relocating to Bishops Stortford (Herts)- so in October I’ll be back to having two left to do! There’s worse problems to have I suppose!

Are you chasing any parkrun sets? What type of places do you like to run in? Do you mind hills or laps?

Another parkrun milestone and a brilliant cinema trip

So, on Saturday I was busy packing all of the cakes into a big Ikea bag (this was my mum’s brilliant idea last time because none of my bag for life bags were big enough for all of the cake boxes) ready to take to parkrun.

The parking at Ellenbrook is at the uni, and it is a short walk through the car park and along a road to the actual start. There’s no parking at the start as it’s a track and access for the fields, but the RD always parks on the grass next to the track as they have stuff to unload. I walked along carrying the huge bag (which was very heavy and awkward) and arrived to find my parents parking next to the RD’s car- I should have thought it through as they would have let me park there I am sure. Mum had baked loads of cupcakes, and also they had sliced two large watermelons- when we went to South Oxhey someone had brought along watermelon and it was a perfect snack to eat after a run, so we stole their idea!

After unloading the cakes onto the table (and then having to balance more cakes on the big plastic box used to store things in….) we made our way to the start. At the announcements (where at first they announced that “Maria’s Dad” was running his 100th- a bit of a joke as for a while Carrie, the RD and our club leader, could never remember his name so used to cheer him past as “Maria’s Dad”) they gave him a newly acquired crown to wear so everyone would know. We also had a regular volunteer earning his 25 t-shirt, so he got a crown too. As my brother had come too we decided to run together (this usually means my pace as they are both faster than me on a good day), and it was very enjoyable. Lots of people congratulated Dad on his way around, and some children who were marshaling with their parents shouted “it’s the king”, so we decided he would be parkrun king for the day (and then I got the Greenday song stuck in my head).

Once we had finished and had our tokens scanned, we saw how well Mum was doing at handing out the cakes.

It was lovely to spend the time catching up with people- due to holidays and touristing I’d not been to Ellenbrook all summer. I was the run report writer and you can see my write up here.

Image may contain: 5 people, people smiling, people standing, tree and outdoor

Dad was asked to pose with some of the first timers for the facebook page.

After the tail walker arrived and the marshals came back, we managed to give out most of the cakes- all the watermelon went so if you are celebrating any milestones it is a good tip. We packed up the last few bits and then I headed home as I was off to London.

We had tickets to see the only UK screening of Skid Row Marathon– Martin Yelling had organised it after seeing the film, so I’d heard about it on the Marathon Talk podcast. The producer and director (Mark and Gabby Hayes) were coming over from LA for a Q &A after. It’s a documentary about a judge in LA who tries to support homeless people through running. The documentary followed several people on their journey of becoming marathon runners.

As the screening didn’t start until 3.30, we had plenty of time, so drove to a tube station and wandered around the shops in Covent Garden and central London. I went into Lululemon to browse as I have a voucher but of course I had forgotten to bring it- luckily I didn’t see anything. Andy wanted to go into the Lego store so we had a look- it was very impressive with so many models made of lego-things like this tube map were really clever. We went for a quick lunch in Leon and then it was time for the main event. While we were waiting outside I saw a lot of running royalty including Martin Yelling (of Marathon Talk podcast fame) and his wife Liz (of general running fame) and the founder of parkrun, Paul Sinton-Hewitt. I am not good at speaking to people I don’t know, and with famous people I always think they must be annoyed with people forever coming up to speak to them (and I had met PSH at the parkrun volunteer evening so I didn’t think I needed to talk to him again). I am sure had I introduced myself to Martin Yelling as a listener of MT, he would have been very friendly as he always comes across that way, but he looked busy sorting out the producers and that sort of thing.

I was very paranoid about needing to use the bathrooms during the film as I didn’t know how long it would be or how long the Q&A would last, and as I was heading in to see if I could use them, I bumped into the lovely Anna from Anna the Apple– we’d realised on the Friday night (or Thursday?) that we were both going so had agreed to look out for each other. We had a brief chat which was great (and as Anna had an empty fro-yo pot that set a seed in my mind for later) but then it was time for us to go in.

The film was brilliant. I know I love running, but it wasn’t really about running, it was about how people help and support each other, and about how people need a second (and third) chance, and how doing something like a marathon can be empowering. The people they followed had become homeless (or living in the mission- a sort of shelter) for different reasons (drugs/ alcoholism/ prison) but they were all treated with dignity and respect and other people always helped them see that they had potential. I think I probably cried most of the way through- I found it very emotional. I have only run two marathons but as a person who didn’t like PE and didn’t think I could run, when I actually managed to complete my first one, as something I never thought I would achieve, it really boosted my confidence and I think that has transferred through into other parts of my life. I think this was echoed through the film as the running gave the people the confidence to tackle other areas of their lives, and supported some of them in their battles with addiction. There were light-hearted moments too (the judge commenting that they would run even faster if they gave up smoking, or when they were getting their jabs before going to Africa and told to not attract the monkeys) and his friendships with the runners was really touching to see. I was pretty shocked at seeing the number of homeless people in LA alone- I have been there and with the mild climate in California you tend to see more homeless people than other big cities, but the scale was just frightening. Altogether it was fantastic, and I hope that they manage to get it on streaming services. I enjoyed Senna even though I am not the biggest F1 fan, so I would say even if you weren’t into running, it was still a worthwhile watch. (Andy enjoyed it and he isn’t really a lover of running, but he does like a documentary).

The Q&A was very interesting too- Martin Yelling hosted so he had a few questions before they moved on to the audience. It was all very interesting and I was glad of the time to let my eyes dry a bit!

After it finished the sun was still shining so we headed out to find some fro-yo!

I don’t normally go for all of the toppings (mainly because it’s expensive but also I don’t like crunchy things with ice cream) but I saw someone with the passion fruit on theirs and it looked so refreshing so we shared this pot of pink guava fro-yo with  passionfruit and strawberries- very tasty.

We then had a final wander before getting the tube back- we even got home in time to watch the first episode of the next series of Narcos- it’s on Netflix so we have to be restrained and only watch one a night!

Do you like documentaries? We watched a brilliant one the other day called Chasing Coral (also very sad, as it was about the coral bleaching linked to climate change).

Enjoying the final week of the holidays

I mean, I say it every year, but the summer just flies by so fast. It’s now September. I got an email from Starbucks about pumpkin spice lattes. I do love autumn but I am not sure how it’s got here so quickly!

Last week was the final week of the holidays. After getting back from France around lunch time on Monday, we headed out on a walk- along the old railway line and then back along some paths- some were very overgrown with stinging nettles.

My quest to run 100 miles in August continued on Monday with a 9 mile run- I sorted a new route made up of the beginning of the route with the big hill (but avoiding it) and finishing up with most of my 5 mile route, but backwards. At one point in the woods I ran along new paths and found this interesting bench.

I was very hot by the end, and although I had originally hoped for 10 miles, I could not be bothered to run up the road to make up the numbers.

After a shower, breakfast and lots of cold drinks we headed off for some shopping- first to get the paint for the living room, and then to the garden centre as I still had some vouchers from my birthday and wanted to put plants in before it gets too cold.

Then my parents came over- Dad helped me with doing the first coat of paint on the living room walls, and Mum sat outside and read/ chatted to Andy while he was cutting up wood and planting stuff in the garden.

On Tuesday I headed into work first thing as the cleaners do a deep clean over the summer which involves them moving all of the furniture to the middle of the room- I spent a few hours moving back tables, drawer units and cupboards, as well as doing some printing and sorting a few other bits out.

This is one of my little summer projects- I bought a set of drawers (they are sold for screws and things)  and have made labels for all of the bits and bobs like pens, whiteboard pens, blue tac, hairbands- I even have a drawer for my teabags! I attached the labels with little sticky pad things and I am maybe a bit too excited about how neat my desk will look!

After getting home later than planned (closer to 1pm than the 11am I had imagined), I needed to do another coat of paint on the walls. I was supposed to be meeting some friends for a picnic/cake in the afternoon, so I got straight on with it instead of having lunch but painting the walls by myself took a lot longer than the day before when Dad had been helping (or more accurately, when I was helping Dad), and by the time I had finished and messaged them they were going to be leaving (it was a 40 min drive away too)- a shame but we have some other dates to meet up. I had a super quick shower and a change as decorating in the warm weather was very hot work!

As I’d got straight on with painting I hadn’t eaten lunch, and we had a cake voucher for John Lewis that ran out at the end of August, so we walked into town and shared this strawberry and rose cake. I very much needed the tea at that point too! We also had a look at curtains and rugs, and when I got home I ordered a rug for the living room as I had some vouchers for there too.

On Wednesday I had a bit of touching up of the paint to do- I wanted to get it finished as Andy’s parents were coming over in the evening and we had left the living room with all the sheets covering everything for the past few days as the prep just takes so long. I went on a run first, and then when I got back I needed to wait for the hot water to heat up (we only have a small tank but usually it’s OK as I tend to have a shower in the evenings), I decided to get on with that before a shower.

I had a message saying that the rug was ready to collect, so I drove into town (it’s just over a mile away, so I would usually walk but it was pouring with rain and the rug was heavy).

Later on we finally took away all of the sheets and put the furniture back and the new rug down- I love it!

I did a spot of baking in the afternoon- a cherry and almond cake- ready for Andy’s parents in the evening.

As it was pretty rainy out, I made myself a chai latte with the Bluebird tea sticky chai- I had much more success this time (using some common sense..)- I put the chai into the milk before I heated it, and then strained it into the mug after. It was delicious. I had that while I watched Bake Off (and I do miss Mel and Sue, but Noel and Sandy are funny too, so I think it’s going to be OK!).

On Thursday I had a run first thing- I thought I needed to do 5 miles to get to the 100 miles, but just in case I went for 6 miles, so instead of the 5 mile loop I did an out and back into the woods- lovely.

It had rained a lot in the night and the ground was fairly damp in places- it was also a bit misty in places and the light streaming through the gaps in the trees was so gorgeous.

I also found that I could post a sort of update on Strava, so to celebrate my first 100 mile month of 2017 I posted this photo on there.

As well as a bit of admin for work, I got on with a lot of baking, as it was Dad’s 100th parkrun on Saturday! The final list includes white chocolate and macadamia nut cookies, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate orange brownies and a lemon and blueberry cake. I bought some gluten free cookies as I always worry about having trace bits of flour in my kitchen.

On Friday I was having my hair cut in the morning, so I walked into town and had a bit of a mooch around. I ended up getting a dress in the Fat Face sale and some new work trousers.

After more baking (I made the lemon cake on Friday) I walked around to the amazon locker to pick up an online order- I saw these tins online and thought they would be perfect to store clif bars and also maybe some nice chocolate.

While I was walking back I was listening to a podcast, and it started making a weird beeping noise. I couldn’t work out what it was, and when I got my phone out of my bag it turned out to be my brother ringing me- I’d never had that happen with my headphones in before.

I’ll get to the weekend in another post- but the final week was pretty satisfying with a nice mixture of relaxing and getting things done.

What I have been listening to, reading and watching lately

Listening to:

I have posted many times about some of the podcasts I enjoy, and I do tend to have a bit of a routine with them- some suit a commute, others I save for my runs. The podcast I am totally loving at the moment is the Judge John Hodgman Podcast– if you have not heard of it basically people take their domestic issues to him, give evidence, and then he gives his ruling. It is very funny, and as someone who loves an insight into the lives of other normal people (that is a polite way of saying I am nosy), I find that aspect of it brilliant. They are usually pretty “small” issues, such as who should feed the dog, whether you should ask permission before borrowing clothes from your sister and so on, but the way the show talks the issues through makes it entertaining.

Reading:

A while back I read Mr Mercedes, which is now being made into a TV show (or film- I can’t remember)- I won’t give away too many spoilers but it totally freaked me out because some of the terror events in the news could have been lifted directly from the book, and I was reading it while some of the events were going on.

After reading a few other detective novels (the latest Roy Grace one, and an old Bosch one) I fancied something a bit different, so now I am part-way through A Year of Living Danishly. I’d heard the author on a podcast recently and thought it sounded very interesting indeed. One word of warning- it will lead to cravings of cinnamon rolls and all things cosy.

I popped into Gail’s Bakery and noticed these cinnamon rolls- I was good enough to only eat half and save the other half for Andy- this took some willpower I assure you!

Watching:

After loving the athletics it was a bit of a come-down to watch the documentary Icarus (about the state-sponsored doping in Russia)- it was very interesting to see how it all unfolded, but also totally depressing that probably most drug-cheats won’t be caught, and that so many athletes were denied their medals at the time because of this.

Another brilliant documentary was The Keepers- this was several parts and was a bit like The Jinx or Making a Murderer- people were investigating the death of their teacher (who was a nun) as it happened years ago and was not solved. It was similar to Spotlight and was pretty infuriating, but very interesting.

For more light-hearted watching we’ve been going back through some old comedies. The order of watching these US comedies (for me anyway) went like this: 30 Rock- Parks and Rec– Master of None- Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and then parallel to that for something a bit more off the wall, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. We also watched Pitch Perfect 2 the other night (and did you know that John Hodgman- see above- is in it?).

What have you been reading, watching or listening to recently? 

Athletics 2017!

At Christmas Andy gave me tickets to the athletics championships in London. Of course at the time it seemed ages away but on Saturday the day was finally there. We’d watched some of it while we were away in Germany (Eurosport with German commentary turned out to be quite entertaining as they pronounced Mo Farah to rhyme with Que Sera Sera, and interspersed German with the word “Mo-Bot”) and then once home we had a week to watch the highlights each evening.

We drove to Loughton and then got the underground in, as it was then only a few stops. The instructions said that you could not bring in meals but you could bring in snacks (and of course food would be available at concessions) so we went to M&S to get a late lunch/ early dinner. It was so busy and as if a plague of locusts has descended upon the shopping centre- the shelves were pretty bare!

After eating our lunch we went into the stadium (and we could easily have brought the food in with us as people had loads with them) and browsed the merchandise (which, by the way, only had men’s technical running vests, no women’s at all which very much annoyed me) before finding our seats.

We were up fairly high and in the middle (opposite the final 100m of the track) so we had a good view of what was going on. I feel like the event was hosted really well- they had Ewan Thomas walking around talking on the microphone, and also commentators saying what was happening with the events. When we first arrived the men’s javelin from the decathlon was going on, and then women’s high jump started. At one point they had Martin Lewis (yes, from the money tips website) giving the crowd some stats and tips, which to me seemed rather pointless as he only appeared a couple of times and I am sure someone else could have told us the facts.

Of course the big ticket races were the 5,000m (with Mo on his final track race) and the 4x100m men’s relay (with Usain Bolt’s final appearance) but in fact everything else going on was really exciting. Some of the athletes would try to get the crowd going, and there were big screens with information on them, as well as the stadium announcer giving details of distance/ height and current standings. The crowd were great at supporting all of the athletes too- during the high jump  our two British women had missed the height once, so really we should have been hoping that the other nationalities would not clear the height either, but there were only cheers when the bar wasn’t knocked down.

After the decathlon javelin finished, they had to then extend the tape and move the TV cameras back ready for the javelin competition to start- the decathlon guys has 55 and 65m marked, whereas for the main event it went to something like 85m. I don’t find this sort of thing interesting on the TV, but I think partly it is because you can’t really get an idea of how far each one is thrown. Being there meant it was easy to compare each throw, and the crowd would go wild when a huge throw was recorded.

When the 5,000m started it was such a tense atmosphere- and I think the crowd pretty much kept up a mexican wave for the whole 13 minutes- as the main group came in front everyone would stand up and shout even louder, then as they passed they would sit back down again.  Of course it was disappointing that Mo didn’t get a gold medal, but a silver medal is still very impressive and he really gave it his all- it is always more surprising that other runners have not grouped together before to try and get him with tactics.

It was a very exciting race, and a little later they held the medal ceremony which was cause for more celebrations.

There was a small break so we popped out to get a drink. The info had said there would be water fountains, so bring a bottle to fill up, but we could not find one. We then thought we would buy some lemonade to share, but all the stands were sold out, so we ended up sharing a hot chocolate (our throats were hoarse after all that shouting and we had more to come…). As we were going back to our seats we saw one water fountain but it had such a huge queue and we didn’t want to miss any of the races so we left it.

In contrast to a rather long race, we then had the 4x100m women’s final- seeing the women take silver was brilliant.

Scattered throughout the evening were medal ceremonies and it was great to see everyone being very respectful of the winners- everyone clapped and stood for the national anthems. I was interested to find out what the ANA athletes would have (these are Russian, but as Russia was banned somehow they get to compete as neutral)- it turns out they get the IAAF anthem. A lot of the crowd didn’t seem to know what ANA stood for as there was a bit of a confused murmur as it was announced.

Then it was time for the final event- the men’s 4x100m relay. I knew we were in for a shout of a medal as I had heard the heats when I was driving back from my parents- the Brits were a whisker behind the USA team so bronze was going to be possible (we were assuming it would be USA and Jamaica battling first and second). Well, of course by now you know what happened- the British (and NI- why aren’t we Team UK?) men did brilliantly and although I saw Bolt trip I was more concerned with yelling at the top of  my voice for our men to bring it home. It was like (I imagine) seeing your team score the winning goal in the world cup- everyone was leaping up and down and cheering. It was a pretty perfect ending.

This is still a very ugly thing.

It was a long shuffle out of the stadium and back to the train station, but everyone was in great spirits- there was even one volunteer playing music through his phone into a loud speaker. It wasn’t quite like when the Disney parks close, but it was close!

Did you watch any of the athletics? Have you been to any live events like this? While Andy was getting our drink I was asked to do a survey- the only live athletics I have been to was this and the Olympics, but I think that if the tickets weren’t too expensive I would be more likely to take a chance and head along to a session.