Category: General ramblings

Poolbeg parkrun- lucky Ireland meant I somehow managed to get there

For the Easter holidays, the two of us had planned a trip to Ireland. Neither of us had ever been, and so we mapped out a road trip, beginning and ending in Dublin, but taking in a lot of the Ireland (NI and ROI). Andy is usually in charge of holiday itineraries, and with parkrun I try to manage to get to one if possible, but it doesn’t always happen and that’s fine. Happily he mentioned to me that every Saturday we would be somewhere with a parkrun- result! 3 more parkruns to visit!

We flew to Dublin on the Friday evening (which I found very stressful, having not flown for a couple of years, and finding the experience stressful pre-pandemic), and our flight was delayed taking off so we didn’t check into our hotel until gone midnight. In Ireland the parkruns don’t start until 9:30am, so it meant I had a bit more time in the morning. After my disaster going to Finsbury park (I went the wrong way out of the train station) I realised I needed to be more prepared, so I had written out instructions from our hotel to Poolbeg parkrun, the closest one to our hotel- around 4km away, so a nice warm up and cool down. I loaded up the map onto my phone, put in my headphones and headed off. Andy told me he had every confidence in me (clearly a mistake) and reminded me to look at my surroundings on the way so I would recognise the way back.  It was fairly straightforward- a lot of “go straight on”, so when the maps stopped talking to me in my ears I didn’t think anything of it at first. I kept turning around and looking behind me to see landmarks that could help me find my way back later. I had seen some of the landmarks on my piece of paper, and thought I might be parallel to the route I’d mapped out. However, after 2 miles I stopped and found out that despite getting the “welcome to Ireland” text, roaming was in fact not working, and I’d not thought to download the maps so they worked offline. I tried to head back the way I had some, but it was no use, I was around 2 miles from the parkrun, at around 9:10, and with no way to navigate there. I could have just run back to the hotel, but I really didn’t want to miss parkrun- being so near to one and with it planned in just seemed like such a waste.

I was actually aiming for bottom right of this map- where it says Irishtown. So yes, I was lost. Also, when I went to save this, the title “lost” was already taken. That’s saying something!

By some stroke of luck I ran past a queue of taxis, so then had a bit of a back and forwards (ask a taxi driver, “are you taking fares?”, no, but he is, ask him “do you take credit cards as I have no cash?”, no, but he does…), finally finding one who would take me. He was so friendly, and very amused that I had got lost running- it took a while for me to explain I was running to an organised run. He tried a couple of places as I could not load up the website to give instructions (and my paper instructions were no good to anybody), and then when we finally arrived the credit card machine wouldn’t work at first. It was by this point 9:30am and I was still half a mile from the start- I dashed out of the taxi and as I ran past some people walking asked them if they knew where the parkrun started. “Keep going to the end of this path and then turn left, but you’ve missed the start” thy told me, and I called back that hopefully I could catch up with the tail walker. As I rounded the corner I was so relieved to see a group of runners and high viz covered volunteers still stood around- the briefing was still going on! I hadn’t missed it!!!

It didn’t start until 9:40, so I had a chance to catch my breath and calm down (I really was panicked) and then I could enjoy the parkrun- my first in Ireland. It was really beautiful by the water- there was a big power station (or electricity factory as I called it), and the course ran around a small park, out and back along the bay and then through the park again.  The out and back part along the coast had a fairly steep hill on the out section, which you got to run back down again on the way back, so I took a few photos there- it was so pretty with the sun shining off the water, even on an overcast day.

It was a speedy one- I was 77th out of 84 finishers, and the tail walker finished in 42 minutes (obviously this could be different each week) so I was glad I didn’t start behind as it would have been hard to catch up!

At this point I thought that text messages were still working but the internet wasn’t (due to me receiving the welcome text) so I sent one to Andy telling him it started late so I’d be back later than expected, only of course that message didn’t send. I then had to somehow get back to our hotel….

I looked at my handwritten notes and tried to work them out in reverse- I could picture the map so knew I needed to keep the coast on my right and gradually head left and up, but basically I would run along for a bit, stop and ask someone “which way to the city centre please?” and then head off in the direction that I was pointed in. When I was closer to the centre I found a council worker in a high viz jacket and so I asked him for directions to our hotel, and he gave me excellent directions (and even made me repeat them so I didn’t get muddled)- I was so relieved to see some of the shops that I had spotted earlier on. That run ended up being 3.5 miles- you can see below that I didn’t take the most direct route (and went totally wrong once) but thankfully all the people I asked pointed me in the right direction and I made it back.

Andy was rather worried as I had estimated I would be back at around 10:30 but the late start combined with the longer run back meant it was nearly 11am by the time I got back. Time for a quick shower and then a walk to get some breakfast (delicious acai bowl)- on Friday we’d had a sandwich in the airport at around 6.30pm and that felt like a long time ago by this point!

So, more lessons learned (always download the map so it works offline….) but my 81st different parkrun visited, my 6th parkrun country, and another really enjoyable course.

Are you good at navigating? I have the worst sense of direction.

Stevenage parkrun, vegan goodies and sunrises for morning 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!

Letchworth parkrun and a fall, gardening and almond croissants

A few weeks ago, Jersey Farm parkrun was cancelled, and Dad was around, so we decided to head up to Letchworth, as he’d not been there before. I’d been a couple of times, and thought he’d like it as it’s off road, fairly small in numbers with nice scenery. The morning was beautiful, we had a fab first timers welcome and in the main briefing warned about the ruts in the field. I remembered these from a previous visit where the ground was frozen so the ruts from the tractor tyres were huge and solid. Anyway, we were happily running along, navigated the corner (I think they called it calamity corner?) but heading up the hill on the field I suddenly found myself on the ground. I have fallen over a few times when running (the last was a few years ago so it’s not like I trip all the time) but it’s always such a shock. Of course Dad was there to help me up, and a couple of other parkrunners stopped too, to check I was OK. I felt OK (one of the guys who stopped made me check both elbows but they were fine), so we walked for a bit and then continued to run. It’s a two lap course and thankfully I managed the second lap OK, and towards the finish the guy checked that I was OK again which was lovely. We finished (30:05- not bad considering we walked for a bit) and then took our time heading back to the car. I had breakfast with my parents, but when I got home later and had a shower I realised I had quite a bit bruise on my hip, and some scratches and bruises on one knee.

I did some gardening (the weather was so beautiful it was a shame to waste it) but maybe that wasn’t the best idea, because as the day wore on I was quite stiff and sore (Andy even made me take another LFT just in case I was aching for a different reason- it was negative though).

I took it gently on Sunday and did 7 miles- that was plenty! Again it was so beautiful outside I had to make the most of the weather. I did a bit of yoga in the afternoon to help with the aches too, and felt a bit better after.

Now, you may already know that I am a huge fan of almond croissants- give me anything that tastes like marzipan please! You can’t get vegan ones in many places, but Random Buns of Kindness have started making them, so I had ordered us a box (with some other things too)- we warmed them in the oven for breakfast on Sunday and they did not disappoint- they were amazing. If only I lived in Norwich I’d be there all the time!

 

Baking and back to the 20/20 route

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.

Finsbury Park parkrun

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?