Category: parkrun tourism

Ticking off more of date bingo at Clermont Waterfront parkrun

The beginning of January for me was spent in Florida, ahead of the Walt Disney World marathon weekend (which was a 5k on the Thursday, 10k on the Friday, half marathon on the Saturday and a marathon on the Sunday- more on that in later posts), and so I didn’t get to a parkrun on New Years Day. However, on the 3rd Andy said he’d drive me out to Clermont (it’s a good 50 min drive from the WDW area). The parkrun begins at 7:30am so it’s an early start to get there in time (especially as I like to go to the toilets and walk along to the lake to look at the view).

The sunrise was around 7:20 so as I got to the lake I was treated to the sun coming up- the sky was so orange just before although it wasn’t captured that well in the photos. I was wondering if I’d need a jacket at first (Florida was having a cold front just before we arrived and on NYD there was a thin frost on the car first thing, although it would warm up once the sun was out), but I was fine in t-shirt and shorts even before I started running. It was funny seeing the locals wrapped up in thick joggers and hoodies (with hoods up!) when I was just there in minimal layers!

The sun shining through the trees and moss made it look as if the trees were glowing with fire- it was so beautiful.

This was my 4th time at this parkrun, and my third doing this route (as once they were on the alternative route away from the lake)- I didn’t even listen to the first timers welcome (I did on my third visit!) because it’s such a simple route- out and back along the lake. (If you were visiting, the car park is right by the start, in that as you turn in to the car park you can see the parkrun teardrop flag and all the flags in the finish funnel. You need to exit the car park and cross the road to get to the start but it couldn’t be any closer).

Going back to the course, there is a small section where the paths leads you away from the lake a bit, but it’s clearly marked with signs, and it’s a fairly busy parkrun (150 people this time) so there is someone in sight to follow. There is a turnaround point clearly shown with a cone (and sometimes a marshal) but it’s really very easy, so rather than listen to the welcome I went along the little boardwalk to the edge of the lake to watch the sun come up. The main briefing was prompt and friendly, and then we were off!

This was a few days ahead of the big run challenge and I hadn’t run since the Wednesday before, so I was mindful of taking it easy. I was keen to do a few runs ahead of the challenge to acclimatise a little, as of course Florida is a lot more humid and a lot warmer than any of the training runs, and so I was quite pleased to finish in 30:51 as I felt like I was running quite gently and stopping to take photos (I paused for a while to take a photo of that bird (bottom right in the picture above).

By the time I finished (around 8am) the sun was properly up- such a contrast to when I first arrived. As it’s out and back you get to see everyone on the other side of the path too, and it added to my anticipation of the following weekend as I saw so many Run Disney shirts being worn by parkrunners.

I didn’t hang about too much after finishing- a few quick photos and then I headed back to the car, very relieved that I wasn’t dripping in sweat (after doing this course in the summer and having sweat pour out of every single pore) and happy that I felt like I managed the much warmer weather OK.

They often have a photographer there (although I’ve not looked up the photos from this event yet) and I noticed on the bench by the finish area that they have a special volunteer bib for the photographer to wear, which I thought was a lovely touch. It’s a very scenic parkrun by the water, and it’s so nice that they value the photographer role so much.

I’d seen a recommendation for the vegan bagels and toppings at Jeff’s Bagel Run, and after going there earlier in our trip we found that there was a branch on our way back from parkrun, so we stopped to pick up some bagels for breakfast once back at our hotel.

As I’d been there before, of course there is no Voronoi update, but happily when I looked on the 5k app I had filled in a date bingo slot and if I had missed it it would be a few years before the 3rd would fall on a Saturday again, so hooray!

On the Monday following this parkrun, Andy and I did a run together of about 3-4 miles around a lake by our hotel, but then it was strictly no more running until the WDW marathon weekend began! Although of course there was plenty of walking around theme parks in the meantime.

So, up next will probably be my race recaps- you have been warned!

parkruns of 2025

I don’t always manage to do these posts but I really enjoy looking back over a year of parkrunning to see where I have visited and who I’ve seen.

Stats:

47 parkruns in 2025

26 new events visited

2 new countries visited

2 new special days attended

v100 achieved

Single-ton at Panshanger

2025 was the year I managed most parkruns- 47 in a year (beating 46 in 2024, 2022 and 2019). At the start of the year I was on 386 parkruns, and finished the year on 433. I visited 26 new events in 2025 (and revisited many as well). I celebrated my arbitrary 400th, my V100 and my single ton at Panshanger.

I did some touring alone, and toured with family and friends. I managed to visit parkruns when I was nearby for a trip or weekend away, as well as doing lots of London tourism.

Here are a few highlights:

Local events: Panshanger in the snow, Oaklands College and Stanborough in the sunshine.

Oaklands College and Stanborough both launched and I have enjoyed running at both of them. I can now run to either Panshanger or Stanborough from home as they are a couple of miles away which is the perfect parkrun sandwich distance. I achieved my single-ton at Panshanger (100 times at the same event).

Touring with my family (my dad, brother and mum)

I did lots more touring with my dad, occasionally my brother, and sometimes my mum came along too (here she is at Jubilee, Bedford).

Meet ups with Jan and Rory, plus my favourite marshal spot at Birchwood juniors.

I toured and met up with friends (Jan in Peacehaven in Brighton- she used to run with the OH ladies/ Rory a fellow WMN listened who is often the RD at Harrow Lodge and an excellent fountain of parkrun touring knowledge). I also volunteered at juniors a fair bit, achieving my V100 in March.

I celebrated my 400th (arbitrary) parkrun at Victoria Dock and was so happy that some friends came to join me.

400th! And Ascension Day in Sweden, as well as visiting Finland on that same trip.

I also had a fantastic trip to Finland and Sweden, and completed my first non UK special event of Ascension Day in May 2025.

As well as those events, I went back to Japan and visited two new events there, and revisited Clermont in Florida.

Solo touring in Japan, Germany, USA as well as solo local trips to Panshanger and Stevenage.

Later in the year I completed another special event, this time Unity Day in Germany. Branka and Holly were at Rheinpark with me, and then I was at Lousberg by myself.

It was the year of the Cowells for sure, with Holly celebrating hers in Preston Park (Brighton), Branka at Egham Orbit and then my dad at Stanborough! 100 locations all around!

All the Cowells plus one of many London trips (Dulwich) and Unity Day at Rheinpark.

New events visited in 2025:

Oaklands College, Tooting Common, Thames Path Woolwich, Battersea, Walthamstow, Peacehaven, Dulwich, North Walsham, Victoria Dock, Hackney Marshes, Ben’s Yard Ely, Tokoinranta, Haga, Beckton, Jubilee Bedford, Egham Orbit, Harrow Lodge, Peckham Rye, Rheinpark, Lousberg, Wakehurst, Stanborough, Shibamata koen kadan, Sunshine Beach, Brockwell, Raphael.

New countries visited:

Finland, Sweden.

Countries visited:

USA, Japan, Germany.

So, what’s next?

Well, my 150th different event will be fairly soon (as I am on 147 events). Definitely some more London tourism, particularly on the train. I should get to the arbitrary milestone of 450 parkruns at some point (currently on 433), and there are various friends celebrations that I’m hoping to attend as well. But mainly what I am looking forward to is more of the same- more parkrunning with friends and family, more visiting new locations and more fun on Saturday mornings.

What are you looking forward to about parkrunning next year? Any exciting milestones or arbitraries coming up?

Raphael parkrun

For the final parkrun of 2025, some tourism was on the cards. Dad was free, as were Branka and Holly, and after finding that Harrow Lodge was a relatively straightforward journey before, we headed over to that area again, this time for Raphael parkrun.

(If you look on a map, Raphael, Harrow Lodge and Ingrebourne Hill are sort of stacked on top of each other, towards the east of the M25).

It was a frosty day, and after Dad picked me up at around 7:35 we arrived to park before 8:30. Holly and Branka arrived separately, confusingly in a car park with the same name as ours, but actually a different one (Lodge Farm- I am not sure which one we parked in as I pinned it on the map rather than using the postcode).

Our view as we entered the park- really pretty. I love seeing personalised marshal spots, and Rory let me know that Awtar was a regular volunteer who sadly passed away, so they have this corner to remember them.

We jogged to the toilets which were at the very opposite end of the park, which ended up being about a mile in total (plus waiting in the queue), so only just got back in time to hear the end of the first timers welcome and then people were lining up to start. Be aware if you are going as to their location! We did hear the main briefing which was very well listened to. I was very surprised to hear the park being pronounced as “Ray- fell” as I had been saying it like the turtle/artist.

It’s a very narrow start, so people were maybe just two abreast on the path, which meant it was quite stop-start when we did get going. This does not bother me at all but I think if you were going for a fast time you’d need to place yourself accordingly- I ran with Holly and it took us a bit of time overtaking walkers to settle in to our pace. As there are people lapping you and passing in the opposite direction you do need to be aware and keep to one side (I think they said to keep left but basically follow what they say).

It was a lovely park though with some variety as you ran around- the part by the lake was pretty, and you could see other points of the course which I always enjoy. You can see above how narrow it is though and how many times you are passing others. Dad ran ahead and Branka was a bit behind so we got to see each other on an out and back bit.

A beautiful day for running!

Once finished we got some pop up photos and then agreed to head to a Tesco (guaranteed toilets and a warm cafe) for some parkfaffing. I had a slight fail here, as I didn’t have the best phone reception, and ended up putting a different one in the maps so Dad and I arrived at a Tesco that had no cafe, oops. It had a Costa opposite so we warmed up in there while Branka and Holly went to the actual Tesco!

Anyway, despite the slight parkfaff fail on my part it was a fantastic way to round off 2025.

The before and after:

A very satisfying chunk of the map filled in. I shall now have to go to Ingrebourne Hill in 2026 to complete that set of 3.

Stats:

parkrun 433, and location 147. I had no idea I was that close to 150! A definite goal for 2026.

As this one counts towards Lon-done I have now completed 37 of 66 (currently). I’ve been hovering around that 50% mark but again will aim to do a few more next year and close in a bit on that.

Brockwell parkrun, Herne Hill

It was time for some more London parkrun tourism with Branka, and this one was going to fill a nice hole in our Voronoi maps. Brockwell parkrun is very close to Herne Hill station, which is on the Thameslink line, so I headed to St Albans to get on a direct train from there, meeting Branka at Herne Hill station.

You can pretty much see the park from the station, so we just had to walk into the park and locate the start, which was very simple. It was great to walk through the park so early- we could see lots of the central London skyline from the park, and on our way to the toilets saw the team wheeling their kit up to the start.

It was very windy so we had to hold the pop up while we took photos, but thankfully after what felt like a week of rain, the morning was fairly bright.

We left our bags on a bench inside a sort of shelter (it looked like an old concrete bus stop but it couldn’t have been as it was a traffic-free park), listened to the first timers welcome and then it was time to head down to the start line. They seemed to have a bit of trouble with people chatting during the run brief, even with their speaker system set up (and some people shouting “quiet!” to try to help), but we could just about hear the warnings against funnel ducking and the reminder to keep right rather than the more common left. They mentioned that they had received complaints from members of the public using the park at the same time, and so the compromise was to ensure that the parkrunners kept to the right so that some of the paths were clear for others.

After a few milestone announcements we realised that everyone was moving and the parkrun had started.

It’s pretty much a two lap course, with a little bit of extra in the first lap, and it’s undulating for sure. It is all on tarmac paths which was partly why we had chosen it (so many local runs to me are muddy and we just fancied finishing a parkrun without muddy socks). It was a really pretty park with lots to see on the way around, although I found the circular nature meant I totally lost my bearings. At one point on the first lap I noticed a lovely carved frog bench, and so on the second lap I got my phone out ready to take a photo, but I was so early I kept thinking I’d missed it.

The finish is pretty tough too, as you think all the hills are done but the short section into the finish funnel slopes uphill too. I was happy when I could stop!

The team had moved the pop up to the top of the hill (by the finish) rather than by the start line, so I got a few photos there as there was a lovely backdrop of London behind, plus some nice autumn colours and even a hint of blue sky.

We walked back to the station and popped into a bakery (there are plenty of very posh looking bakeries and cafes near the station) but nothing was labelled vegan and so I said to Branka that I’d get out the train at Kings Cross and head up to Angel to visit British Patagonia (a bakery and cafe that does the most amazing vegan pastries)- Branka decided to come too so we headed straight there. Angel also houses a Bird and Blend, so of course we popped in there on our way past. I had a matcha latte because I need some caffeine after I stop running.

We got the pastries to go, so luckily I had a cereal bar in my bag which I could have with my matcha for breakfast, and then I had pistachio pastry when I got home. Oh my goodness me they are delicious. (Top tip- they sometimes have bags of mixed pastries that are close to their sell-by date- I got one this time to pop in the freezer but they are always a good deal- the one I got had 3 or 4 pastries and was about £7).

Onto the map update:

It was very pleasing because after going to Dulwich and Peckham Rye, I had a little gap in the map, but going to Brockwell filled that one in. We didn’t get our results through until about 10:30 pm, and my placing was quite different to my token number, so I imagine the poor team had a few things to sort (even though they reminded people in the briefing not to funnel duck…).

That was parkrun 429 and location 146. Obviously with more events, Lon-DONE is one of those where the goal gets ever bigger, but this of course helped and was my 36th London event (out of 66 currently).

It does remind me that apart from getting up early (my St Albans train was about 7:15am) it can be really easy to do some London train tourism.

Up next? Well, who knows basically. I am not keen on making big plans at this time of year in case bad weather means loads of cancellations, although the peas do have a trip pencilled in for before the end of the year.

Sunshine Beach parkrun, Japan (near Kyoto)

The previous Saturday in Japan was a parkrun bonus for me, as it was just after arriving so I didn’t know if I’d make it. Sunshine Beach was the one parkrun for the trip that I knew I was aiming for. We had planned to be in Kyoto from Friday-Monday, so no changing hotels on a Saturday after parkrun, no trains to catch after getting back and so on (on our previous trip we were in Osaka on a Saturday but had a train booked later on, so I didn’t think it was possible to get back in time), perfect timing for a parkrun mid trip!

Sunshine Beach parkrun is to the north of Kyoto, but it isn’t a long journey and compared to some within-city trips (eg you could travel for an hour in Tokyo and still be in Tokyo) it pretty much counts as being in Kyoto and would be accessible from there quite easily.

It’s a few stops on a train from the main Kyoto station out to Zeze, the stop near to the lake shore. Last time we were in Kyoto our hotel was within walking distance of the main station, but this time it was one stop away on a different line, then a change at Kyoto. Google Maps is your friend in Japan, but the default journey gave me something like a 3 minute connection time in Kyoto. Knowing how huge the station is, this just made me feel so stressed so I got the earlier train to Kyoto, giving me around 10/15 minutes there. This turned out to be a very good decision. As I got to Kyoto, I found the platform fairly quickly, but as I went up the steps to the platform I saw that all the trains were delayed by around 10 minutes. This meant that if I ran up the last few steps I could make it on an earlier train- otherwise I would have been cutting it very fine.

It’s only a few stops, but at about the second stop, a guy got off the train and then collapsed onto the platform. The conductor got off the train to help and within minutes a medic on a bike arrived, someone got them a wheelchair and whisked him away, but the train of course had to wait at the platform for a while. This meant that the train got in around 7:30 (parkruns in Japan start at 8) and the parkrun was a good 15 minute walk from the station.

The walk from the station was very pretty, and by the water randomly was a big German building

Lots of other parkrun tourists got off the train at the same time, so I followed them and walked, but if I was on my own I would have jogged down to make sure I got there a bit sooner. It wasn’t as simple as the walk to the parkrun the previous week, as it was a few turns and different roads (and a level crossing to cross!), but as soon as we arrived on the lake shore we could see the start area, so it was easy enough to find.

As we arrived they called us over for the first timers welcome which was in English and Japanese. The course was very simple- starting in the middle going out and back in one direction, then out and back in the other, repeating this, and then one more out and back in one direction (so 5 out and backs starting in the middle). The turnaround points were just about visible from the start area, and they had marshals at each turnaround point. They had recently celebrated their 4th birthday and had some bunting and a little celebration board hanging up.

The RD was such a character. She was so talkative and friendly and encouraging to all of the visitors, wanted to know where we were all from, what we were doing in Japan and so on. She took so many photos before, during and after the run, and seemed to genuinely thrilled to have people visiting her parkrun.

As you can see, it was the most perfect day for running. I had on t-shirt and shorts- on my walk to the station it was a bit chilly and I wondered if I should have worn leggings, but I was absolutely fine. I had a jacket in my bag (and some water) but didn’t need it for running. There was a slight breeze but beautiful blue skies and the autumn colours were amazing on the route. The lake is so huge (the largest freshwater lake in Japan, and this is just a fraction of the lake) and the sun was glinting off the water- it looks like the sea at times. I was having another one of those “pinch me” moments where I just feel so happy and so lucky to be able to join in with these runs in such beautiful places.

It’s a super flat course so apart from the u-turns you could properly hammer out a fast time if you so wish. I was feeling good and surprised myself with a 28:35 finish time- not bad.

After finishing, I stayed around the area and cheered in the rest of the participants. The RD was making her rounds again, and was very taken by first my sunglasses (they are red with white spots- I call them my Minnie Mouse ones although they are not Disney ones) and she wanted to take a photo of them (hence my silly pose) and then she noticed my 100 shirt and was very impressed with that and wanted a photo of that too (only my hair was in the way at first).

The RD photos of my 100 top, a random one of me stood there and her taking a photo of my sunglasses! Plus the map of the course and the finish area.

Andy was going to get the train out to the lakeshore to meet me, and I had a bit of time before he was arriving, so I walked along to find the Pokemon drain cover (which I had seen on Nicola Runs on You Tube)- I am quite fascinated by all the different drain covers in Japan and have quite a collection of photos of them. While I was parkrunning I saw a few people head off the route to go to it (it’s beyond the first turnaround point) but I didn’t want to confuse the marshal and knew I had time at the end to walk back up.

Once Andy met me we walked around the shore of the lake a little more to the next train station. We came across an old castle that had also housed a museum for a while, found a little market selling amazing looking fruits and vegetables, and of course I found some more drain covers. After getting the train back it was time for a quick shower and then we headed back out for a day in Kyoto.

When my email came through and I looked on the 5k app it turned out I had achieved the Snakes challenge too (this must be the most random of challenges on there, it’s just 10 that begin with S). Of course the Voronoi map had to be looked at- this one gives you a very big chunk!

So that was parkrun 427 and location 145, and 29 in the tourist streak.

The following Saturday we were back in Tokyo, and close to Urayasushi sogo koen parkrun. However, we were flying to Hong Kong that day, and the bus going to the airport left the hotel at 9:45. Even though the parkrun starts at 8, it was a train journey plus bus (or walk) away, and it just wasn’t possible with the timings. I’d also had a bad cold that week so didn’t really feel up to running, and the thought of getting stuck on the way back and missing the bus to the airport was just too much. So I shall have to save that parkrun for the next time I go to Japan! I am so happy that I managed to visit two parkruns on my trip there though, both such enjoyable experiences, such friendly teams and such pretty places to run. parkrun tourism on holiday is such a bonus.