Running - Maria Runs

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.

Running in France (including some shoe surgery)

As I mentioned before, I took my running things with me to France as I thought I would get the opportunity to run.

So- my first run was on Monday. We’d walked along the cycle path the evening before- it was right at the end of the track that our gite was on, so not hard to find at all. I went left, and decided to do an out and back. I got slightly confused as I ran beyond where we had walked (we’d only walked for 3 miles in total) and at one point the signs directed me up to a road, across it, back down again only for me to end up where the signs had started. As I got back to our road I had run 4.5 miles so I ran out in the other direction for a bit to round it up to 5.

The early morning sunlight was just gorgeous on the rows of trees and the river. There was so much bird life there too- as I was leaving I saw a red woodpecker on the tree out the front, and later on a jay flying across the path (I also saw a red squirrel on the roof of the gite when I was reading one morning).

On Tuesday I headed out, this time turning right. The tarmac path quickly changed to a rutted track so I kept switching from one side to the other trying to find the smoothest path. After I had run out for 2 miles, I turned around and came back, and then decided that as I was feeling good I would go for 1 mile along the tarmac before turning back, for 6 miles. All good.

More beautiful flowers to spot along the way too.

I spent some time on Strava on my phone trying to find my monthly mileage, as trying to do 100 miles in August had briefly crossed my mind. Of course when running maths is harder, and I could not remember all of the runs I had been on. When I look at Strava on my laptop I can see my monthly and yearly miles, and this year I have not been doing such high mileage (whereas in 2016 I did 1000 miles in total including 100 miles in July, September and December). This year I managed 93 in January and 85 in February (half marathon training) but then I’ve hovered around the 60-70 mile range. All fine, but I fancied a challenge.

Anyway, you can’t see this on the app (well I couldn’t work out how to anyway) and by scrolling through and adding up my runs it ranged from 60-70 miles- with only a few days left in August once I got home I didn’t know if it was possible.

Anyway, Wednesday was a rest day (walking around gardens instead) and then on Thursday I decided to go on a bit of a longer run. I headed along the track, and after a few miles I kept feeling like a had a tiny sharp stone moving about under the ball of my right foot. It would make me hop as it was so tender. A few times I stopped to take off my shoe and shake it, but then a bit later I would feel it again. It was as if there was a tiny stone that was moving about a bit as I couldn’t always feel it. I took my sock off in case it was stuck in there, and then carried on. It happened again and was so painful that it worried me, so I limped over to some logs and sat down. I took off my sock, and then took the insole out of my shoe. Inside I could see something dark and sharp sticking up- it looked like a huge rose thorn. I tried to get it out but it was really hard to get any grip- I’d undone all the laces to get the tongue out of the way, but I couldn’t pull it out. It was really hard and then I started to worry it was a rusty nail or something- when did I last have a tetanus injection??? I knew I couldn’t walk back without my shoe on as the path was so stony, so I picked up a stone and tried to push it back down into the shoe, hoping that I had done enough for it not to make another appearance. I should have messaged Andy really because the 7 mile run took me 90 minutes and he was starting to wonder where I had got to.

When I got back I got some scissors and managed to poke the offending item out by pushing the scissors up into the sole of the shoe. It turned out to be a shard of (brown) glass. Now, it doesn’t look that big in the picture, it was maybe 1cm long, but having that digging into your foot when you are running is pretty painful.

On Friday I had my last run in France- a very enjoyable 6 miles along the tracks again. My left calf was super tense though- I think it had taken a bit of a battering from all my hopping the day before.

The morning was fairly overcast (storms had been predicted) and it was really muggy- sweat was pouring off my when I got back and I hadn’t even gone very fast!

Despite doing fairly similar routes all week, it was really enjoyable as the paths were very quiet- I passed a few cyclists and saw a couple of runners on my last day (up ahead just as I turned around). I listened to some podcasts while I ran, stopped to take photos when I fancied it and generally just enjoyed being out in the countryside. I would not want my running to get in the way of our holiday, so if we were sightseeing or traveling around I wouldn’t want to use that time for running, but as we were having fairly laid back days it was good to stretch the legs and see some scenery to start the days off.

When I got back and looked at Strava I had reached 81 miles, so I decided to still aim for the 100. I had a long run of 9 miles on Monday (boy that was hot) and then a 5 miler on Wednesday and Thursday to total 102 miles (I think it always rounds down so all the .2’s made the difference in the end).

How was your bank holiday weekend?

IKEA trip and not-quite a parkrun sandwich

On Saturday I had a brilliant time at the athletics, but I’m going to do that in a separate post, so on to the rest of the week.

On Sunday I was up early for a run- I decided to run along the old railway line and back as I wanted to be home for about 10am so I could just turn around when I had got as far as I could go. As I got to the path I saw an animal on the path ahead- at first I thought it was a fox, but then it jumped and I realised it was a small deer. It jumped up to the bank on the side of the path and then stood still, so I walked over, but as I went to get my phone out of my belt it hopped into the bushes.

Andy’s dad came over to help with some bits in the garden, and then we tackled the rest of the wallpaper (the steamer ran out just as we reached the very final strip of paper!).

I bought this cup last summer but had totally forgotten about it until this week- it’s fab as it has an infuser basket and a lid, which can double as a sort of coaster for the basket. I have a lot of loose leaf tea but I don’t always drink it as it is a bit more of a faff. I have been loving this tea which is rooibos with almond and coconut- plus as it isn’t black tea I can re-use the leaves later in the day.

On Monday Dad came over to help with the decorating (he is so keen to do this which is great)- we finished the last few bits of wallpaper (there were a few tiny patches here and there) including getting most of it out from behind the radiator. He had a brilliant tip which was to soak a tea towel and then put it behind the radiator, pulling it up and down- this was brilliant and I have managed to get all of the top layer out and most of the bottom layer too. While I was finishing that, Dad sanded down the walls and woodwork.

We enjoyed a cup of tea (and some of those lovely wafers) in the garden as a well earned rest, before painting the ceiling.

Dad was itching to paint the walls but we need to leave that until the fireplace has been sorted.

On Tuesday I headed out on a 5 mile run – I’ve pretty much perfected the route now, although I thought I could detour through a park but could not find the path to the right exit so I think I ended up cutting a corner there somehow. I was then off to brunch at The Waffle House- I had the banoffee one which is a waffle topped with sliced banana, toffee sauce and flakes of chocolate.

The weather was gorgeous so I decided to stop at Heartwood Forest on my way home and have a walk around.

They are doing something to the car park though so it ended up being a bit stressful as the entrance is along a road with passing places, but all the passing places were closed, and on either side is a big ditch so you can’t even pull onto the verge- I got a bit stuck between a lorry and a people carrier when I was leaving. Anyway, the walk was lovely but next time I’ll park in the village!

So, when the weather is lovely, it’s the perfect time to buy winter running kit right?

Tribesports were having a sale, and I really like their kit (and my beloved Thoosa winter tights have seen better days) so I got a pair of thermal tights, a long sleeved top and a long sleeved jacket (they both have thumb holes! I am so easily pleased…). I do find their sizing a big difficult to work out though. On the parkrun milestone range (the 50/ volunteer tops, plus the apricot range) the small is a perfect fit for me, leaving me a bit of room but not too baggy. It does say that the parkrun range is relaxed fit (or something to that effect) which is fair enough. Anyway before I had ordered some long sleeved tops and chosen a medium, which is basically the same size as the milestone small, so the medium has been fine.

So I got the jacket and top in medium- the top is fine but the jacket is a little snug- I laid them on top and you can see that the top is a fair bit bigger than the jacket- and I would think it should be the other way around as you are going to be wearing the jacket on top of other things? Anyway, it’s fine (I mainly can’t be bothered with the faff of sending things back)- it will keep me toasty in the winter!

After dinner on Tuesday we drove up to IKEA as I have decided to get a bigger desk for my office. In our old house my desk was in a sort of cubby in the spare room, behind the airing cupboard, and it fitted perfectly. But now I have a whole room to myself I could do with a bigger desk. The one I had before was a build-your-own desk; you choose the size of the top, buy separate legs and then the options of cupboards or drawers to go under. I had drawers on one side and the smallest table top (120cm I think) but really I need a bit of space next to my laptop for paperwork, so I got a 2 metre wide table top, and a second set of drawers to go at the other end.

I also bought a laptop stand as I think it will be better to have the screen more at eye-level. I did look for the standing desks but we didn’t have a great deal of time. It’s something I will look more into as now I have a bigger desk I will have space for something like that.

My favourite bit of IKEA is the little food shop at the end- last time I got some organic mixed berry jam and it is really tasty, so I went to get some more of that. I found cloudberry jam (I had only heard of them as they were mentioned in my Hygge cookbook), and those green things are basically marzipan filled chewy oat things so I was never going to not buy them. At the moment I am reading “A Year of Living Danishly” and so I could not resist the mini cinnamon rolls either (they seem to eat them a lot in the book).

There is a new half marathon taking place at Knebworth House (by Stevenage) in the autumn, and after thinking about it for ages I signed up. I then panicked about not being able to run that far, so I decided to attempt a much longer run as I had some time on Wednesday morning. I was pretty sure that I did a half marathon in December last year with a parkrun sandwich to Ellenbrook Fields, so I decided to run there, do the parkrun route and then run home.

I set off later than I had intended as we had got back very late from IKEA the night before, and of course there was the usual pre-run faff of getting enough podcasts etc.

I actually enjoyed most of the run, and made it to the parkrun course just fine. It was pretty good weather as it was fairly overcast and not too warm.

I forgot to turn back at the end of the first little loop (it’s one small loop which goes back to the finish, and then a big loop repeating some of the first loop, so when I got back to the start/finish area I was a little under my target distance. I felt so thirsty though. Recently they have had a stand pipe fitted, with a dog bowl at the bottom. I spent ages looking at it, (and then a bit more time trying to work it)- first I splashed my face with it and then I decided to risk it and have a little drink (from the pipe, not the dog bowl I must add)- it’s a new pipe right? Then, even though by that point I was at 7 miles and had only 5 to run home, I decided to head back. Then I spent most of the run home worrying about the water that I had just drank in case it wasn’t drinking water…

(I was fine though, just very thirsty)- in the end I did 12.2 miles, but it took me ages- 2.15. I was questioning how on earth I managed a half marathon in less time than that, but of course races are different, and I haven’t been training for anything, I have just been pootling along and enjoying running, so I managed to talk myself out of the panic after a bit. The half isn’t until November so I think you can agree that I was being a bit irrational.

By the time I’d had a shower it was basically lunch time, so I went for a big brunch- soya yoghurt with cherries (I’d defrosted them before my run= more pre-run faff) and almonds, coconut water, tea and a pain au raisin- these are brilliant as they are frozen and take about 20 mins to cook= shower time.

I had a few hours to plough through some work before heading into town as I had a massage booked. I have been trying to go about once a month or once every 3 weeks when I can afford it, as I find it helps so much. I get terrible tight shoulders, and it also keeps the hip issues at bay. The lady I see (Katie) is brilliant- it feels like a treat as the room is lit by candles and she plays zen-like music, and there is a diffuser with lemongrass and other lovely scents. Most of the massage is relaxing and wonderful, but some points are not exactly painful, but not such a treat as she works through the knots. This time she paid a lot of attention to my lower back and it really felt like bliss (for the most part). I notice it so much too- I reverse onto my driveway and as the weeks go by I find it harder and harder to look over my left shoulder- I’m nearly as good as new when I get back from a massage!

On Thursday I had to stay in as we were having the log burner fitted- I spent the morning taking apart my old desk, building my new one and then moving the shelving unit (which meant take all the books off, move the shelves, then put it all back on again). Now I have two sets of drawers I feel like I can be so organised- I have one drawer just for sharpies and highlighters at the moment!

After the builders left I walked into town for some fresh air I was getting a bit of cabin fever! Friday morning has been the same so far ( they are finishing off) but I am hoping for a run before lunch as I think they will only be here for a few hours.

Do you buy clothes online? And if so, do you have problems with the sizes? Do you do much work at home? Would you have risked a drink from the stand pipe?

Heartwood Forest parkrun tourism- possibly the closest yet!

I sort of have three home runs really, (St Albans where I started, Panshanger when that started, and then Ellenbrook since that got going), but any different venue counts for tourism for me. I am still trying to visit all of the Hertfordshire parkruns (I think there are now 13), and last weekend was the turn of Heartwood Forest.

Heartwood Forest was recently created by the Woodland Trust on some land outside Sandridge, a small village on the outskirts of St Albans (which is why a lot of the trees are only a few feet high at the moment as they were only planted a few years ago). The parkrun has only been going a few weeks, and we chose that day as I was off to the athletics in the afternoon, and Dad and Tony had a football match to get to so we all needed to be finished fairly promptly.

There is only a small car park on site, so they ask people to use other parking in the village, or better yet, to cycle or run there.

On Thursday I had been to my parents for lunch, so on my way home I parked in the village and headed along the bridle path to a walk around the woods, as I had not actually been there. It is lovely, with meadows and paths and amazing wood carvings.

I pondered how to get there- I could park at my parents and then run there as it’s a couple of miles down a track, but my dad and brother would be cycling so I wouldn’t keep up with them and would take longer to get back. In the end I parked in the village about half a mile away and jogged to the start- I got there so early (as I was worried about it being busy) so I ended up running around the course a bit.

We had the new runners briefing (loads of people- as it was only the third event so most people would be new to the course) and I chatted to a lady from Milton Keynes parkrun (it’s on my list) before I noticed Dad and Tony.

Then everyone walked up to the start, right by these amazing carvings of badgers.

The course is nearly two laps- you start half way up a hill, run a lap (which is a funny shape and at one point is two-way so you have to keep right) finishing at the bottom of the hill, and then have to run up the entire hill on the second lap. Annoyingly because I had used my Garmin for the warm up, although I pressed to do a new run, when I thought I pressed go, I actually must have selected run, as it beeped to go into power saving mode around half a mile in, so my Strava is incomplete!

I ran with Dad, and it was very enjoyable, although on the second time going up the hill I think I would have walked if we hadn’t been running together! I was aiming for under 30 minutes, and we started fairly near the back as we were not paying much attention on the walk to the start!

I loved this archway that you ran through- so many amazing carvings on it.

You were rewarded by fabulous views once at the top. They also had really brilliant marshals. I know parkrun marshals are always great (especially any OH ladies at Ellenbrook Fields), but we had cheers from every one- one lady was playing music on her phone and dancing as we ran past, a few people had children with them and loads of instruments- they really were very encouraging- we commented that perhaps they had been borrowed from the Gamesmakers at the Olympics.

From their facebook page

A few also had cameras (including this one placed at the top of the hill- I promise we enjoyed it even though we don’t look like it!).

After the hill there was a flat windy part through meadows and slightly taller trees, before heading to the long downhill to the finish area- it was the perfect downhill gradient as I didn’t feel like my legs were running away from me, or that I would trip as the surface was fairly smooth. When we reached the end of our second lap there was a sharp right-hand turn at the bottom of the hill before a final sprint to the end. My time was 29.03, for my 114th parkrun and my dad’s 99th!

Badger Selfie of course- I took this before the start as I knew we had to head off quickly at the end.

As we had to be quick, I jogged back to my car and Dad and Tony got their bikes- they had their photos taken to advertise cycling to and from the parkrun:

Image may contain: 2 people, people smiling, people riding bicycles, bicycle, outdoor and nature

From their facebook page

Then it was time for pancakes made by Mum before we all headed off to our respective afternoon sporting activities.

It’s great that there is another parkrun close by that we can all easily meet at, and it also means that if I fancy incorporating a parkrun into a longer run, I could adapt it and park at my parents before running there and back. I need to go back and get the Strava route correct!

So, now the Hertfordshire count is here:

Done: St Albans, Panshanger, Ellenbrook Fields, South Oxhey, Aldenham, Stevenage, Rickmansworth, Barclay, Tring, Gadebridge and Heartwood Forest.

To do: Cassiobury, Westmill

I will miss the next two weekends, and then it is Dad’s 100th so we will be at a home run for that, so touristing will have to take a break until mid-September.

How do you usually travel to parkrun? If you have several near to you, how do you choose which one to visit each week? Are you aiming for anything particular at parkrun at the moment? Once I have done the Hertfordshire parkruns, I might look at the alphabet challenge but that seems to make touristing a lot more complicated! I’d also love to add a few more countries to my list, but that will be a more long term goal.