Category: Running

This week has been more tiring than usual. I had a lot to do when I got home on Monday and didn’t finish until 9.30pm. My mum was booked to have an operation and so I was up at 5am on Tuesday to collect her from her house and then drive her up to the hospital. The day was then of course a little stressful as we waited to find out how it had gone (all good so far). I was booked on a course so thankfully it meant I finished a bit earlier than usual. Once home I headed on a run straight away instead of waiting for the 6.30 club run.

I knew there was a park close to the town centre, and by following a dog walker I manged to find this path through it- the Ayot Greenway (possibly another old railway line)-I felt super tired though and so just before 3 miles I headed back. I am sure I can plan a loop (as I am not so keen on out and back routes) as the path does come out onto a road at the other end.

On Wednesday we did yoga outside again. Someone had brought along some large joss sticks and the smoke kept the mozzies away- no bites this week. It was so great to be outside again- it adds another element to the class and feels more relaxing and calming. We did some visualisation work and I find this is really helping me as when I am having trouble sleeping I can think of it.

Usually before yoga I get home and have to plough through work but I decided to chill out and watch some of the tennis instead- with a view of the garden from where I was sitting it started to feel very relaxing.

Our agapanthus have flowered and they add a lovely splash of colour to the patio.

On Thursday I had a meeting after work which didn’t finish until late, and it turned out my mum had been discharged from hospital (and my sister picked her up), so I went to see her on my way home. By the time I got home I decided I was too tired and would leave my run for Friday after work instead.

I’ve not managed to see much of the tennis, but on Friday after my run (I went on a hunt for another new route, and sort of found one, although I followed a path that didn’t come out where I thought it would) and some dinner, I sat down and watched a fair bit of the Murray match- we shared the salted caramel frozen yoghurt (with a nice bit of sauce in there too).

On Saturday I had offered to barcode scan at Panshanger, as we had our niece coming over at 10.15.

They get fairly busy now (300+) so they have taped off an area for the scanners to stand behind.

I have not done that job at parkrun for ages (maybe a couple of years) and I had a few moments where the barcode wouldn’t scan initially, but thanks to some tips from another scanner (a very competent 9 year old who volunteers regularly) it went by without a hitch. It was grey when we started but by the finish there were beautiful blue skies. I treated myself to a chai latte from the coffee van for the walk back to the car, as I didn’t have breakfast before I left (I didn’t want to get up earlier after such a busy week) and I wouldn’t have time when I got home.

After spending time with our niece, we drove up to the fireplace shop- we are hoping to get a wood burner, and we had someone out to knock a hole in the chimney earlier in the week.

We were close to a garden centre so we stopped there to have a look too- I’d been given some vouchers for my birthday but annoyingly I left them at home. I was doing a race on Sunday and that was only 10 minutes away from the garden centre so I decided I would pop in on my way back instead.

I saw lots of butterflies on the plants as we wandered around.

I love wandering around a garden centre anyway, and we found a few plants and made a mental list (which is a mistake, I should make an actual list because my brain is no good at remembering things when I am tired).

I’d been wanting to make this recipe from the Pip and Nut cookbook for ages- strawberries marinated in lemon juice and honey, on top of toasted sourdough and almond butter. In my pack from the WR10k I had a little squeezy pouch of almond butter, and we had some leftover sourdough, some strawberries and even a lemon! The perfect lunch! Incidentally, how annoying are those pouches? It feels like there is so much left in the packet that won’t come out- I’d much rather get a spoonful from a jar.

Mum messaged me after lunch to tell me Dad was on Centre Court, so I watched a bit of that in between baking a cake for Sunday and pottering in the garden.

Later on I found out that my brother had to take my mum into A&E, and as he has to get up very early for work I offered to pick her up- I ended up collecting her at about 10.30pm and while I was waiting no less than 6 police cars with their lights flashing screeched into the A&E bay. The nurse who treated my mum told her there had been 7 attacks on the staff just that evening. What is wrong with people????

It probably wasn’t the ideal race preparation (I was doing a 10k in the morning) but these things can’t be helped.

Are you good at finding new running routes? I do find myself looking to see if there are pavements as I drive, but then once you get off road I have no hope. What do you do to relax when you are busy?

Originally this Saturday was going to be a local parkrun- my dad will be working at Wimbledon for the next fortnight and usually has one of the international officials (Dorin) staying with them- they were either going to head to Panshanger, where they have run for the past couple of years, or cycle to Ellenbrook fields. However, I had a message from Dad this week saying that he needed to deliver a fridge to their flat (they rent a flat and were in it this past week for the qualifiers too) so would I fancy going with him to Wimbledon parkrun? Well, I am not going to turn down some tourism!

He picked me up at 7.30am and the journey took around an hour, so we got to the car park in the common with plenty of time to visit the toilets (thankfully open even though the cafe wasn’t), and have a little nose through the window at the cafe menu.

There were lots of high viz jackets out on the common opposite the car park, so we waited there for a bit and it wasn’t long before Dorin turned up (he had run from the flat- 1 or 2 km away)- he was wearing an apricot Panshanger top that Dad had given him. A little later three more of the officials came- Mircea (also in an apricot parkrun top) who also knew Dad well, and then Elzbieta and Juan who had been persuaded by Dorin and Mircea to try out parkrun for the first time. Dad had even printed off their barcodes but they had ended up stopping at a hotel on the way and they had kindly printed them off for them too.

Our “before” photo- Dorin, Mircea, me, Dad (he had his apricot top on underneath), Elzbieta, Juan.

There was no new runners briefing – just before 9am the RD stood on a bench and addressed the crowd- it was really silent- I was very impressed. They had a few milestones to cheer (some J10’s, 50’s and then a few people on 300 runs celebrating the impressive but unofficial milestone). They then had a little speech imploring people not to funnel-duck- it is obviously a big issue there (maybe it’s worse at the busier parkruns when the funnels are longer?) as they threatened “bad cop” next week. Finally a lady stood up to say she would be offering a free yoga session on the common afterwards- how lovely.

We then all walked 400m to the start, which faced the way we came- the international crew were at the front of the line (Dorin has run Panshanger in 19 minutes and the other two guys thought they would be at a similar pace), Elzbieta was aiming for 5 minute kms, so headed a bit further back, and I went further back still with Dad- he decided he wanted to run with me which is always good as we have a bit of a catch up (until I run out of breath and then he just talks to me!).

The route was such a lovely parkrun- I thought it would be out in the open but it was mainly through woods on wide flat paths. There were occasional tree roots to look out for (although a lot of them had been sprayed with white paint), and every now and then it narrowed so about 3 people could run side by side, but overall it was pretty perfect. The running conditions were lovely  as it was cloudy and not too hot, but the route was so shady it would be welcome on a hot summer day too.

It was a two lap course and at the half way point they had a guy stood there with a stopwatch calling out times- we were told 14 something which seemed good (I was just hoping for under 30 although I knew I should go a bit quicker as it was totally flat). We did speed up a bit during the second lap, and it seemed to go by really quickly- we thought we had about half a lap to go and I looked at my watch to see 2.55 miles already run.

The finish was where the run briefing was, and Dad decided he had a bit of a sprint finish in him- as he was heading off a guy ran from the sidelines and started yelling (cheering?) at a guy behind me, saying funny stuff like “come on, I’m younger than you/ you can see the finish line, hurry up…”- anyway I was overtaken by the guy storming through- he did a very impressive finish indeed.

The funnel was fairly long and we had to bunch up a bit as just behind us was a big group of people. It’s funny, I always feel like I am near the end as I suppose the crowd thins out towards the end, so I am always surprised when I see the number of people still to finish. My time came through on Sunday morning with 27.46 so I was very happy with that. Position 260/405

There was someone taking photos at the start so I didn’t really take any -I took this one at the end as I collected my bag from the bench- just to show the lovely wide tree-lined path. Sadly I didn’t see any wombles, but I think perhaps the trees were just too thick and they were hiding in there somewhere.

(Note my much redder face in the “after” photo!)

Then, we did something crazy…. we went to the cafe for breakfast! That was my 111th parkrun, my 22nd different UK course, and my first post-parkrun cafe visit! I did sometimes used to get a chai latte from the coffee van at Panshanger, but drinking on the walk back to the car isn’t the same.  Usually if we have travelled somewhere we have headed back as Mum would make us a lovely breakfast, and if I have been away I’ve got something to take back to where we are staying.

I had a toasted teacake while the others had omelettes, bacon sandwiches or full English breakfasts, and it was lovely just chatting away about the tennis, how they had been spending time in England, and of course how great parkrun is. I’m not taking parkrun for granted at all, but it’s lovely to see it from fresh eyes every now and then. They were all so amazed seeing little kids (one finishing very high up) as well as much older people running, and were really pleased to see the park being used for a community event. Juan was so keen and was even talking about buying an apricot shirt to be delivered to my dad, who would then pass it to him the next time they met at a tournament!

We must have been in the cafe for over an hour- we’ve both said we need to try and do it every now and then at other parkruns as it does add to the occasion. We had a fridge to sort out (well, Dorin came with us to help Dad get the fridge out of the car, into the flat and then take the old one back out) and then of course London traffic meant we didn’t get home until nearly 1pm!

So parkrun 111 achieved (I love the symmetry of that number) and my 22nd UK course (also a palindromic number).

Did you used to love the wombles? Do you usually go to a cafe after? (I do love the Panshanger coffee van of course, or breakfast at my parents house). Have you spotted any good running clubs lately? Here had the wimbledon windmillers and I imagined them running with their arms circling constantly, but sadly I spotted no-one doing that. Will you be watching Wimbledon?

First up (and this is totally not a complaint) I still can’t claim my 100 parkrun t-shirt (which I earned in March) because they have had issues with stock. I am really not complaining- I would love parkruns if they had no t-shirts, and no-one can complain about getting something for free. But I do look forward to celebrating these milestones. So when I did my 20th different UK course I was very quick to order my cow cowl (an unofficial piece of merchandise to show that you are on your way to 100 different venues)- you can order it once you are on the UK most events table (20+ UK events). I wore it to St Albans (which is really a home run) and then forgot it when I was marshaling last weekend, so as we were off to Kent this weekend it was the first thing to pack!

The start was right around the corner from where we stayed (the Village hotel)- it’s even on the directions! I did check my phone because the road didn’t look like a “real” road- but as you follow signs for the Museum of Kent Life I should have trusted myself really.

The start area was by the museum, which had a few animals (donkeys, ducks, little horses) as well as lovely flowers and a pond.

I kept my eyes peeled but didn’t see any tourists.

The new runners briefing was great- they explained that if you run here regularly they have a little index card box, so you can leave a copy of your barcode inside- it’s by the finish which means even if you forget your barcode, they will have one there. (I’ve passed that idea to Ellenbrook Fields too).

Taken at the end- what a great idea!

The start was slightly downhill to the towpath, then you ran along the towpath for just over a mile, crossed a bridge, ran a little loop of a playground and then headed back over the bridge and along the path. To finish you ran beyond the start, up “a little hill”- (it was little but tough after a flat finish).

They said that the first 5 rows were for sub 20 minutes, and the back was for walking at around an hour, but with nearly 400 people there it isn’t easy to get into finish time order. I wasn’t too fussed about my time- I had entertained going for my fastest mile (the Strava challenge for June) but when I saw how narrow the paths were I left that to another day. It was very stop start because at times it was only wide enough for 2 people at most.

It was very pretty by the river (canal?)- I really enjoyed the scenery. It was a lovely shady route too- the weather on Saturday was overcast but warm, but it would be a good option for a sunny day as it was mostly shaded. We had been asked to keep left, and although I could overtake people one at a time, I kept getting stuck for a while. Soon the fastest runners were heading back in the other direction which meant overtaking was not really doable. The bridge was very weird- it was so wobbly to run over- sometimes it would bounce up and you would hit it sooner, and other times if it was bouncing down it felt like you were falling slightly. I wasn’t a fan. We were told we could spread out once we had passed the tail runner- for me this was at around 1.8 miles. I did manage a royal flush negative split of 10.05, 9.20 and 8.59 because of the ease of running at my pace once it had thinned out.

The marshals were really great- very encouraging and a few of them were in groups so you had an even bigger cheer. They also had a few (3?) photographers out on the course.

This was me coming up to the final hill, having just run past the start. I was wanting to stop right about then! (From their Flicker page)

As you approached the finish the path bends, and on the bend were loads of people (runners who had finished, and marshals) cheering you on. They all know it’s a tough finish.

Then as you round the bend you can see even more people (above- from their Flicker page again)- really great to see.

After I finished and had my chip scanned, I walked back down the hill- I did cheer people past but also got distracted by a little pony in the field.

My time was 29.31, position 208/384 – I was happy to be under 30 minutes.

I also had to have a selfie with the Li’l Sebastian (anyone else a Parks and Rec fan?). I then walked down to the water to take a few photos. Some runners were still going and on my way back the marshals gave me a big cheer (as I was walking)- I thanked them but felt I had to explain that I had already finished and was just taking photos- otherwise they would have got confused over me heading away from the finish and back to the hotel!

I headed back to the hotel for a shower and breakfast (the hotel has a Starbucks in the foyer- iced tea = a lovely post-run drink) before we headed out for the day (but more on that another day).

Do you like out and back runs? I sometimes quite like it in a race as I can look out for people I know further up the field, but sometimes it makes the turnaround point feel further away.

Monday:

31 in my car. And yes I know that is not an official temperature measurement but it gives a general indication of how hot it has been

It was obviously hot on Saturday (when I marshaled at parkrun) and on Sunday (when, after a very hot run we ended up wandering a lavender field in the middle of the day in no shade..) but I didn’t realise it was going to be hot all week.  On Monday I had a massage booked- I did consider cancelling it but thankfully the room had a fan going so it wasn’t too bad. I met Andy in town afterwards

Tuesday:

32 degrees. Our club run was originally going to be our 8 mile hilly route, but thankfully that was changed to 5 miles in the shade, and fairly flat. It was actually OK in the shade, but of course a very sweaty run. I really enjoyed it despite being totally baking.

I had braved shorts (I don’t tend to find shorts that comfy as they ride up- these ones are better as they are fitted but I don’t wear them very often)- everyone was finding my tan lines rather funny- I think my capris are all the same length which is why the line is fairly pronounced.

Wednesday:

33 degrees- getting ridiculous!

I caved and got an iced tea on my way home!

As it was the summer solstice our yoga teacher had mentioned about doing something special. When I got there she had set the mats up outside (we are normally inside a little community centre room looking out onto trees and fairy lights)- she had set out candles and some joss sticks to try and keep the mozzies away. Apparently some people were doing 108 sun salutations as 108 is a special number (and one is one on the left side and one on the right) but we weren’t going to do that many. We had some lovely poses to open our shoulders, and then we had a go, doing a set of 9 (9 on each side), having a rest and then doing another 9. Even though it is fairly gentle I worked up quite a sweat. At times we came off the mats and held the poses on the grass which added another dimension to them.

At the end laying on the mat looking up at the trees swaying in the breeze, and the swallows flitting about in the sky was the most relaxing cool down, and a perfect way to celebrate the solstice.

Thursday:

Thankfully it was cooler.

I went out on a 4 mile run after work, trying out some new socks. I was sent some Storm Bloc trainer sport socks. Although black and purple is not the most summery of choices, I am very glad because my white socks just get stained with mud and never seem to go back to being white. I don’t think these have left or right socks (couldn’t see marks on them anyway) but they were comfy enough, and because they are more of an anklet design they look better with capris than my usual socks.

Friday:

Again, a bit cooler. After work I went to see my mum, and my sister and niece turned out to be there too, so we had a lovely catch up. I couldn’t stay too long as we were heading to Kent on Friday night, but it was a great start to the weekend. I do like the sunny weather but I would rather it was not so hot that sleeping isn’t such a struggle.

How did you manage in the heat? Did you do anything to mark the solstice? 

*I was sent the socks in exchange for a mention on my blog. All opinions are my own.

The timeline for my blog is all over the place at the moment so I shall just get it all out in one go. First up, in Edinburgh we had a bit of time for a mooch around the shops. Lululemon and Sweaty Betty are close to each other, and I wanted to have a look for a summer yoga top. I have a winter one which I got from SB- it has a band around the waist so when you are doing inversions it doesn’t ride up- I do not want to flash my stomach to everyone in the class. Anyway, it has elbow-length sleeves so it is too warm for now. I have tried a few vests and t-shirts- trying to tuck them in bit they always some un-tucked and I leaves me feeling uncomfortable and not focused on the pose as much.

I had looked online and seen a few in SB but I also wanted to look in Lululemon because I just love their clothes. With help from the salesperson I found a vest and a hoodie but remembered I had a voucher to use online (and not much space in my rucksack) so I left it. In SB straight away one of the salespeople wandered over, and when I explained what I was looking for they told me they didn’t have any. I found one, but couldn’t be bothered to try it on. Back in St Albans a few days later, I headed into the SB there, and the salesperson pretty much told me the same thing. I then found two different styles of tops that had the waistband (despite being told they had none…)- I tried them on but they were way too long so it was no good.  I really like the top I have from there but the people in the stores just put me off.

While I was in St Albans I popped into a cook shop and added to my baking collection. I have a great brownie tin and I sometimes double recipes but then I have to use different sized or shaped pans which makes it harder to judge timings. I found one but it was too long, so the lady went off to check, saying she might be able to order it in, but then ended up finding one in the back. I also got a square pan (and then wondered after if I should have bought two of those too). At least I have a photo now so I can refer to that if I need to.

Running and yoga for the last couple of weeks has not been going that well. While in Scotland we did a lot of walking and I seem to have bruised my heel- it’s fine all day but then by the evening it gets a bit sore, so I have missed a few runs to try and give it time to heal.

I did a short run on the Thursday after we got back, did parkrun on Saturday (but felt really sick at the finish line even though I hadn’t gone fast). I did the London 10 miles on Sunday, then rested on the Monday. I missed the club run on Tuesday, going out on my own for a few miles instead, and got caught in a massive rain shower close to the finish- I tried to take a photo to show how soaked I was but I didn’t come out that well!

Wednesday was lovely yoga- I am starting to see a little more progress which is great (I can get my forehead onto the floor in child’s pose now which is probably the norm for most people but for a person as stiff as a board it is great).

On Thursday and Friday we had a couple of long walks in the evening instead of having a run.

On Wednesday this week I was on a course which finished early, so on my way home I stopped off at a garden centre. It was lovely weather and I took my time wandering around- it’s always such a calm place to be.

Our garden had no lavender (which surprised me- I thought everyone would have it) and I have wanted to get some for ages so I bought a couple of them plus a hollyhock and a poppy.

I then had a good hour outside pottering in the garden, planting them up and doing a bit of weeding.

St Albans parkrun at the start

This week on Saturday my car was having a service in St Albans, so I dropped it off on Saturday morning, ran the mile to parkrun, and met my dad there. My cow cowl had arrived earlier in the week (you can buy one when you are on the 20 UK events table) and at first I thought it was for when you are being a parkrun tourist, but on the facebook group I was told it could be worn at local parkruns too, as then tourists will know to come and chat to you.

It was a hot morning and so busy (400+, which is now small for St Albans)- it’s on narrow paths so it did feel very busy. We finished in just over 28 minutes after picking up the pace- it’s three laps and on the third we had had enough of looking at the lake, even though we did see goslings and coot chicks. It was nice to go back (St Albans was where I started parkrunning) but once a year is good enough. The trouble is more and more keep coming so balancing time with local and far away ones gets harder.

It was very hot and even though I wore the cowl on my wrist it wasn’t ideal summer attire- maybe I need to tie it to my top or something. The lady who was bar code scanning spotted it and we briefly chatted about touristing, so it does work!

Dad took me back to theirs so I could have a shower (I’d taken a rucksack with me)- Mum cooked pancakes filled with raspberries, mango and creme fraiche, before Dad took me into town to collect my car. (I was about to get in the shower when the phone rang- I very much hoped that the lady calling from the garage could not tell that I had no clothes on!)

On my way home I drove past Bunnings (which used to be Homebase and has caused much excitement among the people of St Albans)- we tried to go once before but it was queued out onto the road. This time it wasn’t so busy so I popped in and bought a few more plants- a couple of tiny lavender plants to go into the ground, and a poppy.

After ploughing through my work on Saturday afternoon, I had a bit of time to do a bit of planting before I had to walk into town for a hair cut.

Also, look at who visited one evening! This was only about 8.30pm but it’s so light now, so I could see two of the fox cubs so clearly. They were watching a pigeon on the fence and it was very funny to see them jump when the pigeon flapped about.

On Sunday morning I wanted to make a cake as Andy’s parents were coming over later, so we walked around to Morrison’s to get a few ingredients, and you may have guessed it, bought yet more plants. They actually water their plants (unlike a lot of supermarkets) and so they had a lot of shoots on them. We also had a voucher so we got about 3 plants free. We then spent more time in the garden lifting out some huge lumps of granite that were in one of the flower beds, and then filling in the holes with the new plants.

Huge rocks!

It may not look like much but we added two poppy plants, two lavender plants, a clump of agapanthus, and two fox gloves (they had seeded themselves into pots). Hopefully there will be a lot more colour here soon.

Do you tend to always go to one parkrun or do you have a few local ones now? Do you like sales people who come up to you or ones who hang back? I don’t want to be pounced on as soon as I come into a shop, but I do like a bit of help without feeling the pressure to always buy something. Do you like buying plants? I find garden centres very calming and I get tempted very easily (as you can see!).