Stuff I love! - Maria Runs

A look back at 2019

I quite like writing posts like this as my blog is my diary, and it’s lovely to reflect on what has happened over the previous year.

Running

For the past few years I have tried to do less races, but keep in the ones I really enjoy. Looking at my Race Calendar page on my blog I have managed to keep to that quite well I think. 2019 started with training for the Brighton half marathon – after doing Cambridge in 2018 I had decided to go back to Brighton because I just really love it. I had a bit of an odd knee niggle which kept hampering my long runs, but thankfully it was fine on the day of the race and I finished in 2:03:38. I then signed up for the Lee Valley half, having enjoyed it a few years ago and having run the 10k the previous year. I tried to keep up with the 2 hour pacer but faded in the second lap, finishing in 2:02:00. For the May bank holiday weekend we went to Bristol and I ran the 10K, which I really enjoyed. I also did the Ware 10 miles (one of my favourite races) in July, and then trained over the summer for the Great North Run, raising money for MND in memory of a member of my family. I ran a 5k at Disney in Florida, and then back to Brighton for the 10K. I have also continued to enjoy the yoga classes- I think that they do help with running as I have had far less problems with my back and hips, but actually the biggest thing I take from it is the mental strength and calmness.

parkrun

My love of the Running Challenges extension continued- I went to 16 new events, including East Brighton to complete the set of Brighton parkruns, Gedling and Colwich for the 2019 NYDD (achieving the Stayin’ Alive challenge with the final G), and Queen Elizabeth to get my Q for the alphabet. I met Danny Norman (from the With Me Now podcast) at Kingdom parkrun, getting my K. In June we went to Milton Keynes parkrun to meet Brian, my dad’s cousin, as it was my 200th parkrun (he got into parkrun when we met him at Linford Wood a few years ago, and now he is nearly at his 100th one!). I got token 200 on my 200th event! When Dad was working at Wimbledon I picked up my brother and we met him a Fulham Palace parkrun- this had been on our list for ages because it was where Dad grew up. I also ticked off my final bingo number so achieved that badge at long last. In the summer I went to two Canadian parkruns, Central Burnaby in Vancouver, and Clover Point in Victoria- this also meant I earned my Pirates badge (7 C’s and an R). Finally in November I walked around Toyen parkrun in Oslo. For me parkrun isn’t about time, but a PB is always nice, and this year I earned a few course pb’s at Hove Prom and Jersey Farm, and beat my all-time pb twice, getting it down to 26:18 and then 26:16 at Ellenbrook Fields. Just like previous years, the running with my dad and brother are always top of the list and the reason why it’s so enjoyable. I have reached 225 parkruns now, (a few days into January) so the lovely green shirt is in my sights for 2020. I still need an I and a Z for the alphabet, and I can’t see those happening any time soon, but we shall see.

Fun Times

We managed to see a few bands, going to see Manic Street Preachers in London, and then again at the Splendour festival in the summer, as well as seeing Ash there. I was given tickets to see the Reasons to be Cheerful podcast live, which was really interesting. Not sure this counts as fun times, but we have been to London for a few of the protests too (we made it fun by going to the Swedish Bakery after…). I went with my parents to see Mark Watson (a comedian- he’s been on Taskmaster) and with Andy’s family to see the Baseball in the Olympic Park. As a belated Christmas present, Andy’s brothers and wives (6 of us) went to see Hamilton and then went out for dinner after, and I think we have agreed to do something like that each year instead of getting gifts which will be a lovely tradition. We are both big fans of Adam Buxton (having grown up on the Adam and Joe show, and loving his podcast) and saw him at the London Podcast festival in September. We saw James Acaster live in December and he was very funny too. With our Vitality we get one cinema ticket per fortnight (so long as you do a minimum number of steps but it’s very achievable) and we’ve seen some great ones including Rocket Man, Book Smart, Toy Story 4, Knives Out, Frozen 2, Eighth Grade, Le Mans 66, Lego Movie 2, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (although I didn’t know the real story the fake history thing was based on until after seeing it!) and some more questionable ones (new Lion King and new Aladdin- if you are not going to change the story like the new Jungle Book did, what is the point?) like Hustlers (if they were men drugging women to rob them, would it have been seen as such a good film? I found it very strange).

Travelling Tales

Of course we have had plenty of weekends to Brighton, a weekend in Bristol for the bank holiday and Durham for the GNR. At Easter we had a lovely trip to Wales, with beautiful sunshine and really warm weather. In late May we went to Bruges and this was the first time I had driven my car abroad. In the summer we had a massive trip- first to Vancouver, then a week on a road trip travelling around Oregon, to Crater Lake National Park and then up the coast, a week in Maui and then a few days on Vancouver Island. It was the perfect mixture of sightseeing and visiting new places but also relaxing. Then in October we went back to Florida for a week of fun in the sun, and the race of course. The end of the year was busy with visits to Brighton, Oslo and Bath, and then our trip to France over Christmas. 2020 will bring less travel and definitely less flights!

How was your 2019? Obviously on the national agenda things have been pretty awful, but I think it’s important to focus on what is going well, and also focus on things within my control because otherwise things can spiral downwards pretty quickly.

Which films have you enjoyed? Are you addicted to the parkrun challenges? Check out the new map- I just don’t even know where to begin with it…

What are you looking forward to in 2020? I am looking forward to the Olympics, earning my 250 shirt and visiting more parkruns, going to Brighton for more weekends and a family trip to Disneyland Paris in the spring.

NYDD 2020!

For the last couple of years I have taken part in the New Year Day Double parkrun- the only day when you are allowed to run two parkruns. Two years ago I did the local double of Panshanger and Ellenbrook Fields, and last year we were in Nottingham so I did Gedling and Colwick (running between them which was further than I thought).

This year as I was home, it was back to the local double, and my dad and brother were going to do them both too. They were going to come back to mine for breakfast after, so we tried to work out the logistics of using only one car (parking at Panshanger gets busy quickly). In the end I decided I would run to Panshanger (4 miles) and meet them there- we’d then run together, drive (in Dad’s car) to Ellenbrook, run that, then pick up my mum and come back here. It all worked out!

Taking a photo whilst running before I realised that I was a bit tight for time!

I left slightly later than planned so had a bit of a panic jog near the end (after stopping to take photos of the llama).

The car park (where Panshanger starts) was rammed with people! I’d never seen it that busy before. Luckily as I’d been running down, I’d seen my dad across the road so I knew what colour top to look out for.

Panshanger was so busy and as we started a bit further back than usual it was a bit stop-start, but we were in no hurry. We ran around together, chatting, and it was very enjoyable. I also met loads of people from my running club who I’d not seen for a while as they tend to go to EF whereas I have been at Panshanger or Jersey Farm recently. At the end there was a queue before the finish line as the funnel was so backed up- the poor funnel managers were walking back and forth asking everyone to move up and keep touching the person in front. When I was given token 475 (32:55) I wondered if they would break their attendance record (500 and something)- looking at the results they smashed it with 681 people!

We walked back to the car and headed off- Dad has an electric car and the heated seats are amazing- they are warm straight away. I was feeling pretty chilly- I think I’d gotten all sweaty from my first run and then because the air was cold and damp I cooled down so quickly. Anyway, once parked at the uni, we nipped into one of the buildings to use the toilets, and then walked to the start.

The photographer took our photo on our way to the start, looking freezing!

Again, EF was super busy and they couldn’t start on time because people were still pouring down the runway. We split up for this run, with Dad heading off more quickly- again I saw runners from my club, and I caught my brother up towards the end.

There were 455 runners there- another record attendance! I finished in 29:14 which I was pretty pleased with seeing as that was around 10 miles run in total. As we walked back to the car Dad got some chocolate biscuits and water out of his bag – this was very much appreciated! We picked up my mum and then got home to baked French toast and lots of tea (for me) and coffee (for everyone else). By the time we got home it was around 11.45 am so it was more like lunch!

After my parents left I had a shower and then got ready as our niece and nephew were coming over for us to give them their presents. We got our niece a cooking apron with her name on it, so I had baked some gingerbread people so she could decorate them (you want to use your present straight away!).

After they left I had a bit of an energy crash- I was feeling OK up until that point but I think I had got really cold in the morning too. As it was too late for lunch by that point, I had a mince pie (Caffe Nero had been doing 2 for 1 and their vegan mince pies are so tasty- lots of filling and not much pastry) so I had one and watched Aladdin.

After all that fresh air in the morning I felt like I needed to lounge about in the afternoon! Anyway, a successful start to the year. I sent my dad a link to the clever new year double map thing (it shows you how many people went from each parkrun, here) so we might plan something different for 2021. 147 people did the same double as us- I thought it might be more. 101 went from Panshanger (undulating) to Westmill (hilly and two laps!)- which was a very brave start to the year!

Did you do a NYDD?

A winter week in France

On the first Sunday of the holidays I headed out on a run- seeing lots of flooded pavements. I wore my festive leggings for probably the final time of the year. I was also amused by the sign showing where “Ground control deliveries” were going- is Major Tom visiting WGC?

After some pottering and packing we were off to the airport to fly to Nice. Dad had given us a lift and wanted to be home early, so we had plenty of time in the airport. As there was a Leon, we opted for an early dinner, which turned out to be lucky as someone on our plane had an epileptic fit and they had to land somewhere else so she could be seen to be paramedics. It was pretty late by the time we arrived in Nice (as they had to refuel and do some paperwork) so we were glad to have already eaten.

We had a few days in Nice- our hotel was close to the water so each day we had lovely long walks along the coast in one direction and then the other.

There was a Christmas market so we went to that a couple of times, although it was much smaller than when we had been in the past.

It was warm in the day but chilly at night and so we managed to work our way through a fair number of Christmas classics- Home Alone, the original Gavin and Stacy Christmas special, It’s a Wonderful Life, Muppets Christmas Carol, The Snowman….

There was a Chinese Lantern festival so one day we caught the tram out to the park to have a look- they were really impressive.

We wandered around the old town, walked up the steps to the gardens that overlook the sea, and walked around the flower market. It’s definitely a place to mooch around.

I’d packed my running kit so one two mornings had a sunrise run along the coast.

Our hotel had a nice breakfast with plenty of croissants and fruit, and as it was Christmas some little nutcrackers on each table too.

On Boxing Day we flew to Paris as we had a few days booked at Disney. This was trickier as the trains were on strike- we had to get a coach from the airport, which was fine, but our hotel was one train stop from Disney.

In the end we walked it most days (25 mins ish) although one day it poured with rain and we tried several times to call an Uber and they would each get within about 5 mins of us before cancelling! A little frustrating.

The Downtown Disney / Disney Springs/ can’t remember what it is called area had some little Christmas market style food stalls, and the Studios park had a mini Christmas food market too. One of the stalls did fresh crepes, and one day I had one with goats cheese, rocket, honey and walnuts which was just so delicious.

One stall did vegan foods (there were veggie and vegan options elsewhere too) but my favourite thing from it was a hot apple juice with cinnamon- it was so warming. I’d bought a few cup cosies as gifts this year and had also got a couple for me- this is my festive reindeer/Mickey one!

(Andy had mulled wine)

We had an extra day in Disney, as originally we were going to head into Paris on the Saturday to see a Van Gogh exhibition, but with the trains hardly running it didn’t seem worth getting stuck. It was busy, but we had managed to do pretty much all the rides that we wanted to do, seen the parade a couple of times (Disney do produce earworms), seen the projection/firework show (they have silent fireworks which seem like such a good idea) and seen a few festive shows including Mickey’s Swing Band, with a live band, singers and dancers (and Mickey rocking an awesome drum solo!). There was a new Frozen show which ended up being very good- Olaf was on a screen moving about and talking, with Anna and Elsa appearing on the stage and singing. Plus the decorations are just so pretty.

I had seen on Instagram that there was a big gingerbread house in the main hotel (the one by the park gates) so we went there- it was very impressive and smelled wonderful, but they didn’t have any for sale (unlike in Florida where they sell the pebbles/ biscuits). Luckily one of the stalls outside sold gingerbread so we bought a Rudolf.

It was very very cold! I had packed long sleeved thermal tops, t-shirts and a jumper for each day, but ended up wearing a sweatshirt over my jumper. If there was a queue for the ride you were often inside which was a bonus because you could warm up a bit! We had a fair bit of rain on the first night (luckily it had only started as we were making our way to the exit) and the Friday and Saturday were fairly grey, but on Sunday we had beautiful blue skies and frosty grass- it made everything even prettier.

The only thing that irked me was that the parks are supposedly non-smoking, with signs up and notices on the maps, but this is ignored by a lot of people so wherever you walked you would have plumes of smoke being blown into your face. Anyway, apart from that it was a great couple of days.

We got the Eurostar home, which is so much easier than flights (we just couldn’t do the logistics easily for a train on the way out). We bought a new decoration for our tree which I put on as soon as we had unpacked.

Have you been to Nice or Disneyland Paris? Where is good for a wander?

Festive outings and a festive parkrun

On Monday after work the team I work with headed to The Waffle House for Christmas get together.

We did a secret Santa and I was given a very cute penguin hottie (the ones you heat in the microwave) and some penguin socks- very me!

I had their best savoury one- hummus and avocado- it has a lovely sweet chilli dressing (not too spicy) and lots of tomatoes and salad too. When I got home we had to take all the decorations off the tree because the lights had broken and so we had ordered new ones. I also had to finish unpacking from Bath (the lovely maple butter and assorted maple goodies).

On Tuesday I had a delivery (of two books) to collect, so thought I would get them out on my run (from those Amazon lockers)- when I opened the locker the box was enormous! I had to run home carrying it rather awkwardly! My gorgeous Frozen cup cosy arrived (from Etsy- Pixie Dust Crochet- she makes all kinds of Disney themed things) too. And when I got home (after 4.5 miles) I had got over the 1000 mile running mark on Strava- my most miles as I still have a couple of weeks to go (and when I managed it before, I think I did the final mile on the final day of the year).

After school on Wednesday I went for a walk and did some baking. I also enjoyed some of this gorgeous peppermint bark given to me by a child in my class- it’s so good and a homemade gift is my favourite kind.

Not keen on the blue light netting look down our road!

I made some mincemeat bars which I think I’ll post the recipe for later on.

On Thursday I went on another run- it had poured with rain so I spent a lot of time crossing roads to avoid ankle deep puddles and hidden potholes.

On Friday I wore my penguin/snowman top. Some of us went out to Starbucks for lunch to celebrate the end of term, and then I had a massage booked in town. I loved the wooden Christmas tree up in the waiting area.

Andy’s parents came over in the evening and we had a lovely catch up.

On Saturday morning I was off to Jersey Farm parkrun with my Dad- they were having a festive theme but I would have been wearing Christmas leggings and my new top anyway!

It was so muddy there! It starts on the top of a hill but even there the grass was saturated. Some of the paths were just boggy mud and so in the end there was no point trying to run around them as my feet were soaked! I did get a few comments from the marshals about my top- I really love it!

We walked home and after a shower Mum made us pancakes, although I couldn’t hang about too long as I had afternoon tea booked with some friends.

I loved the cute snowman and little snowflake on the cakes. I think afternoon tea is such a good way to relax and catch up with friends as it doesn’t feel rushed like a meal can.

I fancied a walk after, so I wandered around town for a bit, admiring one of the Home Alone style houses (they have such pretty decorations) and getting a hot drink (and using my cup cosy).

I had a few bits of wrapping to finish up, so I lit some candles (I’ve got a rechargeable candle lighter which is fab- I don’t need matches or the fuel top up for those little hand held lighters, it just charges via a USB) to celebrate the winter solstice (although something I read said it was Sunday and not Saturday…).

Do you like afternoon tea? Have you been to many festive get togethers or events?

Reading parkrun, Bath Christmas markets and the Festive Five 2019

Yoga was on a Monday that week and if it’s on a different day it throws me out of routine. I had a bit of a cold after the first week of December, but I was feeling better with just a stuffy head at night so thought it would help (and it did). On the Tuesday my eye was very itchy, and I do get dry eyes a bit, but when I got home and looked one eye was bloodshot and a bit gunky. Conjunctivitis had been going around a bit at work, so I’d clearly caught it. I looked up pharmacy opening times, and the one in town was open later so we walked in- it was OK but then poured with rain on the way home.

On Wednesday when I got home there was a card saying I’d missed a parcel and a charge was due- this could only mean one thing- my ugly Christmas singlet had arrived!

I listen to the Australian podcast parkrun adventurers, and they have made this so called ugly singlet (I think it’s so cute!). I headed out to collect it, doing 5 miles in the end.

It ended up being very late once I’d had a shower, so we had beans on toast for dinner (my favourite) and some stollen afterwards to get all Christmassy. I love stollen- it’s something we have always had as my grandma was Austrian, so we just always had those sort of Germanic Christmas traditions, but I was watching and Aldi documentary the other day and they were saying that no-one had heard of it until a few years ago- this annoyed my mum a lot (and she was my dad’s mum…).

On Thursday I had to rush to get home as we were heading into London to see James Acaster. It was this strange venue in Hackney, a sort of wooden indoor amphitheatre where you just sat on the floor. He was very funny but his tour did link a bit to politics so whereas I was hoping to take my mind off things for a few hours, that didn’t work, and of course as soon as it finished the entire audience were checking their phones for the exit polls and any hope for a good future came crashing down. I did not sleep well that night.

One week to go!

On Friday we were off to Reading after work- we have found that staying that far away from Bath and getting the train in the next morning is better than driving all that way. The M25 had problems though so our journey took loads longer.

We were around 3 miles from Reading parkrun (In the end this one was chosen because the parking seemed easier) so I drove there in the morning. The course description says road shoes are fine, but I would say certainly not at this time of year! My trail shoes were in the car and that was very lucky- some of it was so boggy and even my ankles got wet! I was wearing my cow hat (from the parkrun tourist facebook group) and at the start a guy came over wearing the buff and started chatting to me. We ended up running the whole way together-he was from the Southampton area so I’d been to a few of the ones he had. He was also a keen tourist, hoping to reach 50 events in his first 100 runs (he was only a few away). It was just so lovely to chat all things parkrun, and this is what is magic about parkrun- turn up and end up having a lovely conversation which would not have happened otherwise.

The route was good- out along the path by the river, two loops of some wetlands, then back along the path to the finish. But very boggy!

Once finished I headed back to the hotel where we had a cup of tea and an almond croissant (and a shower obvs) before going to the train station. Aldi almond croissants are delicious. Also I noticed on Strava that I was on 989 miles for the year- I’ve only run 1000 miles once in a year before, and that was with a concerted effort in December.

Our train took around an hour, and we listened to a podcast (so behind with Off Menu at the moment) and once in Bath we had lunch in Pret (I love their Christmas sandwich) before wandering around. The markets were so busy (as usual) so we visited all the markets and decided which ones to go back to later once it had quietened down a bit.

Someone from work was going on the same day and we actually bumped into each other which was a surprise as it was so busy! We stopped for tea and cake in the afternoon (this was a lovely mincemeat frangipane slice) before going back to the markets as they were quieter. It is so lovely there with the buildings all lit up, and carol singers (and rock choirs) dotted around the city. I bought a few gifts, some maple butter from the maple syrup stall (as it was the final week of the market, we got a deal with some maple granola too). It started raining once it was dark which was a shame, but we had booked dinner so didn’t have long to wait until then. Getting the train back worked well too, as the drive back from Reading was much easier and quicker- I think we were home at around 11.

On Sunday morning I was off to run the Festive Five, one of my favourite races. I love a 5 mile race, and this one is low key- turn up, get your envelope and leave your bag in the little gazebo, and then off we go. Everyone wears festive gear (I had my Christmas leggings and my not ugly Christmas singlet), some of the girls from my running club had tinsel skirts. We ran around together and it was so enjoyable thanking the marshals- one of them had a child with her who was singing Rudolph at the top of her lungs!

Then I headed to town (around half a mile from the start I think) as I had booked breakfast at Bill’s and Andy was meeting me there. We got the timing better this year- last year I left it too long and I got really cold waiting. I had packed a top and jumper to change into as I knew I would get cold otherwise.

Then it was another busy afternoon- I made some chocolate peppermint cookies for work, we went to see Andy’s parents, once home I did some work, made some mincemeat and wrote the Christmas cards.

I used this recipe and it is really good.

So there we go, another week of December with more festive activities.

Do you like stollen or mincemeat? Does your running club do any festive runs? In St Albans someone decorates the postboxes with crochet festive scenes (for a charity) and so the club there does a run to visit lots of them.