Stuff I love! - Maria Runs

Black Park parkrun and introducing newbies!

A while back one of my friends mentioned she had started running, and wanted me to message her every now and then to keep her going with it. She joined in with a virtual run (and got a very nice medal), and as well as messaging her every now and then to encourage her, I’d mentioned parkrun as a way for her to keep her motivation going.

Last Saturday I found myself with a gap in my parkrun diary (I’d been to Ellenbrook for the last few weeks and Dad was away, so I could potentially head somewhere else), so I messaged her and said I would be up for any combination of running and walking. She was happy to join me with her baby in his buggy, so I looked into where to go. She lives near to Upton Court, so of course going there and getting a U would be great, but she had also mentioned Black Park being around the corner from her, and after a message on the lovely parkrun tourist facebook page it seemed that Black Park would be a better option for a buggy.

It wasn’t the best day to begin at parkrun (although my first parkrun was in pouring rain but I still loved it)- I did say things could only get better from then! I parked at 8.30am (the journey went around the M25 and then on either the M4 or M40, so I like to leave a lot of time just in case). It was a big pay and display car park, with parking being slightly cheaper before 9am, but it meant my ticket was only valid until 10.30 which scuppered things slightly later.

This sign somewhat terrified me as I am not the best at remembering routes, and it didn’t look that easy! I had seen that there were no marshals on the excellent Blog 7t, but as it was from many years ago I had thought that perhaps they would have changed it by now and put marshals out there (what if someone falls over or something?).

Anyway, I waited around and could see the signs for the start and finish area. I had a little jog up and down one of the paths to keep warm, as it was fairly chilly, but I didn’t want to go too far as I wanted to be there when my friend arrived. In they end they turned up at 8.59! Cutting it fine!

The start was a bit strange- I didn’t hear anything about a new runner briefing, and then the main briefing talked a bit about the barcodes, but it was hard to hear (partly because of there being 500+ people and us being at the back, but also due to the fact that they blew a whistle to get everyone’s attention which then set off a load of dogs barking and yapping all the way through the briefing). I was glad my friends hadn’t turned up on a different day because I think for a first timer, new to parkrun, it would have been a bit daunting and confusing. I didn’t see a tail walker but in looking at the results there was one, as the final runner was credited with a volunteer role.

Anyway, we set off (my friend’s wife also came along)- they took turns pushing the buggy, and we did a bit of running and a bit of walking. It was good to chat while we headed around the course.

My worries about the route were unfounded as it was well-marked. At one of the cross over points a speedy runner sped by the crossing but as the people around us were fairly spread out that didn’t cause any problems.

I wasn’t sure what to wear in the morning as it was so rainy. In the end I had gone for leggings, t-shirt, jacket and then my coat for the car, but it was so cold that I kept my coat on the whole time and should have really worn a running jacket (and gloves) as it was so cold.

As we neared the end we saw a person with a big camera, so we decided to do a big wave, and I shouted “it’s their first ever parkrun!”- as you can see in the photo I look rather excited.

(photo from the Black Park facebook page)

The finish funnel was a long one- they seem to get 500-600 runners each week, and when we got there (49:16) the scanner was at the end of the funnel so you had to get scanned (although my friend’s wife didn’t get a barcode as she only decided to come last minute) before exiting the funnel meaning hopefully no tokens would go missing.

We were then going to get a cup of tea in the cafe, but the one by the car park was busy, and the one further away was probably too far to get to and back before my parking ticket ran out (and I did offer to put more money on my ticket but after 9am it was more expensive)- so in the end I went back to theirs for a lovely cup of tea, before driving home.

So all in all, a successful visit to a parkrun and I have introduced two (or three if you count their baby) to the wonders of parkrun. I am hoping that they go back another time. The actual course was lovely- I do like a one lap course, and it was fairly flat, shaded and really scenic. I am not sure about there being no marshals though- they aren’t just there in case you get lost (I think, anyway). I also think that it was a shame there was no new runners briefing- as a tourist it’s just useful to hear about the course, but as a new runner it explains all sorts of things like the barcode, results and general rules, and is good reassurance for people who might be a bit nervous.

Have you introduced people to parkrun? My Dad’s cousin went along for the first time a year or so ago as we had arranged to meet him at his local one, and since then he’s gone pretty regularly (40-something times) and is now volunteering as he is injured. Every now and then I get an email from him and he really does love the community side of it, so that makes me very happy too. Do you know of courses without marshals?

Easter holidays part 2 including number 100 at number 100!

Onto the next part of the Easter holidays (which was now over a week ago!): Saturday was Ellenbrook Field’s 100th parkrun! I met Dad there (he had cycled and I drove) and we ran together. At the start they remembered the runner and also the mayor who had both died recently and been involved in parkrun. They also mentioned something about the 100th runner, but I didn’t really hear that.

Ellenbrook at the moment has many puddles- last week the finish runway was completely submerged (you can see the photo on their news page), and this week the runway had totally dried up but there was a huge puddle at 3.5km.

We ran together, and when we reached the puddle there was a choice of a diversion through a field- we went for that as the puddle was knee deep on very tall people, and the ground is very rutted so as you could not see the ground it would have been easy to fall and twist an ankle (you can see the little diversion we took in the map above).

At the end of the runway I said to Dad that he could push on if he wanted to, as he is faster than me. We had kept a good pace (9.05, 9.07, 9.04) and he thought about it, but then decided that we would finish together. As we ran past the start, we pushed a little to try and overtake a couple of other runners, and as we reached the finish we could hear the volunteers shouting out numbers- 98, 99- I got a big cheer as Dad let me cross ahead of him and I was given token 100!

I thought that was it, but in chatting to people after it turned out I had won a prize – not one but two dresses (t-shirts) for the Herts Year of Physical Activity. Great- I needed new decorating clothes 😉

After chatting for ages, I headed to Mum and Dad’s for pancakes. My sister and niece were there, so it was lovely to spend time with the family.

Panettone French toast for breakfast one day (we still have some in the freezer left from Christmas), hot cross bun dough, pink tea (Bluebird Red Velvet), yummy Montezuma’s eggs, and home-made hot cross bun toasted and topped with marmalade.

Later on Saturday afternoon Andy’s parents came over, so I made some hot cross buns. We had asked to borrow some hedge cutters as we needed to trim a rather out of control hedge in preparation for our new fence being put up, and Andy’s dad ended up helping with it and spending a few hours in the garden cutting it down with Andy.

The garden has started coming to life a bit more now- some of the tulips are flowering so there is a bit more colour.

On Sunday I had a longer run in the morning, 7.5 miles, before it started raining too hard. I spent the rest of the day doing work, before having a walk in the late afternoon to get a bit of fresh air and stop looking at a screen for a bit. I did a little more wallpaper stripping too- it’s getting there slowly.

It was Andy’s birthday on Monday, and he had taken the day off work so we walked into town to get the train into London. We went to the Museum of London, which I’d never been to before. It had the 2012 cauldron and lots of information about it (each part was shaped differently and given to the countries that took part after the Olympics finished). We walked all around London, and ended up having a late lunch at Mildred’s (a lovely veggie restaurant) before getting the train home.

On Tuesday I had to be in all day as the fence was being done. I went out on a quick run first thing, just to get some fresh air and steps, and then had to hang around at home, pottering about while the guys were in the garden.

That photo shows about half of the laurel bush that had to come down before the fence was put up (to be fair the guys said they could do it with the bush there, but it was easier for them if it was gone) and then the old fence panels- what a mess!

There’s a path under that puddle somewhere!

Wednesday was a quiet day- a 6 mile run first thing, breakfast and pottering at home including more wallpaper stripping and then the big job of sorting the tea cupboard. It was a total mess but I put a lot of the loose leaf teas into little jam jars (with the labels), and it looks so much neater now. I decided to use some of the peach cobbler tea to make a tea latte (you make the tea, leave to cool then top up with milk, ice and peach slices). It was really good- I shall make it again for sure. I walked into town to meet Andy as we had a cake voucher for John Lewis, so we shared this fudge cake which was rather nice.

I also started a little job of painting some photo frames.

I was pretty pleased with how they turned out- they are going to go up in my office.

Thursday was a work day, and in the evening we went to the cinema to see Thoroughbreds, which was a bit like Strangers on a Train or something- dark and tense.

On Friday morning I walked into the station and then headed into London to meet with some friends. We had booked afternoon tea at the B Bakery (the one that also does the afternoon tea bus).

It was such good food (one of my friends can’t have dairy at the moment and they now do a vegan afternoon tea so she was very happy). I loved their teapots so much, especially the bird one. When they asked if we wanted more tea, instead of topping up with hot water (which is fine) they got fresh tea and teapots- we could have chosen a different blend but I stuck to the one I had chosen as it was so good- I think it was called After Five, it was black tea with cocoa and mint.

I shall save Saturday for another post as I decided to have a little parkrun adventure to finish the holidays with.

Do you like afternoon tea? Where is the best one that you have had?

parkrun challenges!

I have recently discovered a little parkrun extension for Chrome- it is so much fun! It was posted on the parkrun tourist facebook page but I am sure it can be found on google. Basically once you have put the add-on, you can look at your results normally, as parkrun displays them, but you get a little green button to press, which then sorts your results in all sorts of marvellous ways:

Above- the normal summary of parkrun results, and then below, once you have clicked:

You can hover over each link to see what it means (the purple ones are all volunteer roles and you get one star for 5+ times and two stars for 10+ times (I imagine it keeps going up but that’s as many as I have done for each role). You also get flags to show the countries that you have been to (Crissy Field in San Francisco was my third parkrun course and my first real parkrun tourism).

It keeps track of how many courses you have been to (which is great as I kept on scrolling up and down trying to keep count).

I am not doing too badly with the alphabet challenge- 15/25 (there is not one beginning with x). It’s handy to see the missing ones.

My favourite club (they are all of course totally made up clubs) is the parkrun Pirates club- you need 7 C’s and one R (I first heard this on the Australian podcast)- I only need 3 more C’s to get that one.

There is also a cool stopwatch bingo, which I don’t think you could ever plan to do- basically you need a time ending in each second (01, 02 up to 50, 00)- the minutes don’t count, and I am only missing 5 (17, 18, 21, 51 and 56)- but because of trying to press start when the RD says go, I don’t think my watch is ever quite the same (and forgetting to press stop in the finish funnel) so I think that will just happen by chance.

There is also “Stayin’ Alive”, which is 3 B’s and 3 G’s (I only need two more G’s), the Bushy Pilgrimage (check), New Year Day double (check). The one I am closest to finishing is the compass club- I have Eastleigh, Southampton and Westmill, so I just need a North to finish that one (and handily I need an N for the alphabet challenge so that might be my next adventure).

I have also found out that if you look at someone else’s results (I often look at my Dad’s or his cousin’s) you can see their challenge progress too.

Of course the beauty of parkrun is that it can be anything you want it to be. It can be a superfast flat out effort, or a gentle outing catching up with friends and family, it can be about the community of your local one or visiting new places. I set myself the challenge a few years ago of running all of the parkruns in Hertfordshire, which I managed to complete last year (and then added Letchworth this year once that came along), and although I have half an eye on the alphabet challenge, it isn’t easy to get some of the letters without expensive weekends away, so I am happy to find some other new challenges along the way.

Do you ever set any challenges like this? Which club do you think you would be close to achieving?

Another lovely weekend in Brighton (and a course pb!!!)

On Friday after lunch we headed down to Brighton. The train takes just under 2 hours, so as soon as we arrived we checked in to the hotel and then headed out for two Brighton essentials- tea lattes from Bluebird tea (I got the Earl Grey creme latte which reminds me of the gorgeous London fog lattes you get in Canada), and a walk by the sea.

The weather was perfect- clear skies and no winds so the sea was like a millpond. We walked along to the beach huts by Hove and then walked back and went for dinner.

I didn’t actually sleep that well- the room was warm despite having the window open, and it sounded like lorries going past (I think it was rail replacement buses from early in the morning), but of course I was off to parkrun in the morning.

I’d been to Preston Park before, and last time tried to keep up with the 28 min pacer, and finshed with 27.55. I thought I would aim for something similar as a measure of fitness, and when I got there it turned out they were having a pacing event. It was super busy though, with (I think) their second highest attendance of 588 as they had events from several running clubs on. Anyway, I could not see the pacer once I got to the start area, although they do have signs up near the start area to help you know where to line up according to your estimated finish time.

It was the perfect morning for running- nice and cool, sunny skies, no breeze, and I think all of the super speedy runners somehow pulled me along. I didn’t look at my watch at all, but just focused on keeping a high pace and trying to overtake the person in front, steadying for a bit and then going to overtake the next person. I was pretty surprised when I peeped at my watch a few metres from the line and saw a 26 on there!

My official time was 26.47! Anything beginning with 26 is a rarity for me so I was over the moon! I had offered to write the run report, so it’s here if you are interested. After finishing I jogged back to the hotel, and after a shower it was time for breakfast at the best place- Cafe Coho. They always do amazing pancakes- the last few times I have had them with berries and greek yoghurt, but I spied a new option this time- caramelised banana, chocolate marscapone and hazelnut praline. Oh yes. It was really good, but very sweet (obvs), so I think probably the more sensible choice was the berries. Anyway, good to try.

The weather was just as beautiful, so we walked along to Hove, then back along the seafront, this time getting iced drinks from Bluebird (we shared a strawberry lemonade and an iced chai as decisions are too tough in there).

As we’d had a late breakfast, we didn’t have lunch, stopping for a bit of tea and cake a few hours before dinner, and then we got the train home on Saturday evening. I ended up with a headache, I think probably from not drinking enough, so instead of my planned 13 mile run on Sunday I thought I would see how far I would manage.

I was actually OK when I woke up on Sunday but I went out a bit later than planned (around 9am) so I did just under 10 miles.

When I got home it was time for a nuun tab in water, a smoothie, and a date filled with peanut butter- these are quite salty because I made with the peanut butter at the bottom of the tub and it all seems to sink there. That was enough to keep me going so I could have a shower before breakfast.

As it was such a lovely day we had planned a walk for Sunday afternoon, and we ended up doing 5 miles, so I still had a lot of time on my feet.

The rest of this week has been very busy with work things- I managed one run after work on Tuesday, and a couple of walks in the evening, but yoga wasn’t on and I was home too late for a run on Thursday. A few photos: (Clockwise from top)-I tried the blueberry nakd bar and was pleasantly surprised- I don’t always like blueberry muffins as the blueberry flavour can be a bit fake/sweet. A few Bluebird purchases including lovely red velvet tea. Wuntu were doing free Costa drinks so I stopped on Friday on my way home. Crisps made with chickpeas- I approve of the salt and vinegar flavour!

What do you have planned for this weekend?

A Christmas Day parkrun and other festive going-ons

Event teams do not have a put on a parkrun on Christmas day, but many of them choose to. I know that for some people, going running on Christmas day seems crazy, but parkrun isn’t just about the running- it’s so much more about the community. For some people, this may be their only chance to be with other people for that day, and for families it is a great way to get some fresh air before spending the day inside.

I love parkrun (had you noticed?) and running, and so was very pleased that Panshanger had decided to put an extra event on. I knew it would be busy as not many other Herts events were on, so I parked a little way away and ran there- turned out I was more like 1.5 miles than 1 mile, which meant I was running pretty fast at the end! I’d worn my festive leggings and also a hairband with “Merry Christmas” on it, although at one point it was so windy the hairband blew off!

I also ran past some llamas (fa-la-la-llamas if you will….) on the way, but didn’t have time so had to stop on the way back for the photo!

The actual parkrun was fab- it was very busy at the start (Panshanger begins in a car park and them immediately goes through a gate and onto a path through woods, so it is always a bit stop start)- there were 364 runners to squeeze into the gap so no surprise there. I wasn’t in any hurry so just walked a bit and waited for the way to clear. Looking up and seeing the sea of santa hats was just great. It was my 130th parkrun ( a good round number to get to on Christmas day too). It started raining half way around, so I didn’t hang around much after having my barcode scanned as I had to run back to the car too- it was properly raining once I got to my car.

Then it was time for a shower, breakfast and a bit of present-opening (which by the way, was nearly as disaster as recently we had to get a new fridge-freezer and Andy suggested that we did that as our Christmas present- it was only recently that it got mentioned and it turned out he was joking- how was I meant to know???)- I got some lovely cosy penguin pj’s, some Bluebird tea (surprise!), Lush shower gel, orange oil for my vaporiser and some ginger muscle rub. Andy was happy with his whiskey and particularly enjoyed playing with his new fire set (no idea of the actual name, but a poker and other things to poke to fire with basically). We had decided to have lunch at home, as often I go to my parents and Andy goes to his, and we thought having more time at home would be a bit more relaxing too, so we had a bit of time to listen to music before lunch needed putting on.

After lunch (goats cheese and caramelised onion tarts with roasted sweet potato wedges, broccoli, carrots, green beans and mange tout- no sprouts thanks- and a bit of Christmas pudding) we felt the need for some fresh air, so we had a quick walk before loading the car up and heading over to St Albans. It’s a bit different now there are little children involved- we’ve got a nephew (4 months old) and two nieces (10 months and nearly 2 years) and we were trying to sort out visits to both houses around their nap times, but it turned out that they all just kept going for the whole day. The afternoon was filled with general relaxing, a bit of present opening (with my family we did a secret Santa- I opened a present, finding a nice navy jumper, only to be told that was my brother’s as they had the wrong labels on them!), going between both houses to make sure we saw everyone, and a bit of cheese and pickle in the evening (I love piccalilli).

On Boxing Day I’d been persuaded to meet with the OH ladies for a training session including using a parachute! I’d planned a long run, so I decided to run there (about 4 miles), join in with the session and then run home. I missed the first part of the session (they run around a small loop in pairs in opposite directions, and when you meet your partner you both turn back around and try to beat the other person home)- and I was really wishing I’d worn gloves as the wind was so cold. I saw a few more fallen trees on my way there too. The parachute session was fun- there’s only one, so while we were waiting we did a bit of a speed session- running up and down the taxi-way, with the person at the back having to overtake and go to the front of the line. Running with the parachute felt very weird- you had to work hard against it but you also felt a bit more stable than normal sprinting because it was lifting you up. Good fun anyway, and I was glad I’d made it, although after getting home (10 miles in all) my legs were pretty sore.

Mince pie porridge helped me to warm up a little while I waited for the water to heat up (this is just porridge with some of the Meridian mince pie filling stirred in, and then topped with a few flaked almonds). Now the trouble is, the days are already merging and I have no idea what I did for the rest of the day! Probably a walk, possibly some baking of some sort, who knows! Although we did watch Muppets Most Wanted in the evening (my turn to choose the film)- I can’t resist singing along with all of the songs!

Did you have a good Christmas? Do you like to get some fresh air? We often used to have a bike ride or walk when I was little, but it’s harder to time that so it’s still in the light if you have a bit of a later lunch.