Category: Stuff I love!

I was really looking forward to this weekend! Today our club members (and friends and family) were all invited to the final tester event of our new parkrun, before the inaugural event next weekend. It didn’t start until around 10am, and would not count towards our parkrun totals, so when I mentioned this to Dad we decided to aim for a parkrun double (like they do on New Years Day). We would go to Panshanger (9am start) and run it, then jump back in the car and head to Hatfield for the 10am start.

We got to Panshanger with plenty of time and managed to park fairly near. They have slightly changed the start and finish now, to try to ease congestion. The start is narrower which I think in theory should help, but we started fairly near the back as we wanted to take it steady, and we had a lot of stop-starting still. We chatted the whole way around and enjoyed it. The change to the end meant instead of running straight up the hill, you run diagonally up the hill, turn, and run diagonally up to the finish, facing the opposite way. We finished (31.08 and 31.09) and I was surprised to see my token number- 248! I think that is the highest number/ lowest placing I have ever been. It was very busy, and we found out later it was another record attendance of 396 runners. We then joined a queue to have our chips scanned and the queue seemed to be moving very slowly- the lady on our queue was having trouble and needing to scan each one several times- normally not a problem but we had places to go!

We got back to the car at 9.45, so headed off asap! Because the actual car park is reserved for volunteers and other park users, the parking listed on the course page is a side road- I was quite shocked to see how many people had double parked (including some people in a massive van)- it made it quite tricky to leave and my dad does not have a big car.

I had told the club my plan of a double, and I messaged them to say we were en route (they said they would wait- phew!). We got to the car park at about a minute to ten, and then ran the short distance (couple of hundred metres maybe) to the entrance to the field. We passed the finish area and one of the marshals gave a massive wolf whistle to the people waiting further up at the start line so they knew we were coming. Luckily some other people were just parking up so we weren’t the last! Dad had not run a 10k for a few years (although he did the 5 mile on Easter Monday) so we aimed to take the second one steady too. The RD had a quick reminder of the rules and briefly described the course, and then we were off!

Taken on my run on Wednesday- I loved that huge cloud- this is the path towards the field of cows.

The course itself is lovely- I often run around those fields anyway, and it was basically a short loop at the start, next to a sort of river bed, before doing a big loop of the fields (through the cow field- thankfully they weren’t there today, but they might be some weeks), and then finishing along the old taxi-way. Very flat, although the ground was rutted in places so marshals were warning us to mind our ankles. It was great to run around- I knew most of the marshals so it was good to have a bit of a personal cheer, and again I ran with Dad so we kept up the chatting. We did consider a sprint finish down the taxi-way, but then the wind was so strong we didn’t think we would manage it. However, when we were close to the finish we decided to go for it as everyone was cheering!

I was number 12! My highest ever placing! I mentioned to Dad that I had managed my lowest and highest placing in one day! Impressive! We didn’t get an official time, but the results were uploaded and we were sent a screen shot- we finished the second parkrun in 28.55- not too shabby!  We hung around for a bit afterwards, chatting to the other runners and volunteers- quite a few of the Panshanger team were there supporting. We were even recommended a few other fairly local (e.g. 50 minute away) parkruns that we will need to add to our list.

It did confirm my thinking that I should not attempt the Panshanger/ St Albans double, as we only just got to Hatfield for 10am, and St Albans is another 15 minutes from there, so it’s only for the speedy runners.

I did though get confused over my Garmin and Strava. I don’t use Strava on my phone, I use my watch and upload it to Garmin, which then transfers the data to Strava. This usually works well, but I had a problem before when I did two runs in one day- even though I press stop between runs, it seems to keep going.

So my Garmin one had me running 6.2 miles in 60 minutes (pretty much bang on compared to my parkrun times).

But the Strava had me running 13 miles- in the middle they have no pace because I turned the watch off. I had a look at this before but you can only delete the beginning or end of a run- not a chunk in the middle, so I guess I am leaving it. It sort of annoys me because it messes up my monthly mileage (although we are going on holiday at the end of May and there will be no outside running for fear of lions, but the hotel does have a treadmill so perhaps I will try to run those missed miles then so it all adds up in the end?), and also my pb’s- I now have a 10 mile pb of an hour! I will never be beating that!

Next Saturday is the official first one and I am looking forward to it already! I loved the course, plus it is only a mile from home so my aim is to jog up there as a warm up. Although we are moving house the week after, so I’ll only get to do that once, then it will be back to driving again!

This afternoon after a little walk around town I did some excellent report-writing procrastination, otherwise known as baking (using up ingredients so we don’t have to pack them)- orange and ginger brownies, and peanut butter, cranberry and chocolate cookies.

 

This morning I decided to visit a new to me parkrun, Barclay parkrun in Hoddesdon. I decided for a few reasons really; I wasn’t volunteering so wasn’t tied to Panshanger, my dad and brother weren’t running so I could choose myself, and our new parkrun is coming to Hatfield in the next few weeks so soon I will be sharing my parkrun visits between Panshanger and Ellenbrook.

Barclay has been on my list for a while as it isn’t too much further away- another 5 miles beyond Panshanger. It is a lapped route, but it doesn’t seem to get big crowds (they average 53 runners) so I thought it would be a better bet than St Albans with the crazy numbers of runners.

On Friday night I duly read the course notes, noted down the postcode for my satnav, then realised the car park they recommend had a different post code, so wrote that down.

In the morning I knew I had to leave earlier, and managed to leave at about 8.10- it was around a 30 minute journey so that should be OK. When I put in the postcode, the road name did not come up, so I selected a different road, and it was only when I was driving along a dual carriageway that I realised I had put in the park postcode and not the car park postcode! Whoops! Luckily I drove right past Panshanger, so pulled into a side road to change the directions. I don’t think I would have found it otherwise.

You park (for free) in a civic centre car park, and the park is a 5 minute walk away. I parked at about 8.40, and as my sense of direction is not great I was about to look at maps on my phone, but I saw 3 people in Ware Joggers tops, so I followed them around the corner to the park.

It was such a beautiful morning, and there were still some bluebells to be seen.

The start was marked with a sign, but most people were congregating a little further up the hill so I headed there.

I was wearing my apricot tribesports parkrun top (they went on sale again yesterday by the way), and so a few people chatted to me about it- they are hard to come by! One guy tended to go to Panshanger half the time too, so we discussed how beautiful it is there.

The RD asked for anyone new to parkrun, and I walked over but he told me that the course was different so it was new to everyone there. It turned out that the pond was being dredged so that their usual route had to be changed this morning. They walked everyone back down to the start, mentioned that Ware Joggers were pacing, and tried to describe the course (3 and a bit laps, after your final lap go up the hill again, we know how you all love the hill, then go left instead of going in the field- it will be obvious). At least I know I won’t be near the front!

Then we were off- my it was tough! Starting on a hill, and it was a fairly big one. It then looped fairly steeply down, around a field, down into a little car park, steeply up past a playground, along the way I had walked in, before being back at the start and doing it all again. Two and a bit more times! In the first lap I managed to overtake the 32 minute pacer, and in the second lap I went past the 31 minute pacer. In the final lap I could see the 30 minute pacer (and spent time trying to work out if I knew her as I think she looked like someone I have seen at Panshanger before) but I just could not catch her. Going up the hill for the fourth time was so tough- it was so hot and I was boiling in my t-shirt and wishing I had worn a visor.  After doing half of the fourth lap, you turned left (just as they had said- there was a marshal there) and joy of joys, got to run uphill to the finish line! I could see the 30 minute pacer ahead of me and as she reached the finish line she started jogging on the spot- I crossed the line in the end just before her (I heard her tell someone else she was a bit ahead so waited there).

At the finish line were some lovely Ware Joggers handing out leaflets about their 10K and 10 Mile races- through my gasps I managed to tell the lady I was already signed up to the 10, and someone brought over a cup of water for me- I had forgotten how alarmingly red my face goes in the summer!

Mmm, cake! Someone else asked me about my parkrun top, and then I was offered a top up on my water. This was very much needed as I had left my water bottle in the car, not knowing what it would be like here (at Panshanger there is a fence I hang my bag on). I had a little piece of walnut brownie and then walked back to the car.

So- pros:

A new parkrun visited

Cake

A high placing (40/88 runners)

An attempt at a negative split with the laps- as each lap was not quite a mile it didn’t work because of the two final hills- I did manage my second mile being faster than my first, but then the heat and hills slowed me down for the end.

Cons:

Navigation is stressful!

Laps- especially laps with hills are not my favourite I don’t think

I missed beautiful Panshanger…

I had to stop off in town to get some bit for dinner, and as the drive home took longer I was very hungry. I had to walk right past a Starbucks so I bought an almond croissant and had it for breakfast (well, nearly lunch as it was nearly midday by the time I got home) with a nuun tab- so so tasty.

Official time 30.00 (on the dot!), 40th place, 4th in my (new) age category.

So last week I was still a bit stiff, and paranoid about making my back/hip worse, so I offered to help out at parkrun so that I could not change my mind in the morning and run. Their roster was full, but I offered to take photos so they added me to the list, and Andy lent me his fancy camera.

This was very hard to take with my phone in one hand and big camera in the other!

My dad was running so he picked me up and I had a little chat with some of the team before heading to the first spot. Panshanger is one big loop and last time I marshalled on the first point, I was back at the start before the first runner finished, so I thought that starting there would be good, and then once the tail runner went past I could walk back to the finish and get more photos of runners finishing.

The bluebells were looking gorgeous, and I took a few pictures of them too. I was trying to cheer runners as they headed past, and I spotted a few people I knew, but it was hard to squint through the viewfinder the whole time. I tried to track runners (that red top is at the back of the picture, wait ’til he is at the front then take another) but it didn’t always work. It was fairly gloomy and the flash kept going off so sometimes it needed to charge between pictures too.

Some of our club were running (and having training afterwards to process the results ahead of the new parkrun in May) and I managed to give them a cheer on their way past.

One local club (Ware Joggers) were holding a pacing event, but I had forgotten that and kept wondering if there was a virtual race going on as I saw a few of them running past with  numbers on their tops, and only realised after that they all had those plastic yellow vest things over their tops.

One of the pacers in the yellow vest.

After the tail runner went past, I took my time walking back, taking more pictures of the bluebells and scenery.

I love this view- the snake of runners heading up the hill and along the top.

The same club were also giving out free cake to promote their races (you can look at the races here. The Ware 10 miler is one of my favourite races, and even though it’s now in the summer instead of the autumn I am still signed up as it’s a very pretty route, their marshals are fab, and they have tea and cake for £1 at the end and it is always so good).

By the time I got back to the start the fastest runners had already finished, so I walked down the hill to take pictures of people in their final stretch.

I tried to show how steep that hill is, but it never comes out well in photos! At the end of a fast parkrun, it is tough!

Even from the bottom of the hill pointing up! That’s my dad in the blue, heading up the hill.

I saw one of my friends from our club at this point, and it surprised me as I didn’t notice her at the start- however when I looked back through the photos I did snap one of her!

My dad walked down to me once his chip was scanned, and we cheered on some of the runners, but it was getting a bit cold so we walked back up to the finish and I took my final few.

I got an action shot of someone going through the finish funnel!

The coffee van was still doing a great trade, to go with the free cake of course! Although I didn’t have any as we have Andy’s birthday cake at home which will last us a while!

I really enjoyed taking pictures though- it was hard to cheer as I had to keep still when taking the pictures, but when I have been to other parkruns it’s always nice to see a photo (especially if I have both feet off the ground!) so hopefully some of the runners will have a look through and find a good picture. It was so cold though! I wished I had brought gloves with me. This weather is madness! Last year I did so many of my long runs in a vest, whereas this year I have only braved a t-shirt a handful of times.

I was cautious about getting stiff, and I had booked a haircut for the afternoon, so I parked further away so I had a good mile walk each way, and we had a walk (which was freezing!) before dinner.

So, onto running:

On Sunday I had a very slow run around the fields- I got a bit lost at one point so it ended up being 5 miles, but 5 enjoyable miles, and all was fine. In the afternoon we had a nice walk through a park in Hemel after popping in to see Andy’s brother.

I had a rest day on Monday (a couple of walks), and then a club run on Tuesday. I had picked up something heavy at work and my back was feeling a little bit stiff, so I was a bit worried during the run that I would have to stop and walk back, but it was fine and I was glad to get out there. Lots of stretching when I got home. A rest day on Wednesday (a walk after work), and a run on my own on Thursday (4 miles), another rest day on Friday, and then parkrun this morning. It seems to be OK- I have been using the reusable ice packs after a run too, which does seem to help.

Do you ever buy photos of you at running events? I have never bought a picture as they are so expensive, plus they tend to be awful pictures! I think I might have been tempted to buy one of the Brighton marathon, but Andy took some good ones so I didn’t feel the need to look at them.

I was having a bit of a sort out this week and came across two bits of paper that made me feel so nostalgic! One- the couch to 5k running plan that I followed back in 2008.

It was so much easier than other plans that I had looked at, as so many of them seemed to be complicated run 2 mins, walk 1, run 3, walk 2… hard to remember when you are out. This was so easy to remember the timings. You repeated each run three times per week, and I remember the first one was tough and I didn’t think I would manage it, the second was OK, and the third I used to spend worrying about the jump the following week! But magically I managed it.

Following on from the 5K I started to increase the length of my weekend run, and these are my notes of what I did, and the miles in brackets as by then I had discovered mapometer!

After my club run on Tuesday evening I had a rest day on Wednesday- we went to The Waffle House for lunch and had a lovely walk around the lake after, even seeing lots of ducklings.

I then finished my reports (hooray!) and had another walk later on to top up my steps. In the evening we watched a film and my back started to feel a bit stiff, and then I had an awful night of just not being able to get comfortable at all. In the morning I could not put weight on my left leg as the pain going down from my back to the back of my leg was so sore. So I had a rather miserable day. Luckily Andy was working from home so he could help pass things to me- I managed to hobble to a chair in the living room, and after googling some stretches I had a go at doing some to ease the pain.

A few weeks ago I had bought three of these ice packs from Amazon, and luckily they were in the freezer, so I put them on every 90 minutes or so which does seem to help a lot.

I fell asleep on the sofa after finally finding a comfortable position, and then after that I felt a little better- we had a very slow walk so I could have some fresh air, and then I had a bath which also helped a lot. Andy found some of my old super strong painkillers from when I had my cyst removed, so I put them next to my bed in case it was bad again in the night, but it was much better. It’s so weird- no idea what caused it, and none of the stretches seemed to immediately help, but it seems to go as quickly as it comes. On Friday I was able to walk fine- we walked around town as I had to pick up a present for my mum. I did a lot of sorting out of clothes, baking (I made Laura’s banana bread which is really delicious), a 30 minute yoga video and then about a 35 minute walk before dinner.

I am being very sensible though. My dad was going to parkrun today, and of course I wanted to go with him, especially after all the stuff going on with it this week. But I thought that I should have one more day off running, just to be on the safe side, so I messaged the RD asking if I could do anything like take photos- that way I am still going along but I wouldn’t be able to change my mind and run in the morning. Sensible! Andy even lent me his fancy camera and I took so many photos, but that’s for another post!

So, onto parkrun. It was even talked about on Radio 4 this week, and seems to have been on all the TV channels. Back in January I heard on Marathon Talk that a council were wanting to charge the parkrun team (or runners- it seems they are changing their minds a bit as to how to do it) to run in their park, and I signed the petition, hoping that they would vote the other way. Well, in case you didn’t hear, they voted to push on with their charge.

To me, it just does not make any sense. First of all, the council won’t make money because what will actually happen is that the parkrun will be cancelled or moved elsewhere. I do understand that parks have to pay for the upkeep of their paths, and I know that budgets are being squeezed, but we all pay our council tax. Will they charge dog walkers for the cost of emptying the dog poo bins? Or parents the cost of a health and safety check for the swings? I liked this take on the story- particularly the coin operated swings! The council’s argument seems to be that they charge other organised sports, such as football teams, for using the park (although I just heard a bit of this week’s MT and apparently they are not going to charge the junior event that takes place each Sunday, even though it is the same organisation…). But that is different; if you book a football pitch, no-one else can play on it at the same time. They have more obvious items to maintain such as goals, nets, corner flags, lines being painted etc. Players will pay subs to their team, which will then go towards this sort of thing too. Each parkrun event brings their own signs, finish funnel and so on, so there is no upkeep needed, and at every run briefing I have been to we have been reminded to be considerate of other park users and give way to others.

This blog post sums up a lot of what is great about parkrun (and it was written before this happened), and this morning I read Chrissie Wellington’s blog which I also very much agree with.

St Albans parkrun only started in 2012, a long time after I had started running, and it took my dad to persuade me to come along to it as I didn’t see the point- I could just run a 5k on my own on the pavements around home. But I went, and loved it, and have not looked back. Our club now use it as a mile (5K?) stone for the new runners- they do their beginner runner course and then “graduate” by running a 5k parkrun, and other running clubs do the same. I think I would have loved to attend this sort of event instead of a race for my first official 5k as it is so much more friendly, and less scary than an actual race. But the point of it to me is the community. The fact that volunteering is huge part of it- yes you can just run if you want to, but when I first started they asked for everyone to volunteer 3 times a year. Not much, but so good to be putting something back. There is a lady at Panshanger who volunteers most weeks. She does not run, and no-one in her family does. But since retiring she wanted to be involved in the park (it was only recently opened to the public and the Friends of Panshanger had a lot to do with helping start the parkrun), and so she is one of the most familiar faces you will see there. If parkrun wasn’t there, she could go to the park at the same time each week, but it would not be the same. She would not have met the people she knows now (she was given a special award at the one year birthday as she has volunteered so much and is such a huge part of the team).

Volunteering also helps people to develop a huge range of skills. We have had a few teenagers do the volunteering as part of their D of E award. Doing the new runners briefing has helped me to start to get over my fear of public speaking- the first time I did it my knees were shaking and I wished I could sit down, but I have done that role a few times now and each time it gets a bit easier.

It is such a feeling of community, and this morning even though I wasn’t running, I chatted to some of my club mates, some of the event team, cheered on runners.

It also gives a boost to the local area. On my walk from my first photographing post to the start, I saw quite a few dog walkers carrying cups from the coffee van- the van is only there because of parkrun and there is always a huge queue- he must do a roaring trade but he’s only there while the parkrun is going on. So yes one path is a bit congested for about five minutes (after the first bit everyone spreads out) but anyone else in the park can benefit from the coffee van. The car park at Panshanger is only small, so unless you are volunteering you are asked to park elsewhere (they have a marshal on the gate to check) so that dog walkers and other park users have priority. It is a considerate event, it promotes other local events; today there was free cake from a running club promoting their 10k and 10 mile race, they have sold calendars and had a photography competition to raise funds for the upkeep of the park, they promoted a free family Easter egg hunt- the list goes on.

I was glad to see so many of the parkruns posting on facebook about how their events will remain free, as the worst thing that could happen is that other councils follow suit, but it seems that most local councils are aware of the benefits that parkrun brings, and so continue to support them.

What was your take on the parkrun fiasco this week? 

For anyone interested in the benefits, they have created a temporary website, loveparkrun.com, showcasing their brilliant work.

And if you want a little giggle, check out these t-shirts.