Travelling Tales - Maria Runs

Haga parkrun in Stockholm, Sweden

As mentioned in my previous post, I was in the nordics and aiming to do the special extra parkrun on Ascension Day, which this year fell on the Thursday of May half term- perfect! We’d arrived in Stockholm on the Tuesday evening, so I had plenty of time to explore the city.

I had opted to go to Haga on the Thursday, as this was the most central one. It was around 4km from the hotel we stayed in (again by the central station), and as public transport didn’t seem to go directly there, I thought I’d go for a parkrun sandwich, running there and back.

As same as in Finland, the parkruns in Sweden started at 9:30, and again, I checked and double checked this many times! I left the hotel at 8:30 and ran/walked there. As there was a big road without footpaths right by the park, the maps took me to the west of the park before curving over to the park. It was 2.7 miles, so a nice warm up, and a lot of it was along one main straight road. (But remember this for my journey back…)

My route there:

As I arrived into the park I could see the pop up and high viz vests right away, so I was relived, as with a big park you never quite know where the start will be, and whether it will be obvious or not, but this one was easy to find once there.

*Frame photos and a few of photos of the route*, *plus the most enthusiastic marshal ever.*

There were already lots of tourists there, and as I got to the park (at about 9:10) they called the first timers welcome, although it turned out that they did a few of these, so as I missed the start of this one, I went back to another one- done excellently by the RD who spoke in Swedish and then English for us all. He explained that as it was a holiday, lots of Swedes would be in their summer homes, and in the main briefing after calling out some tourists, called for a show of hands for local runners, which got a big laugh.

The route was fairly simple- run out of the park into the forest, complete two laps of the forest and then run back to the start/finish area. One side was uphill and then as you ran towards the lake it was downhill, but with beautiful views. It reminded me of Panshanger in a way, although that is one lap, because of the up and down nature, and running through woods and by the lake.

Map

I did briefly think I was lost as when I first entered the park there were two marshals, including the most enthusiastic one (he was literally leaping up and down, cheering everyone, running alongside runners and then running back to his spot and then repeating this!). When I got back to them after my first lap, they had split up, and I thought that the other marshal had moved forwards to a later point, so when I got to the liveliest one, I thought I’d need to turn back to the start. However I was following some other runners and they kept on going. I even briefly got out maps on my phone but it wouldn’t show me in enough detail, so I decided to keep going. I then found the other marshal, so it turns out that the one I thought had moved hadn’t. That sounds confusing, but basically after stopping and then going a bit more, I found the exit to the loop to go back to the finish.

It was such a beautiful course, and perfect to have so much shade on such a hot day.

The copper tents were at the top of the hill, and then as you looked down you could see the water.

After finishing I stood around for ages, mainly chatting to other tourists and hearing about their plans for the upcoming Saturday. Some of them sounded disappointed for me that I wasn’t going to another nordic one (as we came home on the Friday) but I had wanted to run in Finland, and now Sweden was my final nordic country (having already run in Denmark and Norway), so I was pleased to have achieved that and also attended a special event. I loved the feel of it- everyone was so excited and there was so much chat and taking photos and just enjoying the atmosphere of the event.

After a few more photos I decided to start heading back. Now, this below may look like the same map, but it is very much not! First of all, maps wanted me to leave the park by the south exit. This was where the majority of parkrunners were going, so I figured that there must be an exit. Wrong. There was loads of construction work going on, and I reached an underpass with the pedestrian exit very firmly fenced in, with big no entry signs and no way around (apart from going onto a busy road that looked like a dual carriageway). After going for nearly half a mile I admitted defeat and retraced my steps, exiting the way I had come in.

I am just so glad that the getting lost happened on the way back, because if I had been directed to the other side of the construction, I am not sure I could have navigated around it, certainly not in time, so may well have missed out.

So this was all fine, but added a bit. Then I got a bit lost finding our hotel. The area around the main station is on different levels, and in the morning I left the hotel, walked along the street for a bit, over a bridge (over the road I needed), down pedestrian steps and then onto the road. The maps took me a lot of the same way as I recognised lots, but then I could see the road going over the road I was on, but there were no steps, so I must have come down a similar one. Anyway, I wandered around a bit, followed signs for the Arlanda express (the airport train) and eventually got into the station and then out to our hotel- 4 miles later!

Stats- that was parkrun 405, my 11th country and 134th event. Another flag added to my profile as well.

But also, it meant I got to go back to Stockholm. The only time I’ve been before was in 2011 when Andy and I ran the Stockholm marathon (coincidentally, it was the marathon the Saturday after we flew home)- and although we did some sightseeing it was not the most fun to be walking around a city while struggling to walk down stairs. It is full of beautiful buildings and again being by the water just adds such a good feel to the place, so we did lots of walking around the various areas of the city, onto the different islands and through different parks.

So that wraps up our little trip north, and what a fab trip it was. parkrun is a great reason to travel somewhere else, and all three places that we visited were wonderful.

Next up- some slightly more local touring and some repeats as well.

Tokoinranta parkrun in Helsinki!

Back in 2020 we had booked a long weekend to Helsinki for July, but obviously ended up having to cancel that trip. It’s been on the list, so I was very excited to finally visit after waiting all this time.

We flew out to Helsinki on the Friday, the train from the airport was fairly quick (30 mins ish) and we had a hotel by the central station, which was about 1km from the start of parkrun. Perfect! We had a walk around the lakes after dinner on the Friday, so I was very confident about navigating my way there in the morning, too.

*Our Friday evening walk around the parkrun lakes*

The parkrun didn’t start until 9:30 am (the number of times I checked that!) but I headed off before 9 so I could enjoy the atmosphere before the start, hear the welcome and briefing and of course take some photos.

I love seeing the signs in different languages. I saw the cones set up as I ran there.

I ended up chatting to lots of tourists- lots of people were over for the Nordic additional day (the following Thursday- Ascension Day) so it was fun to hear about different plans. Lots of people were heading to Stockholm (as were we eventually) but most were aiming for the newer parkrun of Judarskogen parkrun whereas I had planned to go to Haga (more on that another day).

Anyway, the welcome was given in English by the RD who said it was his first time doing that role- he apologised if he sounded nervous but he was fantastic, very clear and welcoming. The route seemed simple- out and back, beginning on one lake (keep it to your left), over the railway bridge and then around another lake (keep it to your right), turn at the U-turn point, and then retrace your steps. I had watched Nicola Runs You Tube video of it previously, but nothing compares to actually being there yourself.

A few mid run photos including the little watermill, and my pic by the sign when I’d finished.

I really enjoyed the route- the parts by the lake were very flat and one nice wide paths.

The second lake had a cycle path next to it but this was clearly divided by a kerb. There were loads of other people out, not parkrunning, but there was always space to pass. I was very happy to spot the little water mill that was generating electricity- I don’t think I would have spotted it on the way back as it was tucked below the path a little bit.

*A few more pictures from the route including the railway bridge and the coned paths*

The part by the railway bridge was tough as that was very steep up and down, but at least it was over fairly soon. There were only a couple of marshals out on the route but they were very enthusiastic, and the course was very clear. (Although after I had finished and scanned I met two people who had gone the wrong way after coming back over the bridge, and I realised that the cone in the centre of the path (basically blocking it and showing you to go left towards the lake rather than straight on towards the train station) had been knocked to the side, so I put it back in the middle of the path so hopefully no-one else got lost!

It wasn’t a hugely busy parkrun- that day I was 62 of 119 participants, and that seemed like a good number with a nice spread of runners and walkers. It was really welcoming, although I didn’t go to the cafe after as we had breakfast included in our hotel stay (and we had to book a time slot so I had to be back for the 10:30 booking).

And the stats: parkrun 404, location 133 and country number 10 (when GB counts as 1 country).

We had a lovely few days in Helsinki after. The city is very walkable, so we spent some time walking around the city centre and admiring the different styles of the buildings, walked to the docks to see the local markets and all the boats heading off to various islands, went to the Helsinki museum (very interesting). One day there was a classic car fest happening in the square so we sat for ages looking at all the Cadillacs and other cars stream in, and then one day we got a boat out to an island with a fort on it, and walked around the island. I am very glad that we visited!

After Helsinki, we got the boat over to Tallinn, and spent two days there, before heading over to Stockholm for the final part of our nordic trip.

Victoria Dock parkrun for my 400th!

I was staying in London on the Friday night as we had tickets to see the Manic Street Preachers, so of course I was going to head to a London parkrun. I’d not been to Victoria Dock (I had actually planned it once as we were staying close by, but on that day it was cancelled so I went to Valentines instead), and Branka had already been there (we are doing a lot of London tourism at the moment) so I decided to opt for there. At one of the OH ladies club runs I mentioned this, and a few others decided they would come into London and meet me there- Catherine and her husband Dave (who was doing his 250th- a real milestone!), Helen and her partner Eddie who do lots of tourism, and Mel. Our hotel was around a half a mile from Farringdon, so happily I could get the Elizabeth Line rather than mess around with the DLR (because I do not understand that)- Custom House was about half a mile from the start of the parkrun, so a perfect little warm up.

*The cable car/ our purple pop up pics and my token*

When I arrived the rest of the crew were already there- of course we got some photos by the cable car and then found some shelter as it was cold and windy. There was a big queue for the pop up sign so we knew there were a lot of tourists there- maybe for the Easter weekend? They did the first timers welcome only for first time parkrunners, and then the main briefing was for everyone else. The RD asked for tourists and then asked “hands up if this is your local parkrun” and about 3 people put their hands up! I am sure it was more but it did feel like a lot of tourists.

I hadn’t said anything about my “milestone” as it isn’t official, but when they asked for milestone shout outs a guy near us shouted “150”, so after we shouted out Dave’s 250, Helen called out “400”- I had on my back a 400 I’d made from paper and attached with race clips (so no safety pin holes in my 100 top) so that was my way of marking the occasion, but it was nice to have the cheer and a few people congratulated me on it as well (including at the end when I took a few photos for other people by the pop up).

The course was twice out and back, and we were warned of lots of hazards on the route including bollards, cobbles and fences. It is flat and fast, but it was also a lot on the streets/ pavements, so at times we were running past bins, trees and the little metal protection grids that they have, and you had to look out for kerbs and uneven pavement. I had decided to push quite hard, but didn’t look at my watch while I was running. I wanted to enjoy it too and not feel like I was pushing too hard, although I did get a stitch towards the end so maybe I was.

I really liked the out and back nature of the course, as I was kept busy looking out for everyone at each of the turns. Catherine took that photo of me as I passed- I finally wore my parkrun shoes (the ones I won on Instagram from With U) and they really stand out in the picture (this was the first guaranteed non-muddy course so I decided to risk it!).

Purple pop up photo and one with my 400 top to celebrate!

As I came into the finish it was a bit confusing as I was not quite sure where the finish line was, so had to ask the marshal where to go (basically I needed to know if I went right by the water or further back by the building)- she pointed the way and then I put on a final push- as I rounded the corner my visor blew off in the wind so I had to grab it, which hurt my shoulder (my poor frozen shoulder)- I could see a lady running up ahead and wondered if I could catch her. I was gaining on her but didn’t want to be rude and go past her at the last minute, and also I don’t want to confuse the people doing timing. Anyway, with hindsight I should have done as she stopped just before the line rather than running through and into the funnel, so I had to almost stop to avoid bumping into her. I stopped my watch and noticed 28:02- this would be my fastest time of the year officially (Garmin says 27:55 for Battersea but that is not my official time- a side point here that on with With Me Now pod this week they shared that the person who was treated with the AED on that day has recovered and attended Battersea last weekend along with the paramedics who helped, so that was really nice to hear about)- so that would be good.

When you look at your summary stats you can see your fastest time of each year, and I’ve been pretty consistent with getting 27 (or even 26) somethings as my fastest times (apart from 2021 where I only had 28)- anyway, it’s a little challenge for me to get to. Of course, I may not have pressed start on my watch at the same time as the timers, and I may not have stopped it right away either. When the results came in I got 28:00- my fastest time of the year (hooray)-but I also slightly regretted not going past that lady because then I could possibly have got a 27 time! Ah well, I shall have to try harder at some other flat parkruns (as Panshanger and Jersey Farm are not pb courses for me!).

So, back to the morning! After I finished running and scanned, I had a quick chat with some of the others before heading back to the station, as we had to check out by 11am so I didn’t have too long.

So, the stats. That was my 400th parkrun and my 130th venue, and my 31st London one. But mainly a great morning out and it was lovely to meet up with some friends while I was there- they had a pretty easy journey on the trains and all said they’d go back there too as it was certainly a unique location.

So, what next? Possibly some touring with my dad next week (we will wait and see what the weather is like)- he’s on 88 venues so is counting up towards 100! I’m away for the Bank Holiday weekend at the start of May so no parkrun for me that weekend, and that will be followed by a local weekend and possibly some touring before hopefully visiting a new parkrun country! But more on that later 🙂

Dulwich parkrun- not dull at all!

Welcome to another edition of Maria and Branka go on tour in London!

We are getting to be quite the fans of the train travel parkrun tourism. After going to Walthamstow on the overground, many more parkruns have opened up for us as the tube and bus combinations look rather complicated but the overground rail network gets close to lots of parkruns too. On the way back from Walthamstow we were looking at the overground maps and making mental notes of other places we could get to on those lines.

Dulwich was on the Southern overground, which stops at London Bridge, so that was an easy train journey via the Thameslink overground. It meant an early start (well, as early as a work day really) with a 7:13 train from St Albans for me, but now the mornings are lighter and the weather isn’t as cold, it doesn’t seem too bad to be up and out at that time.

After meeting Branka at London Bridge, we got the overground a few stops (passing Peckham which was 1.7km from that parkrun according to the 5k app…) to North Dulwich, and then walked the mile or so there from the station to the start. Dulwich was so posh! It was such a contrast from the views from the train which were the typical London tower blocks with brick balconies and little green space. The walk to the edge of the park passed mansion after mansion, a Gail’s and a lovely pedestrianised traffic calming zone. The park reminded me of Finsbury park but flat, with a wide carriage circle style drive, a lake/pond in the middle, plenty of facilities like tennis courts and playgrounds, and toilet block handily close to the start of the parkrun.

The purple pop up on arrival, one of the selfie frames, the view of the start area and the flag.

We got into the park at around 8:35, so it was nice to not need to rush- we found the start, took pop up pictures, went to the toilets, found a bench of trust to leave our bags and listened to the first timers welcome. We were excited to find the old selfie frames too, so of course took advantage of more photo ops!

It was a busy parkrun, but it didn’t feel too overwhelming. The route is three flat laps on the wide road, so apart from the first few hundred metres where people were still getting into sort of speed order, it was not congested at all.

A few pictures taken while I was running and the finish funnel cones– I also took a photo of my watch as I was quite surprised by my time- 28 something!

I was (and am) still getting over a cold, so did not want to push too hard, but of course the temptation when it’s flat is to just go for it. I enjoyed running and the laps seem to tick by fairly quickly. The park was varied so there was lots to look at (including some bit metal sculptures that looked like pretzels- I spent some time wondering what they were for). At one point I did have to speed up as the guy in front of me kept spitting on the floor (how gross) and the guy behind me was breathing so heavily and noisily, grunting and groaning and making weird horse noises (Toast of London anyone?) so I wanted to get away from those people if possible!

Before long I was heading into their double funnel- this was not like other double funnels I’ve been in as were were colour coded (blue or orange) and they were giving out tokens to both queues at the same time (there was someone with a clicker who was counting, so they must have divided up the tokens in advance)- lots of the people who finished behind me were directed into the funnel next to me and given their tokens before I reached the end of the funnel I was in. Clever stuff.

We both loved the smiley face on the run briefing sign! Our traditional pose with us both by the pop up, plus the pop up and token photo. You can’t see here but we were accidentally twinning with grey leopard print leggings and green milestone t-shirts!

After finishing I waited for Branka by the pop up- I ended up taking lots of photos for various people (as you do) and of course it meant they could take pictures of us when we were ready.

Once all the photos were sorted, we walked back to the station and went back to London Bridge, and then popped out to Borough Market to visit Bird and Blend for a tea- the perfect drink after a parkrun! I had a chocolate digestives tea latte (I was deciding between that and a matcha latte for ages), and Andy had requested that I went to the Crosstown truck to get doughnuts so we went there too, before getting a pastry from Pret for our journey home. It was such a lovely morning- great to visit a new parkrun, great to spend time with Branka and great to have some time for parkfaffing after.

Doughnuts from Crosstown (buy two and share them both is what we do), The Shard as seen from Borough Market, vegan croissant for the journey home and a tea latte.

That was parkrun number 396 for me (that 400 is getting close now!), 128th parkrun location and 30th London one (out of 65 currently but of course that will keep going up). Another purple chunk- see below!

So, which London one is next? Both Branka and Holly are now on slight limits as they have chosen dates and locations for their Cowells (100 different events) so can’t go to many new events between now and those summer dates. We do have a few London ones booked in together, and there are a few that they have done that I have not (such as Victoria Dock) which I am sure I can persuade my dad to come along to. So we shall see. Next weekend is a close to home parkrun as we have afternoon plans locally, and I can’t plan any further ahead than that right now!

Peacehaven parkrun for my Brighton NENDY

I was down in Brighton for the half marathon weekend, and our hotel was less than a mile along the seafront to Hove Prom parkrun. However, when I put it in my planner on the 5k app, it said it was cancelled that day. (This turned out to be because the half marathon had a new start and finish area on Hove Lawns- Andy noticed this by chance as otherwise we could have easily turned up at the wrong place on Sunday!)

So, where to go? Preston Park was also within reach, but would have meant a longer walk there and back, and I was meant to be resting my legs ahead of the half marathon. I looked on the 5k app and noticed my Brighton NENDY was Peacehaven parkrun, 11km from Brighton city centre, and an easy looking bus ride away, so it was decided. Happily, an OH lady (Jan) had moved down to Brighton and said she would be there on Saturday morning too!

*Views from the coast at Peacehaven, the park (which had a parkrun symbol on it!), bus stop and the scene as you enter the park.*

The buses were every 20 mins or so on Saturday morning, so of course I didn’t get the latest bus, or the one before that, in case there were any issues or I missed one, so I ended up getting the bus at 7:45 which got me into Peacehaven at around 8:10. The weather was beautiful- frosty and bright, so I had a little detour down to the seafront before heading up to the park. I had left my sunglasses in the hotel as our room overlooked an atrium, and the weather app told me it was misty. It was definitely sunny so that helped with my decision to wear my sunglasses on the Sunday for the half.

It was very easy to to find from the main road, and as soon as you arrived in the park you could see the high viz, the finish funnel and lots of signs. Perfect. I got a selfie with the pop up, and then a local couple began chatting to me about parkrun tourism in general (seeing me take the photo made them assume I was a tourist). Soon after, Jan arrived, and then I also chatted to Nadiah who I follow on insta (Hoopy Vegan Runner).

*Pop up selfies and a picture with Jan, a view from the run and the first timers welcome sign*

The event had such a friendly vibe. I feel like I say this a lot, but honestly every person who spoke to me was so friendly (including the tail walker who was dressed head to toe in gold sparkly clothes as it was her 50th milestone the previous week, and she had ordered the outfit, only for it to arrive on Saturday afternoon, so she decided to wear it this week instead- fab), and it just had such community vibes. The new runners welcome was done jointly between an adult and child (the same child set the runners off and was also barcode scanning at the end), and the main briefing was filled with lots of personal touches, eg celebrating locals birthdays etc.

The route- start with the out and back, then do the loop, and repeat 3 times.

The route was lovely too. It was three laps, and each lap had an out and back section and then a loop, so you could often see lots of other participants at different places (which I love), it was pretty flat and all on paths apart from the finish funnel which was on grass (no mud though which was a welcome change from the past few weeks).

*Mid run views, my token and the fab way they collected their tokens!*

I ran with Jan and we had a lovely catch up, and before I knew it the three laps were over! I loved the way they collected their finish tokens- in repurposed charity collection tub.

I wanted to head back quickly and Jan kindly gave me a lift part of the way (she did offer for the whole way but I did not want her getting stuck in Brighton Saturday traffic)- this was perfect timing as when she dropped me off the bus was one minute away! I was back in Brighton by 10 and met up with Andy who had popped out to get us some breakfast.

All in all, a lovely parkrun morning. That was my 393rd parkrun, and 127th location, so of course here is the new map screenshot: