The last few days of the Easter holidays were super busy! We had 3 days in DLP, which turned out to be just about the right amount of time- no need to rush. There was a new drone show in the studios, and it was cancelled on the first day due to bad weather, but we managed to see that on one day and the new drone show in the main park on our final day.
Crosstown visit, tea in my new DLP mug, B&B visit and the badges.
Once home, we were off to London the next day to see the live recording of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia podcast, at the Royal Albert Hall. We headed into the centre for a wander and lunch (Leon) and then walked to the show, as it was a matinee. It was brilliant (we tend to watch them rather than listen at home anyway)- we even got given some badges from the green men in the interval!
The next day we were back into London again, this time for Made Up Games live (a spin off game from the Elis James and John Robins radio show). This time it was an evening show so we went for a pizza before walking to the venue.
For some of the Easter holidays, we headed over to France. Andy was keen to visit Normandy, so we stayed there first, and then headed to DLP for a few days on the way home.
Étretat was our first stop (we drove to the channel tunnel in the evening, crossed over and stayed in a hotel right by the tunnel (handily had car chargers in the car park) and then drove down here the next day. It was amazing, with all of these arches in the water and a fantastic clifftop walk to do.
We then stayed in Honfleur for one night (another little town fab for a wander, even with a little sculpture park by the water), before driving to our Air BnB for the next 5 ish days.
There were so many memorials to visit. We went in a few of the museums, and visited lots of the memorials, although there were lots more. History isn’t such a big interest of mine, but actually visiting the places did put things into context (for example, seeing the cliffs the soldiers had to climb up). It was a strange contrast as we had amazing weather, the beaches were beautiful, but we were reading horiffic stories.
One day we went into Bayeaux to see the tapestry, and also the amazing cathedral. One of the windows looked purple from the outside (see below), but when you went inside it was mainly yellow.
At our Air BnB the owner recommended a walk to us, around 45 minutes to a local church. I had packed my running things, so we thought we’d walk it one evening and then I might run it later. As we walked, two dogs came out of a farm, barking and jumping up at us. It was quite scary, as neither of us are really fans of dogs (especially not dogs that jump up at you)- there were no owners around and we were just on a small country lane. Eventually they settled down and just ran ahead of us, but later on a huge dog, that was barking at us from behind a fence, somehow got out and ran after us too. Luckily it didn’t follow us far, and didn’t come too close, whereas the two other dogs walked all the way back to where we were staying. Hopefully they found their way home. I decided after that to not go on a run as I didn’t fancy being on my own and being chased by those dogs, or other ones. It seems that people just let their dogs wander freely about (which seemed crazy due to the big tractors driving around the country roads with some regularity).
We had a very relaxing few days there anyway, with plenty of walks but also plenty of reading and relaxing. And of course lots of baguettes!
The gap between official parkrun milestones is now a long one- having achieved my 250 in 2022, it’s going to be a good few years before the big 500, so I like having other challenges in the meantime to occupy my time and to help me decide where to go.
This also stems from feeling slightly parkrun homeless as Ellenbrook Fields is still not back- I do like volunteering and visiting other local events, but they just do not feel like home like EF did.
The 5k parkrunner app (purple icon) is great for organising and locating parkruns. However, it also has loads of other challenges that are not from the original Chrome extension, so I try to track the main ones through the app.
The Wilson Index links to the event numbers that you have been to, working at event 1 and working consecutively. If you have been to event numbers 1,2,3 and 5, your Wilson Index would be 3. It can be a bit contentious as it can be seen to encourage people to go to inaugurals, whereas that is discouraged now. I’d been lucky enough to go to both Panshanger and Ellenbrook Fields first events when they were encouraged (there was a poster up in the Sweatshop about Panshanger), so I had bigger numbers that needed filling in. The app also tracks your floating Wilson Index, which is the largest amount of consecutive events, not needing to begin at 1, so if you had been to event numbers 2,3,4,5,6,7,8, then you would have a floating Wilson index of 7 as you have 7 in a row.
I’d filled in number 9 by visiting Bartley Park (Southampton), and 10, 15 and 18 at Henlow Bridge Lakes. My next gaps were 21 and 22, and with the newest local one at Leavesden only starting in the autumn, I was keeping an eye to see when their events 21 and 22 would be.
Happily they were both on weekends that I was around, and my dad agreed to humour me and come along. When we had visited before, we’d headed home as Mum was making us breakfast, but we liked the look of the cafe, so for event 21 we arranged that I’d pick up my dad and we’d drive there and run together, and then my brother would pick up my mum and meet us in the cafe after.
It was raining hard and we both got soaked, but loved it. Dad does like the cross country style runs, and I think Leavesden is great as there is a mixture of terrain- it’s basically 3 laps, with each lap going through woodland on hard paths for a bit, and then looping around a football pitch on muddy grass. Trail shoes are ideal, and thankfully the cafe didn’t mind muddy shoes!
We got chatting to one lady who was also coming for event 21, although it transpired that she was doing the Fibonacci challenge (not an original one). It would have been a coincidence if she was hunting the same numbers as me.
Blueberry croissant and tea in the cafe, soaking wet at the finish, muddy shoes and finish token.
We were so soaked through when we finished! The sound of everyone running across the wet muddy grass was quite something. The cafe was lovely- I was very impressed with the vegan options and had quite a few things to choose from. I went for a blueberry croissant in the end which was really good.
I cleaned my trail shoes after the first revisit to Leavesden! They were so stiff from the dried mud.
The following week we were back again, but this time Mum was making us breakfast at home, so it was just a parkrun and then coming home. It had rained loads in the week, but the course was drier than the previous week.
Wood and field section of the course, and the two of us at the finish. Eyes closed in my photo of course!
The RD mentioned that it would be quieter this week as the previous week was a Fibonacci number- it’s funny how these challenges are permeating parkrun gradually.
I took a few photos mid run of the course to show my club mates as some of them as rather opposed to any sort of mud! Stevenage gets a lot of visits from us in the winter as it’s all on hard paths. As we were coming towards the finish, Dad mentioned that he felt like we were running faster than last week, and wondered if we were on for course pbs. I hadn’t looked at that point, but we ended up being about a minute quicker than the previous week, and only about 6 seconds slower than our course pbs- we shall have to revisit when it’s even drier!
So here we go- screenshots from the 5k app. (Bottom right is where I started, bottom left after I had been to event 21, and then the top one once I had ticked off number 22. The purple bit is called the floating index, which is the longest amount of consecutive events visited that does not need to begin at 1, so now I have filled in so many, the purple and green ones match for me if that makes sense).
So next up is event 29. I was wondering about a different event (eg Lordship Rec) but I am not sure I am around for that date, whereas I will be around for Leavesden 29. We shall see. My attention is turning back to my cowell, as I am on 95 events, so only 5 to go.
Do you have one event that you always go to, or several local events to choose from?
I was signed up yet again for the Brighton Half Marathon, one of my favourite races, so of course no excuse is needed for a weekend in Brighton around the race.
As we headed down on the Friday, it meant I could go to parkrun on Saturday morning. After going to all the parkruns in Brighton (there are 5), I tend to go between the two most central, Hove Prom and Preston Park. Our hotel was closest to Preston park, so that was where I headed to. This also handily works on my p-index (the number of parkruns you have visited for that amount of times, eg if you have been to 5 different parkruns 5 times each, your p index is 5). (Currently my p-index is 6, as I have been to 6 parkruns 6 or more times- Panshanger(87), Ellenbrook Fields (39), St Albans (28), Jersey Farm (30), Hove Prom (9) and Preston Park (6). To get it up to 7, I need to get the lower ones up to over 7 visits, so the Preson park visit would help. (My next highest is Westmill at 5, so I need to go there 2 more times…)
Preston park parkrun, the statue at Hove, Bird and Blend tea, and parkrun token
I headed to the parkrun, taking my time as it was not far from the hotel. There were loads of runners there, including lots of people down for the half marathon weekend. They had pacers and I was very tempted to go for a faster time, but then I had to be sensible as I had had a bit of a cough and didn’t want to make my cold any worse. In the end I ran 29:02, which I am pretty pleased with as I have barely been below 30 minutes this year.
Andy had been to the Flour Pot bakery to get breakfast for us to have in our room (delicious vegan croissant) and then we were off for our traditional walk to Hove. It was glorious weather so we made the most of it. Of course we had to go into Bird and Blend for a tea latte to accompany the walk.
The pavilion at dusk, a walk by the sea, Purezza pizza and Crosstown
Crosstown had recently opened so we bought a couple of treats, and had dinner at Purezza- good carb loading.
The forecast for Sunday included sleet, so it wasn’t that great. I could not decide what to wear, as one year I was way too hot, but equally you don’t want to be freezing cold for a couple of hours. In the end I went for capris, t-shirt with my club vest over the top, buff and gloves. I wore my jacket to the start and at the last minute gave it to Andy, and at the end he walked to meet me with it.
The race was enjoyable, although I got a bit of a stiff leg at one point. I stopped to stretch a few times, but it just wasn’t right. I think the adverse camber of the start just aggravated something. I didn’t have any aims for time, but estimated I would be similar to the last two years (2:08:23 in 2021 and 2:07:37 in 2022- I had to look it up on the text message). I finished in 2:07:04, so pretty consistent with those times, and if I had not had the sore leg I would have been a little faster too.
I do love this race, but the start/finish area is what needs working on. This year they tried to have a dedicated runner space close to the start pens, to try and help with the congestion, but at the finish there was nothing. I timed it on my watch and it was 30 minutes from finishing to meeting Andy by the pier (which is right by the finish)- we were given foil blankets and thankfully the forecast sleet had not made an appearance, but I was really freezing by the time I met up with him.
Medal and Kermit at lunch, race finish, amazing mega latte and marmite fries.
We went straight for a cup of tea to warm up a bit as I was not feeling great, and then to lunch at Oowee burgers- it’s all vegan and they do marmite fries which is just what you want when you have finished running. Tp stay hydrated we also went to Bird and Blend- they were advertising a mega latte with their seasonal strawberry and nutella pancakes tea, and even offered vegan squirty cream (who even knew that was a thing?) so I had that and it was just what I needed.
Since January I have stopped working Mondays, so to make the most of this we actually stayed down in Brighton for the Sunday night and travelled back the next day, which was a revelation!
So, a weekend of running, fresh air and eating delicious vegan food.
I ended up resting for the entire next week as my leg still had a tight muscle and I didn’t want to do any damage. By the next parkrun, I was OK to take it gently and thankfully felt fine.
If you are not sure, NENDY is Nearest Event Not Done yet (or NENYD if you want to swap the final two words around).
My initial idea for parkrun tourism was to visit Lordship Recreational Grounds parkrun, in North London, as I could do a similar journey to the previous week, getting the train to Finsbury Park and then changing to the underground. However, engineering works meant that there was a rail replacement bus which takes ages (over an hour- I think if I had got the 7:50 train I would have got to Finsbury Park after 9) so that was off the table. I then thought about driving to an underground station and going in that way- I could easily drive to Oakwood station and then head in.
After realising that the purple icon on the 5k app was showing the actual location of my NENDY, I realised that Grovelands parkrun was only a little drive further than the underground station I was aiming for, so decided to plan to go there instead.
In the woods at the start, and scenes from Grovelands park including a large manor house.
There isn’t a car park listed, just street parking, which did make me worry, but when I looked on google maps the road was wide and quiet, with enormous home and driveways and plenty of parking. I knew the vague direction I needed to be heading in (past Cockfosters tube, keeping going straight until I got to the road I needed to park on, where I needed to turn left). I was nearly there, and then started seeing warning signs for the ULEZ coming up, which I didn’t think I would be driving into. (The car is electric, but still I would need to register). I looked again at the maps and they were swirling and recalculating- I’d lost connection and so had missed my turning. I had a bit of a panic at this point as I was gone 8:30 and I didn’t know how far I’d gone past the turning. Thankfully it wasn’t far (maybe a mile) and when I got closer the map loaded up again so I was reassured that I was in the right place.
There was no purple sign so the main sign will have to do! Also, do you like the tree growing out of my head in that photo?
The park was varied with a little lake, a wild wooded area (I could hear so many birds calling), lawns, tennis courts and a grand looking manor house. They mentioned at the first timers welcome that the start might be a few minutes late as the RD had been told that there were delays on the underground- very thoughtful. I chatted briefly to another tourist who had come up from Wimbledon as she was completing all of the London parkruns. My journey was super easy in comparison!
The route was just under 3 laps of the park, with a bit of a hill in each lap. There was a brilliant marshal at the top shouting out personalised running advice to each person- keep your eyes up, move your arms (and to me) keep your elbows close to your body. She was so encouraging but helpful too.
As you ran around the earlier laps the timer was calling out times too, so you could get a bit of an idea. As I neared the final part he was telling everyone that sub 30 was in their reach. and I’d not gone below 30 minutes this year, so pushed a bit, and managed 29:37- super!
So, my 95th event! I didn’t even know the park was there, so I’m thankful to parkrun was making me explore more of this area that is fairly local to me. And at least now I understand what the purple icon on the 5k app means!
