Tag: parkrun challenges

Thames Path, Woolwich parkrun

Originally Dad and I had planned this towards the end of last year, but a storm meant it was cancelled so we stayed closer to home. This time around the weather looked good (well, no storms) and so we were a go!

I picked up Dad and drove to St Albans station- there we got a fast train to Farringdon and changed to the Elizabeth Line, getting off at Woolwich. The connection at Farringdon was great, and so after getting the 7:13 train, we arrived in Woolwich at 8am. This turned out to be lucky as I went totally the wrong way out of the station, so we had nearly a mile warm up walking through Woolwich (which is very interesting) and along the Thames before finding the start area.

Can you spot me in the top left photo? Purple pop up and the finish line with the statues in the background.

Having seen loads of photos of the statues online, it was great to see them in person, although there was no sign (that I could find) telling me about the artist or the artwork.

The toilets were open at 8:30 (when we arrived at the finish area)- they were inside the large cafe and there were plenty of them. It didn’t seem a hugely busy parkrun (not compared to Tooting from the week before)- there were 224 participants that morning. We spent some time taking photos with the statues and sheltering from the wind, before the first timers welcome was at 8:45. We were then all walked to the start, which is maybe a 5 minute walk from the finish area, along the edge of the river. The parkrunners headed down the steps, whereas the RD and time keepers stood on a platform above, and this made for a great run briefing as the RD didn’t need to shout, and everyone could see and hear him.

This parkrun is famous for the spiral- a mount you run up in a spiral and then back down- it makes an excellent Strava map! It felt pretty flat apart from the spiral, and there were a few puddles to dodge along the first part, but nothing swampy (again, nothing like the huge puddle from Tooting last week!). It felt like we had hardly gone any distance when we approached the park with the spiral in it, and I happened to glance at my watch and see we had already gone over a mile. The course really seemed to fly by!

The start with the elevated bit for the RD, and then views of the spiral on the mound

It was such fun heading up the spiral and seeing runners above, either heading up, or seeing the faster runners fly back down towards us. I am sure on a clear day the views would have been spectacular, but on this grey day we couldn’t even see the tops of the tallest buildings. No matter, we loved it.

Check out the splits too- perfect royal flush negative splits right there!

Dad and me heading into the finish, pop up sign at the end, token and the view (and cool sign) from the spiral

I finished in exactly 29 minutes, my fastest time of the year so far, and also means I get a shout out on the vegan runners facebook post as they have all sorts of challenges and this is the “noughty step” (times ending in :00).

Avocado toast, views walking back to the station and the view inside the cafe

As soon as we finished we headed inside the cafe to warm up and dry off. I was super impressed with the prices- my avocado toast was £6 which is a bargain. Dad went for the plant based sausage sandwich, and when he ordered it they asked if he wanted plant based meat or mushroom- they recommended mushroom- we were both expecting a patty made with mushrooms, but instead his roll was filled with sliced sautéed mushrooms. He enjoyed it anyway, despite it not being what was expected. The cafe was cosy and had plenty of space for the parkrunners and others.

We walked the direct way back to the station (literally a few hundred metres) and again our trains on the way back lined up perfectly- as we were going down the stairs at Farringdon a train was pulling in, and it was a fast one to St Albans- couldn’t have planned it better!

We have already made plans to go back in the summer, and hopefully bring Mum along, as she would enjoy watching and chatting while we ran, and then we could have a walk around the Woolwich area after breakfast as there seems to be so much history and interesting buildings there. Such a good parkrun morning!

Before and after map- a nice big segment filled in there!

Stats: 390th parkrun

124th venue

And now I’m making a start on Lon-done, that was my 27th London venue (out of 65 currently but of course that’s going to keep going up)

My slightly zoomed out map showing more of the sections that need colouring in!

Do you have parkruns you’d love to revisit? This one was fab and as the journey was so good it’s definitely on the list to go back to.

Tooting Common parkrun

After realising how (relatively) simple it was to get to various London parkruns by train, and deciding to work on Lon-done, Tooting Common was on my radar. I’d previously been to Clapham Common whilst in London, and Tooting was the next stop down, so I had thought it might be left for when I was in London. However, Branka noticed that she had completed her 221st parkrun last weekend, and thought that doing her 222nd at Tooting would be a great idea. Holly and I were free for touring, so off we went!

It happened to be their 9th birthday too, so extra celebrations. I’d seen them post a photo of a huge puddle, so decided to pack spare shoes and socks for the journey home. I don’t mind getting wet feet while I run, but the thought of cold wet feet for the journey home was not appealing at all.

Engineering works meant that the Hatfield line was out of action, although it meant a slightly easier train journey with only one change rather than two, so I drove to St Albans and met Branka and Holly on the train (they got on the same train at Luton)- we were glad that we had factored in extra time, as they managed to miss their train due to the platform being changed at the last minute- this has happened to me before at St Albans so I could very much sympathise.

Anyway, the journey to Streatham all went to plan- we had to change at Blackfriars (could also change at Farringdon)- this was the same platform and the train was a few minutes later- and then travel around 5 stops to Streatham. It was then about a mile walk to the start. The park is close to the train station but the parkrun starts at the opposite end of the park. As we walked through the park we took a little detour as the maps tried to guide us through a huge puddle. We didn’t think this could be part of the course as it seemed so narrow, and Tooting gets several hundred runners, but we were wrong!

We got there just as the first timers welcome was happening, so it was perfect! Branka had time to put on her tutu (of course she wore a tutu for her 222 run) and we left our bags on the tarpaulin of trust. We got a few photos by the purple pop up but it was busy and the main briefing was about to start so thought we’d do some more at the end.

The course starts close to the cafe- you immediately head out to the perimeter of the park, do 3 laps and then return to the start/finish area. On Strava it’s a very pleasing triangle shape:

(Also check out our splits- a fab royal flush negative split)

Train ticket/ pop up/ birthday hats, pre-parkrun pop up pic

I ran with Holly and we had a lovely chat on the way around. I can’t think of that many three lap courses, but I knew we’d be overtaken in our second lap by the front runners (by the way, the first finisher was female- girl power!) as if it’s a two lap course I’m doing well if I’m not lapped. As the laps were so short, we soon reached the huge puddle. It was deep and very long, then just as you thought it was over and you were out, more puddles would appear. I tried at first to keep my feet dry but it just wasn’t happening, so just had to tell myself that like a wet suit, my body would warm the wet water in my socks and I would be OK. Of course, by the time we reached the puddle in the second lap my feet just just warmed up, only for them to be plunged into cold water again. That lap had the added “fun” of being splashed by the faster runners as they ploughed through the puddles.

A few pics of parts of the puddle, finish line zig zag and post parkrun pop up

The course is flat and there were loads of cheery marshals en route- lots of had on party hats and one was celebrating her birthday too, although when we shouted “happy birthday” to her she said “you too”- probably thinking that we were celebrating Tooting parkrun’s birthday and not hers.

I had to stop and retie my shoelace at one point (even the double knot had worked it’s way undone), but other than that we kept running and it didn’t feel like long before we were heading into the finish funnel. They had a long zig zag on the grass, but despite us coming in during a bit of a rush, it kept moving and there wasn’t a traffic jam in there. A few minutes after we had finished when the rush had died down, they began taking down the zig zag to make the funnel shorter.

The parkrun cafe painting and the cafe, finish token and the three of us with the pop up (check out the pink tutu!)

After finishing, we took more photos and I changed my shoes and socks (not that easy to do while avoiding the muddy grass) and then we headed back to the train station (after initially going the wrong way out of the park as we got distracted while chatting…). We passed the cafe, which was a really pretty black and white building, and decided to get a hot drink to take with us. Inside the cafe was a lovely painting of the cafe- it was such a classic old style park cafe and was tiny compared to the number of runners (548 participants on that day). I’d packed a croissant in my bag to have on the way home so our parkfaff could happen on the train.

The ‘after’ and ‘before’ map (can’t switch them somehow)- a nice square filled in close to Richmond Park

The return journey was super easy- around a ten minute wait at Streatham for the train to Blackfriars, and then a 4 minute wait for the fast train back to St Albans. Of course we had a chat about our next touring plans, and checked out the 5k app as we were on the train- Brockwell was close to the train line that we were on so that’s on the list now (and it’s tarmac apparently so no wet feet either…).

So that was parkrun number 389, 123rd venue, and if I use the 5K app to track Lon-done it’s the 26th one (out of 65 on there but of course that number is going to keep on going up). Fingers crossed that the next few weeks are free from storms or engineering works so I can visit a few more new events.

2024 parkrun summary

First up, a big shout out to the 5K parkrunner app, and the google Chrome running challenges extension, as I love both of these for keeping track of challenges but also just total number of parkruns completed. I could spend ages looking at the map.

Of course I had plenty of revisits too including one of my fave events of Hove Prom in Brighton.

So, a belated 2024 recap. I completed 16 new parkrun events in 2024, which is in line with previous high years- those early years of touring were easier as I was visiting events in Herts, whereas now it is more reliant on a weekend somewhere else or travelling a bit further .

(For interest the numbers are 14 in 2023, 14 in 2022, 5 in 2021, 3 in 2020, 16 in 2019, 17 in 2018, 22 in 2017, 10 in 2016, 2 in 2015, 1 in 2014 and 1 in 2013- my first event)

I did 46 parkruns in the year which equals my highest years of 2019 and 2022. I don’t think I will ever get the 50 as we’re always going to have a weekend in a non-parkrun country at some point each year. I volunteered 21 times- mostly at junior parkrun but with a few 5k events thrown in there too.

Notable achievements- Stay in Beds challenge completed (all the parkruns in Bedfordshire)- achieved at Great Denham last April

350th parkrun- celebrated at Lee on the Solent in March

German flag claimed- at Dietenbach in May:

(This had been a long time coming because we went to Berlin in 2018, and were meant to be flying out there on the Friday night, but our flight was cancelled and we travelled on the Sunday instead, so of course I couldn’t parkrun then. This trip was combined with a trip to the Europa-Park theme park so we were close by)

Japan flag claimed- at Futakotamagawa in August:

(We had three Saturdays in Japan but due to travelling and logistics I managed one while I was out there, but it was perfect and I am very proud of myself for navigating the trains on my way there by myself as I am not the best at navigating and get very anxious- not helped by an earthquake warning on our phones the night before…)

Single-ton (100 run/walks at the same location) achieved at Panshanger on their 10th birthday:

Deciding to make a dent in Lon-done after having visited lots of London events – in 2024 I went to Hampstead Heath, Pymmes, Gladstone, Harrow, Southall, Wormwood Scrubs, Osterley and Morden which (I think?) all count towards Lon-done. Getting into more tourism with Branka and Holly has been great fun too, as well as tourism with my dad.

National Trust parkruns are excellent for post-parkrun parkfaffing too- a scone and a pot of tea? Perfect.

I’ve also had a lovely time volunteering at Birchwood Juniors since they launched. I feel like it is my volunteering home now as I know more of the team.

Basic total stats at the end of 2024 – 386 parkruns completed, 96 volunteer occasions, 121 different events overall

So what next for 2025? More tourism of course! V100 is on the cards soon, and later on I’ll be celebrating my (arbitrary) 400th parkrun! Oaklands College launched in January so I’m looking forward to revisiting that event (I think I could run there from my parents too so that will be something good to explore as I like a parkrun sandwich). I am also hoping for a new flag, or at least a new event outside of the UK, but we shall see how plans go for that as nothing has been properly arranged yet.

What are you looking forward to in 2025?

Morden parkrun- not MOR

(With Me Now had a Blur theme for their published post which led me to think of a comment filled with Blur songs- MOR by Blur just fitted perfectly but Morden was certainly not middle of the road)

A trip to Morden had been arranged with Branka and Holly for a while, with Holly aiming for an event number for her Wilson Index (I think), and although I knew it would be a bit of a journey, I had not really properly looked into travel times, putting it off because I knew it would be an early start. I knew I would be meeting the two of them at some point in London as we come in on different train lines, and Branka looked up options for me as well (very kindly). I’d need to get a train at 6:25 to Kings Cross, walk over to St Pancras and then the two of them would get on the train I was on at Blackfriars. Simple, only on Friday night Andy noticed that the train companies had posted of likely disruption due to staff illness and absence. Hooray. We at least knew we would have options and so if times were getting tight we could get off early and divert to a nearer parkrun. After one of those sleepless nights that you always have before an early alarm (I mean, 5:15 feels too early for a Saturday!) thankfully the trains we all needed were showing as on, and on time, so we were a go.

Very empty London station and the water refill machine

So I drove to Hatfield (easier than running to WGC and I really didn’t fancy leaving enough time to run there), sorted the parking, got my ticket and then stood on the platform in the dark, questioning my life choices. But of course once the journey got underway my enthusiasm appeared.

I had a gap of 20 minutes to change from Kings Cross to St Pancras, and if you’ve been there you will know they are across a road from each other, so I had plenty of time- I visited the (award winning) toilets, saw a water refill machine and mooched around a bit before going to the platform- the next train came and after a few stops, Holly and Branka got on and found me.

We got off at Morden South, which is on the overground train, and this was a very easy walk around to the start of the parkrun. We walked to the leisure centre first and used the toilets (open to parkrunnners) and noted the cafe as we said we’d pop there after. The walk to the parkrun was through the car park and then into the open parkland.

Volunteers by the building, pop up sign with the touring crew, the start line and the finish funnel

The parkland reminded me a lot of Wormwood Scrubs- not manicured city centre parkland but much more wild, with huge oak trees and plenty of wide open space.

The volunteer team were all gathered around an old building (which reminded me of Canons Park), and they had a whistle which they blew for the volunteer photo, first timers welcome and the main briefing. I really liked this and it added to the cross country feel of the place. There was a tarpaulin of trust by the building, so we left our bags there and took the photos with the sign before it got too busy. I realised that I recognised one of the volunteers as I follow them on Insta (the parkrun couple)-of course I was too awkward to say hello in person but I did comment on their post after as it was a great event.

The welcome was great, although I had thought it was two laps so was a bit surprised to hear them say it was three laps. Then as soon as that finished, we moved over to the start area (which was on the other side of the hedge to where we were) and without too much waiting the whistle was blown and we were off.

Lone purple pop up photo and some photos taken mid run– I loved how you could see parkrunners stretched out into the distance

Branka was running intervals, and I ran with Holly, having a good chat on the way around. The course really surprised me in a good way- three laps can sound not the most exciting on paper, but each lap was shaped like a figure of eight (or a butterfly), zig zagging around the parkland, and it meant that you could always see lots of other runners ahead and behind.

The course map- also how impressive is our pacing? Getting a little quicker for each mile! You did the lower section first in a backwards w shape if that makes sense.

They had warned us we would be lapped in our second lap, but the course was wide enough for this to be fine and not an issue. At the centre of the figure of eight were two marshals, standing back to back at times so they could cheer on the sets of runners on either section of the course. It was undulating with one uphill part, but nothing too steep or long, and although it was grassy and my trainers picked up a fair bit of mud, it wasn’t slippery or boggy (although I imagine it would be much tougher after a spell of wet weather). The volunteers were wonderful- each one giving praise as we ran past (even on our third time) and the people in the finish funnel did not stop heaping praise on the participants as they finished. After scanning, Holly and I stood by the finish funnel cheering in other people and the enthusiasm of the volunteers in the finish funnel did not wane at all. They were fantastic.

A few more mid run photos and more pop up signs including my selfie (still working on them but so much better at getting the sign in the background now)

Branka had looked up trains for the journey home (very thorough) so we didn’t hang around too long- we walked back to the leisure centre to get hot drinks to take to the station, and then had our drinks and cereal bars on the platform and train.

Shoes before and after- I did have some big twigs attached as well!

Mid run photos, the finish funnel in action, token photo

On the way back we had fun looking at the 5K app and spotting other parkruns close by. Tooting Common was closer to Streatham station so we have put that as a potential trip for next year. After Branka and Holly got off the train for their connection, I stayed on to go back to St Pancras, and as I had just missed a connecting train (I had not looked up return journeys as those trains are every 30 minutes) and Branka had reminded me of our trip to British Patagonia, I decided that rather than wait in the station for the next train, I would walk up to Upper Street and get some pastries and a tea from Bird and Blend. This detour added on a fair bit of time so I got home around 1:20, but I feel I made the most of my trip into London.

Peanut chocolate pastry enjoyed at home in the warm (from British Patagonia), the leisure centre building by Morden, take away tea for the train and my new 5K app buff, and a matcha latte from Bird and Blend

Realising how relatively easy the journey was (I am aware that train travel is not always this easy) has meant that some of the further away London parkruns are a bit more within reach now, so I think they are going to be my main touring from home, as in other directions there are long drives involved to reach a new one. Branka pointed out to be that as a patreon of the 5K app, I could import challenges from other people rather than manually add them, so I have now added the Lon-done challenge to my app. Currently I have been to 25 of 64, so about 1/3 of the way there. Something to work on over the next few years.

After and before- not sure why it’s that way around! You can see the after screenshot was taken on the train as the blue dot shows the location!

So, that was my 381st parkrun and location 121, and a great one at that.

Are you a fan of train travel? I get a bit stressed getting to stations, but once I am on the train I much prefer it as you can just relax and look out the window or listen to a podcast.

Highbury Fields revisit for Plan C

The plan for this weekend had always been for some parkrun tourism with Branka, and originally we were going to head to Stockley Country parkrun (not Stockwell as I kept telling Andy- he was very confused when he couldn’t find it, and could find a Stockwell park elsewhere in London while I was insisting it was close to Heathrow…). Anyway, the weather was not forecast to be great, and we didn’t fancy driving around the M25 in torrential rain, so looked at a few other options. Branka mentioned Raphael, but looking at journey times it was going to be similar, so we decided to look at train options. I am happy to repeat venues, and Branka hadn’t done Highbury Fields yet, so we decided to head there. We could both get trains to Finsbury Park, and from there it was one stop on the Victoria Line to Highbury and Islington station, and the parkrun is so close to the station (just across the road) it seemed ideal.

Plus, as a bonus, the Angel branch of Bird and Blend is about half a mile along Upper Street (and the walk passes British Patagonia who make amazing vegan pastries)- parkfaff would be sorted too!

My train was due to leave at 7:55, and with the rain I decided to drive to Hatfield rather than run to WGC, so I didn’t need to leave home until 7:30. (Branka had called me as she had a slight issue with her train ticket but she had plenty of time to sort it thankfully) My train was running a few minutes late but even with that (and me having a slight panic as I got off the train that I couldn’t find my car keys and worrying that they had fallen out- they were actually just deeper into my pocket than I had felt when I first checked), a visit to the station toilets and then getting the underground, we were at H&I for 8:30 -plenty of time!

My improving selfie, a photo mid-run, token photo and our pop up picture

We took our purple pop up photos before, and Branka continued with tutoring me on my selfies- I am getting better!

The first timers welcome was very amusing- I would not be surprised if the person ended up doing stand up comedy. She was very engaging and it really made the event feel welcoming. There did seem to be a lot of tourists- of course if you hang around the sign for a bit you end up taking photos for other people and then them taking your photo. One couple had come from north Wales! We said we should look up in case it was a specific event number (but it was 609- that’s not a prime and I can’t see what the fascination would be)- maybe just the proximity to the tube means they get lots each week.

I’d packed a t-shirt, jumper and waterproof in an old race bag to leave on the tarpaulin of trust, but thankfully the torrential rain that was forecast didn’t arrive, just a few spots of rain here and there.

The main run briefing was a bit disappointing as we just could not hear a thing- people all around us were talking, and I think I heard a few milestones announced, but it was one of those briefings when you just clap when other people clap. At least in the first timers welcome they mentioned some of the course hazards such as the uneven pavement and the muddy slippery puddle.

Now, if you don’t know, Highbury Fields is 5 laps. The only other 5 lapper I’ve done is Heslington in York, around a bike track. Here, you start in the middle on the grass, head out to the perimeter of the park (and really it is the perimeter as it is on pavements outside the park- it feels very un-parkrun in that respect as you are by houses and roads and parked cars and all sorts), and then run 5 laps before heading back in to finish on the grass. I decided that to keep count, I would try and have a different song in my head for each lap. I was hoping for songs with numbers, but the first lap was to the tune of Frère Jacques (this is the first lap, this is the first lap, around we go, around we go, run around the park, run around the park, keep on going, keep on going), and I realised that I could easily change the number for each lap and then I’d get muddled. For Lap 2I wanted a song with 2 in it (not sure why I didn’t choose Song 2 by Blur) but I ended up with Bones by The Killers in my head then. Not sure why. Lap 3 was the turn of Three is a Magic Number by Embrace (good for learning that 3x table backwards), Lap 4 was All For One from High School Musical, and then lap 5 was the theme tune from Girls 5 Eva (‘what are you waiting five?’).

I felt like I was running well, and was overtaking people towards the end, but I don’t usually look at my watch. As I crossed the finish line I stopped my watch and saw that the course had measured short- 2.8 miles. I briefly panicked that I hadn’t run the full 5 laps, but I knew I had, and the people around me had finished at the same time. If I had gone for an additional lap it would have been way over. I say all the time not to rely on GPS, and particularly on twisty routes it isn’t 100% reliable. Looking on Strava later, I could see the 5 laps (and the 5 bumps for the slope in each lap), and I could also see that it had cut off the corner each time as the route takes you out of the park at the bottom.

After I finished, I changed my top as it was still on and off raining and I didn’t want to get cold. Branka finished soon after me, and we chatted to a few tourists before walking along to our parkfaff locations. Just after we commented on how lucky we were with the weather, it rained quite hard, but thankfully we were soon in Bird and Blend, getting matcha lattes and topping up our tea collections.

Purple pop up “after” photo, the matcha wall of dreams, heavenly vegan pastries and a matcha latte.

We popped into British Patagonia on the way back, although I saved mine for when I got home as I didn’t think I could eat one of those pistachio pastries without getting in a bit of a mess! I had packed a cereal bar and water, and remembered to drink my water before I changed my t-shirt, but I really should have had the cereal bar too, as walking to B&B and back took time and so I was really hungry and tired by that point. I had it on the platform while I waited for the train home.

Once home I got the text saying it was a course pb too! Granted it was only my second time there, but I’ll take it! I was hoping for sub 30 and I ended up with 28:59 so I was pleased to squeeze in under 29. One of my few faster times this year (I’m never running that fast at Panshanger or Jersey Farm so I will make the most of tarmac).

Do you like lapped courses? Which London parkruns are good to visit by train?