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.
In January, a new parkrun launched in St Albans. I know one of the RD’s so had offered to marshal on their first event, as the date had been leaked online (this seems to happen to lots of parkruns now) and the team were worried about the event being swamped. However, the first event was cancelled due to ice, and as they emailed to ask if volunteers could be there the following week instead, I was happy to help.
Dad came back and even took the selfie- his skills are improving too! My view of the start (I guessed 18- runners, it was just under 250 in the end), views from my spot, and of course a pic with the pop up
Do you think the course looks like a dog?
The course looks very confusing on paper- it’s two laps but one lap has an out and back section, and you pass various points from different directions so I would not know how to run it on my own without signs and marshals. Luckily they walked us to our marshal points on the first event as I would have had no idea!
I was at a marshal point with another member of OH ladies (hi Mel)- we had a bit of a complicated cross over point with runners approaching from two directions and needing to be sent in different ways too, but we worked it out. Once the event is established and most people know where they are going it will be easier too.
Lots of familiar faces were at the first event, including my dad and brother, and I always enjoy marshalling and cheering people on as they pass. It was a bit of an overcast day and sooooo cold- I had wrapped up warmly but my feet were freezing when we finished.
The following week I decided to run at Oaklands College, as Dad wanted to stay local so I thought I’d give it a go and see the whole course as I’d only seen the section that I’d been marshalling on.
A few OH ladies at the start, some of the mid run views, and the finish funnel
Parking is available on site, and when I’d volunteered I had been directed to a small car park right by the start, but this week I went to the normal car park (still only a minute away from the start)- it had signs up with ways to pay, but I could not get the QR code to scan or the website to work, and then someone told me it was free until February. So be aware! (Not that I mind paying but there were no machines so it was app or website only…)
The start/finish is right by the old mansion house, so it’s a nice backdrop to the purple pop up. The week I ran it was cold but glorious sunshine. People were pouring in from the car park- the first week there were around 240 participants and I guessed there were 450 this week- so many tourists with the cow buffs and hats from far flung running clubs. I spoke to one person in the car park who had some from Harlow (not too far) but basically told me he was ticking it off as quickly as possible and didn’t seem that interested in the event at all. There was a big queue for the purple pop up and it felt like a weird atmosphere with lots of people who were not going to be coming here regularly, but then once I saw people I knew (lots of OH ladies and other local runners) it felt more like a normal parkrun morning.
I have to say that I loved the “beware of the swamp” sign!
I had been warned to wear trail shoes when marshalling, so of course I wore them for running, but according to my dad it was way muddier this week! The course is varied- you run around a rugby pitch (despite them saying in the run brief to keep off the rugby pitches the poor marshals were having to shout at so many people who were ignoring this request), on some hard paths, through a little wooded area and over a little hump (the reverse of a ditch if you can picture that), then you had a long out and back section on a stony path, before repeating the rugby pitches and woods again. For the finish funnel you run past the funnel, around some trees and then loop back into a hard path so it was quite nice to have a strong finish. You end up right by the mansion house again, and the scanners were right in front- all very easy to find.
After finishing we stayed around and chatted to people as they finished- one of my friends had nearly lost a shoe in the deep mud, and I had seen that happen to someone as we ran too. It was a proper quagmire in places!
Muddy legs and shoes at the finish!
Dad had cycled so he headed off once he started getting cold, and I hung around a bit longer, enjoying chatting to people as they finished. As I was stood by the purple pop up I ended taking lots of photos for various people so I asked for one in return- I was a bit miffed that they could not manage to frame the photo properly- I made sure that in all the photos I took the mansion house was in the background with the blue sky- it’s not that hard people!
How to take it with the sky vs how the photo was taken for me!
I was doubting my estimate of 450, but it was getting closer and closer. Apparently they only had 448 tokens (must be to do with how many are on each sheet?) so they had some paper tokens, and they needed one as the final total was 449! It’s crazy that event 2 was so busy.
I do think it will be lovely in the summer as it’s lots of grass, it’s varied, fairly flat and there is some shade- it reminded me a bit of Great Dunmow but slightly less wild. Anyway, I was glad to have given the course a go, and very glad I had on my trail shoes!
A new hole appeared in my map but it was quickly filled!
That was location 122 for me, my first new location in 2025, and my run number 388.
(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.
After a week away from parkrun (due to a visit to DLP- sadly no parkruns in France for now or the foreseeable future), the following weekend we were down in Brighton for our wedding anniversary, so I opted for Hove Prom.
It was my 12th time there, and as always, fab. Our hotel was around a mile away, and the run there was straightforward, along the seafront, and a good warm up. Rather than a tarpaulin of trust, they have boxes by the beach huts, and the first timer welcome was right there too. Even though I’ve been there lots of times, I like to still listen to the welcome, just in case there is a course change. There are so many people there now (850 that day) that you cannot hear the main briefing because of people talking. It’s also really nice to see the new runners and tourists coming along- that day there were a few running club trips from various places including Kent, so you get a bit of a feel for the people there that day by going along to the briefing.
Photos taken on the way to parkrun
I’d seen that they had pacers, so I decided to try and come in under 28 minutes as I have not managed many speedy times this year. The start area was so busy, and I could not hear (as previously mentioned) and could not see any of the pacers either. As we started I was a bit boxed in with people, but managed to overtake a few people and could see the 29 pacer (who I overtook quickly) and then the 28 min pacer up ahead. I kept them in sight and at the first turn around point I was pretty close. I managed to get ahead of the group and just tried to stay there. Hove Prom is out and back twice (but you start in the middle, so you really go out, turn, back, turn, out, turn, back, turn, into the finish) and so at the turn around points you can see how close you are ahead of the pacers, and in the second lap I managed to get a bit further ahead, and could even see the 27 min pacer up ahead. It was so busy there that as I got to the finish, the queue was backing out of the finish funnel and onto the course, so I stopped my watch, but with a combination of not hearing the start, and of course not knowing when they would stop meant I didn’t know if I’d managed sub 28 even though it should have been OK.
Watch and token showing my possible time…
I scanned, got my jacket from the box by the beach huts, got a few photos by the purple pop up and then headed back to the hotel for breakfast (Andy had popped out to get vegan croissants). When my text came through later, I was so pleased to have achieved 27:12 – well under the 28 minutes I was aiming for. This was actually the same time that I managed on my first ever parkrun back in 2013- I had signed up to Marathon Talk’s Jantastic, and as part of that you had to do some sort of time trial, where you estimated your time, then entered your actual time, and then gained points the closer you were. I had put down 27 minutes for a 5k, and did my first parkrun as the time trial, and then it turned out I had actually filled it in on the website as 27 hours so I was way off!
Selfie by the old pier and the purple pop up
I don’t often aim for a time at parkrun- I am more than happy to run around and chat to people as I run, and if I am touring I like to see the new event, take photos as I run around and so on. But on this occasion it was good to have something to aim for.
So that was parkrun 380 and my 12th time at Hove Prom.
Do you like aiming for a time or are you happy to enjoy the atmosphere?
PS A few Brighton photos – delicious vegan pancakes from Nowhere Man, Bird and Blend cups and a walk to Hove.
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?
