As you may well know, I will never pass up an opportunity to go to Brighton, so when Holly said that she wanted to celebrate her Cowell (100 different parkrun events) in Preston Park in Brighton, I was very happy to tag along.
Holly and Branka had the Friday off, so headed down in the day – they were staying at a different hotel to me so I would meet them in the morning. Andy got the train from home, and I drove from work (as work is close to the M25 so I am part of the way there). Of course Friday traffic wasn’t great but I got in around 7pm, so time for us to order a pizza (Purezza- so good) and then enjoy a breezy walk by the sea.
The weather had been to hot locally, but in Brighton there was a lovely cool breeze so it was actually really enjoyable to cool down for a bit.
In the morning I jogged the mile from our hotel to Preston Park, arriving just after Holly and Branka. We had all worn our 100 milestones shirts in celebration!
Pop up pics to celebrate 100 different events!
Pop up photos, chatting, first timers welcome and before we knew it, it was 9! I decided to line up around the 28 minute mark as it’s a fast course, and I was pleased to finish in 28:12.
That was my 9th time there and just as enjoyable- it is a busy course now but the paths are wide and you don’t have a long time with runners passing you on their final laps.
A few pics from the event as usual- token, pop up and the busy start area.
We didn’t chat for too long after finishing, as I had an 11 o’clock check out and wanted to have a shower before we met for brunch. I had a bit of a dramatic jog back, as I passed a domestic disturbance outside some flats (with a lady and two kids shouting and crying that this guy in their flats had tried to hit her)- I ended up calling the non-emergency police number as I was not sure if she was on the phone to the police at that time too- it turned out not so then police were dispatched- I was glad I had called but it did make for a bit of a panic jog back to the hotel when I finally got off the phone. In the end I got back at 10:30 so I didn’t have long to shower and pack!
Brunch/ iced tea/ Oowee/ misty beach
Then the three of us met up in Bill’s for brunch, where I found that they do vegan pancakes so of course that is what I had. We spent ages chatting about parkrun (and life, parkrun adventurer style), as always so good to spend time together catching up and making plans.
Holly and Branka were getting a train back after lunch, whereas I was staying all day, so after a little wander around the shops they headed off and I met up with Andy for our typical Brighton Saturday- a walk by the beach towards Hove, Bird and Blend visits and dinner at Oowee before driving back home.
What a fab 24 hours in Brighton!
Next weekend is a non-parkrun weekend as I am off to DLP, but after that I have a few more bits of touring to fit in before the summer holidays.
I thought I would be staying local at the weekend, but Dad mentioned he was keen to head to a new event, and suggested Hackney Marshes as one that we could drive to, so off we went.
It was around a 45 minute drive from me, so I was picked up at 7:45 and we headed off on a fairly straightforward journey. As we neared the exit, the Olympic velodrome came into view- it is quite exciting to be that close to the park (and then to try not to remember how long ago the Olympics in London actually were!). The parking was free, next to the Hackney Marshes visitor centre (toilets available), and from there it was a short walk, following other runners, across a little bridge and into the starting field.
The starting area had a great feel to it- there seemed to be loads of people, lots of tourists in matching club hoodies (maybe down for the London marathon weekend?) and we saw lots of pacer vests too. The first timers welcome gave us a great description of the route (around the first field/marsh, over the bridge and along the river, away from the river and alongside another field/marsh, and then back around the first field in the opposite direction.
There was a little speech at the main briefing as one of the RD’s was standing down, so she was presented with a framed RD vest which was a lovely idea. We thought they might mention or point out the pacers, but no, suddenly we were off!
The route was very flat, and the grass was lovely and springy, not too energy sapping like it can be sometimes. I had opted for trail shoes but road shoes would have been fine as it was so dry. The first field that we ran around was huge- maybe .75 of a mile before we exited? I loved seeing the colourful runners stretch out in front of us all around the perimeter of it. You could see some of the Olympic buildings (including the Orbit) as well as lots of blocks of housing that have all sprung up in that area.
After exiting the field we ran over the little bridge and then started the section by the river. I had wondered if this was an out and back section, but we had not been told to keep left so thought we were OK, and although we saw lots of runners going along the path in the other direction, these weren’t parkrunners, just people out for a Saturday run. After turning left at the end we realised it definitely wasn’t an out and back, and we skirted another huge field, this one covered in football pitches. The scale is hard to comprehend but it’s a huge green space.
As we passed back over the bridge we saw that the finish funnel was packed with people already, whereas we still had to go back around the first field again.
The river we ran over, the finish funnel as we ran past, token and pop up sign
It wasn’t long before we were in the finish funnel too, being reminded to keep in order as the masses finished with us.
Flag and pop up sign
After scanning and taking photos we headed back to the car, as Mum fancied breakfast out with us, so we drove back and then walked to a cafe close to their home where I had a very generous amount of avocado on toast (but also tea in a glass- why???).
First picture- all the runners stretched out ahead of us around the field/ avocado toast/ finish funnel and the path by the river
Of course, the all important map (after/before):
So, that was parkrun 401 and location 131, 32nd London parkrun (out of 65 currently)- I’m getting close to half way there!
Do you like tea in a glass? Either James Acaster or Dave Gorman did a very funny routine about it- I don’t know why because I drink other things from glasses but tea in a glass is just wrong.
Just a note to say that a runner collapsed at this event, but the Battersea parkrun team posted on their facebook page later in the day to say that they were recovering in hospital, as well as huge thanks to the 4 doctors who stopped and helped them.
Another weekend and another visit to a London parkrun with Branka and Holly! This had been in the diary for a while as Holly wanted event number 16. It was half term and we had tickets for an exhibition on Saturday afternoon, so Andy booked us a hotel and I went into London straight from work on Friday evening.
The hotel was fairly close to Embankment tube station (on the Northern line- the line needed for Battersea) so it was a nice warm up on Saturday morning. The train didn’t take long, and I arrived on the tube ahead of Branka and Holly (who travelled in that morning) so I waited for them at the station. The walk to the start (1.3 miles on Strava) so we were glad of arriving with plenty of time.
Tube station/ finish cones out/ huge tarpaulin of trust and the view of the old power station from the tube station
The start and finish are in different places, with everyone leaving their bags on the biggest tarpaulin of trust that I’d ever seen! It was super busy with tourists taking photos- I even saw parkrun Karen (from Insta) again- we were waiting around to see where the first timers welcome would be, and I noticed people heading away from the finish area. We decided to follow them- lucky that we did as it turned out everyone was walking to the start. They walk you around in a loop, so that the first people to begin walking end up first on the start line. It definitely had the feel of a race rather than a parkrun, with huge groups of people warming up, loads of runners in club vests and loads of secondary school age kids looking like serious runners. I felt very nervous, as if I was about to do a race, whereas I don’t usually feel this way at a parkrun.
We couldn’t even hear the main briefing as we were so far back, but luckily Branka had checked the course page and reminded us that it was two laps! People started moving so the parkrun had begun!
I tried hard to run fast but didn’t look at my watch at all, just wanting to run on feel- I am really impressed with those splits as it was a perfect royal flush negative split.
The course is basically two anti-clockwise laps of the park, it’s flat and fairly wide (it’s a road, like Finsbury Park), although we had to keep left as there were plenty of runners out in the park heading in the opposite direction. It took a while to find my speed, and I kept having to overtake runners and then settle into a pace once there was space. I still felt very nervous and it wasn’t until the second lap that I felt more relaxed and as if I was at a parkrun. I saw the first finisher head into the funnel as I began my second lap- he was way ahead of the next few runners- very impressive. It does seem to attract the faster runners- there were nearly 200 who ran under 20 minutes (out of 1159 in total)!
The avenues of trees in the park/ the tourist board/ the front of the start line with loads of club runners/ pots set out for the tokens
I knew they had a multiple funnel system, and as I headed into the finish on my second lap I could see two funnels being closed off, and they were sending us over to the left of the funnels. Everyone bunched up and they asked us to try and keep in order after we had all spread out. I chatted to a guy who had finished just ahead of me- my watch had said 27:55 so I was really pleased to have managed such a fast time, and didn’t mind waiting in the funnel for a bit. I think after around 10 minutes they moved us up a bit, and we realised that in the funnel on our right, a runner had collapsed and was receiving medical treatment from a paramedic, with an ambulance coming too. I was trying not to look- mainly because if it was me I would not want people staring at me, but also if I do look I know it would upset me, but the guy I was chatting to was giving me a bit of a running commentary on how the collapsed guy was doing. I was very relieved when our row was finally moved on and I could meet up with Holly and Branka. Holly had finished a bit behind me but her funnel had been cleared ahead of me, so we knew our times would be messed up a bit of course. The team had posted that results would be delayed (understandably) and that they might not be correct, and I was expecting a 59:59 for everyone. I had token 711 and my watch had said 27:55, but when the results came through my token was 801 and my time was 28:49 (with Holly being ahead of me in the results on 775) but the team had warned us and I was just happy to get any time. It’s now set as my course pb so I shall just have to go back.
Token and purple pop up pics
After we finished, we took a few photos by the pop up and then headed out of the park and over to the converted power station building- it’s now a huge shopping centre with restaurants, cafes, a cinema, bowling alley and all sorts of other things. Holly had seen a picture of the pancakes at Where the Pancakes Are and they cater for all sorts of dietary requirements, so we headed there for breakfast.
Pop up selfie and pineapple pancakes
I had pineapple and coconut pancakes with lime syrup- good to have something more unusual rather than the standard berries and syrup combo. Then it was time to head back to the train and continue our weekend in London (F1 exhibition, and then later on we went back to Battersea as they had a light instillation- see below for a few pics)
So, Battersea parkrun- definitely one to visit as it has very different vibes to smaller parkruns, and as it’s so flat it is a great one for trying to blast out a fast time (even with the congestion at the start).
Before and after for the 5k app map– another nice big gap filled in
That was my 391st parkrun and my 125th parkrun venue, and my 28th London 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.
This is one of my favourite races of the year, and somehow I didn’t even do a post about it!
The Garden City Joggers put this event on each year- it’s a five mile race consisting of two laps around the centre of town- all on pavements but with marshals at all the road crossing points. It’s the type of low key event I love, where you collect your number on the day, and it just had friendly vibes. Loads of people dress in festive gear, lots of the marshals do as well, and it’s just good fun.
The weekend that it took place on in 2024 had big storms everywhere, with lots of parkruns called off the day before, so rather than running there and getting drenched, I took up my friends offer of a lift (she lives around the corner from me and we often share lifts for parkruns or club runs). Thankfully it didn’t rain before the start, although it did rain a bit while we were running.
I absolutely love seeing people run in inflatable outfits- no idea why it amuses me so much but seeing the inflatable Santa run past us in the road just really tickled me.
Before, during and after
I ran with Nicola and we just had a great time- no worrying about times, just enjoying all the festive outfits and wishing all the marshals a happy Christmas. Thankfully it didn’t rain too hard, but there were some huge puddles that I didn’t expect and that you couldn’t avoid so I got very cold wet feet. The rest of me warmed up, as you can see I ended up taking my jacket off.
I tried to get some photos and selfies with the inflatable guys!
At the finish we were given a little selection box- in previous years there has been a vegan option but sadly not this year (so that was donated to the food bank collection at the parkrun the following Saturday), however we had our OH ladies Christmas brunch so post-race treats would soon be coming.
As we had a bit of time in between the race ending and the brunch booking, Nicola kindly offered for a group of us to pop back to her office (in the town centre) so we could get changed in the warm and dry, and even made us cups of tea. I had packed a complete change of clothes, but had forgotten about shoes, so I had to put on my soggy cold trainers as we headed out for brunch.
OH ladies having brunch (I am very hidden on the left in that photo), oat matcha latte, pancakes and my With Me Now Christmas jumper (which is always fun to try and explain- “Maria I didn’t know you liked cats?” ” No, I don’t like cats, but there is this podcast…”)
Brunch was fab- so nice to catch up with everyone, enjoy some food (I had vegan pancakes, tea and then a matcha latte) and chat about our Christmas plans. I really love this tradition.
Do you have any running club Christmas traditions? I always love festive parkruns too.
