Tag: vegan food

Crystal Palace parkrun plus a couple of local ones in January

Away from the WDW recaps for a bit and back to parkrun! Since getting home, I had a couple of local weekends with Dad, first to Jersey Farm for Dad’s 400th parkrun (he chose the location) and then the following week at Oaklands College.

Jersey Farm

Jersey Farm was glorious sunshine (yes I should have worn sunglasses!), and it was lovely that some of the OH ladies turned up to celebrate with Dad too, although he was off to football later so we didn’t hang around for too long after.

Oaklands College

I hadn’t been to Oaklands College for ages and when we arrived we thought the first timers welcome was going on and that the rest of the runners must have been around the corner, but no, there were only 49 people taking part. There was a lot of mud and the ground was still so rutted so I am not surprised. Rory came along too so it was good to catch up. Newly acquired Wonky Bear Poddington also came along with me for his first parkrun.

Crystal Palace

Then the first weekend in February I was off to Crystal Palace parkrun with Branka. We are both steadily making a dent on the Lon-done events, so a new London event means leaving a bit earlier now. For me this was a train just before 7am from St Albans, meeting Branka on the train. We went into London Bridge, and then changed to an overground train that went to Crystal Palace station.

It was forecast to be quite rainy, but it wasn’t too bad when we came out of the station. It was about a half a mile walk, but the station is right next to the park, so after a kind dog walker showed us the way, it was very straightforward.

Pop up fence fun

There’s lots of construction work happening in the park at the moment, so there were loads of fences up (some with fun artwork depicting various construction vehicles)- the pop up was attached to a fence but the name was facing inwards so we had fun poking our phones through the fence trying to get some photos.

All the cool artwork plus Poddington seeing the course maps

Rory was also going to travel there, and as we met up with him closer to the start line, we found a second pop up mounted on a fence but facing outwards!

The star/finish area is along an avenue of trees- this would be gorgeous in the summer, but didn’t provide much shelter from the rain. They had the finish area at one end, with a tarpaulin that they tried to fold over to keep bags and tops dry. I have a plastic bag inside my rucksack so I took it out and put my rucksack in it to try and keep the contents dry- it’s a fairly waterproof bag but it was raining pretty hard at times. The first timers welcome was at the finish area too, and they even had a large print out of the two main courses that they use. They were a really friendly team and seemed keen to chat to find out where people had come from. It’s a big event (388 people that day) but felt like part of the community.

The course is two laps, although they are not quite identical as in the first lap you do an extra “dog leg” (the little loop on the lower left of the map). On this day each lap was almost two separate sections- the lower section where you started and finished was muddy and slippery (I am not sure if the construction in the park was making it worse, as it should have been tarmac paths but they were really muddy too), and then the upper section (you ran up a short slope to get there) was fairly dry paths. I wished I had my trail shoes on- I’d worn old road shoes so they didn’t have good grip at all- especially on the slope to get back down to the lower level again I really could have done with better soles. Someone next to me slipped over on one of the slopes, so I took it very gently.

Photos of the course- you can see some of the big puddles on the pavements as well as the slope leading to the upper part of the course

There were lots of points in the course where you saw other runners which I always like- as each lap had a narrow two way section as well as parts like the dog leg. It was definitely a friendly event, and the rain even eased off as we ran.

There’s definitely a lot to see in the park too- the huge TV aerial, a blue plaque commemorating a Bob Marley concert, a swimming pool, a dinosaur trail (sadly they were all covered up due to the renovations), a maze… the list goes on.

After we finished we had a quick chat and changed into dry jumpers before heading back to the train. Branka had some errands to run, and I had decided to go to Angel to get some vegan pastries and visit Bird and Blend, so we said our goodbyes. Rory was getting the same train as me (as I went on the overground to Highbury and Islington) so we had a lovely chat on the train before he got off at his stop. I’d packed a cereal bar in my bag so I had that on the train as I was getting quite hungry by that point.

parkfaff- British Patagonia for the best vegan pastries, Bird and Blend for a matcha and a cereal bar on the train (plus the token sorting tubs)

I then had a very wet walk along Upper Street to get my pastries (to take home rather than eat on the train) and matcha before walking down to St Pancras and getting the train back. I was still home before lunch time and it was a morning well spent, although it was only when I got home that I realised how wet and cold my feet were!

Onto the stats- that was my 437th parkrun and my 148th different event. At the time it was the 37th out of 65 London events (but of course that can change).

Up next is more touring- a London one (which I went to yesterday) and some more plans coming.

Ticking off more of date bingo at Clermont Waterfront parkrun

The beginning of January for me was spent in Florida, ahead of the Walt Disney World marathon weekend (which was a 5k on the Thursday, 10k on the Friday, half marathon on the Saturday and a marathon on the Sunday- more on that in later posts), and so I didn’t get to a parkrun on New Years Day. However, on the 3rd Andy said he’d drive me out to Clermont (it’s a good 50 min drive from the WDW area). The parkrun begins at 7:30am so it’s an early start to get there in time (especially as I like to go to the toilets and walk along to the lake to look at the view).

The sunrise was around 7:20 so as I got to the lake I was treated to the sun coming up- the sky was so orange just before although it wasn’t captured that well in the photos. I was wondering if I’d need a jacket at first (Florida was having a cold front just before we arrived and on NYD there was a thin frost on the car first thing, although it would warm up once the sun was out), but I was fine in t-shirt and shorts even before I started running. It was funny seeing the locals wrapped up in thick joggers and hoodies (with hoods up!) when I was just there in minimal layers!

The sun shining through the trees and moss made it look as if the trees were glowing with fire- it was so beautiful.

This was my 4th time at this parkrun, and my third doing this route (as once they were on the alternative route away from the lake)- I didn’t even listen to the first timers welcome (I did on my third visit!) because it’s such a simple route- out and back along the lake. (If you were visiting, the car park is right by the start, in that as you turn in to the car park you can see the parkrun teardrop flag and all the flags in the finish funnel. You need to exit the car park and cross the road to get to the start but it couldn’t be any closer).

Going back to the course, there is a small section where the paths leads you away from the lake a bit, but it’s clearly marked with signs, and it’s a fairly busy parkrun (150 people this time) so there is someone in sight to follow. There is a turnaround point clearly shown with a cone (and sometimes a marshal) but it’s really very easy, so rather than listen to the welcome I went along the little boardwalk to the edge of the lake to watch the sun come up. The main briefing was prompt and friendly, and then we were off!

This was a few days ahead of the big run challenge and I hadn’t run since the Wednesday before, so I was mindful of taking it easy. I was keen to do a few runs ahead of the challenge to acclimatise a little, as of course Florida is a lot more humid and a lot warmer than any of the training runs, and so I was quite pleased to finish in 30:51 as I felt like I was running quite gently and stopping to take photos (I paused for a while to take a photo of that bird (bottom right in the picture above).

By the time I finished (around 8am) the sun was properly up- such a contrast to when I first arrived. As it’s out and back you get to see everyone on the other side of the path too, and it added to my anticipation of the following weekend as I saw so many Run Disney shirts being worn by parkrunners.

I didn’t hang about too much after finishing- a few quick photos and then I headed back to the car, very relieved that I wasn’t dripping in sweat (after doing this course in the summer and having sweat pour out of every single pore) and happy that I felt like I managed the much warmer weather OK.

They often have a photographer there (although I’ve not looked up the photos from this event yet) and I noticed on the bench by the finish area that they have a special volunteer bib for the photographer to wear, which I thought was a lovely touch. It’s a very scenic parkrun by the water, and it’s so nice that they value the photographer role so much.

I’d seen a recommendation for the vegan bagels and toppings at Jeff’s Bagel Run, and after going there earlier in our trip we found that there was a branch on our way back from parkrun, so we stopped to pick up some bagels for breakfast once back at our hotel.

As I’d been there before, of course there is no Voronoi update, but happily when I looked on the 5k app I had filled in a date bingo slot and if I had missed it it would be a few years before the 3rd would fall on a Saturday again, so hooray!

On the Monday following this parkrun, Andy and I did a run together of about 3-4 miles around a lake by our hotel, but then it was strictly no more running until the WDW marathon weekend began! Although of course there was plenty of walking around theme parks in the meantime.

So, up next will probably be my race recaps- you have been warned!

Brockwell parkrun, Herne Hill

It was time for some more London parkrun tourism with Branka, and this one was going to fill a nice hole in our Voronoi maps. Brockwell parkrun is very close to Herne Hill station, which is on the Thameslink line, so I headed to St Albans to get on a direct train from there, meeting Branka at Herne Hill station.

You can pretty much see the park from the station, so we just had to walk into the park and locate the start, which was very simple. It was great to walk through the park so early- we could see lots of the central London skyline from the park, and on our way to the toilets saw the team wheeling their kit up to the start.

It was very windy so we had to hold the pop up while we took photos, but thankfully after what felt like a week of rain, the morning was fairly bright.

We left our bags on a bench inside a sort of shelter (it looked like an old concrete bus stop but it couldn’t have been as it was a traffic-free park), listened to the first timers welcome and then it was time to head down to the start line. They seemed to have a bit of trouble with people chatting during the run brief, even with their speaker system set up (and some people shouting “quiet!” to try to help), but we could just about hear the warnings against funnel ducking and the reminder to keep right rather than the more common left. They mentioned that they had received complaints from members of the public using the park at the same time, and so the compromise was to ensure that the parkrunners kept to the right so that some of the paths were clear for others.

After a few milestone announcements we realised that everyone was moving and the parkrun had started.

It’s pretty much a two lap course, with a little bit of extra in the first lap, and it’s undulating for sure. It is all on tarmac paths which was partly why we had chosen it (so many local runs to me are muddy and we just fancied finishing a parkrun without muddy socks). It was a really pretty park with lots to see on the way around, although I found the circular nature meant I totally lost my bearings. At one point on the first lap I noticed a lovely carved frog bench, and so on the second lap I got my phone out ready to take a photo, but I was so early I kept thinking I’d missed it.

The finish is pretty tough too, as you think all the hills are done but the short section into the finish funnel slopes uphill too. I was happy when I could stop!

The team had moved the pop up to the top of the hill (by the finish) rather than by the start line, so I got a few photos there as there was a lovely backdrop of London behind, plus some nice autumn colours and even a hint of blue sky.

We walked back to the station and popped into a bakery (there are plenty of very posh looking bakeries and cafes near the station) but nothing was labelled vegan and so I said to Branka that I’d get out the train at Kings Cross and head up to Angel to visit British Patagonia (a bakery and cafe that does the most amazing vegan pastries)- Branka decided to come too so we headed straight there. Angel also houses a Bird and Blend, so of course we popped in there on our way past. I had a matcha latte because I need some caffeine after I stop running.

We got the pastries to go, so luckily I had a cereal bar in my bag which I could have with my matcha for breakfast, and then I had pistachio pastry when I got home. Oh my goodness me they are delicious. (Top tip- they sometimes have bags of mixed pastries that are close to their sell-by date- I got one this time to pop in the freezer but they are always a good deal- the one I got had 3 or 4 pastries and was about £7).

Onto the map update:

It was very pleasing because after going to Dulwich and Peckham Rye, I had a little gap in the map, but going to Brockwell filled that one in. We didn’t get our results through until about 10:30 pm, and my placing was quite different to my token number, so I imagine the poor team had a few things to sort (even though they reminded people in the briefing not to funnel duck…).

That was parkrun 429 and location 146. Obviously with more events, Lon-DONE is one of those where the goal gets ever bigger, but this of course helped and was my 36th London event (out of 66 currently).

It does remind me that apart from getting up early (my St Albans train was about 7:15am) it can be really easy to do some London train tourism.

Up next? Well, who knows basically. I am not keen on making big plans at this time of year in case bad weather means loads of cancellations, although the peas do have a trip pencilled in for before the end of the year.

Stanborough parkrun- Queen Of Herts regained and my Dad’s Cowell!

Stanborough parkrun started around a month ago, but due to various weekends away and parkrun touring, this was the week I managed to head there.

(Dad was keen to do his 100th different event soon, and we had originally planned Wendover Woods as a venue, but he had family coming over at 11am today so could not go far, which is why we went to WW last week and Stanborough this week)

Matching 100 tops for my dad, brother and me to celebrate!

It turned out to be an excellent week to visit, as loads of OH ladies were there, either volunteering or participating, and Branka and Holly could make this weekend so we planned brunch after as a belated birthday celebration for Holly.

As we were going out for brunch after, I took a rucksack with me as I wanted a jumper for after (and I was doing a tea swap with Branka), so the 2 mile run there was a bit of a run-walk where each time the rucksack got too annoying I would stop and walk! But it was lovely weather, not as cold as I was expecting, and I arrived nice and early at around 8:30. I think Stanborough is now marginally closer to home than Panshanger is, but I feel very lucky to have two events within running distance.

OH ladies pre parkrun and the three peas after!

The queue for the pop up was pretty big- I was called over for an OH ladies photo, but the rest of us decided to wait until after where it would be a bit quieter. Dad spoke to Jacqui (the RD) about his Cowell, but his name was already on the list (thanks to lovely Nicola- one of the ED’s -as she had already put his name down)- he was very chuffed to have his name mentioned at the start.

Soon the main briefing started (a big clap for my dad) and then we moved a few metres on to the start line. The course is very simple- 3 laps within the park:

Each lap began on a short slope, and then you were up running along a ridge with views down to the lake. I was regretting no sunglasses as the sun was shining right into my eyes as I ran up – not so easy to see the rabbit holes! You then turn right and have a lovely long gentle downhill, a sharp right (almost a u-turn) near the lake, and then run back along the bottom, finishing each lap with a gentle incline.

It really didn’t feel that the uphill matched the downhills in this route. It is all on grass, so after a few weeks of rain it will be more muddy and slippery, but this week was pretty perfect as it was firm enough that you were not sliding about, but not hard rutted earth that can be sore on the ankles.

I run through this park a lot on my runs anyway, but wasn’t expecting to like the course as much as I did. Of course the weather helped- it was a glorious autumnal day. But what really made it for me was all the people- I saw so many OH ladies (and hangers on e.g. partners/ family members), and it almost reminded me of Ellenbrook Fields as I felt like I was among friends.

I ran with Dad, a little way behind my brother, and had a good catch up. We considering the number of people participating (351) we didn’t see too many people overtaking us on our second (and their third) lap, however that was probably down to us chatting as we knew one of the barcode scanners was running first (hi Tim) and didn’t notice him passing us! If you were being overtaken on the ridge it is a bit narrow there, but we were down in the main part of the park where the paths were very wide so there was plenty of space.

After finishing, we took a few photos to celebrate his 100th location, but then they had to head off. Once the three peas had all finished, we visited the purple pop up together, and the started making our way into town for brunch. After Holly changed her shoes (a good idea- mine were muddy but I didn’t want to carry trainers in the rucksack too), Branka drove into town while Holly and I jogged up there. If you are thinking of visiting, the town centre is around a mile and a half from Stanborough, and after running uphill to the Gosling sports centre it’s a flat route from there and was very enjoyable to run and chat. There were a few potential brunch locations, and we opted for Megan’s. They do delicious vegan pancakes so I was a happy bunny, and they even brought out a birthday brownie for Holly! Holly was keen to see the Knife Angel sculpture (pictured below) as it is touring the country and will be in WGC until the end of October, so there was plenty to do during parkfaff time. A police officer said it would be going into storage after this month (I guess no town centres want it next to their Christmas trees) but would probably be back out touring in the spring.

All in all it was such a happy morning spent with friends and family- the best kind of parkrunday.

Pancakes, the knife angel and the fountain that is pink for breast cancer awareness month.

Voronoi update:

So that was parkrun 424 for me, and location 143. Queen of Herts is again achieved after having a gap when Stanborough started, and I am on event 26 of my tourist streak. I would very happily go back there, so it’s fab to now have two events that are so close. If you are visiting and planning on driving, I would recommend that you look closely at the parking information on the course page, as you need to register in advance via a link on their page or send an email (again the address is listed on the page) to avoid being charged for an entire day.

Up next? Well, I have one more week here before a bit more travelling, so of course now the temptation is to go to another event (not already in the streak)- local ones that are not already within my streak include Stevenage, Westmill, Leavesden, Henlow Bridge Lakes… But I might decide that going to a local one with friends will end up being more enjoyable and easier!

Who knows! Are you good at planning ahead or do you just see what you fancy each week?

Wakehurst parkrun- en route to Brighton

We had to be in Brighton for Sunday evening for a comedy show, but at the last minute we decided to head down on the Saturday and spend the weekend there. After thinking we’d head down after I’d been to parkrun, Andy suggested leaving early (to beat the traffic) and doing a parkrun on the way instead. I’d seen Wakehurst parkrun mentioned a few times and liked the look of it, and it had parking and a cafe on site so Andy would have things to look at while I ran, so at 7am on Saturday, off we went. Wakehurst Gardens are a bit like a National Trust place, in that it’s paid entry, but they are linked with Kew Gardens. Our NT cards got us free entry, but the parking is free for parkrunners until 11am, and then after that NT members have to pay.

The journey was great (we have driven to Brighton later on Saturdays before and been stuck in a lot of traffic) and we arrived just after 8:30 so I headed off to find the toilets and start area. Because it doesn’t open until later, there were signs out saying you had to stick to the parkrun route, but the route covers a lot of the grounds so I felt like I saw a lot. The cafe didn’t open until 9am so Andy didn’t head over until after the parkrun had started, but if we went there again I think he’d come to the start area as there were people hanging around.

The start is right by the mansion house, dwarfed by an enormous redwood tree. Next to it is the stump of another redwood that had to be cut down as it was damaged in a storm- seeing the side of the cross section of the trunk was amazing, and it made for some good pop up photos!

I was at event 74, and I think they still get a fair amount of tourists because at the first timers welcome the volunteer said they’d explain the route during the main briefing, so only brand new parkrunners needed to attend. It’s two laps and very well marshalled and signed though so fairly self explanatory.

They did some seeding at the start with volunteers holding up signs (eg 28-35 minute finish times) as the paths were fairly narrow.

I really loved this parkrun as there was so much to see on the way around- all the autumnal colours were appearing and you ran through a range of different gardens.

I wasn’t expecting it to be quite so undulating though! We were warned of a hill that was “worse in the second lap” but I think all of it apart from the section by the mansion house was either uphill or downhill.

After finishing and scanning I met up with Andy at the finish area (a quick photo by the tree) and we headed in to the cafe.

The queue wasn’t that long but the wait was. It looked like an NT cafe with a fridge with ready made sandwiches, stands with cakes (not personally a fan of the help yourself in these types of cafes after seeing the handles of the tongs touching the food etc), hot drinks and some hot food including croissants. They had labels on some items, but not others, so I wasn’t sure what was vegan, so I opted for a tea (I had packed breakfast with me in case). The wait to place our order was probably 15 minutes, and then after ordering the wait was probably that again. I’d bought a change of clothes with me, so after waiting for a bit, I changed in the toilets, came back, and Andy was still waiting for our drinks. We were keen to have a look around the gardens after, but I think it was around 10:20 by the time we had our drinks. They seemed to have a lot of staff there, but maybe it’s busier in one go than it would be usually at other times of the day?

We had time for a quick walk around some of the other gardens (and of course a look in the shop) before heading back to the car for the final part of the journey into Brighton. We’d both go back for a longer visit as you could definitely spend a long time there- both exploring the gardens and visiting the Millennium seed bank.

As it was a new location, it kept my tourist streak going for another week- that was the 24th different one visited without repeating.

That was parkrun 422, and my 142nd location. It was a satisfying chunk on the map too!

Below are a few photos from Brighton- of course walks by the sea were enjoyed (as well as a nearly 12 mile run on the Sunday morning), lots of delicious food, and the comedy show on the Sunday evening. Combining parkrun with a weekend away is the best kind of parkrun tourism for me.