parkrun tourism – Doing A Bit Of Running

I Love My Home Parkrun

I often forget just how fortunate I am to live where I do and to be only a few minutes walk away from possibly the most delightful venue for a Parkrun that I have experienced.

Today the wind got a bit uppity and so my local parkrun (Cambridge Parkrun in Milton Country Park) was cancelled. The park itself was closed for fear that we would get large chunks of trees descending upon us and leading to mangled limbs and broken bones. Never mind, thinks I, there is the Coldhams Common Parkrun only 3 miles away. I checked the website for that and it was also cancelled. Hmm, oh well, nothing for it. I shall have to get the car out and drive to Wimpole Estate. I checked the website and, yes you guessed it – cancelled.

Now you might think I would have given up here and just pulled on my running socks to do some general running about in the village. However, there is another factor in play. I am getting very close to my 250th Parkrun and I really fancy one of their milestone tee-shirts. The one for 250 parkruns is particularly pleasing. I searched for the next nearest Parkrun and found that Littleport had an event and I had just about enough time to get there. Moments later I was in my little Renault and bowling along through the Fens.

Littleport Parkrun

I arrived there to be greeted by a howling wind and a few beleaguered looking volunteers sheltering in the bike sheds. The event takes place at Littleport Leisure Centre and the bike sheds are very capacious indeed. I joined the volunteers in there and was exceedingly grateful for the shelter it gave. I balked a little when I realised that to attend the first timers briefing I would need to leave this shelter but I hauled myself out there as I needed to hear what the course had in store for me.

This is a course similar to many Parkruns in that they’ve found a couple of largeish fields and just send us around and around until we’ve done 5k. These are disappointing from a scenery and variation point of view but quite necessary in many places as it is really difficult to find a 5k chunk of land that can be used for a Parkrun. The Littleport run goes around one field and then along a muddy track to another. They then run around that field and up the cycle path at the side of the leisure centre and are back where they started. Then, it’s time to do that again. The runners start to do that again but cut across one field, head toward the next but miss out that field and come back along the cycle path, to finish outside Littleport Leisure centre. A bit uninspiring but it does have the advantage that there are no trees so much less chance of the high winds causing carnage among the runners.

I started the run and found another advantage. There are nowhere near as many runners as I am accustomed to at Parkruns and so we all got through the start almost instantaneously. At my home Parkrun it can take almost a minute just to reach the start.

We ran around the first field and then hit a massively slippery section leading to the next field. I am running as if I am trying to hold on to invisible handrails on either side of me.

In the next field the wind seems to have found a new gear and as we turn back to run toward the cycle path we are all brought almost to a standstill and look like we are trying to do a running mime while staying on the spot. Most peculiar. We battled our way out of that one and run down the cycle path toward the leisure centre. Second time around the loop I am beginning to wonder at what point the leaders will catch me. At Milton Parkrun they usually pass me somewhere around 2.5K as they storm their way to the finish line. Here I know I’ve passed 2.5k and I still can’t see anyone in sight who looks like they might be one of the faster runners. At the finish I find out just why that was, as my finish time is 26.38. This is a lot faster than I’ve run 5k for almost 2 years. I was in 43rd place and came 4th in my age category. At my home Parkrun I would expect to be around 250th.
I am very happy indeed.

I really enjoyed my trip to Littleport. The course is a long way from being beautiful but the volunteers were great and it all felt quite cosy and friendly. It is also flat and I should imagine that on a dry day with lower winds, it would be an ideal PB course.

My Home Parkrun

So, back to the title of the piece. Cambridge Parkrun in Milton Country Park is less than a kilometre from my door. It is all trail but reasonably flat and wanders around through the trees giving tantalising glimpses of the lakes in the middle of the park. Cambridge Parkrun has variety and beauty in abundance and I must remember not to take that for granted. I shall appreciate it all the more next time I run.

The next time I do a Parkrun will be my 250th. This is the last of the Parkrun milestones and I am really thrilled to have (almost) reached it. I have promised myself that once I have done this one I will try and pay back by doing a goodly sized chunk of volunteering.

Dewsbury Parkrun

Well, it’s Christmas again and we are doing the tour of mothers.

First mum stop this year is my mum, in Leeds for Christmas and, of course I am looking to do a bit of parkrun tourism while I’m here. This is one that I haven’t done before. It’s in a place called Dewsbury which is in between Leeds and Huddersfield. It is in a park and, as with everything else in this area, it is on a hill.

The wind has been making a nuisance of itself and has blown debris all over the paths on which we intended to run. One of the pieces of debris is a tree and the decision is taken that it is probably a bit too big to just brush off to the side of the path. The parkrun volunteers take the decision to use emergency course which involves going around the small loop section a mighty six times. Our race director tries to explain this and gets into a frightful tangle when she adds extra detail to try and make it easier to understand. You will pass this monument 6 times she says. Ahem say the assembled masses. Seeing as the finish line is just back there won’t it be 5 times. Oh yes, well erm, yes ignore everything I’ve just said.

Unfortunately my wife has taken the six times bit of data and possibly hasn’t heard the correction (you are cheating here Jim – you are speaking from the future so you know that is what happened – well yes – and so you shouldn’t go around sounding all superior saying this or that probably happened when you’ve already been to the future and so know full well what happened – harumph, my blog, my rules, if I want to pretend omniscience then I shall).

Off we go around the monument and down the hill. I’m feeling great and really enjoying it.
The fast folk have already vanished around the bend at the bottom of the hill. I am skipping along happily until I reach the bottom of the hill and have to climb upwards again. It is a long slow hill but I see the finish line for the first time and this gives me cheer until I remember that it I must pass here another 5 times, or is it 6 or 4 or…

I pass Carrie at the top of the hill near the monument. She is wearing antlers and so fairly easy to spot. She hold up one finger doing her Sesame Street impression of the Count saying “one lap, ah ah ah”
Next time around the leaders have already caught me up. Gosh that’s a bit demoralising thinks I. Carrie is waiting for me again, “two laps, ah ah ah”. Around and around we go. I must have slowed down as people are passing me. There are a wide variety of costumes. Santas, reindeer and all kinds of Christmassy things.

“Three laps ah ah ah”.

“Four laps ah ah ah”

The leaders are passing me again on their way to the finish line. One goes speeding by and I hear a voice shout, “get yourself moving, we’re catching you.” The leader grins and steps up a gear.

“Five laps ah ah ah.”

I shout back to Carrie to say that I will see her at the finish line next time around. I look back as I run down the hill and she hasn’t moved at all. I wonder whether she didn’t hear me or didn’t believe me.

A chap looks behind and sees me approaching. “Go one he says, lap me now while you’ve got the chance.” I do as he says and do manage to pick up my pace a little toward the end. My time is still much slower than I expected but I reached the end injury free so am happy with that. I am handed a tag as I finish and then there is a long long windey funnel. This seems most peculiar until I realise that they are doing scanning at the end of the funnel. This makes absolute sense now as it means that there is plenty of room for the people to come through the finish line and then queue for scanning.

I am pounced on after the scanning and offered chocolates. I think if anyone is going to pounce on me then it is favourable if the aim of this manoeuvre is to offer me chocolates.

Carrie catches up with me and admits that there was a bit of confusion as regards 5 or 6 times around the monument.

It was a fun parkrun. It was fairly small (in terms of numbers, there were 119 people there on 25th December) and a very strange course going around and around so many times. I would like to try it again when they do the regular route.

Well done to Joe Sagar who finished more than a minute in front of anyone else and also many thanks to all the volunteers for putting on this extra Christmas Day parkrun.

Bury St Edmunds Parkrun

I love doing a bit of parkrun tourism. It is fascinating going to different places to see how they do their parkruns and to experience so many of the beautiful places in which these runs take place.

My home parkrun in Cambridge was taking a short break for a couple of weeks so that Milton Country Park could do some work on the paths. Richard and I discussed the alternatives and decided to go slightly further afield to try out one that we’d never been to before.

The Bury St Edmunds parkrun is held in a beautiful park full of fine mature trees and splendidly springy grass to run upon.

The run has a wide start so that no one is far from the start line even with the 259 runners there were today. We set off like a charging barbarian horde going uphill across the grass. There is much shuffling for position but as we turn the corner to run back downhill, everyone is beginning to spread out a little.

We curved around to the right keeping the trees on our right hand side and then back down another slope eventually arriving at a large clump of trees and a narrow path through the middle. This is very welcome for the shade the leaf cover gives us from the sun but it is a bit of a bottleneck and we must tread carefully to avoid the many tree roots strewn across our path. Having survived the deadly obstacles we emerged back into the sun to skirt around the enclosed football courts and then up the hill back to the start so that we can begin our second lap.

I’m hurting quite a bit now from the ankle injury and reckon that I’m beginning to slow a little. I huff and puff a little up the hill. Richard is running at the side of me and I reckon he’s a little bit alarmed by the noises I’m making. He suggests that maybe I could slow down if I wish. We turn to go down the hill and my breathing eases a little but as we turn right I’m hurting again and I can tell that my speed has dropped,, as people are beginning to go past. I’m trying to ignore the pain from my ankle and just keep my legs turning over. It’s damn hot and sweat is running into my eyes causing them to sting. The trees are a welcome relief but as we run through this section Richard trips on a tree root and goes down onto the floor. Fortunately he manages to put his hands out and roll so doesn’t get hurt too badly. He gets up and we carry on.

We burst out from the trees again and curve around the fenced football pitches. I put on an extra bit of speed up the hill and am incredibly relieved to see the finish funnel this time and take my token.

This was a lovely course and it must be delightful to see how it changes with the seasons. I should imagine parts of it become fantastically muddy during the winter months. Of course that kind of weather was a long way away today and both Richard and I suffered from the heat and the humidity of that glorious summer Saturday morning. We grabbed a couple of cold drinks from the shop and made our way back to the car. We both really enjoyed our visit to Bury St Edmunds parkun and thank all the volunteers for making it happen and helping to give us such a fine running experience.

I got a time of 27:03 which wasn’t amazing but I was reasonably happy with it.