Saturday morning fever

A very long time ago I saw a thread on a running website looking for guinea pigs to be involved in the development of the Cambridge Parkrun. It was something I hadn't really heard of, and wasn't actually too bothered about being a part of it generally, but I thought if I could do a little run and be of some use to other people (in this case the team testing the route markings and the timing equipment) then that would be a good thing. As I recall, on the 23rd Jan 2010 after a toddle around the country park I came back to find some of the runners had got lost and missed off a massive chunk of the loop, and some had ended up on a housing estate in Milton. I felt lucky to have been able to follow the tape markings and survive to the end.

To be honest I still wasn't massively bothered. I saw 5K as being a bit too short a distance for me, and these things started far too early in the morning. XC was a bit longer and usually at 2pm in the afternoon, and not being built for speed I figured I'd fare better sticking to that. The next time I did a Parkrun was in Aug 2011, Cambridge again but as part of a long run from my parents, jog round the course, have a diet coke break and back home, a nice 11 miler in total. It was in late 2011 that I really started to get in to Parkrunning, not sure why I think I just saw the benefits of the XC season to my running and wanted that Saturday speed session to continue. Very quickly I had explored Birmingham Cannon Hill, Barrow In Furness, Kings Lynn, Newbury, Walsall and Brueton. I'm not really a deliberate tourist, but with friends up north, family in East Anglia and most of the Midlands quite easy to get to from where I live, the total started creeping up. I started to like a faster run on a Saturday morning, and I liked the social aspect. It wasn't long before I'd visited Carlisle whilst visiting my friend (nicer run than overlooking the submarine "factory" 3 times at Barrow - sorry!), and soon I was overjoyed when Wolverhampton started, a Parkrun I could jog to from home! My northern friend moved to Commerrans in Cornwall, so this lead to me visiting Barnstaple (yes at the time Cornwall as a county had no run), Bedford for some flat tarmac and fancy cake and again another great run started at Wimpole, a place close to my heart as I spent so much time in Orwell as a child.

A jog around the back garden

My first appearance at Leamington was on 22nd June last year, a course I'd always wanted to run because A) I'd heard good things and B) I was familiar with the place a bit because I've run cross country there, so going to celebrate a 50th and catch up with some friends going was the perfect excuse and I fell in love. I was back there in July for the Pink Parkrun which involved starting at 7.30 and doing the course 4 times (finishing with the official one at 9am) it was boiling, and when I turned up at the subsequent Uni friends reunion I was pleased to push the kids out of the paddling pool and stand there in the cold water with my feet gently steaming.

Pink clothing and Pink faces by 9.30am!

More Cornwall trips lead me to Plymvalley (a really cracking course) and Killerton which are ranked as two of the most stunning courses I've done. In my insane quest to get to 50 Parkruns before "that Dave Rose" from the running club (stalking him every Saturday morning to cries of "FFS!! he's gone to Cannon Hill AGAIN!") I did Bury St Edmunds on Xmas day morning (this was the turning point having been anaemic towards the later end of 2013 after the 100K) and the New Years day double of Basingstoke and Newbury; it rained so much that I was seriously concerned that I would get trench foot and that my boyfriend would dump me from his death bed for being responsible for his pneumonia. We were saved from a medical emergency by Gobi's hospitality and the best cheese toastie and cookies I've ever tasted.

The final bit of tourism to date was Lanhydrock, at last a Cornwall Parkrun - another National Trust course (I am worried at my relatively young age I am contemplating becoming a NT member, and now I have a parcel shelf in my car I can fit a travel rug and sunhat on the back of it so I'm good to go). I've been running well in 2014, and on this course I struggled to do a sub 30. The downhills were rocky and unstable, too unstable to bomb down, and the ups were tough. But I still had that good feeling at the end.

So I make it in total 18 different runs so far, each with its unique scenery and qualities. I'll be a bit controversial here and say I've heard people in the running community get a bit sneery about Parkruns, in some cases because they appear to not have to go through the race licensing hoops that other "normal" races have to go through (which is a reasonable point I suppose although setting a Parkrun up and maintaining it week in week out isn't easy by any means) and some runners seem to think that Parkrun is some sort of overly happy "you've all done brilliantly" kind of cult. What can be bad about a friendly atmosphere, encouraging people to get out and do something that makes them feel good, be it a jog round in 45+ mins or a jog round in sub-20. I do these runs for me, its a time trial against myself and a bit of weekend speed work; for me personally it greatly helps to have other people there to use as targets to stay with or pick off as if I were racing and it simply makes me feel BRILLIANT. I believe my race confidence over all distances has improved as a result, and judging by the amount of times I've had my arse kicked by a 10 year old, it's definitely helping get a lot of juniors in to running. A particular highlight the other week at Leamington was being able to touch and briefly say hello to the Olympic Champion and World record holder Richard Whitehead. An opportunity I'd never have had otherwise.

Star-struck!

More recently I've been going to Leamington a lot, and on the days where I have an XC race (between Oct-March that is most weekends) I've done some volunteering, which I've found to be great fun and very rewarding; it's nice to have a view of the runners at different points on the course, crossing the line or even still foaming at the mouth as they have their bar codes scanned. It was pointed out in the Leamington newsletter this week that from about Aug 2013 - present I've volunteered about 14 times. It doesn't seem that many! Yes there have been times when it has been extremely hard to get out of bed and I've only just about had time to warm up when running, or I've screeched up and slung a stop watch around my neck er... looking like I've just rolled out of bed but I've enjoyed every one. It does seem a shame (and I'm not particularly talking about Leamington here) that most of the time you see the same faces volunteering. I'd encourage anyone to give it a go, full training is provided and you can't really mess anything up. Don't be scared.

My 50th Parkrun was one of those great times you remember; my boy, friends from running clubs, god children (and mother!) and friends I've made at Leamington were there, I was touched at the turn out. I felt like I wanted to run it briskly, but made the schoolgirl error of starting too far back. Thankfully we were on the normal course, so this gives plenty of room to overtake on the grass, and I was feeling in good form as we approached the hill. I didn't kill myself on the incline, but as soon as it flattened out I pushed on; I always like to look left over Leamington, as the view is spectacular but gave it some big effort along the top of the golf course, and basically let rip on the downhill. The stretch from the golf course through the airplane field seemed to go on forever and I think I flagged a little, but at that point I could see the finish, so it boosted me. The last stretch of grass for once was actually solid, so I just tried to aim to overtake everyone in front of me. It worked. Looking at my watch I was amazed to see 25.07, I think with a start further ahead and a little more gas applied on the flat bits I could have a sub-25 here; not something I thought I'd ever say. I want to get to a flat tarmac course to see what I can do in different conditions whilst I'm on form. I think low 24:xx (a PB) or maybe 23:xx. Something I'd have thought impossible before Xmas.

Yes, I beat him to the finish. Raargh!

Looking forward to the next 100, question is when will that be, Realistically 2015 some time.... cakes are on me!