Mum and Dad visited the Abington phone box again this spring.
It’s had a coat of paint since the last visit! There’s also a notice inside stating that they are planning to remove the phone from the box. I hope a good alternative use can be found for this one. Mind you, the phone removal notice has been there for at least three years…
I’m always excited to do a new-to-me parkrun! Especially in my homeland of Scotland, where I have so many links all over the place via family and friends. Somehow, though, I’d never done any of the parkruns in Glasgow. As I was in the city this last weekend to act as groomsperson for my old friend Sharpy at his wedding, it was time for that to change!
I chose Ruchill as it was the closest to our hotel in the city centre, though still a good mile and a half to walk. Geth was taking it easy due to his lingering Achilles injury, and I realised as soon as I clocked the slightly hilly course that it certainly wouldn’t be my fastest – though I did end up a bit quicker than I expected.
It was a lovely course with a great city view at the top, which you get to see three times due to the laps. The team were really friendly and I was surprised the field was so small (60 people) – I’d be interested to find out if that’s standard for parkruns in the city.
I’m not sure when we’ll be back as I intend to collect a few more Glasgow parkruns when I find myself there, but if I were ever in a position to repeat I’d definitely do this one again!
It felt like it took a while, but on 7th July I got to the final 10k race of my summer speed training block!
I wasn’t expecting or trying for a PB. I was already delighted with my 48:57 at Sunderland in May – I’d never expected to get sub-49 this year – and so I felt like I’d achieved everything I wanted to at this distance for 2024. Besides, the GN10k is a difficult course these days – a downhill start to the river (the same downhill start as the GNR) that of course needs to come back up as we travel through town and return to the Town Moor. Then of course there’s the horrible gravel section at the end that slows everyone right down. It’s not the best race and I expect I’ll be taking a break from it for a couple of years (though I may still make use of the very convenient running shoe recycling point that they provided in the race village on the Moor).
Nevertheless, I was hoping for consistency, as I’ve been doing around 50 minutes for all my 10k races this year. I was delighted to be in the orange wave at a Great Run event for the first time in my life (the fast laddies’ wave, as I used to think of it when I was stuck at the back in pink) and I wanted to enjoy it. Once upon a time (2016) I came last in this race out of thousands of people. It’s been a long journey.
It was a long walk down Claremont Road from the race village to the start – much longer than expected – and so it was a bit of a tight thing to get into the pen before the race started! That was probably a good thing, though, as I hate all the hanging around and the mass warmup. We were off before I knew it.
I decided not to stick with the 50 pacer on the downhill to the Tyne, as it’s really a race where you have to use the hills. I knew he’d catch up with me at some point. I was impressed that we had enough room on the Tyne Bridge for the out-and-back, as they’ve been doing long-term works on the bridge – a tentatively good sign for the main event in September, I hope.
The many twists and turns on the route meant that I often saw friends going in the other direction, which was a nice distraction! It started to get really tough in the second half with all the deceptive hidden uphills and then the gravel paths on the Moor. The 50 pacer caught me with about a mile and a half to go and there was no way I could stick with him, so I knew even before I finished it was going to be a season’s worst. 51:17 was the result. Still relatively consistent and over 10 minutes faster than my course PB from last year, so I’ll take it.
A bit of a party atmosphere at the end, and it did really feel like the end of a season!
I won’t do as many 10ks next year – probably just one or two. I was starting to get race fatigue this year, and I’d like to come back refreshed to some of these races in a few years’ time. Hopefully by 2025 I’ll be excited to take on the distance again!
In the meantime, though, I’m back to marathon training (for Yorkshire in October), which really is my happy place at the moment. Looking forward to getting some peaceful long runs in.
Here’s one that Geth and I found when forced to take a detour from our usual route home from Lancashire.
(Coordinates 54°06’77.0″N, 2°01’73.9″W.)
Still has a phone in! We’ve been doing well for those recently.
We did find another one that we couldn’t stop for, so hopefully will be able to revisit it soon.
I was volunteering this last weekend as I had a Sunday race. I’d signed up as funnel manager but ended up as number checker instead, which is always fun and can be a bit hectic!
Running again this weekend (as part of week one of marathon training!) but a bit further afield.
Here’s another one from Mum and Dad’s travels – one with a phone in!
(Coordinates 55°34’74.4″N, 1°61’18.7″W.)
Interestingly, a bench has been added to the scene since the Street View image was taken in 2021…
A bit further west next week.
I was a little nervous about this one.
It was a PB attempt and I hadn’t attempted an overall PB in some time (my overall PB as it stood was three months old and also set at Blyth). It was meant to be a PB attempt for both me and Geth, but he’s been injured the last couple of weeks and so he just did a walk for one lap.
I wanted a sub-24, my existing PB being 24:05. It was pacer week, but I didn’t make a decision in advance about whether to use the 24 pacer, as parkrun pacers don’t always pace steadily. However, the pacer on the day was doing a really good job, so I decided to sit on his heels for a while and see how it went.
The conditions were great (it had been really windy last time we were there, which is always a risk with coastal parkruns) and I actually found the pace really comfortable. I was tempted to step it up a gear to see how fast I could go, but decided to play it safe and stick with the pacer.
This meant that I had a really steady and comfortable run and plenty of energy for a sprint finish at the end. I finished in 23:43, feeling like I could do it even faster in the future. A really positive run!
A bit of pre-race volunteering this next week, and then some exploration later in July.
Another from the Scottish Borders today.
(Coordinates 55°70’01.6″N, 2°24’48.4″W.)
No phone (or anything else) in this one. Hopefully it’ll get repurposed for something at some point!
I did a bit of ‘proper’ parkrun tourism the Saturday before last! It was the Cowfest tourist gathering in Troon and I had never been to one before. I wouldn’t travel that far on my own just for a parkrun, and indeed have never travelled further than my local area just for a parkrun (I always combine my touring with trips that I’d be doing anyway), but there was a coach trip being organised from northeast England… so I thought I’d go along and see what it was all about!
I had to be up in the middle of the night to be ready for my booked taxi to the coach pickup point! I thought the taxi driver would find my explanation for the early taxi to be a bit odd but he’d dealt with parkrun tourists before (usually people getting early flights to Ireland).
It was a long old coach trip (leaving Newcastle at 4:30am) but seeing the seaside at Troon was a lovely feeling. We had a bit of time to get our bearings and take pictures before the briefing, and soon we were off for a lovely flat and fast course along the front. Love a seaside parkrun.
Following the obligatory cake, I joined friends for a bit of an explore of the cafes and pubs of Troon (and saw a pipe band!) before heading back to the coach for another few hours of trying not to fall asleep.
Unfortunately I was a bit unwell for a few days after Troon, so I probably wouldn’t do such a long coach trip in one day again. Would love to do some shorter trips though – it’s a nice way to see different places and make friends.
I was much more local this last weekend! Geth and I had planned to go away, but as I hadn’t been well we decided to stay home. As such, it was an easy run around Rising Sun, practising my 30 minute pacing for when I next do it at Town Moor.
Feeling better now, so planning a PB attempt this next weekend… fingers crossed!
Here’s another one from Mum and Dad’s travels in southern Scotland.
(Coordinates 55°71’97.9″N, 2°26’53.5″W.)
This one still has a phone in!
Another from the area next week.