It’s been a couple of months since I was last on the Moor for parkrun. December is mapped out as a very easy-paced month running-wise (I’m doing Marcothon again as there’s no race training getting in the way this year, so keeping everything easy and not doing any speedwork!). Geth and I had a nice trot round in just under 30 minutes. Nice to have a brass band playing Christmas tunes at the start/finish!
A little further afield next week.
I had been planning and looking forward to this parkrun for ages!
I knew I would be in Oslo this weekend and so I had selected Ekebergsletta early this year (having previously done Tøyen when I last visited), but it was only a couple of months ago that I realised it would be a good place to do my 50th different parkrun location (something that I have been working towards all year with a target of hitting it by the end of 2025).
I knew late November would be cold in Oslo but I was still fairly surprised to see a forecast of minus 5 degrees and snow for this weekend! In my experience, Nordic parkruns don’t tend to cancel for winter weather, but I was still a tiny bit nervous and checking the Facebook page constantly for about a fortnight beforehand.
We ran the two miles there and back to make it a nice seven-mile morning. A small event and very friendly as small events tend to be! It wasn’t wintry enough for the winter course so they were still on the summer one 😃
Loved this parkrun and delighted to celebrate my 50th location here.
Just a lovely easy run round the Dene again this morning. It’s getting cold and damp but I loved it.
Further afield again next week.
Fulwell Quarry parkrun has been my NENDY for a good eighteen months or so since it launched. When ticking off local parkruns, I prefer to drive north rather than crossing the Tyne (the Saturday morning traffic is generally easier). However, I felt it was about time to start making some inroads into Sunderland, so over the river I went this morning.
It stayed dry for the parkrun but was damp and muddy underfoot (a lot of the surface is grass and trail). I had a vague progression on the plan so held back a little for the first lap while learning the route and stepped up the pace a little for the second. Lots of hills though so not an easy course at all!
Back on more familiar ground next week.
I was in Manchester last night for the Duran Duran Hallowe’en concert (review coming… eventually. There’s a backlog). A Friday night trip away also provides an opportunity for parkrun tourism, so I tried out Philips Park this morning!
It was very very wet leading up to the start of the run so there weren’t many people out, but I did meet a couple of fellow Scots (both of whom had also been to the concert) and the team were very friendly and in good spirits despite the weather. The course is undulating, so not a super fast one, but it was good to stretch my legs and pick up the pace a little after a couple of weeks of marathon recovery.
Local again next week.
After a very slow post-marathon recovery week of streak savers and errand runs, this was always going to be an easy-paced parkrun (mostly!). I just enjoyed beautiful Jesmond Dene at its best time of year, and then picked it up a little for the downhill finish. My legs didn’t thank me on the walk home, so it’ll definitely be another week of short gentle running.
There was one other person in an Amsterdam Marathon shirt (‘nice shirt,’ she said as she went past), so that was a highlight!
It’s getting chilly now and I’m feeling it on my chest a little. Going to have to get back into the habit of taking my inhaler with me.
Bit of opportunistic tourism next week!
Over the last year I have spoken to various parkrunners who were planning to be in Amsterdam over marathon weekend, all of whom were also planning to make complicated train journeys to other towns in order to tick off a ‘Z’. I am (apparently) one of those rare parkrunners who doesn’t give a toss about the ‘parkrun alphabet’, so I was happy to check out the nearest parkrun to the city centre. Amsterdamse Bos was a metro ride + 2ish mile walk from our hotel, and there were plenty of other parkrunners to chat to (and get a bit lost following) during those two miles.
‘It’s a bit “Brits abroad”,’ said Geth, apparently having forgotten that most non-British parkruns we’ve done have been like that.
It felt like there were thousands of people there, but in the results it was just under 600. It’s a lovely course but not quite built for those numbers (thankfully it seemingly only happens once a year and the team did appear to be very prepared!).
The out-and-back path at the end was also so blanketed in autumn leaves that you couldn’t see the tarmac and I was glad to be taking it easy! A really pretty one. I’ll be back if I find myself in Amsterdam again.
It was the (quiet) 6th birthday run for Jesmond Dene this morning, and a nice easy three miles on the plan, so off we went to take it ‘Jesmond Dene easy’.
Next week will be the pre-marathon shakeout parkrun! It’s getting real…
A few weeks’ worth of parkrundays to catch up with.
On 13th September we went to Town Moor, as is traditional the week after the GNR (they do a big group photo of everyone in their finishers’ t-shirts). Geth and I both had six miles to do – peak marathon training meant that every scheduled run was quite a bit longer than three miles and parkrun sandwiches had become non-negotiable at this point! We did the course solo by ourselves, stopped for the group picture and then went round again with everyone else.
On the 20th I had a tempo progression to do, so sandwiched it to Jesmond Dene this time (1 mile steep uphill, 1 mile flattish and 1 mile steep downhill just about worked for my session).
On the 27th I finally got round to doing another new-to-me parkrun! We headed up to Morpeth for Carlisle Park parkrun (not to be confused with Carlisle parkrun, which we did the month before). Some tough bits on that course but it’s a really lovely one.
Then this last weekend, 4th October, we returned to Town Moor for what ended up being an eight-mile sandwich due to running from home and back. It was another tempo run on the schedule for me, but Storm Amy put paid to that – ran the parkrun at marathon goal pace effort instead, which was a nice confidence booster as it felt easy even in the strong wind. (Hoping for still conditions on race day, obviously!)
Another local effort this next weekend.
