Last time I did a parkrun while visiting Toronto, in 2018, the nearest event was Whitby, which is a good hour or two away on the train. In 2019, the first parkrun started up in Toronto proper – Downsview parkrun – and I made plans to visit in 2020.
2020 was 2020, and for various reasons I’ve not been able to get back out to Canada until now. It’s been a long seven-year wait to visit Downsview! But we finally made it this last Saturday, and despite some awful weather, it was worth the wait.
The usual sign photo! Thanks to Ryan from the Downsview team for taking this for us.
It was a really cold, windy, rainy morning and the Downsview course is very exposed. It’s also about a mile to walk from the station to the start, so Geth and I were pretty frozen by the time we got there. As such, we made the decision to take it easy and run in all our layers. Despite this, it took me until the final lap (of three) to thaw out and feel like I could move my legs properly! I was quite surprised to finish in 28:16 as the cold made me feel so slow.
It was so much fun though because the team were so friendly and so were the other runners. As is often the case outside the UK, it was a small field (only 35 runners – there may well be a lot more on nicer days!) and everyone was having a laugh together.
This guy ran with an umbrella the whole way (a different umbrella to the one he’s holding here – maybe he brought options!). Photo from Downsview parkrun Facebook page.
I like to tick off different parkruns (and will be doing so again next week) but I may be tempted to revisit this one on a nicer day during a future visit.
Just sneaking in with last week’s parkrunday post before the next parkrunday arrives! It’s been a bit of a week 😴😵💫
It was another attempt at the Town Moor two-lapper – seventh in a row I believe. I was keen to knock more time off the season’s best and I did by about another 45 seconds (chased somebody round whom I know does about 25 usually in order to give myself a good chance of getting back under 26; came in at 25:26 in the end). I would love to get back down to my PB zone of 23:2x by late summer, so hopefully I’ll keep chipping away as I go through my various half marathon training blocks for 2026.
My friend Andy (marshalling) took a better picture than any of the official ones for the week!
Taper and tourism for a couple of weeks now, and then I’ll get back to it.
Another week, another trip to Town Moor. According to my logs, I’ve not done the same event so many times in a row since early 2018! It was another tough run in the wind so my result was seven seconds slower than last week, but still consistent. Hoping for SB weather again next week.
I did step up the effort level a smidge this time (aided by nylon plate shoes and the fact that it wasn’t blowing a gale like it had been the weekend before; Storm Dave was yet to arrive in Newcastle), but I was pretty surprised at the end to find I’d taken two minutes off my time from the previous attempt! Still a long way from PB shape but we’ll keep chipping away.
All of these parkrunday posts are going to look the same for a little while. I usually rotate my parkruns even when staying local, but I’m finding that the temporary Town Moor two-lap course is really useful for measuring my progress while I’m coming back from injury, so I’ll be doing it for the foreseeable.
It was my 300th parkrun, so it was nice to celebrate one of those interim unofficial milestones! It was also nice to run in short sleeves – spring has been good to us so far.
Another week, another Town Moor parkrun, because I am enjoying the temp course so much. Still a very long way from full fitness but I was about 40 seconds faster than last week for the same perceived effort. Gradually pulling it back. Gradually.
Town Moor was on the first week of a temporary course today (due to drainage works on the Moor) so I went along to check it out. I really enjoyed the route, which actually felt a bit easier than the usual one!
I was happy with this race given the last couple of months.
The aim of this one was always to see where I was after a winter of non-specific baseline training, as my main aim for 2026 is to make big improvements in my half marathon time. What I didn’t expect was that I wouldn’t really have that winter of baseline training, as I had to reduce my mileage drastically in January and February in order to sort out a hamstring/glute niggle. As such, while I might have expected to scrape a sub-2 on normal mileage, I thought this week that I would probably end up somewhere between 2:05 and 2:10 – and that was pretty much bang on. Due to the lack of training I knew I had to stick to a steady effort with no heroics, so I’m really pleased with how the race went.
Pre-race selfie. Don’t have one where I don’t look a bit anxious!
A bit of the race HQ atmosphere.
I felt at the start like I didn’t know anyone (Middlesbrough is a bit further south than I usually venture for ‘local’ races) but it was nice to spot a few people I knew during the race and say hi.
The last few miles were a bit tough, but that’s to be expected given that I’ve not run more than 10 miles at a time since Amsterdam Marathon in October!
The hamstring twinged on occasion, but 99% of the time I didn’t notice it. Hopefully it’ll be manageable from now on.
I also didn’t feel sick 🎉🎉🎉 I was a bit crampy on occasion but no nausea. My start line gel was Active Root non-caffeinated gel mix (which did give me the usual annoying gassy aftertaste for the whole race so I’ll try something different next time) and my in-race fuel was Tailwind (which worked great, but I need to drink more of it per fuel point as I still had some left at the end).
Official race photo from RunThrough. None of them are super flattering but you can see I’m trying!
The course is very much recommended. It’s nice and flat other than some minor flyover inclines around the halfway point. There’s not a massive amount of crowd support, but it’s great when it’s there. There’s a mile 12 out-and-back with a very similar vibe to the mile 12 out-and-back at the Edinburgh half (i.e. when the HELL is this thing going to have a turning point?), but in general I’m a fan of out-and-backs as you can concentrate on looking out for people.
The only slight issue was that all the mile markers from 5 to 12 seemed to be slightly early, each appearing about 0.2 miles before they were expected. (I know watch GPS isn’t totally accurate but I also know the inaccuracy pattern of *my* watch and I’ve never seen early markers before!) As such, I expected the race to measure slightly short by GPS – but the 13-mile marker more than made up for the shortfall and my watch ended up reading 13.3 at the finish, which is what I would typically expect.
Overall, it was a really great race. I’ll be back sometime when I’ve got better fitness.
Now for a week of recovery (or a fortnight if I feel I need it – I’m trying to listen to my body more) before training begins for the next one.
Bit of a catchup as I’ve not had time to post about parkrun the last couple of weeks.
On the 7th we headed to Blyth Links as Geth fancied a faster one. I’d been avoiding speed while rehabbing my hamstring so was delighted to be able to pick it up a little and finish in 28ish mins. Nice to visit the coast too!
Due to weeks of rain followed by overnight subzero temps on the Friday night, Valentine’s Day was one of those parkrun roulette days where it’s a matter of ‘what’s not cancelled round here?’. Rising Sun was the one not cancelled round here so off we went, along with a few friends. One of those fabulous mornings where you’re just grateful to be parkrunning. And it wouldn’t be a winter Rising Sun without the enormous puddle (now upgraded to ‘canal’ apparently)!
Yesterday we went to Town Moor. Temperatures have much improved and it would be starting to feel almost springlike if not for the harsh cold wind! My run felt a bit difficult as a result but still pleased with how my leg is holding up.
