Ashton Court parkrun and Keto Snacking

Just over a year ago we ventured over to Ashton Court to do the well-known big uphill, and big downhill. Sadly, ice had stopped play so we were left parkrun-less. Yesterday however, Facebook confirmed it was on and so we headed on over. This was going to be a good test for the ketogenic diet.

We'd stayed over in Bristol the night before and had decided on a hotel picnic. It is hard work finding keto snack food; I found myself angrily searching the yoghurt aisle in for a non low-fat breakfast option and there were none, none at all. Dinner was an interesting combination of spinach with oodles of Caesar dressing, olives with cheese and the fabulous new canapé idea, salami topped with guacamole and prawn.

Midnight Mountain Marathon

As I drove to the Brecon Beacons for an evening marathon I was scarily under-trained for, it occurred to me how bonkers my whole plan was. I'd left at 6am for a 5:30pm race, why? Obviously it was so I could bosh out a parkrun first. More specifically, the brand new Penallta parkrun which - hilariously - is described as "mostly flat" on the website. The Welsh do crack me up. I wouldn't say it was hilly but it definitely wasn't flat.

I have an ongoing love affair with all things hilly so I didn't mind the undulations one bit. My love for hills is why I was on this crazy journey in the first place. I had entered the Midnight Mountain Marathon and was far too excited about it to put my sensible head on. My knees had been duff and I hadn't run more than one 5k a week since the end of April, so I knew full well that a very challenging marathon was a bit silly but my heart was in it and I just hoped the body would follow.

Salisbury parkrun: The Map Guide

Salisbury parkrun isn't the easiest course to navigate. Visitors and bloggers alike have rightly described it as having many twists and turns. There's a lead biker, a tail runner, loads of marshals and more arrows than most marathon courses, but there's still always at least one who manages to go the wrong way.

If you've run our course and are still confused or are planning a journey to our shiny, new parkrun, look no further. Follow this guide and you should make it around Salisbury parkrun without navigational disaster. Just remember to run three laps!

Salisbury Does (Unofficial) Parkrun

Running is a great way to bring a whole community together and parkrun epitomises the very essence of community. Salisbury is already blessed with several very active groups and it was brilliant to see representatives from the Athletics and Running Club (CoSARC), Salisbury Tri Club and local women's running group, Sarum Sisters all showing their support.

If you search for parkrun events, there is a very obvious Salisbury-shaped gap that needs filling. Thanks to a few very hard-working and dedicated people, the dream of getting a parkrun in Salisbury is starting to become a reality.

Over 40 runners turned up at Churchill Gardens this morning to recce the proposed course, and nearly 20 showing up to offer their assistance as marshals and helpers. Getting enough volunteers on a regular basis can be the make or break of parkrun success, so it was brilliant to see so many local folk offering support.

After a thorough briefing from future Run Director, Liz, the keen crowd gathered at the south west side of the park. At my estimation there was an age range of about 60 years, people running with dogs, buggies, people who were striving to push themselves for a 5k personal best, people who just wanted to attempt the distance and everything in between.

The mixed-terrain course has something to suit everybody and the back and forth nature of the route is great for keeping an eye out for fellow participants (read: your competition). Photographer Alex Mills had some sort of ninja skills, it seemed he was everywhere on the course, snapping away!

CoSARC runner Ben Brewster stormed through as fastest male, creating a speedy course record of 16:00. Ben Carter and Steve Brett were not far behind, coming second and third respectively.

Ruth Thom took the first female spot, made even more impressive by the fact that she managed to go the wrong way, obviously way too in the zone to look out for the excellent marshals! Olivia Roderick and Katie Clements were the second and third female finishers.

Unfortunately parkrun doesn't register dogs separately but whilst we are still unofficial we can recognise Flea, our first dog finisher who came through in 25:50.

The trial was a brilliant success and I hope the amount of support continues to grow. There is another practise run on the 28th February. Do join the facebook group "Bring Parkrun to Salisbury" and get involved. Even if you don't want to run, come along and help out, I promise you'll have just as much fun!

Alice Holt Parkrun & The Gosport Half Marathon

Support Crew Extraordinaire

I haven't done too much since the summer of bicycle accident madness, but I've been ticking away at the running and have bizarrely found myself keeping a fairly decent level of fitness whilst doing very little. Gosport Half Marathon had been on my radar all year for an attempt at a fast (for me) half and in the last few weeks, I started to believe I might be able to do it.

A bit foggy..

The weekend started with a warm up at an extremely foggy Alice Holt parkrun. My ever-prepared sister was an amazing one-man support crew all weekend and as a result, at any time I could have had any type of layering system, a selection of shoes, snacks and hot beverages in a range of flasks. We had unwittingly timed out visit to Alice Holt on their birthday, which meant there was a higher-than-normal amount of fluorescent clothing and lit-up parkrunners on display. It also meant there was plenty of cake, always a bonus.

Exmoor Training Camp 2014 - Part 1 "Hills and Hot Tubs"

For the first time since the spring training camp tradition began in 2012, we were finally in Exmoor, in March, without ice, flooding, torrential rain or gales. This year there would be no excuses, and with six months to go until I attempt my first iron distance triathlon, I was itching to get some quality training in.

I was keen to ride the Wimbleball course backwards, just for a change. Emma and Susan decided to join in the adventure and as the bikes were being set up, I couldn't help being surprised by the topic of conversation. It wasn't the usual "Ooh, LOVE your new helmet, totally matches your bike!", but an insightful discussion about mechanical components. It turned out everyone else was riding a triple, the smallest ring on the front being known as "the granny ring"; a get-out clause that wussy cyclists have for when they get all scared on a tough climb. I smugly declared that I was riding a double to which Susan replied, deadpan, "Life's too short for a double". Life is too short for this discussion to go on any longer, so we set off.

Warming up at Brockwell

"What do you fancy doing when you visit?", my friend asked.

"Well.. I'd quite like to check out your local parkrun.. but other than that.. anything!", I replied, hopefully.

She was dubious that I was only visiting so I could tick another parkrun off the list, and she wasn't sure about this 'getting up early' business on a Saturday morning either. When you spend most of your time with runners, triathletes, cyclists and other sporty types, it's easy to forget that there are other people out there with zero interest in your sporting endeavours. My old school friend is one of these people; she generally just rolls her eyes when I tell her what I'm up to and thoughtfully serves me up an extra portion of whatever tasty meal she's making.

Andover Parkrun and the bonus Cake Garden

As much as I love being a tourist and visiting parkruns all over the country, there's nothing like a run at your "home parkrun". Andover is my local; it's a small, super friendly event with plenty of regulars. It's always nice to go and see familiar faces, chat to some Andover Tri folk and run a lovely two-lapper on the mixed terrain of Charlton Lakes.

I had the family down this weekend and had roped mum into volunteering in an official capacity rather than having her do her usual favourite job of being the loudest, most enthusiastic supporter (which, it must be said, she is very good at).

A Parkrun and a Half

Occasionally, I come up with an idea that's inspired. Sometimes - due to my over-enthusiastic head - those ideas turn out halfway through to be ridiculous, not inspired. This one was borderline. My sister had been going on about the South Downs Half Marathon for a few months, the the seed had been planted but since it has been quite some time since I've run a half, I wasn't sure I was fully up for it.

In amongst this period of time, a parkrun had begun at Queen Elizabeth Country Park, very conveniently where the SDHM started. I thought, if anything, I could go and do the parkrun then plonk myself down and cheer my big sis on. Then, over the last month I got myself back into running and with a couple of steady 10 milers in the bag, I decided that the half marathon was possible. This was the point that the wild enthusiasm kicked in and the great idea emerged: if you're going all the way over there, why not just do both?

Eastleigh: The Place to be on a Saturday Morning

This morning was a little (and very necessary) reminder for me that it doesn't always have to be about pace, effort, distance, "miles in the legs", average heart-rate or getting in the top ten.

I managed to gather a car-full of friends to go and check out the newly opened swimming spot at Lakeside Country Park, in Eastleigh. I used to swim there regularly in 2010 but sadly it wasn't opened up last year so I was very pleased to hear that it was back open for business. If anybody wasn't entirely sure (and some weren't), the idea of following it up with a recce of the new Eastleigh Parkrun course had them convinced.

Eastleigh Parkrun

"Fancy a free 5k at the weekend after lake swimming?" I asked Holly at running club on Wednesday. "A free race? Really? That sounds good! We could even race against each other". Holly and I have a pretty similar pace and we push each other on Wednesday night runs. We pretty much always end up running a little bit quicker than we expect but never really reach our full potential due to the common female mistake of engaging in far too much chat.

Having enjoyed Basingstoke Parkrun so much (despite the hangover, lack of breakfast, lack of water and non-existent warm up) I thought it would be fun to check out our other fairly local one and see how it compares.

We arrived at Lakeside in Eastleigh with fifteen minutes to spare and we did everything right; we hydrated, had a good warm up and checked out the absolutely vast range of participants. We estimated there was somewhere between 150 and 200 people taking part, from children to hardcore runners to people in fancy dress.

How Not To Parkrun

Parkrun is a brilliant scheme that sees free 5k runs organised and run by volunteers every Saturday morning in various parks all over the country. I had been keen to try one for ages and whilst arranging a bit of a girls night in Basingstoke the idea was thrown out to have a few drinks on Friday and then do the Basingstoke Parkrun at 9am on Saturday morning. Ideal. 


Well, it would have been ideal had it not been for some hefty Pimms consumption followed up with a good dose of sparkly stuff. I had set the alarm for 07:45 and awoke - ever so slightly fuzzily - to the sound of bucketing rain and thunder. I cheerily woke up the girls with cups of tea but they definitely weren't as keen as I was to go ahead with the run.