Newbury parkrun

I enjoy parkrun. I've been parkrunning since 2010. I've completed 71 runs at 9 different venues and volunteered 10 times. This year I'm hoping to reach my 100th parkrun and so far it seems I'm right on track. My latest bit of parkrun tourism was at Newbury. I'd had this one in mind for a while, as it's my friend Debbie's local one and I'd been invited a few times. Finally we found a Saturday that worked for us all so it was game on! I met Debbie and her hubby, Steve, at their house which meant getting up even earlier than on a regular work day but it was absolutely worth it.

We'd had a dusting of snow overnight so there was some um-ing and er-ing about trail shoes vs road shoes but as the Newbury course is quite flat and mostly on hard packed paths road shoes were perfectly adequate. It's a single lap course, not something I come across very often and a very welcome change. It's also somewhat larger than my regular haunt boasting between 300 and 450 runners.

With a race the next day I was supposed to be taking it easy but my legs had lots of energy in them and a slight competitive edge came out. Debbie and I ran together for the most part until she pulled a sprint finish out of the bag. And I thought we were friends! But it was a good fast course, well marked and I thoroughly enjoyed the change.

Some expert photo-bombing in the background there.

One of the big attractions for a lot of people is the social aspect of parkrun. I must confess this is something that I often bypass. I generally go alone or have something to dash off to afterwards so it made a nice change not only to run with friends but to stop for coffee and a natter afterwards in the local caff, that opens just for us runners on a Saturday. I met the lovely Theresa from Miles Stronger, purveyor of barcode t-shirts, and ate the largest rock cake you ever did see. It was the first time I'd stayed for coffee after a parkrun and it's something I resolve to do more often in the future, even if that means being brave and introducing myself to people I don't know.

Second breakfast

I hear on the grapevine that a couple more park runs are starting up near me so I look forward to a little more parkrun tourism in due course. In the meantime I'll be going back to Newbury for Debbie's 100th parkrun in March so I'd best get working on my sprint finish... or would that be out of line?

Have you done any parkrun tourism? What's your favourite course? Do you stick around for socialising afterwards?

Event Review : London Winter Run

Sunday morning was bitterly cold, although it didn't look it from the safety my friend's flat, where I'd stayed the night in preparation for the London Winter Run. I'd been awake since 6am, paranoid I'd miss my 8am alarm and fretting about whether my overnight bag would fit in the luggage sack we'd been issued with (it didn't, the bag split but they were still kind enough to take it).

The London Winter Run had been widely advertised and promoted in the running cycles I'm part of. A 10k taking in the sights of London in aid of Cancer research with a super medal? Yes please! I'd been disappointed that it clashed with Tough Guy and when it became evident that I wasn't going to be doing that I jumped at the chance to enter. It was a bit of a trial getting my place in this event, and it wasn't cheap, but I persevered so that I could run with friends and in particular fellow Team Bear member Alexa. There was also a team from BoxBellFit and a lot of the RunFitUK crew taking part too so if I hadn't gotten in I'd have gone along to support anyway. Plus there was going to be gin and lunch afterwards so...

In the weeks leading up to the event plenty of information was emailed out and my pack arrived in the mail in good time. My start time was emailed to me with the assurance I could shift into a later group if need be. Just as well because trains into London wouldn't have gotten me there in time. As it was I crashed with a friend and it was a short bus and tube journey. The bag drop at Pall Mall and start line were dead easy to find; the marshals were knowledgeable but it was simple enough just to follow the crowds of people carrying pale blue bags. Bag drop was quick and easy and miraculously there were no queues for the loos.

Running buddies

The start line was a little chaotic. There was no way of checking who was in which wave but the organisers did a decent job of filtering us over the start line in smallish groups in an attempt to reduce congestion on the course. I did hear "Let It Go" a few too many times though... and the cold *was* bothering me! Out of the wind and in the crowds it wasn't so bad but I was desperate to get moving in order to warm up.

I hadn't really been sure how I was going to approach this event. Tough Guy was going to be one of my "A" races and although this was a pretty flat course I wanted to run with Alexa and enjoy the route. I'd paid enough after all! It was also pretty crowded by the time we got over the start line so I figured a PB wasn't on the cards and settled in to a social run. And what fun it was. The atmosphere was fantastic; lots of people in costume or charity vests, chirpy marshals and "motivators" all along the course as well as cute signs. The snow zones were kinda fun but felt a little half hearted. Passing the churches that had their bells peeling out was rather special though.

Look at us all! From the top of the London Eye (c) Human Race

The route was mostly an out and back course that took us past the Eye, St Paul's and in sight of many other London landmarks. If you wanted an iconic London event that wasn't a half or full marathon, this was pretty much the one for you. There was a water station around the half way point and lots of photographers so I fully expect some horrific photos to be made available to me at an extortionate price in the near future.

Photo by Alexa

Crossing the finish line to cheers is always fun and the polar bear hugs were a lot more welcome than I'd anticipated. A great way to get a bit warmer. Medals had to be hunted down a bit but boy is it a good'un! There was no goody bag but water and plenty of coco vita was on hand. A banana wouldn't have gone amiss though...

Photo by Alexa

Collecting our bags posed no problems and I think we all left in good spirits, if rather shivery. I kept adding layers throughout the afternoon and although the hot gin cocktails we had certainly helped I only really warmed up when I finally got home to a bath and a mug of tea.

Hot gin cocktail (you can tell it's medicinal, it's in a medicine bottle) and uber peanut brownie.

It was a fun day and a nice event but at £35 for early entry and £45 for late entries it was a bit pricey for my taste. Worth it perhaps for tourism purposes and of course for a good cause but I'm unlikely to enter next year. I've seen other reports that weren't overly impressed with the organisation; I thought it was really good, especially for the first of it's kind, and frankly I'd expect no less from Human Race. It was just a shame my entry process was turned into a bit of a shambles.

Here's to conquering the cold!

Eat, Sleep, Train, Repeat

Another full on week! They just keep coming and although I keep meeting demands I'm craving a lie in or a day off. I've got a couple of weeks to go until I get a proper break. Can. Not. Wait.

Things that have kept me going this week include the emergency nakd bars I keep all over the place, lots and lots of herbal tea, nut butter (in porridge, puddings, curry and by the spoon), my lovely RunFitUK group and wonderful friends who fed me chilli and nachos.

Sometimes you just need nachos.

Training felt as though it took a bit of a back seat last weekend but in reality it was just done early so that the days were free for frivolity. And what frivolity that was. Saturday featured a wonderful lunch with one friend followed by watching the Colin Firth version of The Importance of Being Earnest, which I now declare to be one of my favourite films ever, and was followed up by drinks and dinner with my friend Alex, who I *should* have been doing Tough Guy with this weekend. Don't worry, neither of us are doing it, I've not left her in the lurch. Sunday afternoon was spent with my favourite 14-year-old playing guitar and ukulele, watching How To Train Your Dragon 2 and eating fajitas. I'm not sure it gets an awful lot better.

In the last seven days I have run approximately 34 miles, cycled around 39 miles, had my swimming lesson and managed a kettlebells class when I really didn't think I had it in me. I've also been on a bike maintenance course but more on that another time. In the moments in between, as those of you who follow me on twitter may have noticed, there has been a lot of studying. I've got three papers to submit before a workshop in three weeks time and I've just finished one of them. My mind is easier having completed one but there's still a way to go.

Staying with the theme of study, today I'm learning how to be a metafit instructor. I'm really looking forward to it and I'll be sure to let you know how I get on; I love metafit classes so it'll be fun to be on the other side!

This weekend I'm going to be doing a bit of parkrun tourism at Newbury and taking part in the London Winter Race. Next week I'm away for a couple of days for Alex's wedding so posts may be a little thin on the ground. I get a tiny break from training but I sure as hell won't be resting!

What sees you through the more "full on" phases of life? 

Wikd Bars

One of my Christmas presents was Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s Light & Easy cookbook. It's a fine book and I've made a few things from it already; the rhubarb and orange smoothie being a particular hit. One of the other recipes I was keen to try sooner rather than later was his Morning Tea Slice. These are essentially nakd bars; raw fruit and nuts blitzed together with some orange juice until they start to become friends.

My version with dates and cherries.

So I made some and declare that they are very good indeed. My version included some dried cherries because I didn't have enough apricots. My mum also made some, using prunes instead of dates because she accidentally gave all her dates to me. Both versions have been shared around friends and family, in person and by mail, and everyone has loved them. Even my dad. We've dubbed them "wikd bars". They make excellent snacks for work, solid substitute breakfasts and great post run fuel.

Mum's version, with prunes

You can find the recipe here, there's little point me reproducing it in this post. Points of note though, I used a square silicon "tin" and found I needed all the juice from the orange. You can get millet flakes from Holland & Barrett if nowhere else and you don't *need* to use unsulphered apricots if you don't want to fork out for them. I cut my batch into 12 squares but really they were a bit too big. These are pretty filling and next time I'll cut them into at least 16. The mixture only takes 10 minutes to put together and they keep really well too.

We've already started discussing variations for future batches. Perhaps subbing some apricots for cranberries and using cranberry juice instead of orange. Maybe replacing some of the millet flakes with ground almonds and apricots with cherries. A couple of spoons of cocoa and a few drops of mint extract.

I adore nakd bars and will still be buying them. the rhubarb and custard, cherry bakewell, gingerbread and banana bread ones are my faves, in case you ever want to buy me some, but I do enjoy making my own version too.

HIIT & Run (& Swim)

In the last seven days I have been to HIIT and kettlebell classes, swum twice and run approximately 26 miles. Some of that was at the Lakeside Canal Run, some at my 70th parkrun, some on the treadmill and some on the roads around my office. I've also seen two films at the cinema so I think that counts as a balanced week.

In case you're wondering I saw The Theory of Everything (beautiful film) and Taken 3 (first 1/3rd is mostly people being served drinks and not drinking them, second 1/3rd is mostly a big car chase and the last 1/3rd third is mostly people getting shot). I also saw a wonderful sunrise. That tops almost any film.

Luckily swimming seems to be the one thing I can reliably get up early for, even on a cold Monday morning. I made the effort to get a bit of practise in but trying to practise tumble turns in a public session isn't the easiest. I did get to feel virtuous for the rest of the day though. I had lesson number three yesterday in which I was praised for my progress with tumbles.

Wednesday was a tough day. I felt as though I'd been trampled by a herd of buffalo but somehow managed to disengage my brain enough to do my 90 minute run and HIIT class. The HIIT and kettlebell classes weren't part of my training plan but I'll soon be teaching both so wanted to get some more experience under my belt. I'd not actually done a HIIT class before and I'm a little rusty with the bells so I'll be getting as many of these under my belt as possible and practising at home in the next 4-5 weeks. I'm also trying to make Very Important Decisions about gym branded clothing. There are so many options, tech/non-tech, colours, weights... Although it seems the cool pups are wearing navy this season.

I forget that this happens with kettlebells

The gym dog being cute.

Unfortunately parkrun 71 won't be run this weekend, I just won't have time to fit that in as well as my bike session before social plans need to be met. Indeed there are plenty of fun and exciting things afoot this weekend. Meetings, lunch and dinner plans with friends and another afternoon hanging out with my favourite 14-year-old.

Oh yes and I've also been studying. It's fair to say that I'm finding this module, Exercise Referral, the toughest yet. I've had to take myself out of the house to avoid distractions in order to get through all the reading and Waitrose's cafe with free hot drink has really come into it's own!

Study aid.

So that's my week. Maybe I'll manage a rest day soon! Where do you go to avoid distraction? Seen any good films lately?

Event Review : Lakeside Canal Run

Last Sunday I took part in the confusingly named Lakeside Canal Run in Frimley Green. If any of you follow the darts (no? You surprise me) then you will know that the world darts tournament was recently hosted at the Lakeside complex in Frimley Green. It was from here that the race started with the route being mostly along the Basingstoke Canal; hence the name.

I was given the heads up on this event by Debbie. As it was local, inexpensive, not too long a distance and had the promise of seeing friends I was easily swayed to enter. My regular parkrun used to be Frimley, which uses part of the canal path as it's route, and I've run with friends along other parts of the canal as well so I'm relatively familiar with the area. It was going to be rather fun.

The weather was drizzly as I drove the 25 minutes to Frimley. I was pleasantly surprised to find masses of parking a stones throw from the start line and a very efficient registration desk. I caught up with the lovely Helen from twitter and sheltered from the rain in my car a while. In an attempt to remain cheery I reasoned that at least I'd get a chance to test out the hood on my new running jacket.

Failing to remain cheery.

At a very civilised 10am we were off; firstly along roads and then through some woodland before reaching the canal path around about mile three. Although there were plenty of puddles and muddy bits there was also a lot of fairly hard packed ground, allowing me to maintain a pace I would have been happy with in a road race... that coaching is paying off! There were enough slippery sections to make me wonder if anyone had fallen in as I witnessed once at parkrun. I had a bit of a wobble at mile 6, probably more psychological than anything, being used to 10k races and all, but was still over taking people in the last two miles. Coming off the canal path and back onto roads in the last mile it really was downhill nearly all the way to the finish line. Happy, smiling, slightly muddy, I was cheered over the line by purple patch runners.

I don't look as muddy in this picture as I actually was.

What struck me was how lovely, friendly and local this event was. I'm not sure how many entrants there were but probably just a few hundred, the majority in club vests or showing affiliation to various social groups. The route was incredibly well marshaled and signposted with water at mile three, perhaps a little early in the course but welcome none the less. The goody bag was very acceptable too, with chocolate, sweets, shampoo and a couple of other bits and pieces. It was nice to get a medal, my first of the year, and a results print out was available as soon as we crossed the line. The only criticism I have is that there wasn't a tea or coffee van at the finish. I lost count of how many people voiced a craving for a hot drink after such a cold run.

I would absolutely enter this race again. It reminded me how lovely local events can be. The race calendar can seem a little empty in January so this was a fun way to keep in the swing of things. It was only £17 to enter in advance, which I think is very reasonable, I don't think twice about entering a 10k for that sort of money so it felt as though I got two bonus miles!

Hoodies aid recovery don't you know? As do home made energy bars.

Are there any local races near you in January? Have you earned your first medal of the year yet? If not, what will be your first event?

This Girl Can: Healthy Debating

There’s been a lot, and I mean loads, of talk about the This Girl Can campaign that’s been launched recently. The aim of the campaign is to “inspire women to wiggle, jiggle, move and prove that judgement is a barrier that can be overcome.” It’s also a “celebration of active women up and down the country who are doing their thing no matter how well they do it, how they look or even how red their face gets.”

Lots of my fellow, female, fitness fanatic friends have been quick to shout about how great this is, to tweet, blog and generally be all enthused. My own reaction has been positive too. It seemed as though finally there was a campaign focused on a positive body image and self-esteem, un-related to a specific company (such as Dove) with something behind it to actually help and encourage women to get active. I enjoyed the video and seeing it sparking so many conversations. So much better than all the health and fitness magazines that appear to be positive on the face of it but quite often are just perpetuating the negatives with all the “banish belly-fat” and “get a six-pack” headlines, accompanied by pictures of slinky women or ripped men.

But I’ve also had an interesting conversation with a particular friend about the campaign.

The opening gambit was that if men had started the campaign, it would have been classed as sexist and tarred with the #everydaysexism brush. A number of other questions were raised in our discussion. With so many more active men in the UK than women is it really all about body image and self-confidence? How much of it comes down to upbringing, choice or resources? Should there be a similar campaign aimed at men? There’s a bias towards women in group activities and a bias towards men in team sports so should we be addressing that instead? There was a feeling that it was too focussed on gender, rather than body image as a whole. Should we be aiming for greater equality overall?

A lot of food for thought and some very interesting questions. Before I go any further let's be clear that I am *for* the campaign but it's never a bad thing to have some discussion.

My first thought was that if women felt comfortable and confident enough to go out and get involved with sports and exercise then would these campaigns exist at all? Probably not, so it is addressing a real and particular issue. I think it's *incredibly* hard to untangle body image and gender issues but this *is* a campaign about getting *women* active and it seems to be sparking the right sorts of conversations. I completely accept that men also experience issues with body image and being judged. I’ve had conversations with men about how they too feel intimidated in the gym, even when they go with a friend. Maybe there should be a similar campaign for men. Are men moved by these sorts of campaigns in the same way that women are though? Possibly not. Almost certainly not using similar language. “This Boy Can”?

When it comes to getting women active specifically I do think that certainly a significant barrier is body image and self-confidence. The campaign is a good start but ideally this is an issue that needs to be addressed from many angles. Health, fitness and lifestyle magazines are a part of that. Their content is driven, to a certain extent, by demand so maybe it won’t be until we follow up our words with actions and stop consuming these magazines that we will change how the body is portrayed in the media. Perhaps then little by little we can change society’s attitudes and illusions.

Alongside the issue of body image there are many other things that contribute to someone being less active. Choice, facilities, upbringing. I have no data to back this up but I’m fairly sure that most women don't have the same experiences of sport in their youth as men do and that has an impact. It’s still the norm that women are the primary child-raisers in society and as such find barriers to exercise like childcare to be more difficult to overcome. Of course a large number of "inactive" women may well choose not to do anything but there will be a large number who can't because of lack of childcare facilities, finances and so on.

When it comes to gyms, classes and swimming, women certainly have more options available to them in terms of gender-specific sessions and there more women-focussed team sports opportunities these days too. But how much does this help?  If we think about getting the population as a whole more active would men-only swim sessions and classes be of benefit? Positive discrimination is still discrimination at the end of the day but is it something we have to endure in the short term to achieve equality?

I don’t claim to have any answers or real conclusions; ultimately anything that provokes discussion and debate is useful. My final thought on this though is, as with so many things, why can't we all just be kind and helpful to each other? Then none of this would be relevant.