Tag Archives: buggy parkrun

parkrun tourism: Severn Bridge parkrun

by Ben

Since it began in August 2018, Severn Bridge parkrun has been a hotspot in the parkrun tourism community. There are various reasons that parkruns achieve this sort of ‘cult’ status. Jersey parkrun had it for a long time due to the fact it was the only UK parkrun to start with the letter ‘J’. Fountains Abbey has it because it is so beautiful. Bushy has it because it was the first parkrun, and remains the biggest in the UK. For Severn Bridge, the attraction is threefold; the parkrun spans two countries (Wales and England), it is run almost entirely on a huge bridge, and it is literally right next to a motorway. Any single one of these elements would have been an attraction, but the three together make it a very unique parkrun.

Before we can run across it, we have to drive across it!

When the event was first started, the bridge tolls were a hindrance for us, as the run starts on the Welsh side of the river, and it would have cost us £5.60. However, the tolls were scrapped in December, making it freeeeeeeeee (other than the circa £12 it cost us in fuel). In fact, despite being outside the South West region, this was probably the quickest parkrun to get to, of those we hadn’t yet done. Parking was well signed and marshalled, but it did fill up early, and is a five to ten minute walk from the start. There are toilets near the car park, at Thornwell Football Club, which is also where people meet up afterwards for a drink.

Runners congregate in the M48 underpass for the pre-run briefing (although it does have to be noted that the volunteer in question was shouting “race briefing” 😲). Honestly, I couldn’t really hear anything of the briefing, despite the fact they used a speaker system, and I was stood relatively close. Having not looked up the course before we arrived, I wasn’t prepared for another walk, up from the underpass to the bridge, where we apparently started. By which I mean, we were still walking towards the start when I heard a noise, and the run had started.

We met, and later finished, at the M48 underpass.

Honestly, I was a little miffed; I wasn’t even that close to the back, so some people would still have been a fair way back down the path, walking along, with no idea that parkrun had started, and they were against the clock already. In fact, Lolly and Lani were more or less in this situation. Anyway, it wasn’t ideal, but it’s not like I’d be getting a PB anyway: I was running with KK in the buggy, and Severn Bridge is NOT flat.

The course runs on the bridge for essentially 4.7 of the 5 kilometres, a simple out and back. The path is about four runners wide, so wide enough for two in each direction; though with the buggy, four was decidedly uncomfortable. As such, the start was pretty congested and slow going with the buggy. I had intended to start a bit further forwards than I usually would with the buggy, expecting the congestion. But never mind!

It took me until about a quarter of a mile in to get above nine-minute miles, as I weaved through runners, and around the odd piece of car shrapnel. There was a ‘gentle’ wind, which seemed like it was diagonally, a combination of a cross- and following-wind. More on this later. The bridge is quite a significant climb to its centre, which I had heard before from club-mates who had run the Severn Bridge Half Marathon, but it’s still something of a shock quite what a hill it forms. We actually went beyond the middle too, so started to drop gradually down the other side before the turnaround point.

Early on during a parkrun with the buggy, the greatest challenge can be not wiping out runners!

And then, oh boy. It was not a ‘gentle’ wind. As usual, what is a barely noticeable following wind turns into a horrible gale-force headwind. Okay… it wasn’t really that bad, but it sure felt it for a while, particularly when pushing what is, in essence, a rolling windbreak. I had been looking forward to the return leg, as it was mostly downhill, but the wind made it such hard work. Still, after passing the tail walker, I knew that I had the full width of the path at least! We continued back to the start point, and then followed the path down off the bridge and motorway to the underpass. In the damp conditions, this path was pretty slippery, though this was probably exacerbated by the fact that I was running sub-6 minute mile pace.

A sharp right turn at the bottom of the hill was followed by a (roughly) thirty metre dash to the finish line. Competitive Ben took over, and I out-sprinted someone to the finish to come in 39th at Severn Bridge’s 39th event. KK was pretty adamant that he wanted to get out of the buggy, which was fair enough, so we abandoned the buggy in the underpass, and went for a walk up to the bridge to cheer on Lolly and Lani when they came through. They’d taken somewhat longer, as they had apparently taken time to appreciate the alleged ‘stunning views’. I wouldn’t know, having spent my time focussing on running…

It can be quite intimidating when big lorries go past!

Severn Bridge parkrun was my (arbitrary) 150th parkrun, and Lani’s 10th, earning her membership of the 10 club, one that neither Lolly nor I were ever able to be in. The t-shirts are out of stock at the moment, but hopefully we’ll be able to order her one soon.

All done, we headed back to the café for post-parkrun breakfast. I’m pretty sure that Lani considers this the most important part of parkrun, and KK is quickly heading that way too. The clubhouse only offer bacon baps, so Lani and I opted for one of those each, while KK had a glass of orange juice. Lolly picked up a wrap from the Tesco up the road as we left, as she’s not too keen on meat at the moment.

Severn Bridge parkrun is well worth the trip, and has opened our eyes to the possibilities of hitting more Welsh parkruns, as many of these will be closer than a lot of the South West parkruns. But next up, we’ll be heading back down to Cornwall to tick off the last Cornish parkrun (for now) we haven’t done, but one we’ve wanted to do for a long time, because it looks stunning; Tamar Lakes parkrun.

parkrun tourism: Southwick Country parkrun

by Lolly

In our list of South West parkruns ordered by travel time from home (yes, we have one of those), certain events are marked out with how far they are from other key locations. For example, for anything in Cornwall we’ve recorded the travel time from Ben’s parents’ house. Southwick Country parkrun is noted as being local to Center Parcs, and so has been an obvious choice to tick off 3 times previously. Only on one holiday Ben was injured, on another we left so early we ended up going to Melksham instead, and on another we just wanted a lie in. So trip number 4 to Longleat Center Parcs it was…

Southwick Country parkrun is, perhaps unsurprisingly, in Southwick Country Park near Trowbridge in Wiltshire. Amusingly, in the very short journey there we travelled from Wiltshire into Somerset and back into Wiltshire, reminiscent of our slightly longer journey to Henstridge Airfield. We were able to park in the free car park, although grabbed one of the last spaces. As we assembled the buggy we could hear a 5 minute warning for the first timers’ briefing, which is always reassuring that you’re in the right place.

Sure enough, entering the park revealed a mass of runners assembling in a buzz of activity, and I had fun playing ‘spot the Tikiboos’. I knew from the course page that it was an almost 3 lap anti-clockwise course (Lani asked on the way there, I haven’t suddenly become organised), but the first timers’ briefing provided the clarification that you run past the statue twice and then finish next lap. The briefing also dished out ‘Top Tourist’ bibs to the two tourists who’d travelled furthest (needless to say, not us by a long way).

One day we will learn to take a decent start-line selfie…

Following a call to head to the start, we followed the crowd along the path. Quite a way along, as the start is actually a third of a mile along from the gathering/finish area. On arrival there was a call to be quiet for the briefing. Sadly, other than the odd spot of clapping, this was the only reason I was aware a briefing was taking place, as with no PA system (unlike at the gathering area) there was no chance of hearing from the back. As is traditional, I became aware that we’d started once I saw movement up ahead.

I was running with Lani again, and so Ben quickly sped past us with the buggy. The surface was pretty similar to Longrun Meadow – in fact there were quite a few similarities in terms of event feeling – and so I had to remind Lani to watch her footing with loose gravel. We quickly reached the first marshal, as the path turned the corner to be surrounded by trees. There were a few small paths off to the side on this section, but every time there was a nice obvious ‘straight on’ arrow to make the route clear.

After a pretty glimpse of some water, the path opened out to round some fields. A couple of the corners had mud on the inside, and unfortunately Lani took a tumble at one point. Luckily between me holding one hand and her breaking her fall with the other she was absolutely fine, and to the surprise of most around us got straight up and carried on running. She was definitely more cautious on that section after that though!

Definitely lap 1, as I was still cold enough to wear Ben’s hoodie

Another sweep round a field took us to the hill. Well, incline really. At the top was a cheery marshal and a cheery photographer – both very much appreciated when running with a 5 year old. Once at the top you get a clear view on the nice downhill stretch that takes you to the finish, or in this case down to start a full lap. At the bottom was the landmark statue, and yet more cheery marshals (so many fantastic marshals).

At this stage all the route was familiar, having walked the section of path before the start. By this point we were being lapped pretty continuously, but happily the path was wide enough all the way round and the runners were friendly. We got a fair few shout outs for our leggings, which always goes down well. Unsurprisingly Lani started to get a bit tired, and so the stretches of walking increased a little.

Ben lapped us on the sweeping bends before the incline. This meant that by the time we reached the top of the hill I could see him parked up at the side near the bottom, giving Lani a much-needed boost in the form of a high five. The final lap was a little slower, but also a little easier as we didn’t have to make way for people lapping us (just the odd overtaker). Full credit to the marshals who were still just as supportive. And massive credit to the photographer, who was still there when we got to him on our last lap – so many photographers sadly disappear before everyone finishes.

Just after the photographer, right at the top of the hill, was our personal cheering and high five squad. This just left the downhill to finish. One fantastic thing about our daughter is that, no matter how tired she is, she’s always up for a downhill sprint finish. All the volunteers around the finish area were great, and barcode scanning was pretty obvious in the field. Once scanned in, the four of us headed to the car to ditch the buggy.

We all headed to the packed-out cafe, managing to find a table in the outbuilding area. Thankfully there were toasted teacakes on offer, as Lani had already declared that was what she wanted. Ben opted for cooked breakfast, and I went for flapjack – something for everyone to enjoy before we headed back to enjoy the rest of our holiday.

Southwick Country parkrun feels very much a community event, and is very enjoyable for it. The atmosphere was so friendly, and it was definitely a positive addition to our day. And the array of high-quality photos means it will be even easier to look back on with a smile. I’m sure we’ll be back here at some stage, although next holiday we may just venture a little further afield…

parkrun tourism: Haldon Forest parkrun

by Lolly

It’s not often that we consciously wait for a specific parkrun location to start up. Most of the time we’re wishing they would stop appearing so that we actually have some chance of catching up! But we’d been hearing rumours about Haldon Forest parkrun starting for ages, and the idea of a Forestry Commission parkrun so close to home sounded fantastic.

Haldon Forest parkrun, as the name suggests, is in Haldon Forest, which is around 15 minutes drive South-West of Exeter. The event started on 23rd February 2019, and so we intended to go visit the following week. Unfortunately Ben was ill that week. And then our son was ill the week after. And then I had day 3 of my CiRF course. Having not made it to a new-to-us event since Henstridge Airfield at the end of January, it was therefore with an air of desperation that we headed down to week 5 of Haldon Forest.

Uncharacteristically, we left a few minutes earlier than planned, and the 40 minute drive was really straightforward. It’s a pay and display car park, which thankfully you can pay by card for if you go to the Ranger’s Office (we might have forgotten change). While Ben set the buggy up, I took the kids off to the toilets – or to be precise the row of portaloos opposite the cafe.

Getting to the start requires heading out the path back near the car park entrance, across the road, and then along another path. Definitely somewhere to allow yourself a little extra time to arrive. The excitement of being in a forest started to bubble, and the kids had a little explore while we waited for the briefing.

Who would choose to stand still and wait when there’s a forest to explore?

The run briefing was an all-in-one, which isn’t uncommon for newer events with lots of newbies and visitors. The run director stood up on a bank and had a megaphone, so was both visible and audible which always helps. The course was described to us as one small lap and one big lap, and there was also mention of a steep hill. Happily, Ben had the buggy and so I wasn’t too concerned.

The route starts on a nice wide compacted trail path, that soon starts descending with a sweeping turn. The trees sloping off to our right were a pretty impressive backdrop, and it really felt like setting out on an adventure. We continued on the same path until just over half a mile in, where we met a cheery marshal who pointed us up another path. Up being the operative word, as it’s a short sharp climb on looser terrain. One of those times I was grateful of having a 5 year old as an excuse to walk.

At the top of the hill was another marshal, and one of my favourite little sections as the path twisted through the trees. This section was also part of the Zog trail (although I assume in reverse), which gave a few extra things for us to spot. Shortly after a tree ‘tunnel’, the trees opened out and stunning views appeared, including across to what I assume is the sea. As we re-entered the forest, the first runners started to lap us. The path was a little uneven and twisted downhill, but Lani suggested we should stick to running on the left in case people needed to get past. Clearly parkrun etiquette starts at a young age!

The bottom of the hill saw the end of the short lap, with the faster runners heading right to the finish and us heading left to start the big lap. At this stage we were 1.2 miles in, which threw me a little as in my head short laps are less than a mile for some reason. The lap was the same, albeit slower due to tired 5 year old, until the cheery marshal, who this time directed us to continue further along the main path.

After another third of a mile of being asked if every tiny path was the one we needed to take, we got to the marshals for the turn off. This hill path was wider and better surface than the first, but it was also much longer. Good thing the setting was so beautiful. At the top there was a slight downhill, although this didn’t register as much as the large number of dogs that were with us on the path at this point – it got a bit crazy.

Soon enough though we rejoined the first lap and found ourselves back by the Zog signs. We admired the views again (I’m kicking myself for not getting my phone out to take photos), and as we re-entered the forest got a cheer and high five from the other half of our touring party. Once back down the hill, we turned right to top up the 3 miles to 5k, and headed across the finish line.

The winner of ‘best face’ is pretty clear here.

After chatting a little at the finish, we walked back to the road and then past the car park to by the cafe again. Barcode scanning was well signed, and there was also someone by the scanners handing out information sheets on how to volunteer and the roles available. I think this is a great idea to raise awareness, although you obviously need to be careful to make it clear that volunteering is still voluntary.

By the time we were back the cafe was packed out. This didn’t make a difference for us, however, as we had to head straight back to Taunton to meet some family we hadn’t seen for far too long. If we’d had more time we would definitely have stayed for some food and to go out exploring.

Overall it’s fair to say we all loved this parkrun, and are definitely planning to go back when the opportunity arises. We did get a comment from one of the volunteers at the finish that it’s not good for children to run this one frequently due to the compacted nature of most of the surface, but given the variety Lani is exposed to it isn’t too much of an issue for us.

Very much a happy return to touring.

parkrun tourism: Henstridge Airfield parkrun

by Ben

Although we remain a fair distance off our eventual target of being South West Regionnaires, (that is, having done all the parkruns in the South West region), until the start of September, we had completed all of the parkruns in Somerset (the so-called Somer-Set, get it?) However, on 8 September, Henstridge Airfield parkrun started, which we soon discovered was actually in Somerset.

Ever since this discovery, Henstridge Airfield has been close to the top of our to-do list. But for varying reasons, it’s never quite been the top. This weekend we needed a quicker morning, as we had my brother and his wife staying in Taunton. Now, a sensible person would decide not to tour at all. Clearly though, that is not us. We did, however, make the concession of heading off to our NENYD:T (Nearest Event Not Yet Done: by Time). The logic was that a flying visit would see us finished and home again by 11. In theory.

A nice late start of half 7 wasn’t too taxing, and the drive was very simple following the postcode provided on the website, with the directions to help confirm things at the end. Even though we arrived at half 8, there were already a fair few cars in the car park (though not yet a car park marshal – he came a short time later). Having driven through Henstridge on the way, we were now made very aware of the ‘Airfield’ part, as there were two small aeroplanes parked just metres away from the car park.

We had plenty of time to use the toilet, set up the buggy and get over to the gather point by the café block. We spotted another runner with an Out N About Nipper Sport buggy, but hers was considerably cleaner than ours. It turns out that she was running with it for the first time, so I feel less bad about the state of ours now! I don’t know whether there wasn’t a first-timers briefing, or if we just contrived to miss it somehow, but we did hear the normal run briefing. Well, I say “we”. Lolly heard it, but apparently I zoned out, as once we started running, I realised that I had no idea what the course did at all. (There was a very good map by the café block, but apparently I missed this too. Fails all around for me.)

The run

As our old running buggy is really starting to show its age, we are trying to transition over to having Lani run more than she goes in the buggy. As a result, this week our running configuration was Lolly + buggy, Ben + Lani. This had benefits for Lolly, who got both the better buggy (as usual) but also the lighter child (not as usual). At the start, Lani and I got ahead of Lolly initially, as it is always easier to get through a crowd without a buggy, but as things cleared up, Lolly passed us and started to ease her way ahead. Until, that is, Lani shouted “let’s catch Mummy”, and put on a sprint. Fearing for the long-term practicality of this plan, I urged caution, and we slowed back down. Five-year-olds are not known for their long-term thinking.

Although she eased back a little, there was no point in me slowing her down too much. For one thing, I need to let her enjoy the run, and for another, children’s bodies simply don’t work the same way as ours. The first kilometre clocked in at 7:43; roughly 36-minute pace, and definitely not indicative of how we’d finish! This first stretch, in fact, the first 3 kilometres (just under 2 miles) was along what was basically a poorly looked after tarmac (or maybe concrete) road covered in a thin layer of mud. With lots of puddles. Which Lani delighted in trying to push me into. Either that, or splash into them herself, with the aim of getting me wet. The marshals, incidentally, found this hilarious.

Congestion at turnaround points is a nightmare with the buggy.

We went out-and-back along this road twice, which was honestly a little uninspiring. I understand that this a winter course that they’ve been forced to adopt due to flooding – the normal course involves a lot less repetition, and has a long loop next to the river. The one nice things with a double out-and-back is the amount of waving, cheering and high-fiving that can occur. Lani was getting lots of support along the way, which is always lovely. Lots of the marshals also had shakers and stuff to make more noise, which did help to give a run a nice friendly atmosphere.

After the road, we then had a different out-and-back, this time running basically around the edge of the airfield (emphasis on ‘field’) for half a mile each way. I can only imagine that Lolly was having a tough time of it. For some reason, we’d both brought road shoes with us. The field was soggy, slippy and very uneven. Lani was doing really well, and didn’t seem at all bothered by the mud. But she did, apparently, need the toilet. This slowed us down a little. Still, I’d rather have a few walking breaks than an accident to clean up! The support from other runners and the marshals continued to be brilliant, and as we approached the finish, Lolly was there to cheer us on too. As always, Lani managed to put in a sprint finish (and ‘beat’ Daddy) before we took part in a second sprint to the toilets!

1) Yes, those were the puddles I got pushed in. 2) The finish was in sight, and a broad smile appeared on Lani’s face!

Post-run

As I mentioned above, my plan had very much been ‘wham, bam, thank you ma’am’, in order to get back to our guests. But Lani had other ideas. As we were coming out of the toilets, she was not subtle. “I can smell bacon. Can I have all-day breakfast?” My daughter is not one to be denied (okay, I’m a soft touch). (And I do like a cooked breakfast). I was amazed to see the
café pretty much full: as Lolly will tell you, my memory is pretty awful, but I don’t remember seeing more people than that after a parkrun anywhere. The food was reasonably priced and pretty decent, and capped off a nice morning. We still didn’t stay for too long – we had a very brief chat with Danny Norman, uber-tourist and With Me Now podcast host, but really had to get back. The original plan to be back by 11 did slip a little bit… ten to 12, not too bad?

We would definitely like to come back in the summer and try out the normal course. Lani got a PB, and has declared it her favourite parkrun because she got to push Daddy into puddles.

parkrun tourism: Thornbury parkrun

by Ben

We’re on something of a parkrun streak at the moment: before this weekend we had done parkrun on each of the last six parkrundays (including Christmas and New Year). The last time I had done six parkrundays in a row was… February to April 2017. I could bore you with more stats, but suffice to say that parkrunning regularly hasn’t really been a thing for a while. With this in mind, I proposed to Lolly that we take a week off this weekend – at least, from touring. Then this happened.

Farewell, sleep.

Thornbury was one of many parkruns on our to do list that is predominantly on grass, and thus something of a lottery with the buggies in the winter (it also suffers from being up the M5, and therefore on the ‘avoid due to awful summer traffic’ list too). Thankfully, it stayed pretty dry this week, so we didn’t have any last minute panics. It was actually our NENYD (by driving time), and so we had a relatively friendly 7:30 departure time.

We used the recommended Castle Court car park, which was a doddle to find with the postcode provided on the website. The car park has both long- and short-stay areas, which are free for 12 or 2 hours respectively. I recommend the 12 hour option – breakfast in The Swan is worth it. [Oops, spoiler.] We did notice a potential problem in the car park though – the arrow pointing to the parkrun went through a narrow kissing gate. Which is… less than ideal with a buggy. Thankfully we managed to get alternative directions around to the park (back to the high street, a couple of hundred yards along, and then cut down a lane into the park). Phew.

Our first observations of the park were that it was, well, undulating. And generally… uneven. This might sound like I’ve basically said the same thing twice, but when you run with a buggy you soon learn the only thing worse than running up a hill is running along a hill, when your buggy wants to turn (or roll) sideways down the slope.

After a toilet break (ample toilets are located right by the start/finish) we were greeted by the chap who’d given us directions, and then it was time for the run briefing. During the briefing, the RD paused when he heard murmurs after saying there were no buggies or dogs. He followed the eyes of the crowd toward us. He paused a little longer. “It’s not really a buggy friendly course, but we’ll see how you get along.” I’m sure Lolly was about as enthused as I was.

The parkrun commences

After the usual inaudible start (seriously parkrun event teams, buy megaphones), we were off. The first, oh, 100 metres(?) was on tarmac before a sharp left onto the grass around a football pitch. Thankfully this was pretty flat and well looked after, and with the ground firm enough at the moment, it was still decent running. (I feel like I’m describing a racecourse; “the going was good to firm”). We then went along past Thornbury Town’s main pitch before things got a little bit more rugged. Passing through into the next field was a little bumpy with the buggy: comparing Open Street Map’s satellite images with those from Google suggest that this might be a relatively recent conversion to playing fields.

Going around another two football pitches (presumably youth pitches, as they are a little smaller) gets you most of the way back to the start, but only for half the lap. The route doesn’t quite kiss before looping around another field. This is the part where things start to get a little lumpy. (I should preface this by clarifying that a lot of what I might describe as “lumpy”, “hilly”, “a climb” etc might not be considered much of anything without a buggy, but with a buggy, these things get magnified.) Part of what makes this course feel so tough with a buggy is the number of 90° corners on grass – each time you lose pretty much any momentum you’ve built up, and simply getting the sufficient grip on the grass to wrest the buggy around (even in the relatively dry conditions) can be tricky. I found this especially the case on the way out of the third field, when we had a right-angle bend, up the hill. with a slight bump up onto the path.

Once on that path though, you’d done the toughest part of the lap. There was a little climbing left, but at least it was on a tarmac path, and then we went all the way around the top field, which was mostly downhill, enjoyed a little dip back on the path and crossed the start line. Rinse and repeat three times, and you’re done.

Go around that field, then that field, and then that field, and finally that field. Then do it again. And again.

I’ll be honest – it’s not the most inspiring course I’ve ever run, especially when I’m visiting a week after doing Woolacombe Dunes. But parkrun isn’t about the course: if I’m totally honest, as predominately a trail runner these days, the majority of parkrun courses are a bit bland to me. What I think is far more important is the atmosphere. And while I related earlier that the RD had said it wasn’t a buggy friendly course, I can only half agree with him. The physical course is pretty unfriendly for buggies. In fact, as I went around one corner, I got so worried that my (pretty old now) buggy was going to fall apart that I started making plans for how I would finish if I had to abandon the buggy. (I mean, it wasn’t a complex plan to be fair – I would simply remove child from the buggy and walk with him to the finish.)

But the people; the marshals and fellow runners; they were extremely friendly. It might be partly because it’s a course that buggies are rarely seen at, but so many runners and volunteers took the time to cheer me on during the run, or step over at the end to congratulate me. I know it was the same for Lolly – she got a huge cheer when she finished, and received no end of encouragement throughout the run.

For me, that was the overwhelming takeaway from this run, the camaraderie. (Also, I avoided being lapped by about 6 seconds.) After the run, a group of us gathered together to try and recreate the 50 t-shirt photo.

Nice to see lots of 50 shirts on the course today, as well as plenty of other red tops too, to celebrate our 50th event! #loveparkrun #thornbury pic.twitter.com/hXl5kF3Z8I
— Thornbury parkrun (@Mundyparkrun) January 12, 2019

(We’re far right. You basically can’t see me because of Lolly. Ironically.)

Afterwards, the kids had a play in the playground, before I took both the buggies back to the car and then met Lolly and the kids at The Swan for breakfast. It was reasonably priced, and more to the point – HUGE!

The most important part of parkrun tourism: sampling breakfasts around the south west.

parkrun tourism: Gloucester City parkrun

by Lolly

Some people plan their parkrun tourism weeks or even months in advance. Some just wake up and decide where to go. The latter isn’t really practical for us, with our location and family, and even on the rare occasions we do plan it often needs to change. This weekend was looking particularly unpromising, with yellow warnings for rain and wind across Somerset, and not much better forecast in the helpful parts of Devon. Early Friday evening, the most likely option was me heading to a local repeat. Then we saw on Facebook that Danny from the With Me Now podcast was going to Gloucester City, and it seemed as good a reason as any to actually go somewhere.

Gloucester City parkrun, unsurprisingly located in the middle of Gloucester, is one of those events that really should have been higher on our target list. At only 1 hour 20 minutes away (in winter – it’s all M5 so summer would be awful) and buggy-friendly it hit the necessary ticks. And away from Somerset’s rain warning as well (we’ll ignore the ice warning for Gloucestershire). That just left the simple task of leaving the house by 7:15.

At 6:45 it looked like we weren’t going to go, as having actually persuaded ourselves to get out of bed, our daughter decided to stand her ground and refuse to go. With top-class negotiating skills, we got last-minute agreement to go. Speed prepping of people and stuff got us on the road by 7:25. Listening to the Moana and Frozen soundtracks on the way was a pretty small price to pay!

A combination of an accurate postcode and decent directions on the course page meant we had a pretty straight forward time finding where we were going. The parking is at Go Outdoors, opposite the park, and very sensibly there’s a sign to show which bit of the car park to use for parkrun. After layering up the kids (it was approximately 2 degrees) and getting the buggies set up, we crossed the road and headed into the park.

Gloucester City parkrun is fairly typical of most park parkruns, in that it’s a few laps around the edge, with bits added to make the distance right. The start was pretty close to where we’d entered the park, but the meeting point was at the bandstand. Or, you know, the usual theory of ‘head for the mass of hi-viz’. I was grateful to learn from one of the volunteers that there were toilets in the middle of the park (not the best but I’ve seen far worse). The timing meant that, for possibly the first time ever, I missed the first timers’ briefing but Ben was actually there. Miracles do happen.

The main run briefing was done from the bandstand. With a microphone so big tick there for actually being able to hear it. All the basics covered, everyone started heading to the start. But first, the big decision of starting layers. Last minute I opted for no hoodie but added sleeves. Definitely the right decision, even if it didn’t feel it on the walk over. At the start we counted 5 buggies (including our 2), which is pretty impressive given there were 89 runners.

And so finally, on paragraph 7, we were off. Ben got ahead of me almost instantly, as always, but with the early congestion the gap didn’t get too big. That and I was feeling pretty good and so made a decent start. The short lap at the start involved cutting a corner at one end of the park, following round the edge, and then cutting across the middle of the park to re-join the opposite edge. This is where I get confused describing courses, as the ‘lap’ back to the start was further along the path, but the point we re-joined was pretty much the lap point for all future reference. And now you’re confused too, I do realise.

By the end of the small lap, everyone had started to spread out a little, which could only be a good thing with my rusty steering skills. I was also starting to realise that what felt like pretty good pace was, in fact, pretty good pace. Back by the start I checked my watch and found I was on for a 30 minute parkrun. With a buggy. For the main 3 laps we followed the path all the way around the edge, instead of cutting the corner, and I found myself behind a couple of runners who were clearly aiming for 30 minutes themselves. Unfortunately I got a bit too close and they kindly let me through.

Where the short lap had split off, we carried on round the edge of the park, and the path got slightly wider, with a different surface. There were two slightly hairy moments when I dodged a recovering runner (who I think had just got back up from falling over) and then a dog walker, but thankfully I didn’t hit anyone or take any detours. The next challenge was a right-angled turn, naturally just as the first runners lapped me. Having somehow not wiped anyone out, I followed the path round, up a bump, and back into the main bit of park to start all over again.

Lap 2 was much the same, but I started to fall back a little from the 30 minute runners (as they were named in my head). There was also more being lapped (but amazingly still no knocking people over), and a fair amount of trying to explain to my daughter that I couldn’t really hear the questions she was asking.

My first thought at the start of lap 3 was how few runners had lapped me. The factors at play here were clearly a) me running fractionally faster, b) the smaller field size, and c) the out-and-back section to the finish at the end of the third lap. I was blissfully unaware of c, until my daughter asked if a runner she could see was doing the bit at the end. Which he was. In fairness, I was struggling at this stage. The pace on my watch was making it pretty clear that I could technically still get sub-30 if I pushed, but I knew that it just wasn’t going to happen.

On finishing the lap, the final stretch takes a path that goes right across the middle of the park, and then takes a sharp turn back along another path to the finish. That turn is on a marked grass section, but I clearly looked like crap and so the marshals took advantage of the quiet paths and let me stick to the tarmac, turning just after the usual point. Mad desperation to at least do as well as I could kicked in, and I somehow managed to speed up before the line.

My Strava map, because I realise my description may not be entirely clear…

My time was 30:20, and I’m insanely proud of that. It’s my buggy PB by over a minute, with a substantially bigger child than before. And to have actually been in with a shot at going sub-30 with the buggy is way beyond anything I thought I would achieve this year. Particularly in windy conditions, which made it much harder work.

Multi-lap park courses get bad-mouthed a lot, but I absolutely loved this one. The atmosphere was fantastic, with cheery supportive marshals all over the place, and a real community feel. After scanning in, we didn’t hang around at the park for too long as it started to rain. Instead we headed back to the car to put the buggies away, and then walked over to the GL1 leisure centre cafe.

It’s been far too long since we chatted with a core team in the cafe after a parkrun, and it was a great bunch of people to talk to. With topics including new years day doubles, barcode scanning, and how Bushy manage with so many people, it was great to just sit and chat. And, in Ben’s case, get asked to write the run report. As we were finally instructed to leave by our long-suffering daughter, we did take the opportunity to ask Danny for a selfie. I’m slightly jealous at how easily he got all 5 of us in the frame, given I struggle to fit 4 in.

Gloucester City parkrun turned out to be exactly what my week needed. Sure, it helped that I exceeded all my expectations in terms of pace. But the main things I’ll remember are the clever route, the absolutely fantastic volunteers, and the community feeling. And possibly the freezing cold wind…

parkrun tourism: Weymouth parkrun

by Ben

Weymouth parkrun has been running since August 2013, just marginally longer than our home run of Longrun Meadow. As with most in the South West region, it’s been on our radar to do for a while. The course description describes part of the course as being on the grass, and with the buggy(ies) that has put us off in the wet, wintry months.

Lolly and I travelled to the run separately; I had been working in the area on Friday and stayed in a local B&B the night before, while she was coming over from Taunton with the children. As a result, at 8:29 we had a conversation on WhatsApp:

Lolly: Awake yet?
Me: Yup.
Me: Where are you?
Lolly: [Picture of car in car park]
Me: Where’s that?
Me: I tried to park in the College Car Park that the website recommends, but it seems to be closed?
Lolly: Oh
Lolly: I parked in the country park car park

An encouraging start. I set up both buggies, and walked through the college car park to the start area for the parkrun. In the Country Park car park. Oh.

So for some clarity on the parking: you can park in the Country Park car park, which is in fact where the run started and finished for us: but you have to pay: 50p for one hour, working up to £6 for all day. The College car park was eventually opened, and is free for the duration of the run. There were also toilets in the car park, although only one of them was open, causing a long queue, even early on.

Smile!

After a fair bit of faffing (it turned out that I hadn’t changed into running shoes, so I had to go back to the car) we lined up for the start. As usual, I managed to miss the first timers briefing, but Lolly gave me a synopsis: keep left for the out-and-back section, turnaround at the stone pineapple. (Which, for the record, I never noticed.) Apparently, it was a very good first timers briefing: they had a big, obvious, sign showing where it was, and it covered everything that a first timer might possibly need to know.

As noted, the start/finish area was unusually located in a car park. In general parkrun tries to avoid areas with traffic: the course map doesn’t show the car park being used, so I can only assume that this is a variation due to wetter weather, possibly. Starting at the back of the pack with the buggies, we couldn’t hear the pre-run briefing, but there were various bursts of applause – presumably for landmark runs and thanking the volunteers.

I started gently – so gently that the tail walkers went past me! This just meant that I had no one either side of me, and I could easily dart across to the side to ease my way through some of the crowds while we were still in the wide car park area. Thankfully, even when we entered Lodmoor Country Park, the path stayed wide initially – easily allowing four people to run abreast. There were a few bollards to avoid, and although there were grass verges at the sides for sections, they tended to be slightly sloped, and not ideal for the buggy to put a wheel onto. I eased my way along through the field as well as I could, targeting the buggy that I could see ahead. Me, competitive? No…

Into the Country Park.

We started off with a clockwise lap of the park, around both a pitch and putt golf course and a field with a miniature railway in. Another third of the lap, and this time we split off to head up the out-and-back section. By this stage, I’d managed to find a bit more free space, and had got in front of the other buggy (there were four in total). The terrain up this section varied quite considerably: initially it was quite nice, if a little narrow in places: roughly three people wide. This opened out onto a rough clearing that had some – well – craters in it, which had to be navigated quite carefully with the buggy. The path after this was tarmac and very nice to run on.

I noticed as we approached the turnaround point that the other buggy was getting quite close behind me – thankfully things cleared up a little in front of me at this point, and tipping the buggy back onto its rear wheels, I navigated the tight turns, to the call of “quick buggy coming through” from the marshal. Heading back, I more or less gave up on passing people as the path got congested with the mid-pack going in both directions. We weaved past a few runners, but for the most part, I was content to sit and hold position.

Until, that is, I noticed the other buggy closing in behind me again. Sigh – can’t I just have a nice jog to the finish? (I mean, obviously I could have just let him pass me and not worried about it. Apparently.) After passing the tail walker coming the other way, I was able to move out and pass people with a bit more freedom, before we finally reached the park once more. I had expected that we would turn right and head straight back, but it seemed that we were still too short for that to work, and so we turned left for another longer loop of the park. I pressed on, though without going crazy, working myself into some clear space for the finish. (I tend to prefer more space when I’m finishing with the buggy – it stops any silly accidents.)

Past the miniature railway station.

The finish funnel was pretty congested, so as soon as I’d picked up our finish token, I ducked out of the funnel and went back to watch Lolly finishing, before scanning when it got a bit quieter.

Overall, I enjoyed the course – it is nicely varied. I would say that it is pretty much completely flat, though there may be a very slight climb up to the turnaround point. But Strava reckons it was 22 feet, so, maybe not. Looking at the volunteer roster, it looks quite a labour intensive run; eight marshals, a lead bike, two funnel managers, two on finish tokens. There was certainly never any trouble finding where to go on the course!

Afterwards, it looked like a lot of the parkrunners were going back to the Lodmoor pub, a Brewers Fayre attached to the Premier Inn right by the start/finish. (There’s also another Premier Inn by the turnaround point, so both are pretty convenient for the run.) We opted to drive into town to visit Wetherspoons for a cheaper breakfast, before returning to the Country Park car park to visit Weymouth Sea Life Centre.

parkrun tourism: Teignmouth Promenade parkrun

by Lolly

Yes, we do still exist! It’s fair to say that the last few months have been a bit up and down. There’s been a few things I’d have loved to have written about but haven’t managed (my 100th parkrun, progress towards PB pace, on and off training plans, etc). But we’ve come to the conclusion that the best cure for all of this is more tourism. Cue Teignmouth Promenade parkrun.

Our eternal quest to conquer the South West region has suffered greatly from the amazing growth the region has experienced in the last couple of years. We’re still managing to hover at about 50% complete though, and are particularly targeting any that would make a good family trip. So something by the seaside works quite well.

Teignmouth Promenade parkrun started just over a month ago, and as the name suggests takes place on the promenade in Teignmouth. For those of you not familiar with Devon, it’s actually pronounced “Tin-muth”, so make sure you’re saying it correctly in your head! Like other promenade runs (hi Seaton, Minehead and Exmouth) this involves running out and back, in this case 3 times.

The course starts near the pier, goes along to the Yacht Club, back (past the pier) to near the lighthouse. One more complete loop, and then the last time you finish before the lighthouse end (roughly level with the start). Having read the description before we went, my main worry running with the buggy was the prospect of several 180 degree turns. As it turned out though, that wasn’t the tricky part.

Wrapped up warm with the buggies before the start

Ever so slightly chilly

We arrived and parked up in good time, and having set up both buggies we even had time to head to the toilets near the pier. Uncharacteristically for us, we were at the gathering point around quarter to 9. Enough time to worry about the number of clothes we were in (the horror of de-layering in cold wind before a run) and that the kids were in (why wouldn’t the little man keep his hat on?!).

At the Run Director’s call we made our way over to the sea-side of the promenade path, and then picked our way through the gathering crowd to get to the back, where we discovered we were 2 of 4 buggies taking part. After a little while, Ben, being significantly taller than me, noticed that the briefing had started. Unfortunately being at the back I didn’t hear a thing, which is a fairly common occurrence for buggy-runners.

The next thing I missed was the start, again with Ben commenting that people had started moving. And so we were off. And almost immediately stopped again as we crashed buggies. Slightly embarrassing, but there are far worse crashes for each of us to have! I had been expecting a standard flat prom-run, but very quickly there was a short-sharp up then down for the pier entrance. The path also zig-zagged a few times, which was slightly testing with a buggy in the initial crowd of people.

The path got narrow, and my next worry became how on earth this would work as an out-and-back, let alone once people started lapping as well. This was answered when runners started coming the other way – on a higher path to our left. The joining point for the two paths required a sharp turn, and my timing meant that there were 3 runners side-by-side going the other way when I had to make the turn. Note to self, practice sharp turns with the buggy!

Ben being way more relaxed about corners (from TP parkrun Facebook page)

There was then the expected 180 degree turn round the cone, which actually after the zig-zagging path didn’t seem all that bad. The (marginally) inland of the two paths was much better surface, albeit still with one zig-zag, and before I knew it we were rounding an ice-cream hut and passing the gathering area, where the finish funnel was set up. This just left a nice wide path near the lighthouse, an even wider turn round the end, and another easy path to get back to the start.

The second lap was much the same, with the added excitement of being lapped. It was pretty tricky on some of the narrower sections, having to run with one wheel consistently close to the wall, but the faster runners generally seemed appreciative of my efforts. As we passed the finish funnel for the second time I noticed how narrow it was, but hoped that (as is often the case) it would be wider by the time I finished.

Can we agree to ignore my posture, just this once?

The third lap was hard. I hadn’t run for 4 weeks, and I was pushing a buggy containing a 5 year old. Slowing down slightly also meant ending up in a bigger group of people, which meant more pressure to get the corners right! Despite being tired, and struggling to answer the many questions my daughter was asking, it didn’t go too badly and I was soon speeding up towards the finish. Which, by the way, was still the same width.

Finish token in hand, I carried on following the line of cones and was a bit confused not to find a barcode scanner. I asked a nearby marshal, who said they were in the Lemon Tree cafe and pointed me in the right direction. On the way I met up with Ben, and we decided to put the buggies in the car first. Because the barcode scanning was actually significantly further away than where we’d parked, as it involved crossing the road, walking past some shops, and then identifying the cafe by the line of people outside waiting to be scanned. As with Exeter Riverside, I imagine they will have a fair few tokens disappear as people fail to make it that far.

By the time we actually made it to the cafe to have our barcodes scanned it was fairly full, so we headed to an alternative nearby cafe (Coasters) instead – testing our children’s patience when we ordered just after a large group of South West Road Runners.

Pier-ing at the course from a different angle

Afterwards we had a lovely hour or so admiring the sea view, visiting the section of pier that was open, and enjoying the amazing play park. Definitely a great one to take kids to.

While the route wasn’t entirely what I expected, it was still a very enjoyable run. Being by the sea was great, although it’s fair to say my passenger had more chance to admire the views than I did. Definitely a great location for an extended visit. I’d love to visit again when the event has had a bit more chance to bed down (and our daughter wants to go to the park again), but there are so many places left to visit that who knows!

parkrun tourism: Street parkrun

by Lolly

For the list-orientated type, parkrun tourism is a veritable treasure trove of opportunities. We’ve mentioned in the past our (very) long-term goal of becoming South West regionnaires (that’s every parkrun in the South West region), but along the way there are different counties to complete. When we did Shepton Mallet back in January it completed our Somer-set, but with a parkrun collection you’re never complete for long.

Street parkrun started in May 2018, and became the 3rd parkrun to feature on Longrun Meadow‘s “Other parkruns nearby” list. We’ve had it on our to-do list ever since, but it’s risen in priority since the start of the summer holidays as it requires neither the M5 or the A303 for us to get there. After 2 failed attempts (kids poorly, adults poorly), this weekend we were extra determined to make it.

Uncharacteristically, we actually left a few minutes earlier than planned. 5 minutes into the drive we realised my Garmin was still on charge and so we went back to get it and ended up running a more familiar 5 minutes late. Street parkrun takes place in the playing fields of Strode College Sports Centre. We were initially unsure if the sat nav had taken us the right way, but happily saw the familiar collection of running kit at the other end of the car park.

First running buggy assembled, I took it (and our son) over to the start, hoping to catch at least a bit of the first timers’ briefing, while Ben stayed with Lani as she decided whether to run or go in the buggy. I found the briefing on the other side of the playing courts, and typically was too late to get much course information. The safety warning at the end for rutted ground was pretty crucial though, particularly with a buggy.

Apparently there was a view of a well-known landmark. I genuinely didn’t notice.

Handily, at the end of the briefing someone said hello to me – it turned out that Al who we know from Longrun Meadow was also visiting that day. He confirmed that the course was 3 laps of fields. Just as I was starting to get worried about timing, Ben and Lani appeared having made the decision of no buggy.

Everyone moved the short distance to the start, which was a reasonably wide area on the grass. The briefing covered the usual basics, with more emphasis on being careful with the ground conditions. The start was a nice clear air-horn sound, which meant it was easily audible at the back of the pack. Not that the back was very far away, thanks to the wide starting patch.

And so we were off and dodging obstacles. At least that’s what it felt like, with the usual shuffling of people finding position combined with a few sports-related fixings. I was happily surprised with how good the surface was underfoot, and more importantly for me under-wheel. We were quickly at our first 90 degree turn to go along the top of the field, and despite fears to the contrary I found enough width amongst everyone to swing round.

The course sounds pretty awful on paper. Round two sides of one field. Through a gap to the next field. Round 2 and a half sides of the field. Out and back in the middle of the field. Round the other 1 and a half sides of the field. Back through the gap. Round remaining 2 sides of first field. Do this again twice, then straight on to finish. See? Really not appealing.

A map from my Strava. Because my route description could use some work.

Strangely, though, it works. One of the beauties of visiting different parkrun locations is you see the wide variety of ways that you can do 5k. Running with the buggy I found that the many turns broke it up into manageable sections. There was a slight gradient, and so for one side in each field I could relax a little as the buggy gained a bit of downhill momentum. It was a welcome let-off, as the rutted grass was otherwise relentless.

The back-and-forth nature of the course made it a very sociable event. It was easy for me to keep track of where Ben and Lani were, with having several reference points. There were also a surprisingly large number of marshals, with one at pretty much every turn. I don’t know if they will reduce the number slightly as the event beds in more, or if it’s felt the number is right. The marshals were very encouraging, several with jingle bells, and also helpful in pointing out the worst of the terrain.

Inevitably on a 3 lap course, I was lapped reasonably early on. I tried to stick obviously to one side, as I was a bit worried about the width in places. It all worked ok though, with one runner passing me on the narrowest bit with no issues. And I didn’t even take anyone out while going round the corners.

At least he’s too young to ask if we’re nearly there yet

As is my standard, I’d saved a little for a faster finish. Unfortunately there was someone relatively close in front of me, and it became clear that if I kept going I would either hit them or the route markers, so I didn’t go as fast as I could have. The finish funnel was a little on the narrow side for a buggy, but wider than it first appeared.

I collected my finish token, and had a chat with the volunteers about my barcode placement (I keep it on an extra hairband in my hair). After a quick chat with Al, I headed to the car to pick up Lani’s barcode wristband, which had been left there in all the indecision. The ease of pushing the buggy across the playing courts instead of the grass added an extra spring to my step.

All that was then left to do was chat to some more people near the finish, cheer people in, and wait to watch Ben and Lani finish. Which they did 4 minutes faster than the previous time Lani had done a 5k parkrun.

Determined finisher

For most of the year there is a cafe in the sports centre, but it was closed due the summer holidays. The other sports facilities were still available, including free to use showers. Unsurprisingly, though, we were in need of post-run refreshments. So we headed over to Clarks Village for food and shoe shopping.

Street parkrun was a pleasant surprise for me, and a good reminder that the paper description doesn’t mean everything. The community feel was particularly good for such a young parkrun. I’d be interested to see how the fields cope over the winter, and was definitely pleased that we went in such good conditions. We could well be back to this one though… probably the next time the kids grow out of their shoes!

parkrun tourism: Shepton Mallet parkrun

by Ben

At around 9 am on New Year’s Day, we had no plans to parkrun. Long ago, we’d been talking about doing a double, but neither of us were in any state of running fitness to complete 10k in one day. We had discussed the possibility of going down to Killerton for Lolly to repeat at 9:30, but we never really got our stuff together in time for it.

At around 9:05; I mentioned the possibility that maybe we could both run at Shepton Mallet – a buggy each. Shepton Mallet parkrun is about a 55-minute drive from us and was starting at 10:30. Making the decision, more or less out of the blue, to go just 85 minutes beforehand probably wouldn’t be too unreasonable for most parkrun tourists. But when you have to pack not only yourselves and your running gear, but also two small children, two buggies, changing gear for the youngest of the two, and all the other ancillary rubbish that goes with small children, it really was a crazy decision.

But then, that’s probably what we do best.

Somehow, we managed to get ready in pretty much 15 minutes, thanks mostly to the fact that our 4-year-old daughter decided she would put clothes on – if that decision had gone the other way, we might still now be trying to wheedle with her.

As we got closer to Shepton Mallet… it started to rain. Just another thing to make the experience a little bit more stressful! We arrived to pretty light rain, in which I had to try and remember how the rain-covers for each of the two buggies worked (differently, of course!) By the time I had got both children into their buggies, the eldest had decided that she would like to go home now, thank you. Well, of course she did!

We hadn’t really done much research on the course: we knew it was three-laps, allowed buggies, and was mostly tarmac. We rushed down to the start, and more or less only just got in place at the back of the crowd in time to begin…

A blurry two buggy start.

… Which turned out to be less than ideal. The course started by winding its way along a narrow path, including a corkscrew-esque uphill hairpin bend. Throughout most of the course, it is run on narrow tarmac paths with grass either side. Running with a buggy, this was a bit of a nightmare when starting from the back – I got out onto the grass early to pass a few people, but it was seriously slippy. If I have one recommendation for this parkrun, it is to make sure you start according to pace!

Still, after continuing up the hill a bit further, we went along a short (10 metres maybe?) muddy, tree-root riddled section, and then were on a nice wide path. Or at least, it seemed nice and wide, until someone yelled: “lead runners coming!” So, the bit where I said I hadn’t done much research on the course? Yeah, hadn’t realised that there was a really long out-and-back. So now, while trying to pass people, I’m also having to try and stay out of the way of the quicker runners coming back the other way.

Out-and-back stint navigated, we dropped back down the hill, quite sharply, and ran next to the pond for a few metres. It’s probably pretty scenic most of the time, but by now it as pretty much torrential rain. My daughter kept trying to talk to me through the rain-cover, but I frankly couldn’t hear a thing, so I just kept saying “Yeah” from time to time, and crossed my fingers that I wasn’t agreeing to anything too expensive. Not that I could actually cross my fingers, as they were numb with the wet and cold.

Another climb followed, up towards the car park we’d arrived from, before the course dropped back down to the start/finish area, past a little shelter full of huddled, cheering spectators. And repeat. And repeat.

As usual, I was able to make better headway through the field as it spread out, but the out-and-back section was even trickier second time around, as I was trying to pass people, while being wary of runners coming the other way (some of whom were trying to pass each other) and also paying attention to those lead runners who were by now lapping me. So just the potential for three abreast each way. On a path wide enough for… well, three.

Having started as the fourth of five buggies (Lolly being the fifth), I somehow made it through the finish as the first buggy, though it involved something of a quick final half a lap! I was slightly surprised halfway through the second lap to hear a cheer of “Go on Ben.” After checking a couple of times that I wasn’t wearing anything with my name on it, I paid more attention and realised that it was Joanne, who I know from Twitter, and I’d met before at her home event of Kingsway.

The finish funnel was pretty narrow – I’m not sure that a double buggy would have fit down it at all, and I had to slow quite dramatically and basically walk over the finish line – but this might have been forced on them by the wet conditions making the grass so muddy. Despite the weather, the support from the marshals and other supporters around the course was superb. After finishing, we hung around just ahead of the finish funnel to wait for Lolly – though I did get told off by a passer-by for asking my daughter if she “could see Mummy yet” – less of the “yet” apparently!

This photo really doesn’t convey quite how soaked through we were…

Due to the weather, no one was hanging around for a chat, and we proved no exception: after getting a photo by the pond, we got back to the car as quickly as we could.

I always find parkrun on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day to be a little bit special. The atmosphere is different to a normal parkrun – there seems to be an even greater sense of community than usual. (And there is usually quite a lot anyway.) I think it probably comes from the fact that we all feel a little loony for being out running when most other people (even more than usual) are doing anything but.

Now… where’s next?