Tag Archives: buggy running

parkrun tourism: Salisbury

by Lolly

In our rough ‘plan’ of serial tourism, event 24 was pencilled in as Southwick Country Park. We’ve been to the area before and so are happy with the terrain for a week we need buggy tourism. It’s a reasonable distance away though, and the day before the intended trip we were feeling plain tired. Tourism seemed so unappealling. So we did the natural thing and opted to go for a parkrun even further from home.

Salisbury parkrun was chosen not for its hour and a half drive but for its social potential. We’d seen on Facebook that someone would be joining the Cowell Club (100 different events) there that weekend. Driving 10 minutes further each way to chat to some fellow tourists seemed well worth it.

On arrival at Churchill Gardens, which has its own car park, the venue failed its first test. Due to some vandalism the toilets were disgusting. However, that’s not something that will be the case every week, and there are alternative toilets in the retail park down the road. We made our way towards the start area (aka followed everyone else) and spotted various bits of path that were clearly part of the course.

The winter course at Salisbury is 4 laps entirely on tarmac paths. This didn’t seem particularly enticing, but then we’d been pleasantly surprised the last time we’d done a 4 lap course (Skipton). The new runners’ briefing confirmed that the most difficult part would be, in fact, keeping count of laps.

No wonder I get dodgy ankles

The route starts on a nice straight section, and then essentially follows the path around the edge of the park. With a multi-lap course the role of marshals is even more important – if one is grumpy then the impact is multiplied. Happily the marshals at Salisbury were cheery, and most of them were equipped with plastic hand clappers to help save their actual hands.

Laps 2 to 4 take a slightly different (read longer) route near the start, taking in more of the park’s interior. That and, you know, making up the distance. The park itself was nice enough to look at, with just about enough features to keep track of where you were in the lap.

Being lapped was inevitable. In fact, the first few finishers lapped me twice. It was pretty chaotic at times with so many people on different laps, and also demoralising each time a pacer lapped past. On a practical level, two 25 minute pacers running side-by-side also created an extra bit of congestion.

One of them noticed the camera near the end…

This was quite a sociable run for me. I spent part of the first lap talking to a lovely lady running with her twins in a buggy. Then for the latter half of the final lap I chatted to the 40 minute pacer – a lovely guy who it turns out is a fellow tourist.

Near the end of lap 4 the course peels off to finish inside the loop. Support at the finish line was pretty good. Salisbury pride themselves on being an inclusive parkrun – they have quite a few walkers and have also had a run/walk pacer. This means that slower runners feel less like the course is being taken down behind them.

I actually ran with people!

After a celebratory glass of bubbly (for Ben, not me) with the other tourists, we headed over to the nearby Starbucks. We were happy to discover that they offer a discount for parkrunners, and also that the social atmosphere continued post-run. I’m pretty sure it’s the longest we’ve ever stayed behind talking to people after a parkrun. And the second longest that we’ve spent driving back home…

parkrun tourism: Poole

by Lolly

Following back-to-back tourist weeks in Seaton and Falkirk, we took the sensible decision to get up really early and head to Poole. That’s right, the place that’s an hour and a half away from Taunton.

Things we knew before our visit: It’s a 2 lap course plus a little bit. They have high attendance. Loads of tourists have been there. It’s known as a PB course.

So, actually, quite a bit compared to how ignorant I often am!

We arrived at Poole Park in good time, and easily found our way to the cricket pavilion (with, you know, toilets). I was impressed to see a lamination station inside, so that people could get their printed barcodes laminated on the day. Shouts soon went up for the new runners’ briefing, so we followed the signs (!) and headed over.

Pavilion

The briefing started with an overview of the course so that us tourist types could be dismissed. This worked really well for us, and I suspect the smaller group size was also appreciated by the first timers. In similarly organised fashion, the main briefing was given via microphone and loud speaker. Looking around I started to get a feel for how many people were there.

We headed to the start, which was on a nice wide closed road within the park. The course winds its way around the large boating lake on a combination of closed roads and paths. The wide start area meant that the runners spread out reasonably quickly, restricting congestion issues to those times when you’re trying to overtake two people running together.

To my surprise I actually was overtaking a few people. However, as expected, when we were in the small section outside the park I started to be lapped. Not wanting to run crazily close to the lake (balance issues) there was a little bit of space next to me, and so I had the joy of being lapped on both sides at the same time which was a little intimidating.

Heading back into the park the slow and fast runners peeled off in different directions, as we started our second lap. After narrowly missing a (non-parkrun) roaming dog, I looked up and across the lake. The mass of runners spaced right around the edge of the lake made for quite an impressive sight.

Boating lake

At the end of the second lap the course turns to take a lap round the cricket pitch. After a cheer from my personal fan club I felt pretty strong finishing, something which hadn’t happened for a while. The finish funnel was very efficient, and then we were directed round the back of the pavilion to reach the scanners – not a big deal in my finish position but in the main pack it must make quite a difference.

It turned out attendance was slightly lower than normal that week at just over 580 runners. Unsurprisingly this gave me my biggest ever finish position number at 534. The course did live up to its speedy reputation though – it was my fastest time for 10 weeks and Ben managed a buggy PB.

parkrun tourism: Falkirk

by Lolly

“What’s the furthest you’ve ever travelled for a parkun?” A reasonably common question asked of parkrun tourists. For us the answer is probably Mount Edgcumbe, given we went away for the weekend specifically for parkrun. The answer is not Falkirk, because we were in town for a wedding and so only actually went 10 minutes down the road.

The first thing you notice when doing your first Scottish parkrun is the start time, as they start at 9:30. Extra sleeping time for some, but in our case extra time to kill in the hotel. We stretched things out long enough that we arrived at Callendar Park just before 9, and so took a slow amble towards the start. The next thing that we noticed was that it was very, very cold. There was even a van out gritting the paths. Good thing we’d joined the Most Events table the week before and so been able to purchase our Cow Cowls.

Hanging around near the start, one of the volunteers started chatting to us about the course. Really handily he ran there with a buggy, and so was able to give Ben some useful information. The main gist was that the course goes steadily up, then steadily down, then steeply up, then steadily down.

After a visit to the in-park toilets (yay) we started to de-layer, trying to work out what level of clothing would be appropriate. The de-layering was accompanied by adding additional layers to our long-suffering daughter, who wouldn’t exactly be warming up on the way round.

On a cold and frosty morning

The run briefing included an interactive shout-out for the golden “No barcode, no time” rule. There was last-minute further de-layering, and then we all walked over to the start. From my now-customary position at the back of the field I had plenty of time to take in the surroundings.

The run starts on solid gravel path, heading past a lake that was covered in mist. It then curves round onto more of a trail surface – still solid though – as the uphill climb starts. The climb that goes on forever. Or, you know, a mile. Which is basically the same thing. Still, the surroundings were beautiful, with trees and at least one small stream on the way up.

At around the mile mark the course splits into a loop, as the course is a weirdly shaped lollipop. Having taken the chance to enjoy the scenery, the first runner started heading back just before I got to the split. Not an unusual phenomenon these days!

For me, the next short section was the most enjoyable, as the path mostly flattened out but the woodland surroundings continued. I briefly fell into pace with another runner, giving the opportunity for a quick chat. And then the downhill started.

I learned something important in Falkirk: running downhill when pregnant puts pressure in all sorts of weird places. It was pretty uncomfortable, so I took it fairly easy. Things got worse as the terrain changed back to tarmac as the paths were icy. Downhill + icy path + distorted centre of gravity = extreme caution.

She was a bit cold…

Still, the downhill ended and the grit started, and there was a brief respite from obstacles. It was also a section of path that we’d walked on earlier on our way from the car park, so it was familiar. And I also knew what was next.

Heartbreak Hill is a defining feature of Falkirk parkrun, and was pretty much the only thing I’d heard about beforehand. Being of the speedy frame of mind I took the mature decision to not even attempt running, and just power-walk up the whole thing. Definitely the right choice. The hill eased off just before the marshal at the top, which was the perfect opportunity to start running again.

And so began the long downhill back to the start. The discomfort of heading downhill meant I had almost as much time to enjoy the scenery as I’d had on the way up. I couldn’t believe that no one had mentioned how nice the surroundings were. The trail path ended and it was back to the gravel to run alongside the no-longer-misty lake to the finish.

I wasn’t exactly warm either

We chatted with a few of the volunteers and then headed back to the car to drive to the nearby Orchard Hotel for a well-earned post-parkrun breakfast.

A surprisingly beautiful parkrun in a lovely park, with a friendly welcome. Can’t really ask for much more than that!

parkrun tourism: Seaton

by Lolly

We’ve done a fair bit of parkrun tourism this year and, as our tourism page is starting to show, have been a little neglectful when it comes to writing them up. So I’m turning over a new leaf and writing about Seaton parkrun within a few hours of its first event.

Inaugural parkrun tourism is a bit of a controversial topic, as in places like London it can completely overwhelm a new event. This is only the second time we’ve attended a first event (the other being Burnham and Highbridge), and in both cases it’s just happened to be a weekend that worked out well. Having said that, even with all the inaugural tourists today there were 188 finishers, so definitely a different scale to London!

Seaton parkrun is a two lap out-and-back course along the promenade. I realise that makes it sound boring, but stick with me! Having parked up in our ‘usual’ Seaton car park, we walked down to the prom and I was relieved to see toilets by the start/finish area. When you’re nearly halfway through pregnancy these things are crucial.

While we waited for the start, Ben had a trial of taking the buggy on the pebble beach, and determined it just wouldn’t work. One of the Event Directors spoke to us and confirmed our suspicions – that the course page shouldn’t have said buggies are welcome. She was very lovely about it, and Ben worked out a way to complete the course without having to take the buggy on the beach.

We crowded round for the run briefing, which I thought was very well done to balance the needs of both tourists and local first timers. I particularly liked that we were told to keep people around us quiet, as chatting during briefings gets annoying. Having bunched up into the crowd, we then had to fight our way to the back for the start. Ben because he had a buggy and me because… I wanted to give the others a chance?

As invariably happens starting at the back, I didn’t notice the start, so started my watch a little late. But we were off. First up is a short trip to the end of the prom, filled with shouts of “Keep left!” as runners started heading back the other way. The cones to turn around were nicely spaced, so that the turn wasn’t too sharp and it also naturally separated the two directions of runners.

Next task: run to the other end of the prom. The path is tarmac all the way, making it really easy to run on. Unsurprisingly, quite a way before I reached the other end there were runners heading back, but the path was wide enough (for the majority that were considerate) and it added to the atmosphere. Before long we’d reached the end of the prom path… only that’s not where the course turns round.

The final bit of the out-and-back is, in fact, on the pebble beach. Perfect time to take a little walk break. Although, even walking was hard work. Ben later confirmed that he had left the buggy with the last marshal on the path, taking the pebble section unaccompanied. Still, after the pebbles I felt a spring in my step returning to tarmac, and had no problem returning to a run (at my typical speedy pace).

The promenade path at Seaton is on the beach side of the sea wall. While on the way out we’d been running next to the wall, on the way back we were running next to a drop, beyond which was pebble beach and then glorious wavy sea. Faster runners started to overtake, and we were encouraged to keep as close to the left of the path as possible, which was a little tricky given the drop and my misplaced centre of gravity.

The backdrop

Going past the split for the finish, there was the nice feeling of (mostly) just having to do the same again… and knowing that no one else would lap me. As I trundled along to the first end I suddenly looked up at the beautiful cliffs, and realised quite how beautiful a location I was running in. I then encountered an incredibly rare hiccup in a well organised event, in that runners who had already finished were stood across the course. Sadly this is a common sight for slower parkrunners.

My trip back down the prom was spent admiring the views, thanking marshals, appreciating cheers from faster runners, and listening to the gushing waves. Gosh I was glad those toilets had been there. After successfully navigating the pebbles a second time, it was onto the home stretch to head back. I was joined for a short while by a very happy 3 year old, who I had to hand back to Ben before taking the split to the finish. Which is on the beach.

It didn’t seem right to walk so close to the end, so instead I just considerably slowed down. Then I heard people coming up behind me, and much as I take parkrun at my own pace I still hate being beaten to the line. So the last few metres may have been taken a little harder than planned. Ben’s tactic for this section had been to leave the buggy at the start of the beach, and then walk to the end with our long-suffering daughter.

Say “parkrun tourism”

Finish tokens and barcode scanning went very smoothly, and we had the chance to thank some more of the volunteers before heading to the nearby Pebbles cafe for post-run tea and milkshake.

The event was incredibly well organised, better than a fair few longer-running events we’ve been too. The atmosphere was brilliant. Every single marshal was smiling, clapping and cheering (sadly that’s not always the case). The runners were also great at cheering each other on – Ben in particular found he got a lot of encouragement (for being the nutter with the buggy).

So this brand new parkrun is very definitely on our recommend list, as long as you don’t run with either a dog or a buggy. Now, where to next?