Team Armstrong

When I started running, it was with Family. Kim and Alan guided me from being someone who could barely stagger 1k, to completing 10k within 6 weeks (that's 1k to 10k in six weeks, it didn't take me 10 weeks to run 10k.) I ran my first race (Bupa Manchester 10k) with them and still do run with them regularly.

 

Not long into my parkrun 'life' I was already telling anyone who would listen about the wonder that was a weekly timed 5k, and I happened to mention it to Kev who works for Armstrong.

 

Not long afterwards, I stopped going to parkrun, I hadn't quite built the habit of parkrunday.

 

It was only in a chance conversation a couple of months later that I realised that some of Kev's colleagues had started parkrunning. I turned up the following week, but they weren't there.

 

The following week they were though and I started to run with them weekly. Graham, Laura, Sally, Ian, Matt, Jonathan and Helen have all turned up, barcode in hand on a Saturday morning. Little did I know, but a lot of Armstrong staff are runners, and Team Armstrong run in races.

 

In 2012, Team Armstrong were running the Salford 10k and I was asked if I would like to join them as an honourary member. I was delighted and agreed, since then, I've been adopted and run with Team Armstrong members regularly either at parkrun, or in races.

 

This year we've taken on the Trafford 10k and the Chester Half Marathon, next week the Manchester 10k is on and then the We Luv Mancester 10k.

 

Team Armstrong is the reason I started parkrunning again, and running with friends makes it much more fun.

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parkrun tourism

After embracing the fantastic event that is Heaton Park parkrun fifteen times, it finally dawned on me that there were other events as well.

 

I live within easy reach of of Heaton Park, but I work in Wigan, and when one of the lads I work with said that he was going to join the parkrun ranks at Pennington Flash, I agreed to join him on his first run, well when I say join, I mean follow.

 

So Sally and I schlepped up there and I was a little nervous as I was in an unfamilar place, we didn't know the local customs, where the start line was or what the course was like. Needless to say, we were made welcome.

 

I'm sure that I'll return to Pennington parkrun at some point, so I'll do a post then, but for the time being all you need to know if that visiting another parkrun whetted my appetite to see what else was out there.

 

In the next three months, I managed to make it to South Manchester, Wythenshaw, Worsley Woods and Bolton taking my tally to Six different events.

 

Don't worry, Heaton Park will always be my home, but every single park has it's charms and unique features. Cruella the Hill at Bolton, the Views at Pennington, the Lake at South Manchester and the Platforms at Worsley Woods. no matter what though, every event is welcoming.

 

When I sat down to set some running goals for 2013, I wasn't sure what to do, but the first one that came to me was to aim to take on 12 courses which I hadn't done before, 12 new parks, 12 sets of new faces to meet and 12 different experiences. This year, Oldham, Bramhall and Princes have all been tackled. Burnley will be my 10th different event which is halfway to getting on the leaderboard (at least until the criteria is changed again) and I had to postpone Woodbank due to injury.

 

parkrun can be whatever you want to be. I have the utmost respect for anyone who takes part in parkrun and if you want to do every run at one event, more power to you. maybe you can't get to other events, or you're not as lucky as me to live in an area where several runs are in easy travelling distance.

 

I firmly believe though that travelling to another parkrun both makes you appreciate your home run more, but also opens you to another beautiful space you may not have otherwise visited.

 

So why not take the chance to be a tourist. Maybe your home run is off due to another event, maybe you're on holiday and there's a local parkrun, or maybe you can get to another place easily.

 

If you can, I'd be amazed if you regretted it.

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Only just recovered

I'll be honest with you, I love running on the whole, but I wasn't really looking to last Saturday or Sunday.

In the previous week, I had a taster session with a personal trainer at DW Fitness Wigan. The session with Matt was hard work, painful, sweaty and brilliant. I really enjoyed it, but was already starting to regret it by lunchtime on Wednesday, but Friday morning, my legs were in agony, my waist was aching and I was struggling to grip anything due to the pain in my hands. (yes, you read that right, my hands)

So it was with trepidation that I eased myself out of my car, On parkrunday, and ambled down to the start line. I was back at home in Heaton Park with my parkrun family after a few weeks of tourism with Team Armstrong (To come in a post soon) for a gentle jog. Graham, Laura and Karl were in attendance joined by Myself, Lauren and Lauren's cousin Meaghan. Sally and Matt were AWOL.

The weather behaved and I finished in just a touch under 35 minutes as I took it easy. Karl is coming back from an injury and Saturday was his first non treadmill run, I was proud to watch him cross the line in a decent time, OK he was in front of me.

The other reason for taking it easy on Saturday was that Laura and I were running the Chester Half Marathon on the Sunday morning and to be quite honest, I wasn't looking forward to it ... in fact I was pretty worried.

In September I ran the Great North Run and did a fair amount of training for it. I coped pretty well and managed to finish in 2:36. For this Half Marathon, I hurt my back in early April and I hadn't managed to prepare very well, in fact the last time I'd run more than 10k was back in early February, so whilst I felt like I could finish Chester, I wasn't 100% that I would, and I certainly wasn't expecting a decent time. anytime under 3:00 was a win.

Getting up at 05:45 on a Sunday morning is just wrong, getting in the car by 06:25 is bad and picking up Laura at 07:00 is just antisocial, doing all three is an affront to anyone who just wants to be lazy. However, we rolled onto Chester Racecourse about 08:15 and by 08:55 we were stood on the start line.

Well, I say the start line, we were back in the Over 02:30 section at the back, it took us almost 7 minutes to reach the start line.

I won't say too much about my own race, I was under prepared and understandably didn't cope too well with the course, however, it was a great event, lots of people out on the course to support the runners, great camerarderie between the participants and the weather was about right being slightly overcast and not too rainy.

I finished in 2:41. If you'd have offered me that before the race, I'd have ripped your arm off. I didn't enjoy this half as much as the Great North Run, probably due to the lack of Prep and less support out on the course. I'm considering sticking to 10k as a maximum from now on.

Laura managed a great time of 2:22, I was really proud of her.

I'm obviously a runner now though because by Tuesday morning my legs were recovered.

This week, Burnley parkrun.

 

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Heaton Park parkrun

Heaton Park is my parkrun home, it's where parkrun all started for me. Luckily as somewhere I've been visiting for the last 37 years, it's also one of my favourite places to be.

The course at Heaton Park is challenging, it features multiple types of terrain and different gradients.

parkrunners flood across the park from the many entrances, the average attendance in decent weather is now over 400. It can be pretty busy as it gets towards 9am.

The gathering place is in front of the Lions at the front of Heaton Hall, Rick, Duncan, Bernie and Damien are the core event team who make sure it goes ahead. Barbara does a brief for any HP First timers at about 08:45 and then one of the core team does the Pre run brief.

From the collection point, we move 50 meters up towards the orangery, and with a GO! we're off. (1)

The course is approximately 87% on Tarmac (@parkrun_danny likes these kind of stats) and The first 90 degree corner (2) can be difficult with the number of runners jostling for position. Everyone then swings around the back of the hall and onto the long downhill stretch. We go past the stables on our right, (3) then the paddocks on the same side and after reaching the bottom of the hill (4), a slight uphill brings us the 1k marker.

After a wave to the Marshall stationed at this point (5), a sharp left gives us the beautiful view out across the lake to our right and we pass the cafe to our left (Where the run used to start and finish) as we head up the slight incline and cross the tram tracks, you can see those runners ahead who are climbing the bottom of Angina Hill for the first time. The road continues to wiggle left and right, past the gate from the back of the lake (6), trees and grass to the bottom of the aforementioned hill.

Many parkruns have hills, some are small, some large, some grassy, others disguise themselves, Angina Hill at Heaton Park is out on its own. It's not massively long, it's not massively steep, but it's a challenge every single time you face it and you face it one and a third times every time you tackle Heaton Park parkrun.

There's usually a big puddle at the bottom of Angina Hill (7) just as you come up to turn left onto it, so most runners take a slightly wider turn, but as you come around the bend, you know it's a hill, then as you get past the trees at the bottom of the hill the incline makes itself known. But it's not too bad, this time we're only running about a third of it. Another wave to another marshall, and we're turning left (8) down the hill and then back up the incline through the copse. Halfway through here there's a crossroads (9) with the 2k marker and usually someone with a stopwatch shouting out times and encouragement to runners.

Uphill out of the copse and then a steep downhill back to point 4 again, that slight incline again and back up to 5 but this time, instead of turning left, we bear right and commence our tour of the least well paved part of the route. there's Tarmac here on the route out to the furthest part of the course, but it's a little broken. There's usually a Marshall at the furthest point (10) cheering people on, but we turn left, leaving the Tarmac, and heading 'off road' onto a dirt track, this heads towards the lake and the 3k marker. (11)

At this point, you might not be aware, but you're rounding the lake, some runners head up and over the car park, but that's only because they obviously know something you don't. Unless it's been very, very sunny, there are going to be large puddles around the back of the lake, and you can either edge around the sides, or save some time and go straight through the middle.

Following the puddles, a leisurely jog under a canopy of trees is only tempered by the thought of the upcoming scaling of the entirety of Angina Hill,

When you reach the gate at point 6 again, you turn right and head past the puddle at 7 to the bottom of Angina Hill. I've seen many fit people end up walking on Angina Hill, New runners at Heaton find it to be one of the last parts they master, but the feeling when you've run all of the way up it is uplifting. The 4k marker is about 3/4 of the way up and there's usually a Marshall at the top (12) who is encouraging you for the last 900 metres.

The next section is a mixture of pleasure and pain. Pain because of the hill you've just suffered up, and the incline in front of you and pleasure because you're on the final stretch.

The next section (13) affords beautiful views over the Heaton Park Golf Course and Manchester as you round a few corners and crest the final hill (14) by the highest point of Manchester for a sprint to the finish in front of the lions. (15)

From here you join the queue to be scanned and take in the fantastic view out over Manchester.

Having done this course many times, I love the variety of the route. Hopefully we'll see some of you soon.

 

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Frustration 5:42

Following on from my post about injury, it was with a heavy heart I left the house this morning to attend parkrun.

 

I had planned to go to Woodbank, but the injury to my back, which I sustained on Monday, has not recovered to the extent where I was able to run 5k this morning, so I opted to volunteer at Heaton Park parkrun.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy volunteering. It's a chance to see another side of the events,but the only parkrunday I'd missed in 2013 was due to a snowed off Heaton Park parkrun, so missing another was frustrating to say the least even though it was the right decision.

 

I'm also due to run a Half Marathon in 5 weeks, so it's frustrating that I can't run at the moment with that looming.

 

Upon turning up at the Lions, the weather was gorgeous and Bernie and Damien were expecting a record turnout.

 

Marshalling was the role I was assigned, and I was asked to go to the 2km marker and shout out times to the runners so that those who were running 'naked' could have an idea how they were getting on.

 

Waiting a the start line, I started the stop watch as Bernie shouted 'Go' and then made my way down to the right point, which is a crossroad in paths beneath a copse of trees. And waited.

 

The first runner blasted through at 5:42, well on target for a good time, and to the best of my ability, for the next 13 minutes, I did my best to both inform people of the time since the start and encourage the runners on to enjoy their outing.

 

It was a different role to that which I'd carried out before and gave me another different view.

 

Hopefully I can do a gentle run next week for parkrun

I other news, Graham ran a palindromic 24:42 and Laura ran with her friend Michael at just over 31 minutes.

 

 

 

 

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Parkrun Fans Blog

So the idea for this blog was actually inspired by someone else's. Diary of a parkrunner is about my experiences around parkrun and the parkruns I visit

Ian Wilkinson over at http://parkrunfans.blogspot.co.uk/ does all kinds of interesting types of posts, but his blog is about parkrun in general including Stats, run reports, information about volunteering and the like.

Go check it out, it's worth the time.

Bolton Parkrun - Leverhulme Park

After a few weeks at Heaton Park, Graham and I took the opportunity whilst some of our more illustrious colleagues from Team Armstrong were otherwise engaged (Broken Leg, On Holiday, Coming back from Injury, CBA getting out of bed...) to engage in a little bit of parkrun tourism.

At over 8 months since I last visited, it was nice to return. The beast of a hill (X2) was still in my thoughts as I drove in, but there had been a whisper of a course change and an additional hill. I was a little apprehensive, but how bad could it be?

Bolton parkrun is set in Leverhulme park which is not far off the M66, it's easy to get to and it's a nice size. The course takes you over a number of terrains including running track, dirt tracks and tarmac, and hosts Athletics and Football

Starting on the Running track means you get a nice easy first 450 metres, but believe me, you're being lulled into a false sense of security, even after the the running track everything's either flat or downhill until just after the 1K to make you think it's easy.

You leave the running track (1) and turn right, dropping downhill a little and heading around the 5 a side pitches on a dirt track, then after avoiding the wooden posts (2) you head through a relatively steep tree covered downhill stretch. I'm not the fastest of runners, but this section is quite tight and I got stuck behind a few people which didn't allow me to stretch out downhill as much as I would have liked.

When you reach the bottom of that hill (3), you wave at the marshall and turn right to start the first of two loops. You drop a little further and hit 1K (4). this is the lowest point of the course. From here you run along another dirt track through some fields. at the end of this path there is a hill looming. The first time I did Bolton, I'd been warned about the ascent, but until you see it, there's nothing which can prepare you.

So at the other end of the field, you turn left. The terrain here is a cross between steps and uphill (5), they're awkward and hard to navigate, but then at the top of the steps you turn the corner left and see this...

This is THE hill which people talk about, and the picture does not show the entire hill, just what you can see as you turn the corner. as you get to the top of what is shown in this picture, the steepness continues with a twist to the right and a bear to the left as it levels off again (6). What I didn't notice whilst running is there was still snow on the ground at the top.

You then continue on the flat, there's a nice chicane (7) which you try to traverse whilst your legs are still recovering from THE Hill. you then reach a left hand turn (8) and it's down a hill again. This one is quite awkward as the gradient is quite steep and the ground is a mixture of broken tarmac and dirt track and footing can be difficult. at the bottom, you reach point 3 again. The marshall is still there cheering people on, and you're pointed in the direction of another full loop from points 3 through 8, if you through that THE Hill was sapping the first time, the second time is even harder, then as you drop down from 8 to 3 the second time, you're directed (by marhalls performing like those on a runway with aircraft) back up the hill to point 2. Climbing this hill was a lot harder than I expected. Due to having to hold back on the way down, I hadn't adequately assessed it's steepness, so by the time I got to point 2 again, I was really struggling.

At this point you head off to a T junction (9) and turn left back onto Tarmac. I know this bit from last time I ran at Bolton, it's an out and back, you stay to the left and watch people who are in front of you coming the other way as they close in on the finish.

You reach the furthest point (10) and turn around. at this point I should have been comfortably upping the pace for a good finish, but the three hills had really taken it out of me and I was struggling to just keep going, it's always good at this point to try and encourage those running the other way to keep going. Back at point 9, there's a small uphill and a turn back onto the running track at point 1.

From here it's about 200 metres to the finish on the nice even surface.

I can honestly say that Bolton was hard on the old course, but with the new extra hill, it's tougher, as the parkrun show might even say, it's yorkshire tough (Except it's the right side of the Pennines) I thought Oldham was hard recently, but Bolton was the hardest I've done... Yet!

My thoughts on Bolton parkrun, probably come across as quite negative, this is down to how tough I found it. I suppose if you're running it every week, it becomes a bit easier. I don't think I'll ever complain about Angina Hill ever again. It's rare that I'd say 'never again' but this morning I did.

As always my thanks go to the Run organisers and the marshalls who did an excellent job and made everyone feel welcome.

Woodbank Parkrun next week.

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How do you describe Parkrun?

I'm the same as anyone who is passionate about parkrun, If you go near any of the following topics:

- You want to start running?
- You ask what are I'm doing at the weekend?
- how's my running going?
- You've signed up for the Race for Life?
- You've signed up for a 10k run?
- You want to get fitter?
- Hello Geoff?

I'll be off, and you'll struggle to stop me talking about parkrun.

The most difficult thing though is how to describe parkrun.

I usually start with "It's a weekly run" and from there I try to remember to cover the following topics

- It's free
- It's fun (People doubt you)
- It's not about winning, it's about achieving your own goals
- It's a way to meet people, many will be like minded
- it's not a race, the only person you're competing with is yourself
- it's terribly addictive
- There's probably a parkrun somewhere near you

Is that all fair? Is there anything you'd add? how do you describe parkrun?

23rd of March, Heaton Park

Waking up to snow always makes me tense as to whether parkrun will go ahead.

Heaton Park's course is mostly on Tarmac, so it can be slippy. Worsley Woods is a great course in colder conditions because the paths are either stones, or dirt, so provide a little more traction. It always pops into my mind as the weather gets colder.

Bernie was sat at the gates, waiting to get in at the crack of dawn and quickly confirmed on Facebook that Heaton Park was on; Phew.

Headed up and saw Laura and Graham at the start waiting for me. I've been running with Graham, Laura and Sally (Plus the occasional other member of team Armstrong) for over a year at parkrun and the occasional race.

Since we started running together, Graham's time has dropped from over 28 minutes to 24, and Laura has streaked from mid 30s to sub 29 minutes. Both have come on leaps and bounds in a year.

The Course was fairly clear, and it was nice to run with someone for a change as they usually all leave me at the start, Laura's running the Wilmslow Half tomorrow, so she slummed it near the back with me.

I took it a little easy because of the weather, but managed approximately 32:30 which I'll take.

A satisfactory run.

So, How did I find parkrun?

To be honest with you, I'm not really sure. I have vague recollections about how I found it, but nothing concrete. I do remember the first time I attended though.

I'd been running for a couple of years with my Brother and Sister in Law. My interest had waxed and waned due to one thing and another. I suspect I was googling something and came across this weekly 5k at Heaton Park (one of my favourite places) which was called parkrun. All you had to do was sign up on their website and you could run for free with others whilst being timed.
I do remember being hesitant, and that even though I signed up straight away, it took me a few weeks to visit for the first time.

My first visit was on the 21st of May 2011. In the previous 2 years, I had run the Trafford 10k and the Manchester 10k, so I'd raced before. I knew the deal, or did I?

Timing Chips are one thing, but how would they work the barcode angle? Would each person start, one by one so that they could be scanned off the start line and at the finish line? My mind couldn't work that one out.
So after a read through on the website the evening before, I drove up to the park, parked behind the lake and wandered over to the start line which was in front of the Cafe at that time.

The briefing was quick (There were less people there then, and we were off.
Man, that first 5k hurt. I'd done 5k before, in fact I'd run 10k regularly, but there's something about a parkrun which tests you every single time you run.

The first 1k was to challenge, past the lake, up a bit of a hill, through the copse and back past the start. Not too bad. Then I realised that the bit of a hill was 1/3 of a bigger hill I was about to tackle, I later came to know the a
name of that Hill, they call it Angina and with good reason. Now that was horrid for weeks.

The next part was my favourite on the old course though, running across the front of Heaton Park, looking out to the right over Manchester, WHAT. A. VIEW. On a lovely Saturday morning.

Around past the Golf Course, then down the gradual hill, around the back of the lake and back to the finish in front of the cafe.

I won't lie to you, on that first visit I walked 4 times, it was only on my 8th run. that I finally managed the whole 5k without walking.

I completed the course in 37:54, and achieved position 245, quite near the back. but the seed was kinda sowed.

in 2011 though, I only managed 6 parkruns. I didn't catch the bug just then.