parkrun Tourism: Preston #27: 21/1/2023

 

It’s definitely been a case of in the best laid plans of mice and men and parkrun, that my tourism hasn’t gone particularly well recently. Last weekend I was due to go to Ormskirk for a Fibonacci number, but my car needed emergency repairs instead. Oh well it will happen sometime! On Friday night, I looked at my map on the 5K app and thought I really need to get rid of that annoying gap which is Preston. I have twice previously tried to get to Preston: the first time a trip was cancelled due to a friend’s illness. The last attempt it was iced up. 

This morning then I finally set off to take part at Preston. Previously, I had been advised on a great place to park which was free from fellow tourists. From there it was a relatively short walk to the start and finish area and on the way I met a couple of locals who gave me some advice about the parkrun which was lovely. One of the great things about Preston parkrun is that the toilets were freshly cleaned just before I arrived and they were free. Then it was time to chat to other parkrunners including in the lovely, run director and fellow tourists up from Crosby parkrun. 

We had a 1st timers’ briefing, which explained about the three laps of the park and gave us the safety warning about the flag post on the top. It was then time to try and work out where the back of the pack was for the start as they were over 400 people taking part. A quick countdown and we were off. It was a slow start due to the large number of runners, which meant that on the first hill, I had a very good excuse for walking as I couldn’t really run. 

Once we reach the top of the hill and people can start going down, the field spread out quite rapidly, which left plenty of room for me to do my run walk strategy. There were plenty friendly and encouraging marshals as we went round and I was with a few runners for the whole of the route as we were a very similar pace which was nice. We were lapped by the faster runners before we had crossed the start line after a first lap, but they were pretty speedy. 

I enjoyed my three laps and a little sprint finish. After I’d finished, I checked out the café, which is currently only serving hot drinks and cakes (which were very tasty!). And chatted to the lovely tourists from Crosby parkrun who have invited me to come down and check out their beachfront event, which includes the Antony Gormley statues one of my future venues as I work my way down through Lancashire.

parkrun Tourism: Witton #26: 21/1/2023

When my alarm went off at 6:30 this morning, I did question my sanity in having a hobby that involves getting up so early on a Saturday morning. Tourism is not for the faint-hearted when you have to travel for an hour or more just to run 5 km in some random place. However, there are plenty of us that to do this so maybe we can’t all be mad?

Yesterday I had hoped to visit one of my NENDYs (that’s my nearest not done yet parkrun) but as I went online I discovered the 1st at Preston was cancelled due to ice and then Skipton was also cancelled. What to do? Luckily for me Witton parkrun turned out to be only an hour or just under away and they told me on Facebook that they would be on this morning.

parkrun Tourism: Workington #19: 25/6/2022

Video at the bottom.

When I first attempted to complete all the Cumbrian parkruns, it was the two West coast ones that I didn't get to due to travel time. Due to all the lakes and fells you have to take a long way round and it took me well over an hour to get to Workington leisure centre to park my car. Signs then took me over the river Derwent to the start on the far side:

Being a long established parkrun (June 2013) there were was plenty of signage to show that you were in the right place:

parkrun Tourism: Talkin Tarn Country Park (Brampton) #18: 4/6/2022

 

On June the 4th, I headed up to Talkin Tarn Country Park outside of Brampton in the north of Cumbria. This was a bit of an adventure as I had only been up this way when visiting Hadrian's Wall. There was ample parking and a free parking permit for parkrunners. After over an hour of driving it was a relief to have plenty of decent loos too! I should have checked the parkrun's Facebook page to know that it was a special Jubilee event and they even had the Brampton town crier as starter and marshal:

The course is a two lapper and it starts inside the woodland. This made for quite a congested start as there was a large touring group from the NE. I had to walk for the first minute. My video of the run is here.

parkrun Tourism: Fleetwood Promenade #17: 12/2/2022

It has been too long since I updated my blog so I am catching up! Back on the 12th of February I had an early start on a cold, wet day to get to Fleetwood Promenade parkrun. I wasn't sure I had found it at first as I was quite early and not many folks were around!

The course runs along the sea front and is there and back again along the path. As I was there on a wet day I didn't manage to take pics and my video ended up being rubbish... I may have to go back one sunny day!

With having only just got out of my ankle brace I was pleased with the time:

Fleetwood Promenade parkrun

12/02/2022

20

60

34:55

48.59%

The run was my NENDY and filled out that annoying gap on my parkrun map!

parkrun Tourism: Blackpool - #16

 

As I was going down to Blackpool to video the Mid Lancs XC I decided to get up extra early and so the parkrun first. In fact I got to Stanley Park in time to catch an amazing sunrise:

I was made very welcome before we all set off along the B route (avian flu stopping normal lake laps):

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A post shared by Becky Willoughby (@lakessinglemum)

As it was a flat route I felt very comfortable and in fact had to slow down a few times as I hadn't planned on running a fast one! In the end I came in with an official finish time of 34:20 which was 4 minutes and 14 seconds faster than on New Year's Day... yes that course is hillier but it was a real sign that my fitness is improving. 2022 is now faster than 2021 for me at parkrun but its still my 2nd worst year (so far):

Kicking off 2022

 

Having neglected my blog for most of 2021, too much TikTok, its time to kick start it again! At some point I will have to update the highlights of last year. But meantime I am starting 2022 as I mean to go on:

I headed to Fell Foot park for a 9 am parkrun to start the year right. Then I joined in the official New Year's Day swim (it was a refreshing 5C!). 

No resolutions for me this year I am just challenging myself to do things that will help my physical and mental health:

First up is RED January 2022 to make sure I do something active every day. With my running I am looking at chipping away at the time I set at Fell Foot this morning (coming back from injury). Finally its about time I increased my tally of Wainwrights from a pathetic 5 to get more of the 214 ticked off.

To keep me accountable I have the colour in daily chart, the tick off map and I am using Conqueror challenges (10% off via link!) to reward myself. I will do a monthly update but keep an eye on my Facebook and Instagram to follow more closely.

Garden Party #R2BC

It is Thursday so it's time to share the things that have made you happy this week.  I need cheering up this evening so looking forward to your posts. Thanks for everyone who joined in last week. For anyone new to the linky we have a few relaxed instructions: 

 

What do you have to do? Simple: 

1. Link up a post about something that is making you happy or grateful. It can be a list, photos or any way you fancy 

2. Add the #R2BC badge (at the end of this post) onto your post or blog so that people can easily find the linky and join in too if they want to 

3. Share the love. This is the really important bit. Please don't just link and run, comment on at least a couple of posts and why not share with #R2BC too? 

I'll stop by all linked up posts to comment and I'll share on social media too. 

Meanwhile here are my reasons to be cheerful for this week: 

1) Gardener Round

The relaxed rules meant I could have my gardener round. Bonus is that my gardener is my mum and I only pay her in cups of tea, biscuits and ice cream:

I did do some work myself when she had gone and it looks a lot better:

@lakessinglemum

Front garden rescue ##garden ##gardening ##fyp ##over30 ##over40 ##mumsoftiktok

♬ Wait - Chantel Jeffries

2) A splash of colour

Inspired by the front garden I tackled the back. I even dug out a new to me flower bed on the bit of grass that sloped annoyingly:

@lakessinglemum

Some work on the back garden too ##garden ##gardening ##fyp ##over30 ##over40 ##mumsoftiktok

♬ Tell Me - Marshmello

3) New Fridge Freezer

My pre-loved fridge freezer, that I have had for 5 years, finally stopped being good enough for use for us. So I bit the bullet and bought a new one for the first time in 20 years:

Running in circles and painting the loo blue - Day 30

This morning was parkrun today so I tried out an improved gardenrun with less corners and using indoor tracking. It gave me a much more realistic 35 minute time:

@lakessinglemum My gardenrun this morning ##bennyhill ##gardenrun ##loveparkrun ##running ##fyp ##over40 ##mumsoftiktok
♬ Benny Hill Theme - TV Themes

I did the best I could to replicate a National Trust coffee and scones:

Then I had to go and get the shelves back up where I painted yesterday:

PJs and Synchronised Swimming - Day 23

As you may have noticed I have had a few manic days, so I decided to make sure today was a bit more relaxed! I started by experimenting with the water effect to create a synchronised swimming TikTok. Then I ran a shortened gardenrun in my PJs:

I had kept the run short partly because my son had asked to walk up our nearest hill the Helm:

Whilst up there I actually created a singing TikTok! All of the shenanigans are on my YouTube channel:

Running in circles - Day 2

So it was our second full day of being isolated at home. I am trying to make sure we don't get stuck in a rut - even if it is just 48 hours in! I obviously can't get out for a run and haven't got a treadmill so I decided to recreate a parkrun as gardenrun. Here is my first timers' briefing:

I have to say that 155 laps was mentally tough and I couldn't get up much speed either! It did make me feel better though (and entertained my neighbour!):

Yesterday my son seemed to be non-stop eating so after my run I cooked us both bacon and scrambled eggs which kept him going for longer. Then I had another virtual coffee morning with friends.

Run Mummy Run Challenge 2019 the results #RMRChallenge #FitB4Fifty

Way back in January I made my RMR challenge pledge with Run Mummy Run so it is time to see how I have done on my 3 pledges:

1) Run all 10 Cumbrian parkruns

This one started off so well with the New Year's Day Double at Barrow and Millom. I then combined my son's cross country with Penrith and visiting a relative in hospital with Ford (Ulverston). So i was looking good in January with 4/10 of complete.

I then had a couple of trips back to my home parkrun at Fell Foot. There was then a break due to other commitments and races and it wasn't until my son had a race at Threkeld that I managed to run Keswick parkrun.

It wasn't until the school holidays that I made it to Carlisle parkrun by combining it with our drive to Scotland. We then sneaked a cheeky Scottish parkrun in on our way home at Victoria park, Glasgow. My 9th different parkrun was not in Cumbria either as I ran at Dinton Pastures outside Reading whilst visiting friends.

My next Cumbrian parkrun (8/10) was Whinlatter in September, one of the hardest in the UK, which was stunning but tough. This left me with the two that are the hardest to get to due to the geography of Cumbria. I have decided that these have to wait for warmer weather and we can camp over the night before.

So to make up for it I ran 3 other parkruns which are either closer or near where we were visiting over the last 2 weeks: Tring, Morecambe Prom and Lancaster! That gave me a total of 13 different parkruns this year. In fact the only one on this image I didn't do this year us Lanhydrock:

2) Complete the Lakeland Trails 10 km series: Cartmel, Hawkshead, Helvellyn and Ullswater

Reasons to be Cheerful: Glorious Cumbria #R2BC

 
We had an impromptu camping trip on Friday night, had to make most of the weather, so I am once again posting in the evening. There has been plenty to make me smile this week:
1) A good training run
It was such a relief to get out and run my required 9 mile run on Sunday and enjoy virtually all of it! Not only that but a decent time bearing in mind it was rather hilly. Made for a big smile at the end of it:  

It's just as well things are going well as its getting so close to race day that my number turned up this week:

2) Skiddaw

The impromptu camping trip meant that my view last night looked like this:

I really want to get up this mountain before this time next year!

3) Quality Time

#FitB4Fifty End of Summer Update

Diet

I have just realised that I haven't done an update on my Fit before 50 campaign since June when I started the Mediterranean diet! Since the school holidays started at the end of July my diet went back to being a lot less healthy and I've been away quite a bit so my weight crept back up so I am trying to get back on the healthier eating again with school starting back tomorrow.

I will be dusting off the Blood Sugar Diet book (affiliate link) again  I've already lost some of the holiday gain so hope that getting more veg and fish in my diet again like this will help:

Manchester Half Training 

Before going to Wales for a fortnight I had managed to increase my long run to 7.5 miles:

Reasons to be Cheerful: End of Summer #R2BC

 
I am joining in a bit late again this week with Michelle for her last hosting of the linky as its now September (so I need to be more organised to host!). The end of the summer holidays and preparing to go back to school is whizzing by really fast but I have plenty of reasons to be cheerful:
1) Parkrun milestone
I was very pleased to be able to capture the moment one of the Fell Foot parkrun stalwarts Conrad completed his 200th parkrun. Despite being in his 80s he is there almost every week and often tail walks. Well done Conrad and here's to the next 200:

2) Fun Night

My daughter's support group had its annual BBQ and we both had a brilliant evening. Lots of fun and games and she helped a new member to feel very welcome. I nearly got banned from Pictionary for being too quick to get it right (it did help that I was sober as driving!):

3) A-pen-dectomy

My printer hadn't been working since the great room reshuffle and I was beginning to think I would have to fork out for a new one! Luckily with my dad's help I managed to get the printer apart and then discovered that a biro had wedged in the feed mechanism. As my dad said I had to perform an a-pen-dectomy with the tweezers to get the pen out:

Reasons to be Cheerful: Roses, blue skies and speeding up #R2BC

 
I may have to dig out my ark construction plans but I still have reasons to be cheerful! Michelle is having a week off so come and share the happiness with me instead:
1) Declutter
We had a much more successful car boot last Sunday. It's good to part with things we no longer need and add to the holiday kitty. Nice for me to see familiar faces and chat too!

2) Roses

I love this time of year as my roses are starting to hit their peak. Most of them are surviving the deluge too:

3) Blue skies

Unlike most of the UK we have actually had some blue sky this week! I made the most of the lovely weather on Sunday evening to take a little jog up to the castle:

#FitB4Fifty Update and Going Mediterranean

So we are nearly half way through the year so its time to evaluate my fit before 50 campaign! I wanted to run more and get into better shape this year. Signing up to the RMR Challenge has given me a lot of focus and I have certainly been running a lot more. 

Cumbrian parkrun

The first part of my challenge was to Run every Cumbrian parkrun. So far I have managed Barrow, Millom, Penrith, Ford Park (Ulverston), Fell Foot, and Keswick. This leaves me with the four from the North and West of the county: Whinlatter, Workington, Cockermouth, Carlisle. My times are definitely improving (Fell Foot winter course is the hilliest one I have done which increased my times briefly). Millom lived up to its muddy reputation and of course came after I'd already run Barrow:

Lakeland Trails

The second tier of my challenge is the Lakeland Trails 10 km series. I am half way there after a muddy Cartmel and a 12.7 km Hawkshead with coffin trail. I've also taken part in the Grasmere Gallop 10 km. My next two races in the series are October as I don't race in the heat of summer (if it ever gets hot this year!). Hopefully I can carry on building on my fitness this year to keep those times falling:

Reasons to be Cheerful: Better late than never! #R2BC

 
Its just as well I handed back to Michelle for April as technical hitches and a break means I'm 6 days late! It wasn't me having nothing to smile about and here are just some of my reasons to be cheerful this week:

1) Parkrun tourism

Thanks to my son running a race at Threkeld I managed to make it to my 6th out of 10 Cumbrian parkruns as part of my RMR Challenge. A lovely there and back again route along a disused railway. I chatted to some other lovely tourists and even realised I was in the same race as Carl Bell one of the current top UK fell runners!

2) Proud Mum #1

My son's race was the opening event of this year's FRA Juniors with my son having moved up an age category. Despite being one of the youngest he wasn't last and finished really strongly:

3) Proud Mum #2

There was no rest for my son as on the Sunday he tackled the Elterwater race up Silver Howe with slopes like this:

Reasons to be Cheerful: A spring in my step #R2BC

 
I enjoyed reading all your posts last week and the varied reasons to be cheerful. Its great to hear that this linky has a special place in your blogging week. My last week as host before handing back to Michelle for April. Here are some of my reasons to be cheerful this week:

1) Parkrun

I was so glad to get back to Fell Foot parkrun after too many weeks away. For most of the 4 laps I chatted to another mum and it got me up most of the hills! In fact I was my fastest on the route this year. My progress pic made me feel happy as well:

2) Spring is sprung

It felt so spring like at the start of the week and I've been enjoying my walks to and from work over the river:

At school we've enjoyed being outside and making the most of the sun whilst it lasts!

3) A long run in the country 

I made the most of a work free evening to lace up my trainers and join the sheep on the canal:

Turned into my fastest 10km for 2 years with 1 hour and 16 minutes despite doing 60:30 intervals:

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Amazing how much quicker I was by doing 60:30 intervals! #trailrunning #kendal

A post shared by Becky Willoughby (@lakessinglemum) on Mar 26, 2019 at 11:54am PDT

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