Move from Home

View of Darwen Moor taken just up the road

Last year I was ill and had to take time off work for the first time in a decade. The hardest part of this period of my life was that life continued outside my front door. Jake was attending the races we would have gone to together. My body needed me to listen and slow down and I wasn’t. So it kept hurting and letting me down… until I stopped. Really stopped.

I tried to get back to running mid March and found myself with a sore knee. Determined to still be able to move I saw a physio. Diagnosed with weakness around my quad/hip which was causing the knee pain, I left with exercises in hand. At this point I realised my body was talking to me again… I knew I could use yoga to strengthen my body and mind and rule out the need to have any form of support.

Yoga every damn day… I rolled my mat out one morning before work and did 10 minutes. I felt good. Great, in fact. I found yoga helped me to stay happy with moving. I still do this over a year on.

As the year went by I still wasn’t fit or strong enough to run any great distance so I had to get creative. I got a bike in the summer holidays and chased Jake around but my main exercise was still yoga. I found it grounding, calming and empowering. I felt super strong and yet humbled by the flows and postures.

You may wonder where this is leading… move from home. There is absolutely no need for you to kill yourself with ridiculous at home workouts while we are in lockdown. You need to look after yourself. Try and listen to what your body wants, like I HAD to. We have time now to just rest and tune in to what your body is telling you it needs.

Garden weight and body weight workouts get me some fresh air and movement

You may want to yoga – I thoroughly recommend it! Maybe a walk, finding new paths near you. I still like to run; I’m sticking to once per week in place of parkrun. There are seated exercise classes on line, I sent my parents’ the link for one by Alice Liveing on Instagram but I think they were offended (“for older people”!). These last few weeks I have been trying out Barre classes as well as HIIT, body weight workouts and kettlebell circuits. I haven’t made a plan, I just try to listen to what my body needs that day. When my body needs a rest, I do.

Move if you want to, don’t if you don’t. You don’t have to come out of this any “better”, you just have to survive it. So be as kind to yourself as you would be to your best friend.

Remember, what’s online is everyone’s highlight reel. We see their good bits… yet we know our own good AND bad bits. Hence the infamous phrase “Comparison is the thief of joy”!

Wrapped in a blanket at the end of a kitchen yoga session 🧘🏼‍♀️

U is for… Upton Court

It’s been a while since I collected a letter for my parkrun alphabet and wrote about it. I am finding the writing quite cathartic, so there may be more to come! I may also branch out into my other love; maths.

I planned Upton House parkrun last year, however we ended up 150 miles north at the National Trust property rather than the parkrun. As you can imagine, take 2 at Upton Court was EXTENSIVELY researched using the uk parkrun tourists Facebook group! I found a Premier Inn for £58 for the weekend and booked us in. 

Upton Court is a lovely route, relatively flat and a good mix of grass and concrete paths. Despite the 2 recent storms the grass was holding up well when we wandered through the park on Friday afternoon.

Saturday morning was a balmy 12 degrees (with a fierce headwind in places) and we had a great run – points to note were:

• Start / finish is at the Rugby Club – easy to find and good facilities.
• To use the facilities you need to remove trainers.
• Water and cans are available for £1 – much needed Sprite powered me back to the hotel!
• The small extra field loop is only done on the first lap; this bit was quite a slog after the rain we’ve been having.
• There are parakeets in the park! Strange squawking from above had been intriguing me and we were rewarded with 2 in flight and 1 in a tree above us on our return jog!
• Cracking view of Windsor Castle on the route! We stopped off on our way back to get a picture.

Clearly not the first tourists to visit for a “U” as this was added to the normal any first timers and any tourists part of the first timers briefing… “Anyone here to collect their U?” About 8 hands go up, most of us looking sheepish…!

A great experience, another to add to the parks I’d love to return to. 

The numbers… 

9 runs in 2020

parkrun number 169

Event number  91 

U for the alphabet challenge (leaving just J,Q and Z)

U for the name challenge (leaving just R)

Off the Grid 🤘🏼

parkrun 🧡

Off the Grid

2 years now I’ve been “off the grid”,

The freedom, the rush, like lifting the lid

On a world of pretentious stats and excuses,

Who cares what the weather, the trainer she uses?

“Are you running?” they ask, deep in confusion,

“How can you be when we’ve not seen each inclusion,

Of your training log not forgetting the cool down”,

“Yes I’m still running”, and then watch them frown.

I’m running with friends who needed a chat,

And walking with mum, and sometimes my dad

I’m yoga twice weekly for strength and inner peace,

I’m swimming with my nephew, it’s easy on the knees,

I’m soaking up sunshine at Lytham St Anne’s,

Then up to Darwen tower, looking over the land

I’m riding my bike, chasing Jake up the hill,

I’m at parkrun when possible, despite the chill.

I am not a slave to those run titles you write,

I don’t care what you think of my parkrun time.

I run to the end of the street maybe more,

There’s so much more I’d like to explore.

You’re being reduced down to distance and paces,

I care not what I do once I’ve fastened my laces.

Maybe it’s time to make a fresh start,

No fuss and no drama just listen to your heart.

N is for…

For my first dabble back into parkrun tourism in 2019 I made the 62 minute journey to Northwich to meet my friend. This got me my “N” for the parkrun alphabet, “North” for the compass challenge and also (coincidentally) a 50 for parkrun bingo!

Parking is free and easy and it’s a nice undulating course on paths and trail and runs along a river/canal at one point – what’s not to love?! It was their 1st birthday so we were treated to bottles of water at the end! There was also cake aplenty but I’m the weird runner that doesn’t eat cake 🙋🏼‍♀️

Is it just me who loves listening to other people’s conversations at parkrun? Including dubious advice about hill running…

Put your head down AND look up

How on earth the 8 year old was supposed to follow that advice I’ll never know…

I also tied in a trip to IKEA, where I managed a PB! 15 minutes – I kid you not! I always sneak in the exit when I know exactly what I want!

All in all a very productive Saturday morning!

Y is for York

Y is for York… and Yes! 😄

My birthday choice was easy… I love York and haven’t been for a few years. I also narrowly missed out on a Y is for Yeovil parkrun at Easter due to a cancellation (another event taking place in the park)! 

Luckily my other half is parkrun mad too, and spotted the nice flat paved course around the race track and was sold on the idea ☺️

Things I took from my York parkrun experience:

• parkrun’s without toilets are fine as long as there are thick trees / bushes
• It is NOT ok to try to use them as a bathroom when they are so close to the start 
• Trampled nettles often spring back up 😱

So, those lessons aside… York was a great parkrun! It was my first in my new age category (youngest of the elderly ladies) and I was 1st my age, 4th lady overall. I also managed to get my fastest ever parkrun by 31 seconds, and a 5k PB by 6 seconds which I wasn’t expecting at all. I’m currently training for Manchester half and thought the miles in my legs would be detrimental to shorter races, but my speed sessions once per week must have helped with this. 

The other half was first finisher after a bit of a battle at the start, but he finished comfortably which is a great feeling. He also bagged a new fastest parkrun and 5k PB, amazing start to the weekend! 

We celebrated our PBs with gusto later that evening… and spent Sunday wandering the streets of York admiring the athletes at the York Marathon. 

Whilst in York we got our first Geocache! Could be another obsession to add to the list 😜

#loveparkrun 

50th different event #loveparkrun

“You’ve done 50 DIFFERENT parkrun’s?! Why?!”

“Because I can.”

I decided to invite my work colleagues to my 50th different parkrun and we chose Wilmslow. It’s nice paths and “not too many hills” swung it for us over the apparently grassy Cheadle Hulme.

6 of us made it on the day, and although no one ran a PB we enjoyed the course and will definitely be back to have another go!

As has become tradition since the cold and overcast day in February 2015, we left the run for a nice cooked breakfast. I opted for the smoked salmon and eggs for a change 😉

I set out to reach my 50th different event by the end of the year… and smashed that by May! So now my focus shifts to the Volunteer 25 milestone… I’m on 13 so far, and would love to reach 25 by the end of the year! Still on track to run my 100th by then too… basically collecting as many free t-shirts as possible! 😂

P is for PB (not Pendle)

“P isn’t for Pendle 😕…

But it’s a guaranteed PB 😍”

So it turns out that with 14 months training and a favourable course alteration (hill removal), a PB by over a minute is possible! 

I also managed to get a volunteering role as token sorter, which came with a free brew (black coffee, in case you were wondering…). I’m told the hospitality is always this good! 

I have now made plans to tackle 2 more of my remaining letters of the alphabet before the end of April (Valentine’s and Yeovil). I have also pencilled in some ideas for the rest, which include trips to Jersey and Poland (via Berlin). I’ve no time scale in mind for the full alphabet as there are 2 pretty big (cost, time etc) commutes involved, which will take some doing! Still, half the fun is in the planning, right?! 🤓

Currently on 70 runs at 45 different parkrun’s… #loveparkrun 

Francesca 🏃🏼‍♀️💕

G is for Gibside

“You should write a blog titled ‘G is for Gibside’ it would be a really good read!”

What other parkrun geeks say 🤓

Before Christmas, inspired by folk on the UK parkrun tourist FB group, I decided to make a plan to tackle the alphabet. To become a parkrun alphabeteer you have to complete one parkrun starting with each letter of the alphabet. X is currently un achievable, and Z is only available in Poland (Zary). Some I had already covered, quite by accident (see earlier post). I was pleased when I realised this was a good way to give some purpose to my parkrun tourism – which had been random and sporadic up until this point. 

My first missing letter was G. A quick search in the parkrun tourist tool revealed there were 2 in the North East – just in case one was cancelled! I searched for Premier Inn and Travelodges and the best deal was a £29 Premier Inn just north of Durham. I’d only briefly visited Durham once, and intended to return. So everything fell into place, on Valentine’s weekend 2017 – my 2 year parkrun anniversary 💕🏃🏼‍♀️

A busy week led to me packing at 11pm on the Friday, with my alarm set for 5am. I left plenty of time for my journey leaving at 5:45am for a 2:30 hour journey. Or so I thought. In future I will…

• Ensure I have enough fuel before I leave Blackburn 
• Not miss the last service junction for miles on the M6 when fuel computer says zero miles left in the tank
• Not panic and come off at the next junction even though there isn’t a fuel icon on the Sat Nav
• And I certainly won’t be driving on random country roads for 20 minutes in blizzard like conditions, heart racing through fear of being stranded.

Aside from the drama (my own fault!) the drive was pleasurable and I was suitably impressed when I arrived at the National Trust property. Free parking and a nice little jog to the start. Good toilet facilities, but the finish is away from the start so I opted to leave my bag in the car. 

The course was easily described using the NT map and I prepared myself mentally for the hills! I definitely appreciated my trail shoes! After 1km on a path, there is a hilly loop through the woods. At about half way you run up another hill to an out and back section where you can judge your position (if you’re into that…) and then you know it’s all down hill from there – the words every runner loves to hear! 

The finish line was well received and I certainly felt those hills in my legs. Great little cafe too – with a real fire! This was well received after a chilly and damp run. 

I tied the trip in with a visit to Durham Heritage Coast. Well worth a return visit, hopefully on a summers day… 😎

Happy Valentine’s weekend to one of my true loves*, parkrun 

*other true loves include espresso and flumps