Half a marathon at Dorney Lake

25 Apr 2022, 3:37 p.m.

Well … you can’t win them all!  At my age you are lucky to win anything at all!  To explain - I had hoped to run the London Marathon in April 2020.  This would extend my marathon running career into a sixth decade.  As we all know, there was no London M...

Henlow Bridge Lakes parkrun

9 Apr 2022, 3:16 p.m.

So off I went to another parkrun venue.  It is getting very difficult now to find a parkrun venue which I haven’t visited before, within easy reach.  I have thus far visited 252 different parkrun events and have made it to all the parkruns in London and...

University Parks parkrun

2 Apr 2022, 3:23 p.m.

I was delighted to be heading back to Oxford for my parkrun today.  I have been to the city twice before to take part in parkruns but on those occasions the events were on the outskirts of the city.  University Parks parkrun would be right in the middle...

Sutcliffe parkrun

26 Mar 2022, 4:20 p.m.

So where do you go once you have completed 250 different parkrun events?  Obviously you head off for number 251.  There are always other targets to aim for.  I would like to get my outright total of parkruns up to 300 (currently on 291)  And I would lik...

Broadwater parkrun

19 Mar 2022, 4:11 p.m.

When parkrun restarted back in July I considered what my targets should be and my first aim, I decided, would be to get my total of parkrun venues up to 250.  I wanted to crack on and get the next 33 done (I was on 217 venues at the time) because I coul...

Wickford Memorial parkrun

12 Mar 2022, 4:24 p.m.

It was time for another trip across the Dartford crossing today with a visit to Wickford Memorial parkrun. Wickford is a medium-sized town (pop. 33,000) in Essex, adjacent to Basildon.  There is evidence of habitation here going back at least two thous...

Houghton Hall parkrun

5 Mar 2022, 3:57 p.m.

This week parkrun is celebrating International Women’s Day, a cause I am always happy to support.  When I started running back in the 1970s, you would not see women taking part in running events.  Indeed they were barred from running longer distances; i...

Southall parkrun

26 Feb 2022, 4:19 p.m.

So here we go again.  In recent months a couple of new parkruns have started up in the Greater London area, so if I wanted to maintain my LonDone status I would have to go up there again.  Thus it was that this morning I was headed for Southall. Southa...

Great Salterns parkrun

19 Feb 2022, 4:12 p.m.

So on we go!  I looked at the weather forecast for this week and thought it might be best to stay fairly local.  So I took a short trip down the A3 to Portsmouth to attend the fifth running of Great Salterns parkrun.  A lot of parkruns have been cancell...

Cyclopark parkrun

12 Feb 2022, 4:09 p.m.

I have decided to continue on with my parkrun reports.  They help to keep my mind usefully occupied and I like to have something to look back on.  I’m still intent on getting to that 250 venues target by the end of March and so today I was headed to Gra...

Swanley parkrun

15 Jan 2022, 3:42 p.m.

So on we go with the parkrun tourist trail and this week I was headed for the town of Swanley. Swanley is on the south-eastern edge of Greater London.  Technically it belongs in Kent but it is inside the circle of the M25 so it could also qualify as a ...

Northampton parkrun

8 Jan 2022, 4:28 p.m.

So off I went on my second parkrun of 2022.  There was one slight difference though in that, since last Saturday, I have had my 65th birthday and am therefore in a different age group.   I can’t honestly say that I enjoy getting older but I can be grate...

Charlton parkrun

1 Jan 2022, 3:58 p.m.

Hooray!  It’s another year!  We’re all still here and still able to run!   I still have a couple of ambitions with regard to running.  The first is to get up to 250 different parkrun venues - I am currently on 238 so, at my current rate of progress, I s...

Cirencester parkrun

18 Dec 2021, 4:24 p.m.

It was another trip westwards today with a visit to Cirencester in Gloucestershire, sometimes referred to as the “Capital of the Cotswolds”. Cirencester has been a town of some significance for over 2000 years.  When the Romans arrived in the first cen...

Salcey Forest parkrun

11 Dec 2021, 4:06 p.m.

There was a parkrun first for me today with my first run in Northamptonshire.  I don’t believe I have previously run any race in this county.  Mind you, I would struggle to name any town in Northamptonshire apart from Northampton.  My destination today ...

Bedford parkrun

4 Dec 2021, 4:43 p.m.

Another week, another parkrun, another county town.  In recent weeks I have visited the county towns of Wiltshire (Trowbridge) and Dorset (Dorchester).  It was time for the county town of Bedfordshire which is of course … Bedford! Bedford is an ancie...

The Great Field parkrun

27 Nov 2021, 4:08 p.m.

So, the latest news.  BT have still not restored our phone line, so we are approaching a full month without a phone connection or broadband.  On the plus side, they have sent me a mini hub so I am able to reconnect with the internet.  As for my shoulder...

Chipping Norton School parkrun

20 Nov 2021, 4:09 p.m.

Would you believe it?  It’s nearly three weeks since a car demolished the BT box at the end of our road and we still do not have a phone line or broadband.  Still!!  We do get compensation for lack of service but really I’d like the internet back.  I am...

Southwick Country parkrun

13 Nov 2021, 3:32 p.m.

Would you believe it?  It’s twelve days since a car demolished the BT box at the end of our road and we still have no phone line or broadband.  I am having to write this in a corner of the house, with the window open, in the hope of catching a faint sig...

Sandhurst Memorial parkrun

6 Nov 2021, 4:38 p.m.

My parkrun report this week has been slightly delayed, the reason being that I have had no internet for the past week.  Last Monday morning a car skidded off the road at the end of our street and demolished the BT box on the corner.  I naively assumed t...

Burnham on Crouch parkrun

30 Oct 2021, 3:17 p.m.

It was back to Essex this week with a visit to Burnham on Crouch.  This was quite a long journey but the thing is, I am saving up all those parkruns a bit nearer home for the middle of winter when I might appreciate a shorter trip. Burnham on Crouch ...

Melksham parkrun

23 Oct 2021, 3:29 p.m.

It was back to Wiltshire for this week’s parkrun.  On the weekend of the half term holidays I try to avoid the M25 and the routes down to the southwest but I did manage to find my way over to Melksham. Melksham is a middling sized town (population 20,0...

Letchworth parkrun

17 Oct 2021, 2:30 p.m.

There was a last minute change of plan for this week’s parkrun.  I had been planning to go to Houghton Hall but then, on their Facebook page on Friday night, they announced that the event might not go ahead because of a shortage of volunteers.  Or even ...

Exmouth parkrun

13 Oct 2021, 3:25 p.m.

Now this is an unusual experience!  I’ve been away!  I have been down to Exeter in Devon to stay with some old friends and then I travelled on to Cornwall to visit my family there.  What with all that’s been happening this is the first time for well ove...