A very flat course around Gunpowder Park, on the Essex/Middlesex border, just inside the M25. The postcode provided (EN9 3GP) takes you directly to the car park and it is very easy to find. The car park holds about 100 cars, which seemed plenty for parkrun, and is free for up to one hour but…
Eden Project parkrun A spectacular run around the Eden Project parkrun in Cornwall. There are only two UK mainland-based parkruns that are farther south-west than this (as of Nov 2017), so it’s probably quite a mission for most people in the UK, but it’s so unusual that it’s definitely worth it. Using the postcode…
A very flat run around the fields next to the University of Hertfordshire. Our SatNav took us to the wrong campus with the provided postcode (AL10 9AB), so we typed in “Mosquito Way” and then followed the road signs for De Havilland Campus. The campus car park is pay and display, however it is…
Mike has a parkrun Age Graded PB at just under 95% (15:44/5km)
Stevenage parkrun A Hertfordshire parkrun taking in almost two laps of Fairlands Valley Park, with scenic views of the main lake. There is a cafe with toilets that are open before the run and a children’s play park (which you will run past twice, as part of the course). The cafe isn’t open at…
Two questions: Q: What are the ‘Best’ parkruns in London? Q: What is LonDone in the parkrun context? I remember receiving my 100 parkrun T-shirt many moons ago when they were free. Ah, the good old days. Memories. But now that achievement is passé. Everyone’s got one. Well….metaphorically at least. Sub 20 minute 5k? (plan…
Normanby Hall parkrun A totally flat course around the grounds of Normanby Hall, near Scunthorpe in North Lincolnshire. The postcode provided (DN15 9HU) took us directly into the car park. There is also a large overflow car park but it is on grass, so on rainy days your car will get muddy if you have…
Bushy parkrun Bushy Park is a scenic Royal Park and the course meanders around the Easternmost half of the park taking in cricket grounds, lakes, lots of trees and a deer or two. The course was originally an anticlockwise loop which was reversed in later years. More recently the course has changed again and is…
parkrun Adjusted Course Times – The Start of DIFFICULTY Ratings All 5k puarkruns are not created equal. Some are obviously more difficult than others. ONE of the reasons some are more difficult is because of the time lost in the ASCENT and the inability to recover it all in the DESCENT. In part, I recently…
Easiest parkrun | Hardest parkrun You may well have often thought ‘How hard is my local parkrun compared to a flat 5k?‘. Below you will find a list of the easiest parkrun courses and the toughest, most difficult parkrun courses. Starting with the easiest first and culminating in the really difficult Lanhydrock parkrun. This list…
Peterborough parkrun A very scenic, very flat course around Ferry Meadows Country Park. The course is an out and back, with a loop at each end, run mostly around the lake and entirely on tarmac paths. There is only one hill and that is over a small bridge, which you cross twice. There is large car…
Finsbury parkrun : key info and write-up
I find that the STRYD app and general STRYD experience on the Apple Watch is very good. Much better than I had expected from both the watch and from a new app. This post is entitled ‘First Run’. That’s not strictly true as keen-eyed and regular readers would have inferred from Friday’s post. This is,…
The PRU Ride London probably falls into the ‘iconic’ category. A visiting cyclist to London & Surrey would definitely love the ride and all it takes in. If you only do Sunday group/club rides then the Ride London, for many, will be a step up in excitement as you cycle closely to several tens of…
The Impact Marathon Series are races for those who think differently, run for the good of others and dream they can leave an impact. Founded in 2015 by Nick Kershaw and Matt Fenton, IMS organizes races in four developing locations: Nepal, Malawi, Colombia and Guatemala. Like many more mainstream marathon companies IMS encourage runners to…
With the London marathon taking place on Sunday, 23 April, runners can prepare for the mental demands of this notoriously challenging event by following the advice issued by the University of Kent’s ‘psyching teams’. Introduced to the UK by Dr Carla Meijen, Lecturer in Sport Psychology in Kent’s School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, ‘psyching…
It’s all well and good saying how wonderful products are but I think the truth comes when someone is asked to either recommend something to a friend OR to say what they use themselves. My current state of ‘personal use’ is in a bit of a non-automated data mess but “it is what is it” as…
The image says it all really 14 May 2017: Half Marathon in Henley, 30% off. Enter (here) Some of F3’s other events, below. I’m doing the Windsor half I hope. Saturday18March 2017 Windsor & Eton Half Marathon – Dorney Lake Sunday19March 2017 Windsor 5km, 10km 15km, 20km Fun Run Saturday15April 2017 Windsor 5km, 10km,…
The decision of which race to enter for my first Ironman was not straightforward. To a degree I want some bragging rights back at my club. So I don’t want a race that involves 5 vertical miles of bike climbing – ie one factor is that it is conducive to a ‘sensible’ finish time. I want…
Ha Ha. Geddit? Cheque list. This is going to be expensive! I appreciate that Americans spell cheque differently (check) which sort of loses half the audience. But I will persevere regardless of linguistics. Luckily I’ve been doing triathlons for a while and have also finished the half-distance. I write an endurance gadget sports blog. So I…
