Bicester parkrun

Bicester parkrun - 8th October

After 3 and a bit years of parkrunning and 105 runs I was finally in a position this weekend to realise my goal of reaching 50 different parkruns.  Whilst not formally recognised by parkrun in respect of milestone t-shirts, I have looked forward to celebrating this moment for some time.  The only decision to make was where would I run it?  

Initially I was due to be heading down to Devon to visit my Dad, and therefore either Longrun Meadow (in Taunton) or Chippenham en route were likely contenders, when that got cancelled I was hoping to get down to Chichester, my NENYD (nearest event not yet done).  However at the last minute Sarah suggested that we head up to Bicester so that we could visit the outlet centre and then Oxford.  Having visited Harcourt Hill and Oxford in the past few weeks, and Didcot and Abingdon previously, this was an opportunity to complete my set of Oxfordshire parkruns as well as reaching that elusive 50 mark. (note; I have subsequently been informed that Banbury in in Oxfordshire, so I have not yet completed that set!)

With the drive being a little over an hour up the A34 Sarah and I packed Olivia and Elsie into the car and left home at around 7:15 arriving in Bicester at 8:30.  We parked in the Claremont car park (£1.70 for 3 hours), as recommended on the course page, and walked the short way down to the park.  

It was a cool, crisp morning in Bicester with the last vestiges of summer trying desperately to hang on before Autumn fully takes hold.  The leaves had started the turn from green to orange and sun was attempting to make an appearance, but the early morning clouds were keeping him at bay.  On arriving in the park the first thing we were greeted by was a stone circle near the entrance to the park.  I'm not sure if it is a historical monument or if it is a more recent an art installation, but it is a unique feature of parkruns that I have visited.

We headed over to where most people were congregating and introduced ourselves.  Local running club Alchester were staging a take-over and providing all of the volunteers on the day, as well as 20, 25, 30 and 35 minute pacers for the event.  They were certainly a friendly bunch and made us feel extremely welcome, although I'm sure the cakes we brought along helped.  

On the way down we had chatted to Michelle Flower from South Manchester parkrun who was also visiting for the first time.  She was down to see her Dad and it was nice to chat about her parkrun experiences and share some of ours.

The first timers briefing and the main run brief were both given by Run director on the day Gary Warland and without further ado we lined up and set off!  Olivia and I had decided that we would try and run just ahead of the 35 minute pacer, employing our now normal run-walk strategy.  The 35 minute pacer was a lovely lady called Rachael Bowles who already had a small group intending to run with her and she was super supportive of Olivia before we set-off.  This may account in part for Olivia setting off with a steely determination to run far more than she walked and to try and beat her previous run's time of 34:56.  

The course is a two lapper which starts in the field which is home to the stone circle, and after running around said circle the route follows the perimeter path around the park.  It is a real mixed bag of surfaces; good trail, grass fields, woodland and proper paths.  You pass the play park and then a small pond, home to a few duck families, before twisting and turning all the way up to the path running alongside Gavray Drive.  From here you start heading back towards the start/finish area, again on a mix of surfaces. Before long you come to a hairpin bend where you double back on yourself back a short way.  A helpful marshal (one of many on the course) then directed us over the "pesky bridge" (a short bridge that has the potential to trip up unwary runners), before the final turn back to the finish area and the start of the second lap.  

I was so proud of Olivia; she worked really hard, running the majority of the course with only a few short walking breaks.  We got so much support on the course from both runners and the amazing volunteers, as well as a couple of members of the public.  Olivia was buoyed by this support and ended up running her fastest parkrun in some months, 32:40 (having never been caught by the 35 minute pacer).  Thank you to all who cheered her on, it really made a difference.  

At the finish we had a good chat with the scanners, pacers and some of the regulars, in particular Tina Hawkins.   I was struck by how friendly everyone was.  It was a celebration of everything that is good about parkrun.  This was re-inforced by Sarah saying that she had never felt more welcome whilst supporting me at a parkrun.  The timers spoke to her whilst waiting for the first runners came through and made her feel part of the event, rather than a spectator.  Alchester running club must be thanked for the fantastic job they did of organising the morning.  It went like clockwork and every runner (large or small, fast or slow) was made to feel like the most important runner on the course.    

After finishing in the park we headed up to The Garth for breakfast with some of the other parkrunners.  The cafe serves the most wonderful full english breakfast; less than £6 for one of the biggest plates of food I have had in a long while.  The cafe is also next to a fantastic play park, perfect for Olivia to burn off an excess energy she still had.  

All in all we had a great day at Bicester and would love to visit again sometime.  Highly recommended!!  

Now that I have reached 50 I will be slowing down my touring and focussing on re-running some of the more local parkruns.  The next target is to get Olivia on the most events table (20 events) and earning her tourist status.  It is my intention to try and reach 100 different by the time I get to my 250th parkrun. 

Next Week

Next week I aim to take Olivia for her first visit to Poole parkrun before heading down to Devon for the weekend.

Oxford parkrun - 1st October

Saturday the 1st of October saw me visit Oxford parkrun for the first time.  I was on a stag do in Oxford for the weekend and although I was closer to Harcourt Hill I took the opportunity to visit Oxford and notch up my 49th different venue.  

A heavy nights drinking and late to bed meant my condition on Saturday morning can best be described as "jaded".  I was sharing a room with my good friend Mike and I had convinced him to join me.  Mike was running his second parkrun, having previously run with me at Bath Skyline back in July.  The other 8 members of the group decided that bed was a far better option!!

We headed up to Cutteslowe and Sunnymead park, arriving at around 8:40. It was fairly easy to find and the car parking was free.  The weather forecast was for rain, however on arriving the sun was out and it was warm with very little breeze.  We were fortunate that the rain held off until the majority of runners had finished.

We headed down to the start/finish area and got chatting to local runner Kavita Pal, herself relatively new to parkrun.  She was keen to hear about our running and about our parkrun history, as well as wanting hints and tips for running quickly (not sure I'm the right person to ask about that at the moment!!).  We joined the first timers briefing led by the run director on the day (whose name I failed to get) and got taken through the course description. I ran into fellow tourist Ulen Neale, who I had previously met at Abingdon.  Ulen was scanning whilst his family ran and it was nice to catch up.  

After a short warm up we lined up at the start and had the pre-run brief.  As it was the first parkrun day of October it was International parkrun day, the 12th anniversary of the first ever Bushy Park time trial, as parkrun was originally known.  I'm not sure those 13 original parkrun pioneers (as they are known) could've ever imagined how parkrun has expanded of the following 12 years.  parkrun is now in 14 countries, with the number of events fast approaching 1000.  It is truly staggering.

Picture Credit: Ulen Neale

After a simple 3, 2, 1 we were off.  With my delicate disposition I was taking it easy and was aiming to get round in however long it took.  I watched Mike hare off into the distance and I settled into a gentle plod.  I soon caught up with the aforementioned Kavita and we have a conversational 5km.  We talked about all things running and parkrun and it was very pleasurable! 

The course itself started on a small field at the top of the park.  We had two laps of a roughly football pitch sized field before heading off down a path into the heart of the park.  Before long we turned down a small bank and onto a small expanse of grass.  We crossed this and joined a path alongside the A40 (which we were thankfully shielded from by a high hedge).  The course then turned into the larger park field.  We ran round the outside of this field and up a short incline to the top of the park, and back onto the main path.  This led us round past the aviaries and back down the hill past the start/finish.  A second lap of the course made up the 5km.  

There was a little confusion in the finishing funnel as it seemed like some tokens had been dropped and the queue was backing up past the finish line.  This was soon rectified and I collected my finishers token and got scanned.  I got given token 136, however ended up in position 122 due to the token mix-up.  I ran a steady and pleasing 25:57.  Mike ran a PB in 22:35!  Feeling refreshed and no longer hung over we headed off for a Full English ahead of another busy day of stag do related activities!!

I would like to thank the good people of Oxford parkrun for a warm welcome and a very enjoyable morning.  Thank you to the volunteers who made the day possible and to Kavita for being a fun running partner.  I hope to return again one day.