Finally, a gold medal in the mölkky! Also it was great to see the Finns and eat some tasty food.
Yesterday, Temple Newsam held their 300th Parkrun. With it being a big round number, I decided to head across to test my legs.
It’s been a year since I’ve run Temple Newsam. The last one I did, which was my course PB, was part of the New Year’s Day double at the start of 2018 before I had started my triathlon training in earnest. So, the 27:12 I set there was inevitably going to fall.
In the end, I ran:
23:17
Really happy with that. I’ve only gone sub-23 twice at Woodhouse Moor, so once you factor in the hills of Temple Newsam, that feels like an excellent result. I knew I wasn’t running quite as fast as when I was marathon training, but I’m not far off.
It wasn’t much bigger than usual: 199 runners in total. They did have a photographer there, though, so at the start, I sprinted up the front to be in the photo. And, as you can see below, I made it! (Light blue Go Tri t-shirt on the far left, in case you can’t spot me). Thanks to ‎Phil Bland‎ for taking the photos!
July means the annual Finnish summer picnic in Leeds. Last year was Venla’s first and this year she was armed with new skills, including walking and talking.
Both Elina and I failed to do particularly well in the molkky tournament, but better in the welly throwing, with us both coming second in our respective gender competitions.
I’m pretty sure we won the wife carrying by default when I was the only person physically able to lift their partner.
And, of course, we filled out boots with Karelian pasties.
Last week, I completed my first triathlon. Except it wasn’t a triathlon, nor was it anything like a real distance.
It was the “GO TRI Temple Newsam”, a novice event designed to get people into triathlon that is organised by the British Triathlon federation. It took the format of a duathlon with a 2km run, 5km bike and another 2km run.
Despite a slow start, leaving me dead last, I managed to pull up the pace and pass most of the field. In the end, I came home in 22nd position, out of a field of 58. Not a total disaster for my first event.
My time was 37:07.
Coming off the bike was hard. I did a duathlon training session on my birthday, and for the first kilometre, I had no running legs. That’s not a huge thing when you are running 10k, but quite a big thing when you are only running two.
It was also a good reminder that my descending on the bike sucks. I lost a few places coming down the hill because I was on my breaks and other people weren’t. Luckily, what goes down must come up, and I was a faster climber than everyone who overtook me.
Event-wise, I think it was good. It felt a tad disorganised at times, but that didn’t really matter: everyone knew what was going on and there were marshalls at all of the key points, so that is all you need.
My only criticism is that we were promised a secure transition area for our bikes. But, that turned out to be the middle of the field. Not a problem when you are riding a Halfords-own-brand bike, but if you brought your £1,000 bike (which is pretty common if you are into your cycling) you would probably be quite annoyed.
It was good fun and I would do it again. Especially when it warms up a little bit!
Summer means time for the Finns in Leeds to get together and enjoy the shade. We were lucky with the weather again this year, enjoying a sunny day throughout.
It was Venla’s first Finnish picnic. Though she is otherwise a bit of a veteran of them already.
This year’s event was a little sparsely attended. There were six of us in total. This had the advantage of massively improving my odds in the wife carrying competition, but, alas, Elina opted out.
Other results were mixed: I picked up gold in the welly throwing competition, but my mölkky performance was mediocre. I came last in the first game, before picking up a second place in the second game. Like last year, I was pipped by Martin.
In July we went to Temple Newsam for the annual Finnish picnic. The rain almost held off: it started raining at one point. However, the advantage of having plenty of Finnish men around is that you can jut pick up the wooden picnic table and move it under a tree.
I tried some of the sandwich cake, again. It was still a sandwich cake.
I picked up a silver medal in the mölkky tournament (there was no actual medal). It was very disappointing as the front-runner, Martin, missed his final shot and I threw for the win, but went over and had to start again. Still, Jessica Ennis-Hill only managed silver as well, so to be on her level doesn’t seem too bad.
After achieving my 50th Parkrun and earning my t-shirt in September, November saw my dad reach the target too. He is now hot on my heels for the 100 club. Of course, it is not a competition. Something I want to be very clear about given a man who is twice my age is a good 4 minutes faster than I am.
I went over to Temple Newsam to run it. Overall, I think it is a better Parkun course. It is up and down hills, and there is some actual countryside. In comparison, Woodhouse Moor is just running around the houses. Temple Newsam does get too muddy at some points, but Woodhouse Moor has the horrible muddy corner as well, so I hardly avoid it on my regular run. Mud is fine of course, but the possibility of slipping over and hurting myself slows me down.
In August we did an engagement shoot, which apparently is a thing now. It was a good chance to get to know our photographer, Dan, droll over his camera gear a bit, and get some practice at posing for non-posed photographs. We’re also using the photos as part of our UK wedding so keep an eye out!
It was a lot of fun. I felt like a celebrity as we were guided round Temple Newsam while a giant camera lens was pointed at us.
At the end of July we attended the Finnish picnic at Temple Newsam. It’s an annual event and we had great weather last year. This year, we were less fortunate.
It rained the whole day. However, we did not let that stop us and headed into the cafe to get some food there. Despite the lack of sun, there were still about a dozen of us.
In July we went to a Finnish picnic at Temple Newsam. We got there early so that we had time to go round the farm first. It has all changed since I was a kid – you have to pay to get in now! However, you can now milk a fake cow.
