Posts Tagged ‘running’

Getting something out of this race meant a lot to me.

I only just found out about the event after the registration deadline in 2022. I was in great form from IRONMAN Copenhagen but alas, it wasn’t to be.

So I signed up for the 80k in 2023 and decided to make that my A-race of the year. Health problems got in the way of training and I dropped down to the 47k but in the end I was too ill to run at all for two months and missed the race.

When 2024 rolled around, I opted to register for the 47k as that seemed straightforward. But continuing health issues meant I couldn’t train and even though I dropped down to the 30k, I still wasn’t in any form to complete the race. This year, though, they added a 10k option. I missed the deadline to switch down so ended up having two separate registrations: one for the 30k and one for the 10k. But I made it to the start line.

I wasn’t feeling much better on the day. I was still having stomach issues and my latest attempt to find shorts that did not chafe had ended in failure. Luckily, Bray had clean public toilets.

The race starts by running along the sea front and then heads straight up Bray Head. It’s a climb of just under 200 vertical metres. As we went up, I found my vision got quite blurry. I’m not sure whether it is the low light under the trees as a similar thing happened on the way down where I woul have had a lower heart rate.

The views from the top are beautiful and I stopped to take a few pictures. We then follow the track around the headline for another beautiful view of Greystones before descending into the valley on the far side. There is then a road section into town before climbing and descending Bray Head a second time.

I was so relieved to cross the finish line after battling my stomach, my vision and my nerves. It’s bean a unpleasant descent from IRONMAN triathlete to struggling to run a 10k. But I did run it and I made it to the end. I wasn’t aiming for any kind of time but for the record it was:

1:21:57

It’s a beautiful race and well worth checking out if you like mountains and sea views.

I finished the namely challenge! I was the last letter I needed to spell my name. It’s a lovely parkrun: along the banks of the estuary, trail, plenty of shade and friendly.

Thorp Perrow is an estate near Bedale. The parkrun is almost entirely off-road. There are bits of track but moatly you’re running across grassy fields. It makes it quite aoft underfoot, and therefore hard work, and I imagine much more difficult in winter. So not a PB course but a beautiful one. Nice cafe, too.

Oldbridge parkrun takes place at Oldbridge House. It’s a country estate which now forms the Battle of the Boyne Visitor Centre.

The course is all off-road. Most of it is grass with some on dirt. It’s a lovely course in several ways: off-road, pretty flat, around some beautiful fields and a single lap (although some of it does form an out back bit). The main limitation would be if you like road or if you want a PB: the narrow tracks through the long grass mean there is not much overtaking room.

I’ve been ill with one of those colds that you it is difficult to believe is “just a cold” because it wiped me out. This was my first attempt at a run back and I was around 35 minutes, and even that felt like a slog. But I got around and ticked off my second O, leaving me with only one letter left for the name badge challenge.

Got my Q!

Queen’s parkrun takes place at Queen’s University’s sports fields and consists of a couple of laps around the campus. Nice, enough, not too hilly. Friendly place. I got chatting to one of the staff at Queen’s and it turns out he does computing. There were also tonnes of tourists, including a woman from Finland so I tried out some of my Finnish, which mostly went well.

This is a lovely parkrun in the grounds of Kilkenny Castle. But hill, but nothing too steep, and I was familiar with most of the route having done Kilkenny Triathlon last year. There is an outdoor cafe in the grounds, too, but they could use a public toilet.

I needed a letter K for both the alphabet challenge and spell your name challenge, so this ticked a lot of boxes.

I managed to make it into the background of one of the photos by accident:

Thoroughbred is a series of runs with a 5k, 10k, half and full marathon option. It takes in some nice country roads before coming back through the National Stud. Very scenic.

Parking was a nightmare. There was no event car park and all of the suggested car parks were full. After 30 minutes, we decided the find a quiet street to park on. Should have done that from the start. I feel bad for getting in the way of the locals but nobody else seemed to bother.

I haven’t done much fast running recently so I decided to go out at an easy pace and see how it went. I did my first kilometre in around 5:30 and that seemed fine so I gently sped up and soon found myself running sub-5:00 which I was delighted with. In the end, I finished:

48:39

I was thrilled with that as I don’t know when I have done a last 10k but it felt like it could equally have been a 65-minute run/walk job.

Lovely to hang out and chat with the club, too. We had 24 people running across the distances but someone I managed to mis all of the group photos 😭.

Beautiful parkrun along the river. I came down for event 249 so maybe I should have waited a week, but happy to be here anyway. My 5th C for the Pirates! challenge: only two more to go!

Last weekend I headed down to Vicarstown for some more parkrun tourism.

It is a somewhat rural location. The official guidance on getting there by public transport is “there is no public transport”. Once I left the motorway, the road wasn’t quite single track, but it wasn’t wide enough to have a centre line, either. Luckily, it was easy to find and there was plenty of parking.

The course is an out-and-back on the canal towpath. There is one bridge but it is otherwise completely flat with no locks. Vicarstown claim to be the best parkrun in the country and their selection of drinks and cake available at the finish line makes a case for that.

There were a couple of milestones for me. I ticked off my V for the alphabet challenge. I completed every parkrun in County Laois (one of one). And I completed my 50th different parkrun event.

Russborough House is a stately home turned public park and home to a parkrun. Beautiful hills, a lovely house and a nice cafe with cakes inside. The route is two laps on mixed trail with some nice shade when it is sunny. Not too hilly and free parking for parkunners, too.