Ian Runs

When the excitement of having run my first parkrun last week had died down, I took some time to reflect on the run. The biggest thing to improve was pacing - it was very unpredictable at Linford Woods, as I basically just went all out, recovered, and went all out a bit more! This week, my goal was to try to smooth out the peaks and troughs from last week, even if it means it takes longer to finish. As I was reflecting, I also realised that I really enjoyed running through the woodland at Linford Woods parkrun. I used to enjoy spending time in various woods growing up, but I think the last visit was probably when I was still in school, so even though I wasn’t expecting the rainforest, the idea of a forest definitely added to the lure! The area Located on the outskirts of Northampton, and close to the M1 motorway, Salcey Forest is the largest remnant of ancient woodland in the country. The forest is home to a number of 500-year-old oak trees, known as the Druids, and a wide ran...

Today marked the start of my parkrun journey, and so I started as I mean to go on - by touring! As this was to be my first parkrun experience, I sought a deliberately low-key, reliable debut, which was also easily accessible from my home (though not my home event). Linford Wood seemed like the ideal candidate! The area Linford Wood parkrun takes place along the paths and redways of Linford Wood, in the north of Milton Keynes. Milton Keynes is the largest town in Buckinghamshire. Famous (or should that be infamous?) for both its roundabouts and its grid system, the town was purpose-built to relieve demand for housing in the South East of England. The town adopts the concept of a forest city, where local areas (within grid squares) are separated from through-traffic travelling along the grid by trees, bushes, hedgerows, and other fauna. For local residents, this provides both a sound-barrier between them and traffic, while also enclosing neighbourhoods, which in turn encourag...

Hi! I’m Ian! Welcome to my parkrun tourism blog! Big boy My story begins in 2019, when, I think it’s fair to say, I was a big boy. I had brought an end to my previous hobby of weightlifting without reducing how much I ate anywhere near enough, and those calories decided that they needed to live somewhere. My accumulated chonk was often becoming the limiting factor in many things I wanted to do, and so wanting to get back in some sort of non-wobbly shape, I thought to myself, “...running’s a thing!” First steps My very first run was a very exhausting half mile. I was so out of breath from such a short distance that I remember being so frustrated with myself for allowing the chonk to grow unchecked. Needless to say, my determination to become less of a big boy went through the roof! I continued running, slowly increasing the distance until I could manage the occasional 10k long-run. The challenge began to shift though! For 6 months, I had largely been running the same...