Ian Runs

After climbing mount Tring last week, I wanted to experience a flatter course this week, and so looking for flat courses at the events starting with less common letters led me to Ellenbrook Fields. The area Ellenbrook Fields parkrun takes place in Hatfield, on the former site of Hatfield Aerodrome. Hatfield has a rich history, having been a settlement since at least the period of Saxon occupation (500-600AD), and is home to a large commuter community due to its transport links and close proximity to London. The area of Ellenbrook Fields was used as an Aerodrome between 1930 and 1990, before the owner (British Airways) ceased production of the last of their planes at the site, and the space was opened to public access. The course This week, in celebration of the fact that today was the only day in the next 50+ years that parkrun will take place on the extra day in a leap year, the course was run in reverse. Apart from the direction however, the course was identical to the ...

With a limited number of events left to complete before I considered which event I wanted to complete for each letter. While I have limited options for some of them, there are some very lumpy ones I want to do amongst them - Wendover Woods, Queen Elizabeth, and Tring being the big three! These three presented a real challenge though, and so I wanted to spread them out so I had chance to recover properly between each. I could also use the less common letters to spread the lumpy runs out too - two uncommon letters, one lumpy course, rinse and repeat until we're done! This week I wanted to test the plan out, and so Tring it was! The area Positioned amongst the Chiltern Hills, Tring is a market town whose lineage can be traced back to prehistoric times. Many of the towns streets are very narrow by modern standards, which reinforces the historic nature of the area. Tring Park is located to the south of the town itself. The park was previously part of the Tring Park Mansion es...

I am still targeting the less common letters of the alphabet. I couldn't overlook the fact that it was the day after Valentine's day, and I had the opportunity to run at Valentines Park, so the decision around where to run was quite a simple one this week. One factor that I did keep in mind was that Storm Dennis was due to hit most of the UK this weekend, which had already resulted in a number of cancellations, so I did keep a watchful eye on the cancellations page in the run-up to the event. The area Valentines Park is the culmination of the merging of a number of parcels of land in Ilford over a number of years in the early 20th Century. Areas of the park were formerly part of the Valentines Mansion estate, which was built in 1696 and is now accessible to the public 3 days per week, though not on Saturdays. The park itself comprises a mix of landscaped open fields, formal gardens, lakes, and 26 tennis courts. The course Runners start the run in the centre of the p...

My target for this week was a "U" event. Of the few events that exist which begin with a "U", several are in the south east of England, and therefore a relatively short distance from me, while the other "U" events in the UK all seem to be in Scotland! With my goal settled, I selected Upton Court parkrun, both based on convenience, but also due to the fact that should it be cancelled, neighbouring events begin with letters I also need to tick off. The area Upton Court Park is located in Upton - a suburb of Slough. Positioned within commuter distance to London, Slough serves as home for many global company headquarters, having the highest concentration in the UK, outside London. Upton Court Park is located in the south east of the town, and adjacent to the M4 motorway. The park is in the process of being renovated to its Victorian prime, and has views of Windsor Castle to the south. The course The course follows two laps of the park, primarily o...

My progress towards completing the alphabet challenge is going very smoothly, however, I was reviewing which letters I still need to complete, and noticed that I had been ticking off a lot of the more common letters, and letting the less common letters build up. That wouldn't be a problem in isolation, but as we're entering the time of year when cancellations are going to be more common, I realised that I was making things harder for myself. In order to manage the difficulty of the challenge, my intention going forwards is to hold off running events starting with "D", "P", "T", or "W", only running them if I can't reasonably avoid it, purely because if one "W" was cancelled, I'd have plenty of alternative "W"s to consider, but if one "Y" is cancelled, I would have to travel a long way to get to the other (if that wasn't cancelled too!). With my new focus on ticking off some of the less comm...