Ian Runs

While I have been looking forwards to attending Alton Water parkrun for a while (it shared its inaugural run with Bury Field, which I attended), the fact that attending this week also gives me some more progress towards the Fibonacci sequence by ticking off a 13th event was enough to tip the scales in its favour this week. The area Alton Water is a reservoir, built to provide drinking water to the Ipswich area following water shortages in the 1960s by building a dam at the eastern end of the lowland, and allowing water levels to rise over the course of the next 10 years. The area which was claimed by the reservoir, as well as today's surroundings are primarily farmland, punctuated by the occasional village. The course The two-lap trail course is run primarily on grass, with some gravel and dirt paths for good measure. The course is situated to the south of the reservoir, and offers views of the water, woodlands, and farmland, while cattle, geese and waterfowl are commo...

This week, I wanted to make a start on a new challenge - the Fibonacci sequence. I had found the parkrun event number predictor Google sheet on the parkrun tourists page, and found that this week's Wimpole Estate event was expected to be the 377th event. Apart from the Fibonacci sequence, the event is also a large one, with attendance since the return averaging around 300 participants. I also assumed there would be a tourist contingent who are also looking to record a run at a 377th event. The area The Wimpole Estate is a fully functional working farm estate, owned and operated by the National Trust. The estate has been populated since an early Roman settlement was situated here at around 100BC, with elements of the current house dating from the 1640s. The modern estate (over 2500 acres) consists of large swathes of arable farmland, which is managed by the National Trust, and contributes towards the upkeep of the hall and gardens. The course The Wimpole Estate cou...

Last week, I completed my East of England alphabet, and so I found myself without a specific challenge to aim towards. With cancellation season upon us, I decided that I would prefer to not embark on another limiting challenge at the moment, and so instead, my plan is to now work towards my longer term goal of running every East of England event while trying (but not necessarily always succeeding) to make progress on a range of different challenges, which will introduce the flexibility I've been missing. At the time of writing, some obvious challenges I can make progress towards are: Stayin' Alive - Run three Bee events, and three Gee events : I need 1 more Gee event Compass Club - Run an event whose name contains each of the cardinal directions : I need South, East, and West Wilson Index - The length of the unbroken sequence of event numbers run at, starting at 1 : I need most numbers in the first 50 e...

With only a single "W" event needed for me to complete this run through the East of England alphabet, and with only Wimpole Estate, Westmill or Wickford Memorial parkruns to choose from, as has become common practice, I opted for Wickford Memorial based on it being the eastern-most of the three events. The area Wickford Memorial Park is situated in the north of Wickford in Essex. As the name implies, the park is dedicated to, and contains many dedications to the memory of town residents who lost their lives in various wars. The second world war especially impacted the town, with several rockets landing in the area, and to this day, a number of pillboxes remain in situ in the town, especially in the Wick Country Park to the south-east of the town. Following an exodus from London at the end of the second world war, the modern town is primarily a commuter town, although the area is thought to have been inhabited since prehistoric times, with Roman and Saxon occupants a...

Needing only a "T" and a "W" to complete my East of England alphabet (there are no "U", "V", "X", "Y", or "Z" events in the East of England), my focus this week was to run at a "T" event. This is the first year that there will be no New Year's double, and as New Year's Day falls on a Saturday this year, like Christmas Day, event teams have the choice of whether they want to hold an event or not, which inevitably means there aren't as many events to choose from. With all of this in mind, my options for "T" events in the East of England were therefore: Thetford, Thomas Mills, and Thurrock. I originally explored Thurrock, however it seems that parking is currently a challenge with the usual car park being used as a testing centre, and so my plan switched to Thomas Mills owing to it being the furthest of the remaining 2 options, and there didn't seem to be any real risk from weath...