Ian Runs

Circumstance had resulted in a gap in my attended parkruns until this wwek. I had attended several events west of Colchester Castle for a variety of reasons, including attending Markshall Estate parkrun while the weather was pleasant given it is an arboretum, and Maldon Prom parkrun because of the flat, fast nature of the course, all with the memory of nearby Highwoods parkrun being quite hilly! The area Colchester was one of the first cities in the UK, and served as the capital during Roman era. Though many in the town would suggest Colchester is already a city given its roots as a Roman city, despite not having a letters patent conferring the status, as part of her Platinum Jubilee celebrations, the Queen granted Colchester city status again, removing any ambiguity. The formal ceremony to issue the letters patent to the city was due to be held on 12th September 2022, but the Queen's passing on 8th September 2022 meant the ceremony was postponed as a mark of respect. ...

Having run a number of events in the north of the East of England recently, I wanted to attend an event in the south of the region this week. While Thurrock is slightly further south, it is also slightly easier to access from the M25, and so Basildon seemed like a great option for this week's activities! The area The town of Basildon was created from the combination of the four smaller villages which were joined together to form a new town after the conclusion of World War 2, with the name being inherited from the most central of the villages. The town is a popular location for London commuters to live owing to it's simple access to the financial district of London, while at the same time, the town has a strong heavy industry presence owing to government grants provided to businesses to move to the area. Northlands Park was created by the local council in the 1970s on the site of former farmland, creating the two lakes and hills as part of the flood relief programme duri...

After running The Big Half last week, I have taken the week off running, making today my first run since the race! While I didn't feel completely fresh again yet, I decided that I wanted to ease myself back into it today to see where I am in terms of recovery, and so in searching for a flat grass-based event to attend, I couldn't overlook the chance to run at Hunstanton Promenade parkrun, which is also one of the furthest events to attend that I haven't yet attended! Another bonus of attending Hunstanton Promenade is that is that it allows me to complete all of the current list of coastal parkruns in the East of England while the weather is pleasant! Following the passing of Queen Elizabeth II earlier in the week, parkrun advised that events could choose whether to hold the event or cancel. A number of the events local to Hunstanton decided to cancel, but fortunately, Hunstanton decided to go ahead! The area Hunstanton is a seaside town which has been populated s...

Ever since running the London 10,000 in May, my focus has been on this race. I have taken part in a couple of smaller local races in that time, which has helped lower my PBs in the 10k distance, but all with a focus on improving my performance at the half marathon distance! Target My current half marathon PB according to Garmin is still the 1:50:54 I set as during the first half of the Brighton Marathon, although the Jack Daniels equivalence calculator suggests I'm in shape to run around 1:45:00, and so going into this race, my A goal was around 1:45, my B goal was sub 1:50:00, while my C goal was just to finish. Training My training throughout this block has mostly gone according to plan, although I have had some minor niggles that have hampered me slightly, particularly limiting my mileage in July, when I was hoping to be averaging 100km+ most weeks, and the heatwaves in August meant I ended up running less than I originally planned. Race pack The Big Half is organise...

My plan this week was to find a relatively simple event that I could cruise around without really exerting much effort, as I was planning on running The Big Half the following day. Swaffham parkrun met the criteria perfectly, and it also meant I could run at my 10th event beginning with an "S", completing the Snakes challenge ! The area Swaffham is situated on the crossroads between King's Lynn and Norwich, and Thetford and Fakenham. The town itself was formed off the back of the wool industry, although the installation of a wind turbine with an observation deck accessible to the public brought some recent tourist interest to the town, with up to 22,000 people visiting the site in 2016. The wind turbine is now no longer accessible to the public. The course Swaffham parkrun is run over three laps of flat grass playing fields following the perimeter of the Nicholas Hamond Academy sports field and the adjacent playing field, with an incursion across the second fie...