My first parkrun and how I started running

My first parkrun

I was really excited to be taking part in my first ever parkrun in Tunbridge Wells yesterday because it brought back so many memories of my first ever 5k, at the grand old age of 45, 13 years ago. I'll write about how I started running after I've documented the parkrun whilst it's fresh in my mind (see below).

Alzheimer's Research UK had put out a Press release for the local papers and Mike kindly volunteered to be official photographer for the day. It's hard being the support crew for someone like me who runs marathons but he was more than happy to come along to watch a run which would take me 30 minutes or thereabouts (plus, there was the offer of coffee and cake afterwards in lovely Tunbridge Wells which might have swung it!).

As we'd been told there was limited car parking space at the the Park we decided to leave the car in the town centre and walk there and back which was great because it stretched my legs out a bit. We'd never been to Dunorlan Park and it really is pretty. It was quite chilly first thing with a sharp wind.

People were just starting to arrive and the marshals hadn't set up so we wandered off to find the cafe.

Although there were some lovely smells emanating from the cafe it wasn't open. Mike tried staring through the window looking hopeful but to no avail so we went  to get a closer look at the lake.

There were lots of ducks and Greylag geese chilling out and some very pretty purpley coloured ducks (anyone know what breed they are please?)

Here we have the greater-spotted Redhead sporting her new ARUK vest - I know you can't see it but it was too cold to take my jacket off. Please note the colour co-ordinated capri pants with orange flashes  and my turquoise headband to match the new vest! 

I know I really need a new cap but I can't bear to get rid of this one as it's been worn for almost all of my 42 marathons and of course now it's got my special crochet patches on it to remind me of London marathon 2014. 

Note also that I'm wearing trail shoes as I'd been advised the course was muddy in parts.

We loved the shapes of these amazing trees (pine or cedar?) near the start line .

Before we set off running, all of us first-timers were gathered together and told the procedure. It was a 2 lap course, a mixture of tarmac paths and muddy grassy bits and some updulations (spell-check keeps wanting to change that to undulations!). We were told to be courteous to other park users and there were certainly lots of dog-walkers out and about.

When you sign up to parkrun you are sent a unique barcode which has your name and emergency contact details. You have to print this off and bring it with you each time you take part otherwise you won't have your time recorded.

I had no idea how many people would be taking part but found out later there were 110 runners.

Just before the start at 9am we were called together for a briefing when they explained that you must only go throughout he finish tunnel once as this would mess up the timing system. They also gave out a prize, kindly donated by Sweatshop,  to someone the organisers thought was most deserving (this could be because of their number of parkruns done, improvements made, volunteering) and we first-timers all got a round of applause too.

As you can see, the sun had come out by then and it wasn't as cold although I expect the marshals might have felt chilly just standing around. All the marshals were volunteers and I thanked them all as I went past as I always appreciate the work they do in standing around waiting for us runners to go past. 

Then we were off.

First we ran down the hill towards the lake then alongside it before heading off across some grass. In this sort of run the start is almost always a bit congested, especially when you're running on narrow paths. This means it can be difficult to get into your stride but you just have to accept it and push ahead when you can.

After I'd disappeared out of view, Mike wandered off to explore the park a bit more and found this lovely Grecian Temple. Then he sneaked off for a coffee to warm himself up before coming back to catch me finishing my first lap.

This next photo was taken on the second lap when the field was much more spread out.

There was a real mix of runners and it was wonderful to see some youngsters taking part and running really well too. I saw one little girl stop and she looked rather crestfallen but when I got alongside her I shouted "well done, you're doing really well" and she said thank you and started running again with a big smile on her face. It was wonderful to see several children running with a parent and there were a couple of dogs too.

Here I am, striding out in the last stretch by the lake before heading up the hill towards the finish line.

I think I was trying to spot Mike here.

You can see the marshal who I think is using a stopwatch to mark finish times. As you run into the finish funnel (the 2 strips of yellow tape), you are handed a token with a barcode on it which has your finish time on.

You then take this token together with your own personal barcode and hand them to another marshal. They then scan both barcodes to record your time which is then emailed to you later together with lots of data.

I'd guestimated my finish time to be around 30 minutes as I wasn't going to push as it was a bit too soon after my last marathon so I was delighted to check my GPS watch and see my time as 30:25.

We had a very pleasant walk back to the car so I could get out of my running gear and into more appropriate apparel for wandering around Royal Tunbridge Wells. Mike took a sneaky photo of me getting changed in the car but I think for the sake of my modesty I won't include that here! Then it was time for coffee and cake in a new cafe we found (my piece of chocolate and raspberry torte went down rather well thank you very much).

By the time we got home there was an email telling me my time etc:

Royal Tunbridge Wells parkrun results for event #44. Your time was 00:30:25.

Congratulations on completing your 1st parkrun and your 1st at Royal Tunbridge Wells parkrun today. You finished in 63rd place and were the 14th female out of a field of 110 parkrunners and you came 1st in your age category VW55-59. Take a look at this week's full set of results on our website. Well done on your first run. We have set this as your PB.

You achieved an age-graded score of 60.33%. For an explanation of age-grading, please see the WAVA age grading overview.

You have earned 87 points for this run, giving a total of 87 points in this year's Royal Tunbridge Wells parkrun points competition.

Very efficient and it was interesting looking at the range of finish times which went from 18:46 - 44:03. 

What did I like most about it? That I wasn't competing against anyone except myself. 

We can get bogged down in statistics if we aren't careful and it was nice to just run for the sheer enjoyment of it without worrying how fast, or rather how slow, I was. I have a 10k pb of 52:48 set in Brighton which suggests my 5k time should be less than 26 minutes so should I be disappointed? Not at all; the courses are completely different - Brighton is flat and run on tarmac, Tunbridge Wells is neither.

The person who finishes last covers the same distance as the person who finishes first. You can have good days and bad days but in the scheme of things it really doesn't matter. What does matter is that you get out there and take part. As I do my training runs alone I always enjoy running in company at events.

I know a lot of you reading my blog live outside the UK but please do take a look at the parkrun website where you'll see that the parkrun phenomenum has gone global! From the statistics on my blog I can see that some of the countries you live in appear on there already (Australia, Denmark, Ireland, New Zealand, Poland, Russia and the USA) but if your country isn't there perhaps you could think about starting one yourself?

How I started running and how it saved my life (and my sanity)

When Mike and I were in our early 40s, we decided to have a fitness drive. This involved us donning track suits and training shoes and trying to go for a run. Mike had run a marathon in his early 20s, I had never run before. I struggled, huffing and puffing up the steep hill outside our house until I was bright red in the face and couldn't carry on. I hated every step of it and was mightily relieved when we stopped all that nonsense.

Several years later when we lived closer to London than nowadays, we joined a local gym. Mike gave it up after a while, claiming he was too busy with work to fit it in, but I didn't and boy am I glad that I continued as it became a very important part of my life.

Then I left work to become a full-time carer for my mum. Each day I would head off to the gym whilst Mike kept an eye on mum. I had a 10 minute walk there, 40 minutes on the equipment (including fast walking on a treadmill) and then a 10 minute walk home. That hour I had to myself became very precious as it gave me some time to recharge my batteries.

One day I was searching on-line for something and a small icon kept flashing at me; an advert for the Race for Life, a women-only 5k event to raise money for Cancer Research UK. I had lost a friend to Leukaemia  and I felt I just had to do it to raise money in her memory. I told Mike about it and after we'd stopped laughing hysterically at the very thought of me running 5k I decided that I was going to do it even if I couldn't run all the way.

The next day at the gym, in February 2002, I started to run on the treadmill and after what felt like 15 minutes I had to take a walk-break. I had in fact only managed to run for 2 minutes! I then devised a plan in which I would run for 2 minutes, walk for 3 and repeat this for 30 minutes. Each week I added an extra minute of running and reduced the walk-breaks to 1 minute until finally I could manage to run for the full 30 minutes. Then I had to learn how to run outside which was quite different but I was determined to do it.

I completed my first ever 5k race at the Race for Life in Croydon on my 45th birthday in June 2002. I have no idea what my exact finish time was but it was somewhere around 26 minutes. I have never felt so proud and this photograph lives in my office to remind me how far I've come since then.

I had caught the running bug and wanted to try running further but Mike very sensibly pointed out that I did get very red-faced after a run and perhaps we should get me 'checked out' in case I had an underlying medical condition.

Off I went for a BUPA health  assessment feeling the best I had in years and expecting to get a clean bill of health. However, the various tests discovered that cancer had entered my life unbeknown to us and quite uninvited and we were referred to Professor Albert Singer, one of the leading experts in the management and treatment of cervical cancer, who used to be a marathon runner too. He explained everything to us in great detail stating up-front that my results must be wrong as I'd only had a smear test the year before. Sadly they were not wrong and were in fact much worse than expected. He told me that I was lucky as if I'd been referred to him on the NHS his waiting list was 18 months by which time it would have been too late to do anything.

I was lucky and I'm still here but, to quote Forrest Gump, that's all I have to say about that.

The reason I mention my own experience is that through the work of Cancer Research UK many people survive cancer and that's where Alzheimer's Research UK want to be with dementia asap. In their words:

We have established our Global Clinical Trials Fund to support critical early phase drug trials. It will help push more promising treatments through development and into the hands of people with dementia. We’ll be working with other research funders, charities and industry at home and around the world to make sure all the discoveries you help fund are quickly put to work in creating better treatments, improved diagnosis and preventions. We’ll be doing more than any other charity to find the answers we all need.

A generation ago we took the fight to cancer. People broke down the stigma, talked about their diagnosis and supported research that has made many cancers survivable. We are now in a fightback against dementia. We are putting in place the resources, expertise and an army of scientists that are creating real benefits for people with dementia.

We need your help to grow this further. We need you to talk about dementia, to know that the diseases that cause it – like Alzheimer’s – can be defeated, and to support us in reaching the breakthroughs.

You may have noticed that my latest fund-raising efforts involve me running 13 marathons in 12 months to represent the 13 years I've been running.

Please help me to raise funds for vital research into this devastating disease.

Refreshing

Don't worry, I'm not going to extol the virtues of a brisk walk on a Spring morning, although now I think about it………! No, this is about a re-launch for Alzheimer's Research UK and an exciting partnership with parkrun, organisers of free weekly 5k runs in parks all around the UK and overseas too.

ARUK re-launch

Here's what ARUK said about the re-launch:

"Over the last year we’ve been talking to people with dementia and our supporters about the impact of dementia. A word we frequently heard from affected families was “powerlessness”. Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias take so much from people, shattering lives. 

But at Alzheimer’s Research UK, we know that pioneering research is our best hope of giving that power back. Today we are re-stating our intention as a charity to defeat dementia and launch a fresh new brand that we’ve developed with the help of many supporters and families. We've also launched our new website with updates on our research, essential background information on dementia and all the ways you can get involved with the mission to defeat dementia."

This has meant a new-look website, updating leaflets, tee shirts etc with many people consulted about their views over a long period of time.

I wanted to show you this lovely photo of Jodie and her daughter Georgia both sporting mock-up versions of the new tee shirts. I think the wording on them is a better size than the final design (see my photo below).

Gorgeous girls!

Jodie is the Community Fundraising Manager for ARUK and she's been with them since about 2010. We first met when a local village was donating the proceeds from their annual village fete to ARUK and I was collecting the cheque. Jodie's husband Lloyd has since joined her to work at ARUK in 2013 where he's now the Media and Communications Officer so we speak a lot! He's also in charge of the weekly parkrun newsletter which is very exciting.

This photo of me sporting my new running vest was taken on Tuesday, inbetween showers of rain, with strong winds blowing me about. You have no idea how many photos we had to take to get one where my hair wasn't blowing across my face - I looked like Cousin It from the Addams Family!

When I first saw the final logo (I remember seeing lots of possible ones about 18 months ago), which has been shrouded in secrecy, it was in black and white on the back of my Join dementia research tee shirt and I thought it looked rather like a clothes peg or a comet which was reinforced when I saw the tagline with 'power' in orange which made me think they had joined forces with edf energy. Tee hee!

On the plus side, it's a clean, sharp image and the tag-line 'The Power to Defeat Dementia' gives a strong and positive message. Together we will defeat dementia. I do think the ARUK name needs to be bigger though, so it's easy to spot, as it's a bit small at the moment. A minor detail which will no doubt be ironed out later.

Parkrun

The other News is very exciting indeed. Last year ARUK, along with many other charities, pitched their case to become parkrun's charity partner and they were successful. This was fantastic news as parkrun already has over 1,000,000 registrations in the UK with over 1000 people signing up each week so more and more people will get to learn about dementia whilst getting fit into the bargain - result!

Even Chris Evans, from BBC Radio 2, has been shouting out about what a wonderful experience he and his family had at his local parkrun. Lots of my running chums are regular parkrunners as too are many professional athletes including Liz Yelling who very kindly spoke at our recent London marathon team meeting.

My two chums below haven't been running their whole lives but when they started it quickly became an important part of their lives. I'll write a bit about how I started running in my next post.

Diana takes her whole family along which means there's granny, daughters and grandchildren all taking part together. How lovely that the little ones will grow up thinking that being outdoors and running around is fun rather than something to be avoided in favour of their computers!

I asked her to sum up parkrun in one sentence for me and here's what she said:

Parkrun is "a friendly and inclusive event that welcomes everyone of all ages and paces to join in."

From left back, Josie (Diana's daughter, who will be running the London marathon this year), Aaron (Josie's husband), Granny Diana (I think she's an excellent advert for running as she look so fabulous it's hard to believe she's a granny!) with Hayden and Keaton on the front row.

Ruth, she of 350+ marathons fame who often appears on my blog, is what's known as a 'parkrun tourist' as she travels all over the country doing parkruns in different venues on a Saturday and then runs a marathon in the same area the next day. So far she's done 204 parkruns of which 117 are different ones.

Here she is sporting her 100th parkrun top. She absolutely adores parkruns and calls Saturday 'parkFUN day' - I love that!

That's what parkrun seems to be about - having fun in a safe environment whilst getting out into the fresh air for a spot of exercise. The other brilliant thing about them is that they are completely free to enter and are organised by local volunteers who give up their Saturday mornings to help out. Isn't that wonderful?!

I like the idea of it not being competitive too as that takes away a lot of the pressure you can feel in normal races. Here you are only competing against yourself and you can run, walk, or a combination of the 2 to get yourself around the 5k course in whatever time you are able. This encourages people who might be embarrassed that they are slow to have a go, which can only be a good thing.

This weekend I'm very excited to be taking part in my very first parkrun in Tunbridge Wells and I'll write about my experience next week.

A mishmash

I'm still playing catch-up so I apologise now for the diverse topics in this post. Some things will just have to go undocumented or I shall have to spend all day updating my blog!

Crochet

First we have some progress on my crochet blanket. I'm really enjoying this, especially the textural side of it with the bobbles and front post trebles (or front post double crochet in US terms). It measures about 18" across in this photo. The only down side is that I can't work on it for too long at a time as it hurts my hands; darned arthritis. Never mind, it isn't a race to the finish line and it's an enjoyable journey.

The last row in the photo above is crab stitch which really defines the edge beautifully. I know some people are scared to trying it as it's counter-intuitive to go from left to right in crochet. However, a few weeks ago I showed my friend Julie how to do it and although she was adamant that she would never get the hang of it she was soon crabbing away quite happily. It's all about perseverance - just keep trying it and don't expect it to be perfect first time.

Knitting

Next was a needs-must knit. I made these gloves for Mike many years ago and when they started to get tatty I took them for horse duties. They've been darned and darned (you can see a patch on the lefthand side) but I think the moths have been at them too as the yarn just kept tearing each time they were mended so I needed a new pair pdq as my hands get cold very quickly when I'm struggling with horse blankets and feed buckets. 

On rummaging through my stash I found a ball of what looked like a wool and possibly alpaca mix of 4ply and several small scraps of assorted yarns of a similar weight. I wanted the gloves to be really close-fitting as it makes my fingers feel better when they are tightly encased and it's also easier to manage fiddly buckles and halters. So I decided to try an experiment by making the gloves extra large and then attempting to felt them in the washing machine on a hot wash. 

It worked a treat and they feel lovely. Hopefully they'll last a few seasons. This was just a basic glove pattern to which a added some stripes of colour.

Join dementia research update

If you click on the link above you'll see that the number of people who signed up to JDR rose by 2500 in the week after the launch with our region, Kent, Surrey and Sussex just sneaking into the lead. I was delighted that so far 35 of my friends have also signed up to the PROTECT study and hopefully there will be more soon.

The success of that week would not have been possible without all the people who helped to spread the message but I wanted to give a special mention to all the hard-working people at JDR HQ who worked tirelessly to ensure it was a success. They don't get into the limelight but we would not have got to this stage without their hard work and dedication. Well done team!

Here we have Andrew Rutherford, Zara Qadir, Catherine Wheatcroft and Peter Gudge

In my post about launch day I mentioned that I'd forgotten my camera but there was something I just had to share with everyone; this yarn-storming outside Mary Ward House which was across the road from JDR headquarters. There are some sweet little seahorses and fish. Very jolly.

I have no idea who did it or why but I really wanted to share it so I asked if one of the JDR team could please help me out by taking some photos.

Many thanks to Andrew who took these photos on his phone. I chuckled when he apologised for their quality because his phone is 3 years old - Andrew, mine's going on 15 years old and doesn't even take photos!

More exciting news to follow soon.

Marathon 42 of 60

The weather forecast had been dire for Sunday - torrential rain, massive high tide, strong winds. Hey ho I thought, another 'character-building' marathon. But on Saturday the forecast was modified to add heavy frost for the Saturday night just to add a bit of extra fun to my journey the next morning. I was heading for Pegwell Bay which lies between Ramsgate and Sandwich on the East Kent coast.

My journey planner told me it was 53.9 miles away and would take me 1 hour 40 minutes but I allowed extra time for icy conditions. I'm so glad I did as when I got up it was -6 degrees and none of the roads had been treated so the country lanes were pretty slippery as the rain that had fallen the day before had frozen into glaciers! Even the major roads were icy so I was glad to arrive without incident.

When I'd parked up I took in my surroundings. The sun was starting to come out and it felt much warmer than it had earlier so I was glad I'd chosen layers which I could peel off or put back on if I got too hot our cold.

The first person I met was Carolyn with Bonnie the dog who was doing her 20th marathon. That's Bonnie doing her 20th, not Carolyn who's done considerably more than that.

Rachel was busy as usual registering runners and handing out numbers.

I'd taken along some JDR leaflets for her as she speaks to groups of Carers, some of whom care for people with dementia, which she'd kindly offered to hand out. Thanks Rachel.

There were lots of friendly faces. Here are Sharon and Mark with the Thanet ladies. Mark was doing the full marathon distance but the ladies opted for 1/2 marathon. That's the beauty of this event; it was a 'challenge' which is a timed event with multiple laps so you could choose how many you wanted to complete within the time limit of 6 hours rather than a fixed distance. It's such a lovely idea which encourages people to just have a go without any pressure.

As always at Traviss and Rachel's events there was cake. Just look at this beauty, created by Heather, which includes the cycle-route post and a replica of the Viking longship as well as a bird.

Speaking of the Viking longship, here's the replica. It had covers on to protect it over Winter. You can read a bit about it here and see a photo of it uncovered.

As usual this was an out and back route, rather like a figure of eight, and for the marathon distance you had to complete 8 laps. I love going past people and high-fiving/hugging/hurling abuse or encouragement as required! I liked the mixed terrain which was a mixture of cycle track, tarmac, grass, mud and concrete. Going one way it was really quite hot but then coming back the wind was quite strong at times and I held on tight to my cap in case it got blown away.

At the start Traviss announced that someone was doing their 50th marathon and I realised that, touch wood, I would be completing my 50th later this year at one of their events. When I started my marathon journey back in November 2004 I never dreamt that I would run so many but they have served as a fantastic tool for getting publicity for ARUK and dementia. It was also Melanie's 100th marathon and I was delighted to see her heading towards the finish line to celebrate her achievement.

I'll let the photos do the talking now. They are not in any particular order as you can see the day started with a bright blue sky but became overcast towards the end but they give a feel of the magic of Pegwell Bay.

I tried desperately to resist stopping to take photos on the first lap but by the second lap I just couldn't help myself as it was so pretty.

The area of marshland by the coastal path. You can read a bit about the wildlife in the area here

A Christmas tree? Loved these baubles shining in the sun!

Ponies used as mowing machines to preserve the habitat

What looked like Highland cattle - again, possibly used to manage the grassland

What a lovely village sign (this is a contentious issue in our village!!!)

A finger post for the National Cycle Network similar to the one I saw in Sandgate

Oooh, what are they doing? You'll get a better view when I head back down the hill…..

….aha, kite surfing!

A not very glamourous but functional cafe.

This didn't come out as well as I'd hoped. The whole shrub was covered in the most amazing yellow lichen which glowed in the sunlight

The first time I saw this I thought it was a workman's hut…...

….but as I ran past I heard voices coming from within! There were lots of twitchers out bird spotting.

On my last lap the tide was further in and the sun had disappeared. I love its wild beauty and the muted colours of the grasses in so many shades of brown/grey and green.

My favourite photo of the day as I tried to capture the sunlight glimmering on the sea. It was so pretty.

Each time we finished a lap we were given a coloured wristband. Rachel said I was "high maintenance" cos I wanted a different colour each time!

In my previous post I mentioned that I was rather dehydrated which is most unusual for me. I noticed that I was sluggish for the last 2 laps and I really slowed down. I'd taken on water after each lap so I was surprised when I saw that I was dehydrated (runners reading this will know what I mean!). I wondered if it was due to weaning myself off my asthma medication which had been giving me side effects I'd rather not suffer. I was soon back to normal though so perhaps it was just a blip.

Here's my beautiful medal - what a corker to add to my collection.

Well done to everyone who took part, especially to Mandy who completed 20 miles as part of her marathon training - you go girl!

It was lovely to see so many familiar faces and I can't stress how friendly these events are. If anyone is thinking about having a go at longer distances I can highly recommend Traviss and Rachel's events.