New year runs in the U-S-A!

I've always enjoyed New Year, and since I entered the world of parkrun I enjoy it all the more. There was the famous (and once in a lifetime) New Year's Day triple in 2012, and the tourist trip to Middlesborough in 2014 where we celebrated the coming of the New Year in a Harvester and ran Stewart and Albert parkruns. In 2015 we ran a Reading parkrun double of Woodleigh and Reading, and there was last year, 2016, when I went away with Mrs to bonny Scotland, and we celebrated Hogmanay, saw the Northern lights, and ran three Scottish park runs in two days (St. Andrews, Camperdown (Dundee), and Perth). Whilst at Perth we found out about the third run available on that day - the (apparently) famous Blairgowie New Year's Day Fun Run - 6km flat-out racing round the village!

First time on an A380 - it's yuuuuuge

This year we decided to push the boat out even further, and, courtesy of a boat-load (plane-load?) of Avios, we hopped across the pond to Washington D.C. With three of the eight parkruns currently live in the US (Fletcher's Cove, Roosevelt Island, and College Park) and soon to be joined by a further two (Anacostia Park and Kingman Island), D.C. is certainly a beating heart of parkrun.

Left to right: Fletcher's Cove, Roosevelt Island, and College Park

I was hoping we might be able to do all three events, one on Saturday, New Year's Eve, and a New Year's Day double for the other two. As Fletcher's Cove and Roosevelt Island are just a couple of kilometers apart I dropped the event directors a note back in November suggesting they may want to put on the first ever US double event - however, I wasn't planning on the third annual "Fit DC - Run with the mayor" event.

The Fit DC 5km is part of an initiative led by Mayor Muriel Bowser to help DC residents get fitter in the New Year. It's a free timed 5km run that starts at 9am (sound familiar?) on New Year's Day each year.

Given the overlap between this mission and that of parkrun, I wasn't surprised that parkrun didn't want to put on a clashing event. I signed us up, and looked forward to 9am, 1st January, 2017.

Only College Park was running on New Year's Day, at 11am to give people time to get across after running with Mayor Bowser. I thought we could jog up, until I learned it was 12 miles away... After a brief chat with Colin Phillips, husband of Event Director Andrea, we'd secured ourselves a lift - thanks Colin!

Colin, and the rest of the D.C. parkrun crew had a tent at Fit DC. They were very welcoming to us, and all the Fit D.C. entrants - it looks like they'd secured a few dozen new sign-ups too.


New Year's Eve - Roosevelt Island parkrun - 0:22:53

This is a really interesting course on Theodore Roosevelt Island in the Potomac river. It's a folded-P style, and only just about fits on the island. Most of the East side is swamp land, and a long section of board-walk covers that area. The main feature is the Roosevelt monument, set on the highest point of the island. It looks like there's an accompanying water feature, but it seems to be off out of season.

The local Starbucks had a Roosevelt Island parkrun flyer

The statue of Theodore Roosevelt

The Roosevelt Island parkrun team

I set off hard, hoping for a quick time on the undulating course. Running on the board-walk was great fun - it springs very slightly and means you can virtually fly along. I ran the first couple of kilometres a bit faster than I should, for as I rounded the loop of the P to start my return journey my legs were complaining. I didn't have much left for the last kilometre, and was quite slow up the shallow hill to the finish.

Classic folded-P design

Great fun though, small and perfectly formed, I'd highly recommend it to any tourists.

Post-parkrun relaxation in the Watergate Hotel library - scandalous!

New Year's Day - Fit DC 5k

The Fit D.C. course was on East Potomac Park - a wide flat out-and-back entirely on tarmac. I ran the first half with Colin, and the second half with Colin and Andrea once we'd caught her up. There was a huge turn out, and many looked to be new or inexperienced runners - it was great, I hope they get the bug and start parkrunning. The Mayor did indeed run, and she was waving and high-fiving everyone all the way around - not at all what you might think Mayors are like.

The parkrun tent was very popular

All the local parkruns, plus sign-up sheets for the interested

parkrun t-shirts with numbers - an unusual combination!

Colin Philips, Mrs, and me

There was a timing team there, and the race numbers were chipped, but I'm not sure if the times will be published - just like parkrun it was more of a run than a race.

Well organised run, with a proper start/finish inflatable and free t-shirt - not bad!

Quite literally running with the Mayor - Muriel Bowser, with the big smile and the fluffy white hat

Out and back round the tip of East Potomac Park

Started at an easy pace for the first third, and then settled in at a good pace for the remainder

New Year's Day - College Park parkrun - 0:21:55

Hopping in the car we were ferried off to College Park - via Colin's house to pick up cake! I've been looking forward to this run for quite some time - it was to be my 200th different parkrun course (a "Double Cowell" in parkrun lexicon).

Best parkrun cake ever - lemony goodness baked by Andrea

There was a good turnout, including a couple who hadn't got the memo and turned up at 9am! I got a shout-out in the run briefing, and before long we were off. I was determined to put in a good time, and went off fast. The course was a flat out-and-back with a dead turn at the mid-way point. I set off with a small group, but they slowly pulled away and I ran 4km on my own, desperately trying to reel in the person in front.

A fast out and back - nowhere to hide if you're falling off the pace

Worked hard all the way, the turn-around is easy to see, and I saved a bit for a quicker finish too

Mrs coming in for a big finish on a beautiful sunny New Year's Day

The finish, with plenty of volunteers on hand

I didn't catch them, but I did finish in a very respectable 21:55, for my 5th fastest parkrun ever - I'm certainly not going to complain about that!

Couldn't resist a picture of this reminder not to wander off with your position token

Other runs we did this week

A run up to the Capital Building on the first day, trying to combat the effects of jet lag (then we got blindsided, and almost snow blinded, when it started snowing - as much to the surprise of the locals as to us).

The Lincoln Memorial

The Washington Memorial as seen from the far side of the reflecting lake

Flags are positioned around the base of the Washington Memorial

The memorial is absolutely enormous, far larger than I was expecting

Looking up to the Capital building

The White House - the place was surrounded by inauguration preparation activity and scaffolding

Run down the river in a sustained heavy rain shower, only for the return path to be nonexistent, so we had to run back the way we'd come - on the plus side we now know the Fletcher's Cove parkrun course too!

Another parkrun location ticked off

A couple of Roosevelt Island freedom runs (or one at least, given a routing error the first time i tried it), plus a lovely run on our last day to the South to look at the Pentagon and the 9/11 memorials.

Great view of the Washington Memorial and Lincoln Memorial from across the river

One side of The Pentagon - also absolutely enormous

The Air Force Memorial to 9/11 - a staggeringly beautiful structure

The shape is designed to resemble the arcing of con-trails from aircraft

It's beautiful from every angle

Our last morning's run, including a loop of Roosevelt Island again, just for fun

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Race Report: Blairgowrie annual New Year's Day fun run (plus 3x parkrun!)

New Year's Day always brings with it the excitement of the once-per-year parkrun double, an opportunity to complete two official parkrun events on the same morning. It's the only day of the year that the parkrun pixies will allow two times to be logged for a single athlete, and runs that are near each other have taken to pairing up and offering locals an early run, then a later run at a different course with ample time to drive, cycle, or sometimes jog between the two. There's even an official Christmas Compendium page to help you plan your festive fun.

Once upon a time way back in 2012 we even did three in a day (Bushy, Nonsuch, and Riddlesdown), but that's a story for another day (and no longer permitted under the current rules - bah!).

It's a special day for the parkrun tourist community as we get a chance to go to some far flung corner of the world and run a pair of runs that we wouldn't normally get to. Two years ago a group of us went up to Middlesborough to run Stewart and Albert parkruns. Last year we kept it local as Mrs had just had an ankle operation, so we took a short drive West and I ran Woodleigh and Reading parkruns while she patiently waited in the car (love is...).

This year, as New Year's Day was a Friday, we get to play on Saturday too and so we decided to make a long trip somewhere to take in three local runs. Never having completed a run North of the border, I voted for Scotland, and so we booked a few nights at a hotel in St Andrews and headed off up North on the train. Camperdown (Dundee) and Perth parkruns were staging a double, with Camperdown starting at the traditional Scottish parkrun start time of 9:30 and Perth, a half hour drive away, starting at 11:00.

I noticed on the Perth parkrun page mention of another run in the area, the 30th annual Blairgowrie New Year's Day fun run - turn up on the morning, register, and for £2 enjoy a 6-ish kilometre run around the town. Sounds fun, and my training plan called for 18km, so count me in! (I can't include a link to the event page because it seems as soon as an event has happened, Discover Blairgowrie deletes it!).

After seeing in the New Year to some seafront fireworks (and my first ever sight of the Northern Lights) and one or two (or three) cocktails, we tucked up early (ish) to get some sleep ahead of our New Year's Day trio of runs.

NYD run 1 - Camperdown parkrun, Dundee

First on the list was Camperdown. Mrs plumbed in the postcode to the hire car satnav, and we were off. There was hardly anyone else on the roads so our trip was uneventful. We arrived at about ten-past nine, and there was a constant flow of cars arriving behind us - lots of Perth running club tops, clearly doing the double was popular!

9:15 in a frosty car park in Dundee - this is how you celebrate New Year's Day!

Camperdown was cold, the leaves and grass were very crispy under foot and made a satisfying crunching during my warmup jog. I had a quick chat with the event director who said they were very pleased with the turn out.

Cold Camperdown-selfie!

We set off roughly on time. The course is a large loop on the side of a hill, quite muddy down the bottom, and with some good inclines to warm us up.

A good turnout, event team were very happy

I ran round with Mrs and finished in a respectable 29:57 with plenty in the tank for the next run.

NYD run 2 - Perth parkrun

We joined the parkrun procession from Dundee to Perth (or at least, we joined the back and overtook most of it, thanks to my right foot), and arrived at a very slippery car park in a sports centre - home of Perth parkrun.

This is a golf course, site of the regular Perth parkrun event

Tricky little put at the 9th

I was concerned that the event may be cancelled, they had a lot of flooding in the area and their Boxing Day parkrun was cancelled as flood barriers were in operation in the park they use. Their facebook page had been updated and showed quite some resolve to stage an event - they even designed a new course just for the day, designated the C course (as the A and B courses were still blocked by flood barriers). The parkrun double is clearly a serious business up here!

Event director explaining the new C course, just for us New Year's Day doublers

The C course was two laps of an out and back style course, with the start/finish line half way along. I call these "promenade" courses - in fact the course layout was exactly the same as Hove Promenade parkrun.

It was clear why they had to go to unusual lengths - the park was still completely flooded. I'm very grateful to the event team and volunteers for being so determined!

This was to be the 100th run for Mrs, so I got her announced by the event director on the start line and she got a round of applause - congrats on your 100, sweetie!

Me & Mrs before her 100th parkrun - black t-shirt time!

The run was uneventful, and a bit slippery in places, and we ran across the line together to finish the pancake-flat 5km course in 28:54.

This was pretty cool - a bicycle counter - wish I'd seen it yesterday!

NYD run 3 - Blairgowrie annual New Year's Day fun run

This was the wildcard of the day. Another 25 minutes in the car saw us arriving at Blairgowrie, a small town North of Perth. This was the 30th year of this event, and the 12th year there had been a walkers option too.

It looked like the entire town had come out for the day, and most of it was crammed into their little town hall. I registered and got my race number, and milled about waiting for the start. The walkers went off at 12:30, with the runners due to start at 13:00. It was almost as if it was planned so that the park runners could get their from Perth and make it a triple-run day! There were certainly more than a few faces that we'd seen in both Dundee and Perth.

Looking a bit tired - ready for the third run of the day

Well over 100 walkers had set off at 12:30. and at least as many runners assembled for the start of the run. There was no parkrun "it's not a race it's a run" ethos here - this was going to be a race! I hadn't run hard for a while, and with 12.5km in my legs already from parkruns plus warmups I thought I'd go for it and see what happened.

Over 100 walkers awaiting their start

My legs took about a mile to warmup - two runs plus driving in between is not kind - and my feet were very aware that I'd changed from fairly padded grippy trail shoes to my lightweight and virtually grip-less road shoes. 

The prizes were very "local"

Warmed up I got, though, and I started reeling people in. My pace steadily increased round the all-road circuit. It was roughly square in layout, and had a few gentle inclines to keep it interesting. I worked really hard in the last quarter to catch a couple more people, and managed to make every overtake stick - with the exception of a young girl who didn't take kindly to being overtaken in the last kilometre. She fought back and overtook me, before producing an amazing final few hundred metres and beating me by a good 15-20 seconds. I settled for a sprint finish with a gangly teenager who I just about beat on the line!

I don't think there are any timings published as it's just a fun run, and there were no chips or people with clipboards, so I'm not sure what position I finished in - but according to my Garmin I ran the 6.15km in 29:02 - after a slowish start I'm quite happy with that!

Saturday run - St Andrews parkrun

It was a cold blustery morning for the short drive out to Craigtoun Country Park for St Andrews parkrun. The park has ample parking, and there was once again a steady stream of parkrunners arriving. It was a good turn out - St Andrews had elected not to hold an extra New Year's Day event, so this was their first run of 2016.

The route is on a shallow hillside, so half the circuit is up, and half down, with a flat straight-isa segment along the bottom. The laps are short, so we go round a little over three times with a wiggly bit added onto the end to make it up to 5km.

Round and round (5 times, including warmup and cool-down)

I started slow, but soon decided to pick up the pace. I enjoyed reeling people in all the way round, and finished in an all-out sprint with a tiny child (parkrun is such a great leveller - where else can you get into a sprint finish with a 10-year old just as easily as with a 60-year old?). We accelerated more and more over the last 50m or so, and I let him just pip me to the finish line (there's no glory in actually beating a small child in a sprint finish in front of dozens of adult spectators :).

Today's time showed I put a bit more effort in, and my official result had me at 24:40.

What I learned in Scotland

I learned three things during my trip to Scotland:

1) Nothing can be done without pipers piping. Nothing. At all.

2) People drive really quite incredibly slowly (we got stuck behind many cars driving at 40mph on fast national speed limit roads, and one in particularly who was barely managing 30mph!).

3) It's dark. Although I lived in Scotland for three years, that was a long time ago. I'd forgotten that in Winter it doesn't really bother with daylight - it's a cycle of night time, to dawn, to dusk, and back to night time!

Our steed for the duration - Volvo XC60 D5 R-Design, not a bad drive

It was fun though, I enjoyed my New Year parkrun tourism with bonus local fun run. I wonder where we'll go next year?