Over The Contours

Finally my hometown has a Parkrun ! Despite now living over 200 miles away, I'd spotted some mutterings on Facebook and in other places about a Northwich Parkrun. It's had a junior Parkrun for some time now, so I thought it was only a matter of time before it would get its own proper one. I managed to work it so that Abigail and I could be staying at my mum and dad's place en route to the Lake District; in doing so, I was able to get to the inaugural event. The course is based in Carey Park, just to the north of the town centre. There is ample free car parking nearby, although I took advantage of its proximity to my parents' place by running there. After a friendly welcome from Amy the Run Director and some warm applause for everyone that made the event happen and we were off. The first mile is a loop around the gravel track circling the large cow field; midway through the loop there's an energy-sapping hill/switchback to watch out for. After mile 1, you then

The 3rd March 2018; the day the earth stood still. Well, not quite, but most of the UK did as a blanket of ice and snow - "the Beast from the East" - covered the country. Parkrun took a huge hit this weekend; somewhere close to 410 cancellations. I'd been keeping a close eye on forecasts for much of the week as Abigail and I were travelling to Brighton for a gig on the Saturday evening. Over the duration of the week, forecasts shifted constantly and it became increasingly apparent that travel would be tricky. By the Thursday a number of parkruns had already been cancelled as a precaution; in fact, my local runs at Pegwell Bay, Canterbury, Whitstable and Margate had already cancelled by this point. Fortunately, the parkruns in the vicinity of Brighton and Eastbourne all looked to be going ahead. By Friday the list of cancellations had continued to increase and the weather forecast was increasingly dire. A snow-day email from work gave me the opportunity to reassess thi