The best things in life are free, except international parkrun tourism

It seemed a great idea when we were booking the flights… 06:35 departure from Leeds Bradford Airport, arriving into Dublin for 07:30. The return flight scheduled for 20:55 the same evening. A day trip to Dublin, for the sole purpose of parkrun tourism.

Conti Thunder Run 2017

Over the previous weekend I embarked on a 24-hour endurance relay as part of a team of eight. With captaincy provided by Alan Pollock, could Hyde and Sleek take the intra-club crown?

Round Sheffield Run: 2017

The Round Sheffield Run is a multi-stage trail-running race that, including the walking between stages, totals about 15 miles. The race is broken up into 11 stages, the longest of which is 2.9 km. Considering the longest I’ve run all year is 10K, I did have to convince myself to tackle this. But I’m bloody glad I did.

A good thyme at Cleethorpes

Yesterday, I became the first person in the world called Curtis to run at 30 different parkruns! The chosen location was Cleethorpes. Why? Well, Cleethorpes appears on the list of Yorkshire and Humberside parkruns (this is hotly contested, however!) and is one of very few within Y&H that Nicola hasn’t completed. I can’t access it via public transport either, so I wanted to use Nicola for her car.

A post about a man in a dress

This weekend I realised I had a previously unknown wish to appear in the wedding photos of someone I had never actually met. Thankfully that was able to happen when I travelled to the wrong side of the Pennines to run at Heaton parkrun, north of Manchester.

Bestwood Village parkrun #16

When the wonderful Nicola Forwood propositioned me with a parkrun tourism trip I nearly snapped her arm off. I didn’t, of course. If I had I may be facing assault charges AND Nicola wouldn’t have been able to drive us down there. Instead I said “yes, that would be really nice.”

Being a big scary run director

Earlier today I was the run director at Woodhouse Moor for the thirteenth time, which equates to being run director for 2.5% of all parkruns at Woodhouse Moor in its nine-and-a-bit year history. I think sometimes the role of run director can be an ominous, looming role and I thought I would share experiences of what is actually involved and pay testament to the hundreds of other run directors who do this too.

Sherwood Pines parkrun #77

“Stranger Danger is nothing but a myth,” I told myself as I arranged to get into a stranger’s car at a conspicuous train station somewhere between Leeds and Nottingham so that I could be driven into a forest. Within a minute of getting into Jemma’s car we’d both made an agreement not to murder each other and set off through Worksop to complete the drive to Sherwood Pines parkrun.

‘uddersfield parkrun #311

This week’s touristing took me to Huddersfield parkrun (or ‘uddersfield, as the locals say), in Greenhead Park, for my 25^th different event. My other half and occasional tourist, Jessica, was in tow. I was also meeting up with Victoria, a Huddersfield regular and one of three recently appointed parkrun Champions for the Deaf & Hard of Hearing. Her role, which is voluntary, is to encourage and ensure inclusivity for individuals with all disabilities as part of the PROVE project.

“I don’t think I can carry on.”

Since the inaugural event on 17th December 2016, Millom parkrun has been fraught with mud-mania to a point where some runners have said they will be unable to return until the better weather. Last week there were only six attendees who fought tooth and nail through a mud pit on a miserable day. This week it was my turn, and what a joy it was!