Tag: peterborough

Peterborough Parkrun

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 1 Comment

At last I have a local Parkrun, well not exactly local, still 20 miles away, but it will definitely become a regular fixture of the weekend. I've done a few of these events over the last year and they are always great fun and really well organised. My first experience of Peterborough Parkrun was no different.

It takes place at Ferry Meadows in Nene Park and is basically a couple of laps of the lakes, and because it is slightly out of the city centre, there is not a Chav in sight.

Results email…..

I was slightly disappointed with my time of 20.20. I ran 19.57 at Tilgate Parkrun last weekend, and that was a hilly course in places. This morning I worked hard from the start, but come 3km my legs felt very tired, I tried to up the pace for the last couple of kilometres but couldn't get under 20mins. But that does give me a target when I visit Ferry Meadows again next week.

 

Frostbite and a rabbit…..

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 1 Comment

Today it was race 2 in the Frostbite Friendly League hosted by Bushfield Runners. A 5-miler starting and finishing at Bushfield's Leisure Centre near Peterborough. When I left home at around 9.30am all seemed good. When I got to the race is was no longer 'all good'. It was absolutely pissing it down! Walked to race HQ in rain. Warmed up in the rain. Ran the race in the rain. Walked back to the car in the rain. I was wet through and just wanted to get home.

Finished in 145th place in a pretty decent time of 34.06, less than 7 min/mile pace, so couldn't moan too much. But a shower, a lovely bacon and egg baguette and cup of tea and I was sorted.

As for November's Challenge, the traditional art of Japanese paper folding, may I present a rabbit….

Now I understand it may look a tiny bit like a donkey or a dog, but I can assure you it is a rabbit, the app says so….

I can't quite understand how their rabbit is looking slightly more happy and proud than my slightly depressed looking rabbit. I think a visit to the art department tomorrow to steal borrow some coloured paper may be required.

 

Great Eastern Run

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 5 Comments

A lovely bright morning welcomed all runners of the Great Eastern Run to Peterborough. The course has changed slightly to last year, it now starts on the Embankment rather than in the city centre, but more importantly, it is still 13.1 miles long.

The past three weeks training has been pretty non-existent due to various niggling injuries. Therefore today's plan was a nice steady pace. Got to halfway in 52 mins, and feeling pretty good, ran the second half in 50 mins. Finishing in a pretty respectable time of 1.42 which I was happy with considering the last month. You can probably tell that the race was pretty uneventful, Peterborough is not known for its fantastic scenery, although I did spot what I think was a tree at one point. But I was given a goody bag, medal and a ridiculously bright t-shirt for my efforts.

The real fun and games began at the finish….

Firstly, when I went to pick up bag from the storage point, they couldn't find it. I had to hang about watching some bloke desperately searching for it, at the annoyance to other runners. I had borrowed Amy's rucksack because mine had somehow disappeared. Therefore when asked what colour it was I said it was black, which I thought it was, it was in fact more of a grey. Doh!

Secondly, I had parked in the closest car park, not realising that the exit to the car park was actually on the race route. Therefore, it was not opened until most of the runners had finished. So in conclusion it took me an hour and forty minutes to run the race and the same amount of time to exit the car park!

And now for something completely different….

A crazy Austrian man jumped from 24 miles up in the air in an attempt to break the sound barrier….

And….he did it!

Swimming #8

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ Leave a comment

The continuation of August's Project brought us to the rather impressive sounding Peterborough Regional Pool.

Admission of £4.40, the most expensive price yet, allows you to experience the slightly strange set-up. There are actually three pools: a standard 25m pool (which goes from shallow at one end to slightly more shallow at the other end!!?); a teaching pool (this is in fact just a really shallow pool for kids); and a diving pool (connected to the main pool which is very, very deep).

We spent most of the time swimming in the diving pool because you were not allowed to use the diving boards today. Although, you were allowed to dive from the side, Marie only did one dive because on this attempt her bikini bottoms feel down and she decided this is 'not a good look'. We did a lot of swimming today, probably due to the fact that you couldn't stop because it was too deep to relax and stand-up.

Another issue with going into Peterborough for swimming is the parking, especially when it coincides with The Posh playing. We timed it all wrong and had to contend with thousands of people all trying to get out of Peterborough at the same time. At one stage we had a scene reminiscent of 'Green Street'…

It was a good swimming session today, I'm not sure if we'll return to The Regional Pool, but I'm glad we visited. Swimming is DEFINITELY improving every time I go. Lovely jubbly!

Next up……Deepings Swimming Pool.

 

Project365 #334 – Strike action!

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As a striking member of the NUT I had a choice today: mark or march.

I’m happy to report that I joined my fellow brothers and sisters, from a variety of unions, and took part in the march and rally in Peterborough. It is this solidarity that will eventually bring about a change in this government’s continued attack on the public sector workers. It was also nice to hear the word ‘comrades’….