Its been a slightly unsettling and very demanding 'full-on' last few months as we move from our beloved Wood 80-odd miles south to our bungalow by the sea. We have left our 'core' parkrun team friends behind and our committee & friends at the local Ramblers club to venture back 'home' nearer family and the seaside. It's been a long time now since we headed 'north' for me to take on a new role near St Albans and Lesley to swap her role at Esporta for a brand new Esporta just opening in Hemel Hempstead. Now both well into retirement and getting pretty fed-up with a leasehold flat, a change was needed before, dare I say it, we get too old!. Our sale and purchase were as we all come to expect........fraught! Stress levels rocketed and Lesley had seen her resting heart-beat trickle ever upwards, higher and higher as the 'exchange' approached the critical hour. Then...............stuff in store, 6 weeks in our static just 12 miles from our new home while 'Dave', our builder, moved in........virtually! We hadn't planned to do much to the house, just the kitchen refit.......new bathroom......wall taken down in the dining room.......upgrade the central heating..........re-wire the whole house.........enlarge the kitchen............repaint and wallpaper.........I could go on. Just 6 weeks later and we had also moved the contents of our old allotment including hiring a huge van on the wettest day for weeks to fill it with said contents including a deconstructed greenhouse, a deconstructed 8x6 shed and the list goes on! The shed is now nicely sited at the end of our garden (yes we now have a garden back) So, in the middle of the move Lesley was diagnosed with a very debilitating dose of shingles that made her quite unwell! She lost the use of one eye through swelling and generally felt weak and grot. Hospital appointments meant a 160 mile round trip and all this while mayhem with the move out and move in. So.........definitely, no running!
But, our continued story is not about estate agents, solicitors and builders. By the time we had settled and 80% of the work done, our stuff is out of store and yes, parkrun is back! We are only a stones throw from the beach and a lovely flat walk into Worthing........our nearest parkrun. 
We decided to cycle in and leave our bikes in the designated cycle rack before 'assembly' on the beach for the sake of social distancing! Not being involved in set-up or knowing any familiar faces we felt very much like 'tourists' but.......this is now our home! Using the familiar ploy of not going too quick today, so a PB was guaranteed whatever the time and would be broken the in subsequent weeks, was easy as we had not run for a while. Worthing is flat and an out-and-back where the turn-a-round is not nearly half way! This is because the start is not near the finish.......if you see what I mean? Although flat, Worthing can have a westerly that makes the first 2k feel like a steep hill, only to jettison you at the turn making the last 3k "easy" Well, today, like a lot of days this summer, were to have a brisk & chilly easterly! You guessed, easy 2k rubbish 3k! Worthing also is a summer resort and the promenade, as well as early risers, has funfairs, car-shows, publicity tents, chuggers, vendors and close to 500 parkrunners all sharing the promenade! But, it works. I can't recall our times but they were fairly mundane but, that's not the point. The point is we finished we had cake & coffee and managed to chat with a few people including an impromptu running club that, just for fun, meet in the week for a run & pint. They are all parkrunners, missing their Saturdays and had never met before!
After a chat on our second run with Mike the RD/ED, we decide to volunteer next time and include our names on the on-line roster. Any role, as we have done them all and we were flagged up for token give-er-outers. Apart from New Year Day in Wendover Woods, we had never token-given to so many people! So with our matching purple T-shirts and the 1st runner due back in 17 minutes we soon found that it needed 2 of us, me, not known for my finger dexterity handing batches of 10 to Lesley, who was busy giving out the important plastic bits, as fast as she could, until at about 350 a few spaces appeared so breath could be taken! The tokens were on cable ties in batches of about 150 with the usual 'pressure' that comes of not dropping them and not mixing them up! No probs, all went smoothly, finished and cleared up before Lesley's son and both their grandchildren appeared..........just missing the whole event! Never mind, it was nice that living 'south' a visit for a few hours was now possible!
Yet another week without a parkrun but there was a good 'excuse' as we finally got to our thrice postponed, Run-fest-Run. Its original location in Windsor Great Park had been postponed in April 2020 and the second attempt failed also but with a degree of fortune the festival circuit just about opened and Chris Evans and crew 'bolted' it on to Car-fest, being held at Jody Scheckters farm in deepest Hampshire. We had only just completed our move and the jury was out to our fitness and did we now feel 'safe' in crowds? It would involve, wait for it, camping! In a field, no electric hook-ups, camp-beds, sleeping bags, under the stars or whatever late Bank Holidays more usually throws at us. But, the decision was made, we needed a break, we had paid for the weekend months ago and it looked like it would be fun. All our under-used camping gear was in our garage so I set about checking it all out removing all our usual 'luxuries' ......electric lead for hook-up, electric kettle, lights, chargers for Fitbit and phone, etc. etc. Also, gas was banned above a small cylinder so no double burner just a small cylinder with a single, precarious burner for essentials like a cuppa. Car loaded and we were off on Friday morning to Laverstock Park Farm. 
Car-fest was already in full swing, thankfully on the other side of the lane, as we arrived parking on a sloping long grass ( crops) field. I wisely bought a sack barrow to drag or push our small amount of gear the 'undulating' route, but mainly up, to our camp field. It took 4 trips due to the ground, the inclines and my strength......plus of course the weight of our deluxe camp beds and our superb Coleman 'blackout' 4 person tent! The running was great although, we only took part in the sunset shuffle that about 4k across cut crops with hills and ruts and a warm greeting when we all arrived back. We also entered the 5k on Saturday, similar terrain and just a longer distance with a smidge of uphill tarmac on the return. We baulked at the 10k and the half-marathon just confining it to watching and cheering-on! All-in-all and with the hindsight of stringing it all together in these difficult times............it was great. 
We all got divided into 4 teams with each team wearing our unique supplied T-shirts and points given for numbers entered plus something silly on Sunday of collecting as many plastic balls and putting them into a boot of a sponsored Volvo.........'Ladybirds' were second! Would we do it again? who knows! Chris Evans has asked for feedback and we were happy to oblige. Our main 'gripe' was the sloping camp field, the crop infested running track and the adjacent 'mobbed' Car-fest. If this was sorted, yes we would be back but would it be viable again?
Back to Worthing promenade parkrun and we are back to today's number 6 run........well Lesley is but I have opted out the last 2 due to a squidgy back. So today I was 'funnel manager' and Lesley was getting another PB! 435 parkrunners, an unexpected bonus of sunshine and a still day that was perfect. We cycled in early and I high-vizzed ready to help at the start by being a very important shush-shush person 
before returning to the funnel for the duty of keeping the finishers flowing and keeping them in the right order. This sounds easy but when a good deal of the spent bodies can barely walk let alone know where they are in the token-queue it soon becomes a full-on volunteering role until the first 300 or so are through and the pace slows although the effort for most, stays the same! Coffee, cake and a visit to the Worthing Food Festival rounded up an almost wall-to-wall perfect sunshine day!
The week we have been planning for.....it had seemed forever! South Downs Ramblers walking week! The weather forecast kept changing in the run-up week but no need to worry as it was absolutely perfect for the 21 Aylesbury Ramblers group. Covid had postponed 2 times and the numbers were depleted by 2 when a couple contracted the virus following a cruise to the Baltics! 
Saturday before we decided to not do parkrun as Worthing was cancelled due to it being 'Pride' weekend but we changed our minds and went to an old favourite, Hove Park. We have missed our trips to Hove, with its 2.5 laps, inclines, tarmac and ham& cheese toasted croissants! It was a lovely morning for the 20 minute drive over the Downs via Devils Dyke to be greeted by 400 + runners and a host of high-vizzed volunteers. We both shuffled off and managed reasonable times that were somewhere around 34/35 minutes after both saying we had tried to take it easy in the knowledge of the impending busy week ahead!
With all the catching up with the walking group on Monday afternoon during a brief 'warm-up' stroll around Bramber it was back to the Old Tollgate for the first of, too many, 3 course gastronomic feasts that we would hopefully walk-off each day . The intrepid group, like us, had aged a little. 
We had one over 80, one who's 80th was celebrated during the week, several well into their 70 years, including me I suppose! A good number with dodgy body parts that would challenge them through the week on the hills and longish distances. We had no rain, no excessive heat glorious sunshine and more importantly..........no casualties. All survived and most did all of the walks. One of our friends is overdue a hip replacement, so good reason for shortening the day walks, a couple were a bit lacking in stamina so they joined them. Several non-walking wives tempted their hubbies to go visiting the local area but all in all they (and we) had a most enjoyable break. Would we organise another walking holiday............no! Let someone else take the reigns as we have moved on, literally and so have our group, some have had 15 years of these annual walking breaks and something more relaxing and less testing is what we all will need. 
An end of an era but great memories that concluded at Box Hill where we crossed the, balance-challenging, 'Stepping Stones' and back up the steep slope for lunch and good-byes. we both felt pretty pleased that so many had thanked us for being challenged and just having a great time, some putting their looming worries behind them and indulging in good food, walks, silly quizzes and friendly banter!
So...no rest for the parkrunners as we decide to get straight into our Worthing parkrun while the weather holds and our bodies are still up for it! Late running busses could have scuppered our day but the 8:15 was on time, just the last 2 cancelled due to .....driver shortage, queues for fuel blocking roads.....covid, or what, but we arrived at the start in plenty of time for our warm-up 
that consists of no more than shuffling to and fro, swinging our arms and throwing a pebble into the sea for a good luck wish! Selfie taken, we join towards the rear, after the new style very brief-briefing, 3-2-1 and off! During the up-loop I was sure I spotted a familiar face and a definite familiar voice with a Scottish lilt and an enthusiastic pitch to encourage anyone to stop walking and keep going!! The ups and downs of the walking week must have given us an extra lift as we both turned in respectable PB's of 34:08 & 34:10 minutes. We both feel that the weather can only hinder us from now on with an unsettled ( wet & windy) outlook that is sure to blow us around and slow us down! At the finish we did our usual stay-on encouragement for the tail-enders and there he was.........shuffling in boots and not a hint of parkrun attire on him............TAM! Tam the parkrun ambassador that helped set up Wendover Woods with us all getting it off the ground before disappearing back into parkrun management to help set up more and now to not only be ED (event director) at Dunstable Downs but inspector of events to ensure the guidance and rules are adhered to........a sort of 'secret shopper' that arrives unannounced, and checks on the rules being followed by the parkrun director and volunteers......in a nice and friendly way! We had a natter with him at Coast over a coffee, and today, a toasted avocado, tomato and egg. Good to see he has lost none of his enthusiasm and nice to see a face from our parkrun past.
The weather has gone very autumnal indeed with heavy rain most days and Saturday looked to be no exception as we walked down to catch the 700 into Worthing. It was Lesley's turn to volunteer and mine to face the predicted heavy showers and strong south-westerly gusts. 
Volunteer duty today was for Lesley to do the funnel-running. This involves keeping everyone in the order they finished in and picking at random a name and number to right on her pad. This makes things easier for the results processing if there is an almighty 'incident'! eg. dropped tokens, timekeepers phone goes pear-shaped!......you know the score. A rather fetching poncho was worn to save the pad from a soaking but, the rain held off and the wind didn't, so said poncho proved to be a hinderance rather than the good idea it was supposed have been! Believe me ( I last covered the funnel duty) once the runners start coming through there is little time to scratch your nose let alone grapple with taking the plastic poncho off. My run was uneventful except it was parkrun birthday and people dressed in ridiculous, but quite amusing, regalia, the wind battered me side ways and backwards until the 'turn-about' and I seemed to be following either a pink rabbit onesie, a large bee with a tutu and a rather fetching set of matching legs, both with pink fishnet stockings!
A hectic summer turns into a short autumn and now winter....brrrrr! We have park-run'd as much as possible between a never-ending spell of 'getting the garden done' This involved 3 x raised beds with sleeper-like timbers that were doubled-decked to give us height, 5 tonnes of mixed topsoil and compost, 3 tonnes of pebbles to form paths around! In between our seaside runs we ventured back to Wendover Woods to meet up, chat and of course, do the hills! Shame about the weather, meant all the team, that were there, scuttled off leaving only Richard to catch up with in the cafe! Staying overnight in a local pub with an early start meant no breakfast but a late checkout allowed us to change out of our wet clothes, shower and coffee before the return journey back to sunny Worthing. We both seem to plod along doing circa 34 minutes until a week before our 'postponed' holiday we turned in PBs........much to the surprise of both of us! Lesley is well established with her new Worthing Striders running club so perhaps this was the reason for her 'turn of speed' and I just followed the hare! So, we found a minute from somewhere! Walking in Spain for a week where we were over-fed and almost over-walked had it not been for un-Spain like weather with 2 days of rain and the rest was a cool-sun. No swimming and no outdoor lounging on our 'sun-deck' Good holiday though but we don't like to talk about the testing times of form filling, app QR-ing and no results after a week from the government 'approved' test company. £50.00 worse off, lost hours of several complaints and no results yet from our negative tests! Still, mustn't grumble.....it's a strange situation for everyone.
Why a picture of the 700 coastliner bus?. Well.......just about 8:10am we arrived at our nearby bus-stop in plenty of time to take the 8:15 into worthing for our parkrun. 15 minutes ride, 15 minutes warm-up and into the pre-run chat and briefings. Get a good look at the bus as the 8:15 didn't arrive, the 8:25 ditto and the 8:38 failed, so we start to walk back home when it finally appears round the corner at 8:44! Hop on and you guessed, every Tom, Dick & Harriet has been waiting to get on and waiting to get off. As we depart our penultimate bus-stop the speedy parkrun gang are already sprinting past on the promenade. Undeterred we exit the bus by the start and join the run over 4 minutes late. By the time we reach the pier we have already passed the tail-walkers and quickly' overhaul' the back-shufflers and walkers! One thing became obvious..........no pre-run loo stop and at the first opportunity I take an urgent pause! Lesley runs on and I get back into the sunshine only to pass the tail-walkers and overhaul for the second time, the back-shufflers and walkers! From then on it was pretty straight forward, I finished in circa 37 +minutes, Lesley was at the finish to cheer me on, on my last day as a 72 years old vet. Cafe, coffee, croissant and a chat with Chris from nearby Ferring that also suffered the fate of the 700 no-show buses but wisely went back home to get his car, join the parkrun on time to finish 'Top Dog' that is, first dog to finish in about 28 minutes!
The run-up and Christmas Day run are upon us once more. We turn up on time, via our trusty bikes and wonder why we don't arrive this way more often. At least there is no guessing as to the bus arriving as Christmas day......Stagecoach has a well earned rest! We look festive and slightly ridiculous in our once-a-year attire. No probs though, there are near 400 other suitably kitted out Santa's and Elves. The weather is kind and quite mild which means my jumper stays on for around 2km before it is removed , weighing, what feels like a couple of kilos of pure synthetic wool and sweat! The hat also goes as I battle the stiff breeze after the the turn-around-point. 
Following, elves, santas and glittery somethings I 'catch up' with a young lady dressed in three splendidly wrapped box- presents. Her arms protruded from the top small box and her backside was obviously inside the large bottom box! Whilst figuring out how, why, etc an opportunity came to my head that if I follow directly behind her she would make an excellent..........windshield! So I did, until the last 500 metres when I 'sprinted' past her now that the raised beach and seafront buildings were doing the same windbreak job! So around 34 again, no open cafe so no coffee and cake, just a cycle back in the drizzle that had befallen us for the half-hour back home to continue our covid depleted festivities! Just the two of us.
** we hope very much next year will be different!!
