I mean I guess it’s probably more accurate to say to the midlands, but for me anywhere north of Bristol feels “Up North” as I live so south 😉
But accurate geography aside, Kyle and I drove up to Stoke-On-Trent on Friday to stay with my grandad ahead of the Manchester Marathon on the Sunday.
Before that though we had a nice walk down to Lee-On-Solent to have some filling breakfast to fuel us for the 3.5 hour car journey. I like to have a bit of a walk or some sort of movement before a long journey as otherwise your body just feels so meh. So we walked about 45 minutes to the Penguin Cafe in Lee for some brunch.
We went for the rather greedy Emperor Breakfast, which was pretty much everything I love about a fry-up. GIANT.
Kyle even got extra toast. When we get breakfast we mean business. The Penguin Cafe is a lovely place – though it is very much your cheap and cheerful greasy spoon. Everything tasted delicious – so I’ll let them off for their bean contamination 😉
After a lonnnnng drive to Stoke we got to spend a nice evening with my grandad and enjoy a home cooked meal of steak, vegetables and potatoes. It’s always lovely to see him and hear about his adventures in Scotland in the Cairngorms Reindeer Centre where he volunteers twice a year as their handyman and general all-round fixer-upper (“Handy Paul” as they call him). At nearly 80 I’m very proud of him.
The next morning Kyle and I ran the 1.5(ish) miles to Hanley park for the Hanley parkrun.
Happily it was a lovely downhill to get our legs moving. Hanley park itself was a beautiful park with a lovely pond.
Now I remember running Hanley parkrun a few years ago when I stayed at my grandad’s with my dad before the Liverpool Marathon. However I DO NOT remember it being that hilly (actually after going back to the old post I have clearly stated it was “challenging”. Obviously I wiped it from my memory…).
I told Kyle I thought it was flat but actually it really wasn’t. It’s number 406 on the elevation line-up of all the UK parkruns. My home parkrun Netley with it’s three inclines is 212!
We lined up, all happy and innocent of what was ahead, and got ready to start. Kyle and I agreed if one of us felt good to run ahead and as we got going I decided I felt like I bit of a push.
As we turned the corner we hit the first hill. OK I sort of remembered this now… but it was only one hill. Then we had a lovely stretch of downhill, where I lost Kyle (he’s a very cautious downhill runner whereas I’m pretty much a free-faller). And then we looped back round to the same hill. Hmmm.
The course, in the end, included this hill another time AND a nastier longer hill twice. So actually it wasn’t flat at all and was actually very undulating. At 1.5 miles I felt that draining feeling of tiredness where I wasn’t sure I could maintain my speed anymore. But the downhills helped me catch my breath and give me back some energy.
I managed to overtake a few females on the final mile and powered to the finish as second female. I finished in 21:42 and Kyle, not too far behind, finished 22:21.
The first female was already done and I overheard her talking to someone and saying she was from Portsmouth. I jumped over to say so was I. Turns out her local is Southsea and she was visiting family. What a small world!
Then we made our way slowly back to my grandad’s. Annoyingly having to climb up the giant hill we sailed breezily down before. Ooof it was a grind!
We got washed up, had breakfast then headed to Liverpool to see my lovely friend Charlotte, her husband and her little boy, Arthur. She used to live in Brighton (a far more accessible visiting distance) but now she’s so far away it seemed silly not to make the most of being nearby and dropping in.
As I knew I wanted a larger dinner I decided to be sensible and have a lighter lunch (yes, this is still Anna… mental I know). I went for a vegan salad but added chicken (I know, I know). It had falafels and chickpeas and was very tasty but…well, very light.
It was lovely seeing Charlotte but then we had to head off to our next destination – Manchester! Kyle and I were staying in an AirBnb about three miles from the race start and about a ten minute drive from the city centre, which was perfect.
We met up with my other friend, John from many MarathonTalk adventures, and found a perfect, albeit hidden away, pizza restaurant to carb load adequately before the race called Dogs ‘n’ Dough. John was going to be running the marathon too (Kyle wasn’t, he’d be supporting).
The pizza place was very cool and quirky, and helpfully very quiet! I went for BBQ chicken pieces to start. And a cheeky Bud Light.
And then followed it up with a giant 12 inch deep pan pulled pork pizza (The Pig Lebowski). Normally I’m more of a crispy thin fan but this was very tasty. And very filling.
I was definitely going to be well fueled for the next day! I was pretty much sent into a carb coma.
It was nice to catch up with John, although we both admitted that it didn’t really feel like we’d be running a marathon the next day. He was going to be taking it a bit easier (he’s a 3:12 marathoner usually but is training for a much longer event). I wasn’t sure of my plans yet (am I ever??). I was pretty much going to see how it felt on the day. But I kind of wanted to give it a bit of a blast as it seemed like the weather was going to be cool and the course was flat. So an ideal opportunity.
John headed back to his hotel and Kyle and I headed back to our AirBnb. The couple who lived there (we were in a room, rather than an entire flat) were lovely and friendly. One of them had run the marathon before so I got to ask her a bit about it. It was quite amusing when they were advising me to have a good carbohydrate rich breakfast and get a good night sleep and giving me tips on running a marathon in general… they then asked if it was my first. I told them it was my 19th and they looked stunned. They then said “oh well I guess you know what you’re doing then!” hehe.
Have you ever been to Manchester before?
Do you prefer thick crusted or thin base pizzas?
What’s the hilliest parkrun you’ve done?
I would always choose a thin crust pizza over a thick one- more flavour from the toppings anyway, but then if you are running a marathon the next day take all the carbs!
I think when I last went to Manchester we went to a place that did the most amazing grilled cheese sandwiches- we were seeing The Stone Roses, but only travelled up on the Saturday lunch time so I’ve not been to a parkrun around there at all. I love coincidences like that when you are travelling- I met someone from Ellenbrook fields at Upton Court as we were both ticking off the U!
I think Bevendean Down parkrun by Brighton has to be the hilliest I’ve been to- two laps of up and down, and my slowest time by a good few mins (taking out tail walking). Very very pretty though.
I’ve only been to Manchester once to run a mile race and to attend a fetcheveryone social.
We were debating north v south in the office today. I had a bit of a struggle convincing a colleague Birmingham was not ‘up north’ but in the ‘middle bit’.
I’m definitely a thin crust pizza girl, I struggle to finish thick crust pizzas.
I’ve only done three parkruns but Sutton Park was by far the hilliest. The last km is more or less downhill which is great. As you know, Walsall Arboretum is flat and great for PBs. Didcot is also completely flat.
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I’ve been to Manchester more times than I can count but that’d because it used to only be an hour away from home!
Definitely a thick crust, although trying to be sensible with my eating I tend to opt for a thin crust.
The hilliest parkrun I’ve done is either Barry or Ipswich! Not that I’ve done that many different parkruns!
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I prefer a thinner crust – this ones can be a bit doughy.
I think the hilliest parkrun I’ve done is probably Dunfermline. It’s not too bad, but it’s 3 loops so you hit the hills 3 times!
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