A trio of festive parkruns

M running. She has two plaits waving on the breeze with red bows on. She is smiling and wearing a gingerbread man t-shirt.

I spent Christmas with my family, so I had the opportunity to do a parkrun on the drive down to Cornwall. I also managed to squeeze in two festive parkruns whilst in Cornwall.

Weymouth parkrun

We left Southampton early on 17th December, so that we could drive to Weymouth for 9am. I’d hoped to do Weymouth parkrun in summer so that we could spend time strolling around afterwards. With the freezing weather, we thought it would be a safer option than most of the others between Southampton and Cornwall that we haven’t done yet.

It was International Ugly Christmas Singlet/Shirt Day, so all three of us were wearing our gingerbread men tops.

Front and rear views of parkrun Adventurers' International Ugly Singlet gingerbread man t-shirts. The back has a picture of a Christmas tree with the slogan 'Run run as fast as you can'. The front looks like a gingerbread man.

As we drove down into Weymouth, the temperature started rising, which was a relief. It was -7C in Dorchester, but it had risen to 0C by the time we got to Weymouth. We had bought M a new base layer to wear under her t-shirt and running jacket, but in the end, she decided to keep her tracksuit on over her t-shirts and running leggings. I chose to keep on my new HappyStride running jacket.

Stuart, Tamsyn and M at Weymouth parkrun. They are posing in the selfie frame.
Stuart, Tamsyn and M at Weymouth parkrun. They are posing in the selfie frame.

M started out at a steady pace. She enjoyed seeing the people wearing festive running clothes and the people running with dogs. Unfortunately, she was less happy when we reached the turnaround point as we had to run into a headwind.

As we got back to the midway point, we saw Stuart finishing. He came and joined us which helped to motivate M to run the final section. She enjoyed waving to the runners who were heading to the finish. She also loved seeing the person at the final turning point, as he was dressed in a cone outfit!

As we reached the finish line, everyone who was still standing around started clapping and cheering. M was so pleased. I was also relieved that she had finished and promised her bacon roll.

Rear view of M striding along on the seafront in Weymouth.
Heading back to the café for a bacon roll.

It wasn’t M’s fastest parkrun, but we finished in under 50 minutes.

Tamsyn's parkrun result email from Weymouth parkrun event #415. Her time was 49:59.
Tamsyn, M and Stu wearing matching gingerbread man t-shirts.
The three of us in our gingerbread man tops.

Run with Stu

On Wednesday, I managed to get out for a 10km run with Stu around Hayle. It wasn’t quick as there were quite a few hills, but it was nice to spend some time together. I had hoped that I’d be running 16-21km by now. Maybe I’ll be able to fit in a longer run before New Year’s Eve.

Selfie of Tamsyn and Stu by Hayle Harbour.
Selfie of Tamsyn and Stu by Hayle Harbour.
Selfie of Tamsyn and Stu by Hayle Harbour.

We paused for some photos on South Quay. I was pleasantly surprised by how little breeze there was. Normally (even in summer), there is a strong wind here, but it was completely still.

Panoramic view of Hayle estuary.

We then ran along North Quay to Harvey’s Towans. The view over to St Ives was lovely.

View across Hayle estuary to St Ives bay.
Selfie or Stu and Tamsyn.

As you can see from my photos, I was rather ruddy-faced by the time we finished our run!

Heartlands Christmas Eve parkrun

We were looking forward to a range of celebrations at the second of our festive parkruns: my 400th parkrun, Stu’s 350th parkrun (and his birthday) and M’s 25th parkrun. However, we didn’t expect M to lose her first tooth on the way to parkrun. She was so excited!

M showing off the gap in her front teeth.

It’s just over a year since I completed my 350th parkrun at Southampton on 12/12/21.

I took the opportunity to wear my other parkrun Adventurers’ Ugly Christmas t-shirt.

Front and rear views of the original parkrun Adventurers t-shirt remastered for 2022.

I wanted to see how fast I could run as I’ve not had a good run since I’ve been ill. It wasn’t a very eventful run, but I was pleased to finish. M looked so happy to complete her run. She’s clearly learnt how to recognise photographers!

My result wasn’t as bad as I feared it might be as I finished in 31:24.

Tamsyn's results email from Heartlands parkrun #164. She finished in 31:24. It was her 400th parkrun.

M managed to run her fastest parkrun at Heartlands, which made her smile even more.

M's parkrun results email from Heartlands event #164. Her time was 44:34. It was her 25th parkrun and she came first in her age category.

I also received a volunteer credit for doing some volunteer coordination for Southampton parkrun.

Email from Southampton parkrun thanking Tamsyn for volunteering (as a volunteer coordinator).

Heartlands Christmas Day parkrun

Stu and I also squeezed in the last of our festive parkruns on Christmas Day. M woke at 5:30am to check whether the tooth fairy had been. After we confirmed that she had left a shiny 50p, M went straight back to sleep without noticing the bulging stocking by her bed! She then slept until just after 8am.

After opening a few presents with M, we headed off to Heartlands. The rain started lashing down and I regretted not bringing my new running jacket. At 8:55am, we went out for the pre-run briefing and were grateful that the rain ceased.

Stu agreed to run with me as I was hoping that I would be able to achieve a faster time. Partway around I realised that was unlikely as I didn’t have the energy.

Selfie of Tamsyn in the car after parkrun.
Post-parkrun selfie in the car. You can see my thumb as my phone is falling apart and I had to hold the screen on!

I was surprised to find that my time was only 7 seconds slower than the previous day: 31:31.

Tamsyn's results email from Heartlands parkrun on Christmas Day. Her time was 31:31.
Thank you email from Southampton parkrun (for being volunteer coordinator).

Did you manage to fit in any festive parkruns?

I'd love to hear your thoughts...

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