Posts tagged USA
parkrun Alphabet Challenge

After 291 parkruns, including 154 different locations, I’ve finally cracked the Alphabet challenge. This is the Holy Grail for parkrun obsessives, especially those in the parkrun Tourist community. I’d heard about it since I started parkrun 6 years ago, but with a lot fewer events at the time it was really hard. By the time I’d done 100 different events, I’d ticked off 21 letters without any targeted Alphabet bagging. All that remained were I, J, Y and Z. As there’s no X anywhere in the world, it doesn’t count (yet).

With 4 left to go I was now on a mission. At the time there were only 2 "I" parkruns in the country: Inverness and Ipswich. I very nearly did Inverness on our LEJOG adventure but decided against a run that day as we had 105 miles to cycle. A parkrun would have added an extra 5 miles and have delayed our cycle for 2 hours. It wasn’t going to happen. By the time I was planning my trip to Ipswich, a new event called Isabel Trail popped up in Stafford and I pounced on that one.

A weekend trip to Jersey bagged me the J and I got the island’s Half Marathon in on the same weekend. If I’d waited a year I could have used the new Jersey Farm event for my J and avoided a flight. I’m glad I did it though. It gave us a great weekend away and also contributed to my Channel Islands Regionnaire. Y was a relatively easy one. I had the choice of York and Yeovil Montacute. I chose the latter as we were visiting friends in Somerset so Yeovil was a short drive from there.

Then there was Z. Scroll down for the end of the story ……

Alphabeteer Bar Chart.JPG

Events by Letter

Note that Yeovil Montacute has been permanently cancelled. It was one of the events that didn’t come out of the other side of the Covid pause. York and Yarborough Leisure Centre are now the UK’s 2 Ys

Zamek w Malborku

This was my second attempt at completing my Alphabet at Malbork. The first try was at the end of August. My parkrun mates and I had been trying to find a mutually convenient date all year. It looked like it wasn’t going to happen but then we found a date that would work as long as we were back by Saturday night before the wives had noticed we were missing.

Shortly before the weekend came I had to make a last minute work trip to New Jersey. I had booked an overnight flight back to London to land at 10:00 on Friday morning. This would give me 3 hours before Neil would need to pick me up for our drive to Luton for the Wizz Air flight to Gdańsk.

After a nightmare trip out to New Jersey I decided that I needed a bit of extra contingency. I paid an extra £300 to get the earlier flight back which would give me another 3 hours. That was plenty of time to make the afternoon flight. What could go wrong?

Lots as it turned out. The combination of a broken plane, a storm and general ineptitude by United meant I was trapped in Newark Airport for 27 hours. I finally landed at Heathrow 23 hours late at 06:30 on Saturday morning. I’d long since missed my opportunity to get to Poland. The faint silver lining was that I didn’t have to miss parkrun altogether. I was still able to get home, get changed and get to Bedford to complete my Bedfordshire County collection.

Seeing how annoyed I was about missing my Malbork trip, Timea (wife) offered to come with me on my second attempt. This was a big deal as she has a general disinterest in running except that it gives her an extra few hours sleep on a Saturday. The following few weeks were a mixture of fighting with United for compensation and planning the return trip.

I’d lost faith in things going to plan after a Summer of flight delays and cancellations. I was checking the parkrun website every day for the 2 weeks leading up to it to make sure it wasn’t cancelled. As it happened all went to plan. The flight was on time, none of the usual nonsense from the rental car company and the hotel was just what we needed.

There were 43 parkrunners there that morning. 11 were locals and 32 were Brits like me who had flown over for the event. Any town with a park that begins with a Z (and definitely those with an X) will do very well from tourist income.

The run itself was great: a simple out and back course along the River Nogat next to the Castle. Once I was finished I popped back to the hotel to walk up the wife, have a quick shower then back to the castle for breakfast. The castle is also a UNESCO World Heritage site so it also gave me a tick on that list too.

There's a few options for a Z in Poland, and several in other countries too. Zamek w Malbork is a really great option for a relatively easy trip from the UK and plenty of other things to do for a weekend away.

 

More parkrun posts

parkruns are free, weekly, community 5k events all around the world. I started in December 2012 and have been obsessive about it ever since. See my parkrun Collection page for details.

Featured and popular parkrun posts:

Richard gowerRun, parkrun, Poland, England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, USA Comments
3 Hours in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico
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Puerto Rico is an unlikely place to go to if you live in the UK. There’s no direct flights and the connections via the US are a pain in the arse. If you want to go to the Caribbean there’s many other places to go to first. I was fortunate enough to have a work trip there. It may have taken more time travelling than I spent there but the work was good and it gave me a very small glimpse of the Capital.

I arrived a day before the meeting with a spinning head full of jet lag and work thoughts. I needed a break and headed out to see the Old Town. I was staying at La Concha, a hotel on Condado over the bridge from Isleta de San Juan. Checking out the route on Google Maps I assumed it would be a pleasant walk from the hotel to the Old Town. I’m not sure about pleasant but it was certainly interesting.

The first stop over the bridge was San Geronimo Fort. It appeared abandoned but the gates were open so I wandered in. A couple of minutes later a man came out of a hut and spoke to me in Spanish. I assumed he was a security guard shooing me away but he turned out to be quite welcoming. He just wanted me to be careful as it was raining and slippery. In many other islands this would have been a well kept tourist attraction. This was my first experience of a city very much feeling the impact of economic decline and the devastating effects of the 2017 hurricane.

Moving on towards the Old Town, the hurricane’s effects became even clearer as I reached Parque del Tercer Milenio. In what should have been a busy recreational spot, there was literally no one around for a full 10 minutes. It had a real 28 Days Later feel about it. Loads of cars were parked up but no people. Buildings that should have been busy were abandoned and decaying.

The first person I saw was a homeless guy coming out of a beach changing hut. He started staggering in my general direction. This didn’t help with the zombie movie feel and I had a minor internal freak out so started walking more quickly. After a couple more similar encounters I moved off the beach path and onto the sidewalk next to the main road. Here there was another homeless guy walking towards me down the middle of the busy road.

Despite the ever-increasing feeling that I should have taken a taxi to the Old Town, I was glad I walked there. It gave me a very real view of a city struggling to get back on its feet. The homeless guys weren’t dangerous, just out of options.

By the time I reached Castillo de San Cristóbal I’d crossed a line into the Old Town and into a very different feeling. This was the boundary of the Spanish-era city walls and the furthest point that most cruise tourists visit. This was UNESCO-town with all the investment in repairs to keep the tourists coming back.

After waiting 10 mins for a dithering group of tourists to work out how to count themselves I decided to leave the Castillo and come back later. Instead I continued West along to the top of the fortifications. I passed La Perla community, some great street art and Santa María Magdalena de Pazzi cemetery along the way. Having a tour guide or at least a book would have been great. This was a whistle-stop lone walkabout so I had to make do with great views but no historical context.

Castillo San Felipe del Morro San Juan is at the end of the island. With no dithering cruise groups to block my entrance, I had a look around. By now time was ticking on and I needed to start heading back. My final hour was a meander through the beautiful streets of the Old Town with a couple of diversions to Puerta De San Juan and Iglesia San José, finally returning to Castillo de San Cristóbal. By now the cruisers had sorted themselves out and I had a clear run at getting in.

Both Castillos are managed by the US National Park Service and are well maintained with interesting information panels. They also both have great views of the city from the tops of the fortifications. By the time I got to the top of San Cristobal my jet-lag kicked in and all I could think about was getting a taxi back to the hotel.

I would have loved more time in the city and even more to explore the island. I'd checked out Cerro de Punta, the Island High Point, but that would have been a whole day trip. Its tough to be disappointed though as a unexpected trip to San Juan was still a great experience. My main memory is having talked to some of the locals about their experience of living through the after effects of the storm. They're a hardy and friendly bunch and I'm glad to have met a few of them.

 
Richard gowerTrek, Coast, Puerto Rico, USAComment
Fort Reno, Washington DC High Point

Significance: Highest Point in Washington DC
Parent Peak: Montgomery County High Point
Elevation: 414m
Date “climbed”: 17th December 2018
Coordinates: 38° 57' 6'' N, 77° 4' 33'' W
Links: Wikipedia / Peakbagger

This was my second US State(ish) High Point of the year. Similar to High Point, New Jersey earlier in the year it was a convenient evening excursion whilst working in the area. This one is a pretty underwhelming “peak” in a fairly flat city. At 125m the highest point isn’t even higher than the Washington Monument. Even so, its easy to get to and there’s decent nearby parking so it’s a worthwhile trip for any High Point geek already in the DC area.

You can get to the high point by walking up to the gates of the Department Of Transportation salt depot. There’s a large brick tower behind the gates so you can’t miss it. There’s also a USGS-style survey marker at the highest natural point in the park. I spent half an hour searching for it but then gave up as my jetlag was kicking in and finding a solution for that became more interesting than finding the plaque.

 
Richard gowerUS State High Point, USAComment
High Point NJ & NJ,NY,PA Tri-State Point
High Point NJ

High Point NJ

Despite having travelled to New Jersey for work several times a year I'd not realised that the State High Point was just an hour from my company's NJ office. Even better, the Tri-Point monument marking the meeting point of New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania is less than 20 minutes drive from the High Point. So, on a sunny May evening I embarked on a microadventure to find both.  

High Point New Jersey

Significance: Highest Point in New Jersey State, Sussex County NJ
Parent Peak: Sams Point Summit
Elevation: 550m
Date “climbed”: 14th May 2018
Coordinates: 41° 19' 15'' N, 74° 39' 42'' W
Links: Wikipedia / Peakbagger

New Jersey is a pretty flat state and High Point has an elevation of just 550 metres.  That makes it technically a mountain, but don't expect to bring your crampons for the trip. There's some good hiking options in the State Park that surrounds it and the Appalachian Trail runs close by. I was short on on time so drove straight to the car park that's 5 minutes walk from the summit. 

The summit is marked by the War Veterans' Monument, which you used to be able to climb, but it was closed for repairs when I visited. Despite this, there were great views and you can easily see the Tri-Point monument 

 

NJ,NY,PA Tri-State MONUMENT

The 3-state Tri-Point is in an almost-lovely location. The grave-stone like monument is at the tip of a peninsula at the southern end of Port Jervis at the confluence of the Delaware and Neversink rivers. It would be a very pleasant quiet place if it wasn't for the ugly highway overpass built right over the top of the monument. The monument is surrounded by the pretty Laurel Grove Cemetery. Although it is possible to drive to the tip, as several anglers had done, I parked at the cemetery gates and took a 10 minute walk through the grounds. 

Technically, the actual tri-state boundary is a few metres into the Delaware river. I was happy to stay on dry land and bag the monument stone as the marker point.

 
Richard gowerUS State High Point, USAComment
Crissy Field parkrun

Crissy Field is one of a handful of parkruns in the US and the most westerly parkrun in the world. This means that whoever comes in at the end is the last of many thousands of parkrunners around the world to finish that week.

I did Crissy at the end of a 2 week holiday in California. It turns out that I wasn't the only one with that plan as, of the 40ish runners that morning, half were Brits on holiday or in San Francisco for work. Most of the rest were Ozzies with a few randoms and only a couple of Americans. Whilst parkrun is massive now in the UK and spreading quickly to other countries, its been slow to catch on in the US. It's odd as there's a big running culture there and certainly that morning Crissy Field was full of runners with their own plans.

The Crissy Field course in any other place would be pretty boring. Its flat and basically up and down 1 track. Its the scenery that makes it stand out. The first half mile ran out towards a jetty with Alcatraz in the distance, then doubling back to the start and continuing along towards the Golden Gate Bridge before a second turn and back to the start. That morning was chilly and foggy with the mist hanging just above the road section of the Golden Gate hiding the top. I would be surprised if there was another parkrun with a more amazing view.

Note: I've noticed that, since I did Crissy in October 2015, the course has changed slightly and the run out to the jetty had the start has been replaced by an additional loop on the Golden Gate end. Not a big surprise as the previous start section involved running through a Yacht Club car park.

More parkrun posts

parkruns are free, weekly, community 5k events all around the world. I started in December 2012 and have been obsessive about it ever since. See my parkrun Collection page for details.

Featured and popular parkrun posts:

 

 

Richard gowerRun, parkrun, USAComment
New York City Marathon

When: November 3rd 2007
Where: New York City, NY, USA
Course: All road across the NY 5 boroughs: Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx and Manhattan, ending in Central Park
Start: Fort Wadsworth / Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, Staten Island, NY 10305
Finish: Dalehead Arch, Central Park, New York, NY 10023
Distance: 42.2 km (26.2 miles)
Elevation change: + 164 / - 172m. net -12m
Finish time: 4:41
Links: New York City Marathon, New York City, Fort Wadsworth, Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx, Manhattan, Central Park

The day started with a 04:00 alarm call and a 05:00 bus trip from the New York Public Library to the runners’ village at Fort Hamilton at the start line. There we had a very cold 4 hour wait before the starting gun at 10:10. We were released in groups of 1,000 based on our predicted finish time, so it took a while for to get through the start. There were 28,000 people ahead of me, so I got through about 20 mins later.

The first couple of miles were across the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, between Staten Island and Brooklyn, with a long climb upwards for the first mile. That's normally not the best way to start a big run, but the excitement of the day and the views of New York Harbour towards downtown Manhattan made it a fun way to start.

Brooklyn (miles 2 to 13) was the most interesting and enjoyable part, with thousands of people cheering, bands playing and different communities to run through. The BHF running expert had warned us about getting too carried away with the excitement in the first 6 miles and to pace ourselves. This turned out to be great advice and the first half went by with no trouble at all.

I reached half way, between Brooklyn and Queens at 2 hours 10 mins, just after the winner had passed the finish line 13 miles away … Paula Radcliffe would finish 13 mins later.

After a short run through Queens, came the Queensboro Bridge, another long climb and descent, into Manhattan. The British Heart Foundation (BHF) cheering station was a great motivator as we started the long straight run up 1st Avenue towards the Bronx. I didn’t hit "The Wall" around mile 18, where a lot of people struggle, but it started to get slow as my legs just wouldn’t go as fast. I’d made sure that I’d got my eating and hydration right, which I think was the main reason The Wall didn’t come.

After 2 miles in The Bronx, we came back into Manhattan, down 5th Avenue towards the final 2 miles in Central Park. At this point I could see the Empire State Building, which was a lot further than the finish point and didn’t seem too far away.

Finally Mile 26 came, and the last 400 metres to the finish line. I could see the clock at the finish at 4. Hours 58, and managed to find a bit more energy to finish with a clock time of 4 hours 59 mins and a chip time of 4 hours 41 mins.

In all, it wasn’t as tough as I expected, although the last 6 miles hurt a lot. It’s a fantastic place to do a first marathon with the different boroughs, communities and excited crowds. I’ll definitely do others, and am already signed up for London next April. I’d like to do one in less than 4 hours … probably not in London, but maybe for my third !.

This has been my 4th year of raising money for the BHF. Initially I signed up with them to do the London To Brighton bike ride, not giving a lot of thought to the charity side. Having done several adventures with them, including 3 London To Paris bike rides I've become more aware and appreciative of the great work that they do in helping reduce Heart Disease. I've got quite addicted to the events as they are great ways to keep fit and top social events too.

Many thanks to all of you who sponsored me this year. Thanks to you, my total sponsorship for the BHF is £1,500. In total, the BHF expects to raise over £100,000 from the NYC Marathon.

Richard gowerRun, Marathon, USAComment