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Text of the page (random words):
ere was a name change we now we have 11 in the city with many more nearby nationally and internationally rumour has it that artemis ii is surveying spots on the moon for the first lunar parkrun if there was a parkrun planned for the moon there would be a long waiting list of enthusiastic parkrunners eager to add sea of tranquility to their ticklist or challenges would you believe there are parkrun specific challenges ranging from visiting more than 50 different parkruns to running the 5ks at 25 venues all starting with a different letter of the alphabet the z is a bit of a challenge and involves a trip to the netherlands for the nearest one as yet there is no x though there is a xenophanes on the moon even though i ve 466 parkruns on my shoes i have only been vaguely aware of the challenges we get a lot of tourists coming to woodhouse moor because we were one of the original time trial sites we re also a w but that s not unique unless we changed it to xoodhouse moor after after downloading the parkrun app a whole new world of challenges opened up and looking at them i ve actually completed a few without even trying like stopwatch bingo getting all the seconds from 00 to 59 in my finish times according to the app i ve done that three times or we were here running at an event that no longer exists bois de boulogne paris or double ton running 200 parkruns at the same location go me the beauty of those challenges is i didn t even know i was doing them which i m very happy about as i m not an enthusiastic challenge taker upper i can t see myself doing the alphabet thing 437 of my parkruns have been at woodhouse moor nor will i be doing old macdonald attending a parkrun starting with every letter mentioned in the old macdonald song e i e i o why would i even do that who thinks of these challenges not that i d deny the enthusiasts the challenges if that s what they want to do well good for them but not for me unless i complete them without meaning to then it s a bonus i just love to parkrun whether it s running or volunteering i love meeting mates on a saturday morning i love to run with hundreds of others around a park that i also love i love to go for coffee cake and talk rubbish afterwards i just love parkrun and that s no challenge at all oh he can talk that one posted on february 28 by stripeyanne outside serge s shop joyeux an ni ver saire the entire restaurant sang as the waitress delivered the biggest ice cream sundae known to man topped with a candle she placed it in front of a jolly gentleman wearing a baseball hat with himalaya emblazoned across it very fetching he had a twinkle in his eye a cheeky smile and was definitely a regular s regular the norm of cheers in the crèmerie des aguilles he looked like he had stories to tell norm or serge as we came to know him sat in his chair at his table both clearly made for and molded by him over the years he d just just polished off a steak that filled his plate with a side of fries the size of a small mountain he blew out the candle and everyone cheered you can take the girl out of journalism but she ll always be fundamentally nosey i had to know why serge s story and how he could eat so much he told me it was his 73rd birthday he looked so well and so youthful i was going to make a comment about portraits in the attic but i couldn t think of the french for portrait his told us at length that his fame and fantastic health stemmed from skiing skiing a very long slope and being the first one to do it the slope in question was actually a mountain the aguille vert at 4 122m just 678m lower than mont blanc on august 5 1973 he skied down it after first climbing up it he wasn t showing off just stating facts no wonder he s a regular at the crèmerie the aguille vert can be seen from there he must be very proud and of course the the food at the crèmerie is delicious after the aguille vert he went on to do more gnarly things skiing scary steep mountains in chamonix and in the himalayas where he s skied dozens of times he also continues to run his ski shop in les houches working more than 12 hours a day he told us all about that too he s off back to the himalayas next year he said but just trekking at 5000m we were thrilled to meet such a local legend the next day we mentioned it to madame at our hotel she s a year older than him and had known him many years she shrugged her shoulders in a way the french do very well did he talk a lot she asked we confirmed that was the case oh he can talk that one she smiled yes we said but he s a great story to tell sprouty mcsproutface posted on february 21 by stripeyanne i m seriously considering growing rice on the allotment this year or watercress or cranberries all excellent options for cultivation in seriously wet conditions and oh my goodness that s what it s like down there i have never seen my plot as waterlogged there s so much water it has its own tides i ve spotted fish there and what looks like bladderwrack and believe me we re a long way from the sea being the fourth plot down on our sloping site we also have a waterfall cascading from the top and pooling in what i was planning to be my potato patch to think last summer when the ground was parched the hosepipe ban was on and the waterbutt was empty i was schlepping two watering cans at a time from the communal butt that 10kg per arm quite a workout now the ban has been lifted the butt s overflowing and i ve been reading up on rice cultivation it turns out there s no chance of growing that particular grain in yorkshire and it s the wrong type of soil for cranberries and watercress so i ll just have to wait for the tide to go out which it will it always does when i last splish sploshed down to the allotment it was to check on my water sprouts indistinguishable from brussels sprouts they ve had their roots in liquid mud since before christmas and i have to say they looked rather good on it whatever the standing water did to the sprouts i need to bottle it so i reckoned it was time to harvest them february was plenty late enough to get them out and leave the roots behind for the time being to add to the muddy gloop noel said he would be delighted to spend his birthday evening helping to remove the sprouts from their spikes and preparing them for freezing at least i think that s what he said there were so many sprouts we feared there wouldn t be enough room in the freezer and we d have to eat sprout variations for the next fortnight and unfortunate constitutional effects which would be bad news for the cats who have an acute sense of smell fortunately for all concerned the hundreds of sprouts fitted into our freezer they ll still be eaten but over the course of the next few months just call me sprouty mcsproutface jeffing but no effing posted on february 12 by stripeyanne runners we re either running or we re injured or maybe we re running injured not recommended whatever state we re in we do like to talk about it a bit like i am doing now it s therapeutic i don t get injured much and when it happens it s usually nothing to do with running or climbing you know the risky things i do in my old age often the blame lies with the allotment it s dangerous this allotmenteering lark all the lifting bending digging pushing and pulling is quite a workout not to mention the falling over on the uneven ground usually when carrying a tray of onions i managed to strain my knee pushing a heavy wheelbarrow full of wood chippings the latest mishap caused by staggering and stumbling among the overwintering sprouts and cabbage led to a dodgy ankle tendon my cheery physio told me not to make it angry by doing too much too soon as i wouldn t like it when it was angry he was right tendons don t like too much too soon run a few minutes at a time then walk it even has a name jeffing jeffing is named after jeff galloway who was in the 1972 us olympic team in munich and has been a running coach for more than 50 years jeff worked out that ordinary runners as opposed to the elite folk got injured when they pushed themselves too much no mention of allotments so he developed a programme of running and walking by walking during races when they needed a rest he found that actually it didn t massively affect times in fact jeffers which he didn t call them that came later were doing 4 14 marathons and not getting injured so for the time being i m jeffing and building my strength up for the allotment the mud that keeps on giving posted on february 2 by stripeyanne it s been there in the hallway for a week and is slowly changing shape in the night i can hear tiny movements as the contents dry crack and fall into the bag it s starting to smell a bit the cats are giving it a wide berth and i know that sooner or later i m going to have to unzip it and do something about it the bag in question was part of an ensemble brought back from the mother of all mudfests that was the peco cross country at temple newsam as one of the hyde park harriers peco team captains it is my lot to help bring and set up the gazebo flags and various other bits and pieces for our runners usually the gazebo shelters everyone from the glaring heat of the winter sun but on this occasion we were all crammed inside sheltering from yet another named storm we certainly gave it a name the race itself was a triumph for the team in shocking conditions no one escaped the mud it was everywhere though somehow the majority of it managed to pool on the groundsheet in the gazebo and ooze stinkily as we packed everything away the mud came with us folding the 3 x 4m groundsheet was a challenge it wouldn t fold it was more of a squelchy crumble that spat mud as it was forced into the bag the very bag that languished in the back of the car for a couple of days then found its way into our hallway the cats petitioned for the bag to be moved and they wanted a bag of dreamies as compensation each for the inconvenience noel and i made good use of an old climbing rope a few carabiners our rather small garden and a hosepipe half of temple newsam s park is now in our garden it is very good soil and i look forward to a magnificent floral display this year when everything dries out that mud just keeps on giving two captains a lot of mud type 2 fun posted on january 22 by stripeyanne the frenchman burst through the outside door pushed in by the icy wind his moustache and eyebrows were frozen into a swept up position edged with tiny icicles sticking out at random angles his ski poles clattered to the ground as he propped himself up on his skis he looked done in and it was only 9 30am we were just about to set off on the final and gnarliest day of our ski trip it also promised to be the cheapest day as we intended to ski up hill so no need for the eyewateringly expensive lift passes always a bonus for us yorkshire folk we looked at him he looked at us the frozen frenchman declared the conditions were affreux frightful and that only mad people and the english were out there he sighed and said he was going to have a hot shower then settle down with a good book we were those mad english people getting ready to face the elements but we argued we weren t taking any of the lifts that were bouncing around in the 50kph gusts we were using our own steam to go up the mountain we d be generating our own heat we d be as warm as french toast he gave a gallic shrug his book was calling the wind smacked us in the face as we headed for the start point it smacked us again then slugged us in the chest ahh we smiled gingerly a bit bracing out here but it ll burn off how wrong we were skiing uphill requires anti gravity help from something that looks like ski length sticking plasters in the olden days these were seal skins the synthetic version are still called skins you just peel off the plastic backing and fit them to the skis the surface is rough and grips the snow most of the time anyway read on the ski bindings leave the heel free so you can walk slide along there s even a special bit that lifts the heel to help tackle steep slopes a bit like wedges but without the fancy ribbons usually ski de randonée is such a physical effort all you need are lightweight trousers and top a woolly hat and cool sunglasses carrying the warmer kit to put on at the top of the mountain before ski ing down this was not usual it was so cold and windy we had to wear everything including helmets and goggles i started to dream or maybe hallucinate about the excellent book i could be reading in our lovely warm hotel room the frozen frenchman had a point but we d started so we d finish the going was hard and slow the wind tugged pushed and slapped until it finally blew me over one minute i was upright the next i wasn t no one was laughing no one else was there i didn t cry my tears would have frozen by gum this wasn t the day i had in mind for pre birthday celebrations it was cold and i was on the way to being fed up we d planned to go to the top of the mountain stopping at the convenient slopeside restaurant which served the nearby piste after i struggled to my feet i declared that as the top of the mountain was covered in cloud and spindrift i was going no further than the restaurant where i would eat my own bodyweight in pasta and drink myself stupid it was my right as the next day was my birthday yes i was clutching at straws there was no argument from noel he said he was looking forward to consuming his bodyweight in salad that s a lot of salad even with heavy oil dressing judging by the tracks or lack of them we were the only ones to come this way today they must all have met the frozen frenchman so as we reached the restaurant and burst triumphantly through the door the very least i expected was an alpine horn fanfare and a medal ceremony instead we got curious looks from the half dozen or so skiers who had braved the lifts and were now sheltering as we were i think i head the words mad and english whispered in vernacular french fortunately pasta and salad were on the menu so as soon as we d thawed out enough to hold a knife and fork we ate and ate as the wind howled around outside i was all for staying the night there it was so cosy and warm but we had to go back down the slope and pack ready for leaving the next day and i didn t have my book with me before we could go downhill the skins had to come off the skis the huge long sticky backed skins blew around in the wind as we struggled to put the plastic backs on narrowly avoiding sticking to my helmet gloves poles and noel s skins at any other time we would have laughed this was not that time we had no more clothes to put on and set off down it was cold we couldn t see the wind was getting stronger and i was having problems digesting the pasta i couldn t believe we d skied so far up back in the warmth of the room thawed out hot drinks in hand book at my side and pasta still digesting in my belly the glow that comes from wind blasting was spreading over my face an...