Run Norfolk and run the world!

You may have noticed that it’s been a big week for Britain internationally with Article 50 and all that.

Croissants may well be off the menu in future, as the nation returns to Great British Bacon and Eggs (though try telling that to the East of England Co-op), and we may have to renegotiate our entry into Eurovision.

But on the flipside other international opportunities may well lie ahead.

And in that spirit, I thought I’d share with you something that I’ve noticed for a while – that Runnorfolk is being read by people across the world.

Brexit poll:

When Article 50 was triggered did you want to:

1.       Run away

2.       Run up the flags

3.       Go for a run

 

I’ve just checked and people from 34 countries have visited the site at some point, and thanks to all those who have been reading wherever you are in the world!

Here are the top 5 in terms of visitor numbers:

Can you run in Norwich at lunchtime if you’re a coffee shop entrepreneur?

Do you run during your work lunch hour?

 

I’ve read enough to know that you should vary the times that you run, not least because it’s no good only running in the evenings when you are training for a race which starts at 11am etc.

 

But for me the reality is that all too often running has to fit in between waking up and getting the kids off to school, which means that sometimes it just doesn’t fit in at all.

 

Sound familiar?

 

One way I found round it was to try and go for a lunchtime run at work.

 

It used to be pretty straight forward – my former employer had a shower (albeit, a bit crummy, but shouldn’t complain, I suppose), so you could nip out, get some hills in or even get down to Whitlingham if you were feeling ambitious, and back again all cleaned up and at your desk for 2pm or 2ish..

 

Now I am usually working from home – nipping out during lunch is even easier.

 

But another problem has struck me. What happens on those days I’m working in the city? I’m one of those growing army of ‘coffee shop entrepreneurs’ who you can spot at their laptops sipping a latte, for me either at the Forum, or an independent coffee shop in the city – I’m quite partial to North, which used to be King of Hearts near Fye Bridge/Magdalen Street.

 

So can you be a coffee shop entrepreneur and go for a lunchtime run?

 

My question is – where are the showers?

Happy Mother’s Day Agnes – you kept your family together and we kept your name

 Agnes was only 45 when she died.

She was a mother to six children, and lived for all her life in an area of Norwich known as Pockthorpe – the bit from Bull Close then around Barrack Street up to Heathgate.

In 1861 she was living with her parents in Granby Row, and she later got married to George Lowthorpe at St James Church on the corner of Barrack Street – where the Puppet Theatre now stands. I used to run round there a lot as part of my Norwich ringroad runs or when heading up to the hills of Mousehold, little realising it was my home to my ancestors.

I’ve got a new toy – but will this running app make me a better runner?

It is my new toy.

A lot of people swear by running apps and I used to track my runs using a Strava app which would give instant updates of how far I’d been etc – much to the annoyance of Facebook friends, I imagine.

Are you a Strava/Map My Run spammer?

But I’ve had to live without Strava since switching from a Sony to a Microsoft phone (long story, don’t ask), and since I never got on with MapMyRun and most of my running of late has been around where I live in Hellesdon, the maps had got, well, a bit boring and unnecessary.

So now help is at hand – I hope – in the form of a Tom Tom ‘watch’.

Good luck to everyone taking part in the Broadland Half Marathon

It’s the Broadland half marathon on Sunday and what a great event that is.

Except, I won’t be running this year – just as I didn’t last year either. And do you know why? Because it sells out really quickly and I failed to get my act together two years in a row.

All I’ve got is this  picture, above, from when I ran it a few years ago, and my medal, of course.

If you’ve never run it – it’s a lovely route taking in some beautiful corners of Broadland around South Walsham and the surrounding areas.

So where can you run in Broadland – and the Broads – if you’re not doing the Broadland Half.

Now, that’s what I want to know.

So well done everyone who got their act together, enjoy the race, and the scenery, and all that goes with it. And may be I’ll see you at the start line next year..

 

Run one, miss one…run one…why a regular training schedule is proving elusive

It’s been a bad week to be self-employed in the UK apparently as ‘Spreadsheet Phil’ moved to plug a gap in funding by targeting those who work for themselves.

But for me, being my own boss is bringing its own challenges – my running schedule has gone haywire.