July 2026

 

            Independence day saw Clare and myself marshalling back at Itchen valley parkrun with the crew. We had a lovely day catching up with everyone too.

It was also a relief for Clare to say goodbye to her rental property after 8 years. We could now fully focus on our own home back in Rownhams.

Clare is very good at D.I.Y …and me, not so much. We seem to be that couple who go to B&Q at the weekends nowadays and look at fixings and various other things that I didn’t know existed. The house is awesome though and Clare has made some fantastic changes already as well as an electrician and a window repair guy already doing some work for us. We also have a fireman who cleans our windows once a month for a small fee. Anyway…

                                                    Bee Bee the cat enjoying the garden <3

             The following day I had a race. Either Joshy or fast Kev had talked me into entering Goodwood 10k. Toni drove us there and the temperature was hot, hot hot! I was already carrying an injury. The glute and hamstring problems had returned in my right leg. I thought I’d give it a go anyway. The aim was for sub 39 in my current condition. There was also a half marathon and a 5k going on to. I think it was just 2 laps of the race circuit, unlike the race in February here which goes out onto the country lanes. Which I did back in 2020 in a time of 40.25. That was a PB then too.

Not long after starting the race, we had to do a 180 around a cone which I thought was weird on a race track. An unnecessary slowing down. We then joined the other runners of various distances. Did I mention how hot it was? It was also quite windy on one side of the course.

After a couple of miles, I was already in trouble. The leg wasn’t firing up properly and I was off the pace already. I would now try and hang on for a sub 40 but even that was proving to be a struggle. I battled on thinking how tough this was, but I got it done. My official time was 39.58. I was 15^th over all and surprisingly 1^st V50. I emailed the organisers and they said, Well done and that they send me a prize out in 3 weeks. I still haven’t heard a thing though of course.

I probably wouldn’t do the race again as it was quite congested really. Sadly Toni and Josh pulled out with the heat. Kev was a good couple of minutes ahead of me though but I don’t think even he had a great race. It was a nice catch up though. Sadly, I would be properly injured now, as if I wasn’t beforehand.

My last two 10ks, I have won my age category but have been injured and felt crap throughout the run. I have also been scraping the sub 40 barrel and just about sneaking under. The plan was to dip under 37 minutes this year for the 10k but it just hasn’t happened with the injuries and not getting back to full fitness. Maybe 2027 will be my year? Or am I just past it now at 51 years young?

                 I decided to take 10 days off running, which is about 2 years for a runner. I took a Friday off work and went Climbing at Golden Gecko in Romsey which I have really missed now that I work full-time. I then caught the train to Winchester. Did a long loop (walking) on the water meadows and Itchen navigation before meeting up with Cos, Josh and Kev at Piecaramba for food. We went to a gig at the Railway Inn afterwards. It was a band called “Ghosts of Seattle” who only played 90’s Grunge. It was bloody brilliant. They played for 2 hours! I was never bored. Songs from Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains and Cos’ favourite, Stone Temple Pilots. They also did a Mudhoney song and I got a bit of interaction with the band for wearing a Mudhoney t-shirt. Kev also knew one of the guitarists that he hadn’t seen for about 20 years. It was a great night and I haven’t stopped listening to Alice in Chains since.

I was very tired the next day and did very little, even avoiding parkrun. My hearing did eventually return though!

                 The week after, saw Clare and myself back on Marshalling duties at Itchen Valley. This would be my 7^th volunteer for the year and it equals my most in a year. I am aiming for 10 (adult) parkrun volunteers for the year. It’s good to give something back to a thing that has supported me for the last 15 years. It was my 37 volunteering credit in 53 roles. I am aiming for the 50 volunteers of course!

                 With my time out from running, I did a few other things. I bought some more weights and have been doing them in the garden in the mornings. Just 20-30 minutes, 3-4 times a week. It feels good and I’m hoping to get rid of my sugar tummy and gain a six pack..lol.

                We’ve had a pigeon in our garden that was sat on a nest. It had been there for a couple of weeks. Sitting on an egg maybe? We have been on Pigeon watch as the naughty Magpies have been trying to attack the pigeon and get at the nest. Sadly, I came home from work one day and no longer saw the pigeon on the nest. Not sure what happened there but she hasn’t been back since. We have had another visitor though. A hummingbird hawk moth has been here a couple of times. I just thought it was a giant wasp when I first saw it. I called Clare and she I.D’d it straight away. I sure does have a clever girlfriend :D

I also took my Nikon camera out of retirement. I hadn’t used it for a few years. I decided to go for a walk and photograph some Damselflies. It took me a while to work out the setting again but I did ok I think capturing a few Banded demoiselle. 

             I was very much looking forward to the 25^th of July. Our mate Stacey had organised a coach to Battersea park parkrun. I went up with Josh and Kev. We were picked up from Rownhams services just after 6am. Initially, I was stood on the wrong side of the motorway services until Josh phoned me and asked where I was. Thank you Josh! Luckily the coach hadn’t arrived yet and it was a good journey up. I sat next to Vegan Runner Christine who I knew through John Pellegrini. We talked all things parkrun and Vegan. 

                                                    Kev and myself after Goodwood 10k

            The time flew by and we were soon there. The Iconic Battersea park. It was pretty big. I had never seen so many runners just running around all morning. It was a bit like a Miami muscle beach. Muscly dudes running around topless and women running around with very tight clothing and bouncy bits. It was a hive of activity. Very busy. We did a warm up and headed to the start. It was a narrow start and the marshalls would not let us join the front of the parkrun. We were to run about 400 metres around to the back. Not allowed to run on the grass either and it was already 9am. Would we miss the start?

                                                        Joshy showing off his skills

 We had to make our way through 1100 other runners and try and get close to the front. We gave up about halfway and just accepted that it wasn’t going to be a fast one for Josh and myself. In fact, Josh was so disappointed that he didn’t even scan his 17 minutes in. It worked out ok for me though. It was two laps of the park and it felt like a pretty quick course. Obviously, my right leg still wasn’t right though. It was a flat out effort for me and I managed to run a sub 20 with a time of 19.48 at least. 9^th in my age cat? What happened to the real Dean Jones..lol.

It was my 408^th parkrun though and my 113^th different location.

We then went to Battersea power station which I was expecting to be some ort of museum but it’s actually a giant shopping centre. We had food, coffee and enjoyed basking in the sun until the coach was ready to collect us. What a great day. Cheers Stacey. I look forward to the next one.

                My gimpy leg is getting better though. No speedwork for a while but some longer slower runs for a while to try and get that base fitness back. I went to see my sports therapist yesterday and she says the real issues with my glute and hamstring stems from my hip. I didn’t even consider this and the physio sure didn’t mention it! It makes more sense now. I will work harder on my rehab next month and work on that six pack.

                                    Thanks for reading people. Until next month. xx

                                                P.S   Check out my new cat running vest :D 

June 2026

 

            As Clare and I went to the Romsey 5 mile Beer race, I knew that I wasn’t in PB shape. I also knew that this year has not been great in terms of running for me. I wasn’t quite getting back to speed and there are a few underlying injury issues to resolve yet. Still, here we are, at the Beer Race.

This was my first ever race back in 2011 and I was so happy to finish in a time of 42.12. Today I was hoping to knock at least 10 minutes off of that!

I did a warm up with my friend Helen from Totton running club. Clare was there to support us. It sure felt like a hot day.

There were lots of other familiar faces around. This race had a nice feel to it. A local event set up by Romsey road runners with beer and cake at the finish. What I hadn’t recalled, was how hilly the course was. We did a lap out of the field and then we climbed and turned right onto the main road, later turning left onto Newport lane. There was also some nice downhill sections too though. My aim today was to try and run around in a time of roughly 31.30.

            It was so good to see my girlfriend Clare cheering me on as I completed a lap and ran onto my second one. It always gives me a boost of energy. I was running ok but it sure was a struggle and was slowing a bit on the last mile. Three runners overtook me at the end and V60 legend Alan Graham wasn’t far behind me, so I needed a good sprint finish, which I just about managed. I finished in a time of 31.49. Sub 32 at least and not far off of target. Happy enough with the time on that course. Third V50 in the end though.

It was time to catch up and chat to other runners in the sunshine and eat some cake. It sure was a lovely day. You can see why this race sells out so quickly. It was off to Lemon and Jinga for lunch for Clare and myself soon after.

             13^th of June saw me head to Southampton parkrun. My friend Lin from my Vegan Running Club had her sights on beating the VW60 course record today. I think the record stood at 21.05? See wanted to run sub 21 today. I thought I would pace her, so took the bib for the 21 minute pacer and got a volunteer credit too, as I was still aiming to get 10 (adult)  volunteering credits this year. Also Lin wanted me to run behind her for the first kilometre as her last attempt ended up with her being tripped at the start line and her breaking her elbow which still hasn’t fully recovered. She sure is a brave lady! Although, I knew she still had some fear coming into this.

It went pretty well and even on the uphill section, Lin’s breathing was relaxed and she was able to talk. On the last kilometre, I had to let her go as she was ahead on the 21 minutes that I was pacing. Her V65 husband Martin took over the pacing duties from here (another speedy Vegan Running club Vet!).

I had a few runners telling me that I was going too fast. I wanted to tell them to F*%k off, as I had run this parkrun over 120 times and knew the course so well. Anyways, I did have to slow a little bit and saw Lin flying in well under 21 minutes as I looked at my watch. I ran in around 20.55 on my watch but I got an official time of 20.46? Ok, maybe a little too quick. A couple of runners thanked me though and said I’d paced them very well, so job done. Lin smashed the VW60 record and ran 20.23 which gave her an age grading of 96.57%. Well done Lin. Incredible! Obviously, we had to celebrate by going to Cafe Thrive for breakfast. 

             Work has been stupidly busy and I’ve been doing a fair bit of overtime. Clare has been busy sorting out her old rental property and dealing with all our bills, sorting all the adult stuff and fixing our new place up. I do feel a bit useless sometimes with all her skills and abilities. Sorry Clare. We are saving some money to get some repairs on the new house. Windows, roof, electrics etc.. It’s never ending! So nice to have our own house now. We have both been quite stressed and busy though, not much time for ourselves… apart from the football world cup of course :)

I am hoping that we get to visit a few people in the autumn and do some parkrun tourism together.

             A week later, I decided that I needed a quicker parkrun time. Wouldn’t it be good to run sub 19 again? I thought about Wickham but chose Lee-on-the-solent over it due to it being a wider course and less crowded. I got up very early, Clare dropped me off at the railway station and I got the train to Fareham. Carlo the cookie monster was on the train with his son. They were heading to Fareham parkrun where he was time keeping. I had to run to Lee-on-the-solent. I wasn’t quite sure of the route and got a bit lost despite doing some research prior to me getting off the train. I ended up doing extra mileage and then came the concern that I wouldn’t even make the parkrun in time. I was enjoying the change of scenery in a brand new pair of Pro 4’s though. So, told myself that it didn’t matter if I missed the parkrun but at the same time there was a touch of panic inside me.

            I got to the start line at 8.58. Threw my jacket down and took some deep breaths as I listened to the briefing. A little bit of rest at least. A pretty quick course with not much to see but I was so happy to go sub 19 for the first time in 3 months running an 18.56. I ran a pretty speedy 5 miler to get there too. I had a nice coffee in a local cafe and jogged a shorter way back, making it only 4 miles. I was very dizzy though and my vision was distorted as I hadn’t yet eaten that day and probably didn’t take on enough water. It sure was a warm one. I was okay in the end though as I got the train back and ran another 5k to my Dad’s house from Soton station.

                 27^th of June, I got invited back to Southwick parkrun by John Pelligrini. It was VR (Vegan Runner) Christine’s 100^th parkrun location and her 250^th parkrun! I had run this course 6 times before as it was quite popular for us to run this before the Bratton Hilly race that started at 11am on the Saturday afterwards. Such a great race if you haven’t done it. I would really recommend it. The course is as hilly as described and a strange distance of 11.4k! A views are stunning though. Sadly they have moved the event to April now though instead of May and it got taken over from the Avon Valley runners by Redfish events who didn’t give my mate Fast Kev his V40 prize. Anyways..

            Back to Southwich. It was so nice to be back. Today was to be their 700^th event and weirdly, the last time I came here it was their 300^th event! It sure had been a while. The course is still the same and the marshalls are some of the best/friendliest and encouraging that I have ever met. I really can’t thank or praise them enough. A nice downhill finish meant that I was able to put in a good sprint again to come in as first V50. It was a very hot day again and was happy enough with a time of 19.32 finishing in P3.

After the parkrun, we went in Trowbridge for the Vegan market, where I ate some yummy quiche and a pastry. We also met up with some other Vegan runners. I really should visit more of these markets and support them. Some really great independent companies out there trying to get by with their wonderful products. 

             That was pretty much my June. It was nice to do some parkrun tourism and hopefully I’ll do some more soon. Thanks for reading. Can’t believe its taken me 2 weeks to write this before work at 5.30am. Have a great weekend. Xx

 

P.S I have just finished proof reading before my parkun marshalling duties today. I for got to mention how well Bee Bee the cat is settling in now. Maybe the photo below will help….