Own up! own up! Who brought the drizzle along to this week's parkrun? Standing in the start/finish area at 8:30am I was really disappointed when the rain started as it wasn't forecast until later, but fortunately it didn't come to much in the end. We did have the strange weather phenomenon that is the Stoke Park wind though. How is it that whatever direction we are running, the wind is never behind us?

This week's attendance was a massive 190, which is the largest ever - even beating the inaugural run, so a huge thanks to the new Run Directors Julie, Julie and Ellen and to the wonderful team of volunteers who coped admirably with the numbers. There were 45 people running at Guildford for the first time, 22 of whom were taking part in their first parkrun anywhere. At the opposite end of the spectrum, Lyndsey Gardner (SW25-29, 31:22) - veteran of 108 parkruns - was one of several visitors from Frimley Lodge which was cancelled this week due to the Surrey Heath Show. It's always nice to see new runners and tourists and we hope you enjoyed your run.

There were an incredible 49 PBs so very well done if you ran your fastest time. Sadly there are too many PBs to mention each one individually here, but huge congratulations everyone. Nicky Hack (VW40-44, 30:47) tweeted that she achieved her 3rd PB in a row, which is brilliant. Good work Nicky! Cat Wallman (VW40-44, 28:07) took nearly a minute off her PB and is now nearly 5 minutes quicker than she was when she ran for the first time in December 2012. Similarly, Heather Laurie (VW40-44, 36:35) is over 6 minutes quicker than her debut a fortnight ago. Fantastic! I felt like I was having a reasonably strong run, and I was enjoying saying hello to people as we went along. I said good morning to Kieth Harrison, who told me he had missed the start because was in the toilet - not the first time that's happened. I warned him that would have to be mentioned here! Kieth said I was looking 'sprightly' this week, which was nice to hear, but then made me panic that I was going too fast so I slowed down. I left Kieth to go on ahead, and then finished in exactly the same time as the PB I set last week. Karma perhaps?

Huge congratulations to James Bradbury (JM14, 30:06) who ran his 10th run and will soon be the proud owner of a shiny new club t-shirt. It's good to see so many parkrun tops these days, and we have a number of people bubbling under and very near to milestones. Exciting times ahead over the next few weeks!

As we ran round the park this time, it was apparent that the build for the County Show was beginning. There was also a cricket match due to start alongside the final straight. Over the coming weeks please take good care to listen to the Run Briefing in case there are any special safety announcements or route changes as a result of fences going up and tractors moving around the park.

This week we had confirmation of a special event on 23 June - the Hampshire/Surrey/Berkshire Longest parkrun. Longest parkrun began with a cluster around Bushy, and then last year there was a North London version and a Yorkshire version. This year we will have our very own. There will be 6 freedom runs in 1 day, and you can take part in as many as you like. I'm hoping for 3, but may bail out after 2! There are no times and the runs don't count towards our totals for club tees; the idea is that it is a social opportunity. There are some hints & tips here and the timetable is:

Basingstoke 09:00
Alice Holt 10:30
Guildford 12:00
Frimley Lodge 14:00
Woodley 15:30
Reading 17:00

It would be great to support each other in this event, and perhaps share transport as well so if you're planning to join in let us all know. I imagine there might well be some chat about it at Costa over the coming weeks. This time there were so many of us partaking in a post run coffee that we couldn't all sit together, even with our usual rearrangement of the furniture. In the end we took over 4 different areas, and some of us were still there after 12pm. If you've never joined us why not come along next time?

The results
Men's placings:
Matthew Jones (SM35-39) of Thames Hare & Hounds, was first over the line in 17:05. This was the second time that Matthew has run at Guildford, and I remember him finishing first last time as well - the week before VLM last year.
Leon Foster (SM25-29) of Leeds City AC, was second to finish in 17:59 in his first run at Guildford.
Nathan Martin (SM25-29) of Guildford & Godalming AC, finished third in a new PB of 18:12.

Women's placings
Sophie Lovell (SW25-29) of Leeds City AC, was first (18th overall) over the line in 20:52.
Elizabeth Squibbs (JW14) of Aldershot, Farnham & District AC, was second (24th overall) to finish in 21:28 for a new PB.
Cecilia Siruffo (SW30-34) (Unattached) finished third (30th overall) in a time of 22:04.

As we queued for scanning this week, you may have picked up a flyer for a charity event taking pace in Stoke Park on 14th May at 9:45am. Entry is £2.50 (to include cake) which will go to the Scoliosis Campaign Fund. If you would like to take part you can find out more by emailing guildfordwomenrunners@gmail.com.

You may also have noticed Peter Bullen from the Guildford Dragon News chatting to people and taking photos for an article about our event. He was super quick to write his piece, and you may already have read it but if not you can see it here.

Next parkrunday I will be at Norwich parkrun, so please let me know the news via Facebook/Twitter and I'll prepare another Tale of Two parkruns.
See you on 18/5 (and don't forget we can't run on 25/5 so some of us will be touring to Basingstoke if you fancy it)
best wishes
Debbie

There had been some rain again leading up to this week's parkrun, so I had taken the precaution of reverting to my old muddy running shoes rather than my newer ones. As it turned out the ground had not suffered much from the deluge and conditions were good. There was a huge field of 170 runners, which made this our biggest event to date except the inaugural one - and we are getting close to breaking that record (183). When will we break 200?

Of those present, 46 were first timers to Guildford and 37 had not run a parkrun anywhere before. It's lovely to see new parkrunners and parkrun tourists. I hope you enjoyed this event, and we'll look forward to seeing you again.

Guildford regular Daniel Farley ran 19:09 for a new PB and also a new age category record - 74.6% for JM14. Jane Davies, 100 Clubber and first time visitor to Stoke Park, also broke the age category record for her group. Jane finished in 22:25 for an incredible age grading of 90.41%, a new record for VW60-64 and also the highest grading achieved in any category at Guildford, beating the record Chris Finill had held since April 2012. Congratulations! You can find out more about age gradings here.

As well as Daniel and Jane, another 35 people achieved new PBs this week, so very well done if you were one of those. Two people celebrating when I spoke to them were:
Philippa Kiely (VW45-49) who was delighted to run 32:59 to beat 33 minutes for the first time, and
Mark Iveson (SM30-34) who has achieved new PBs in every one of his last 4 outings, and this week beat 28 minutes for the first time when he finished in 27:53. Well done Philippa and 'Notes', and everyone else who ran quicker this week than before.

Well done also to Mike Saunders who ran a post injury PB. Since returning from 4 months forced absence Mike has been working on getting stronger, and his 26:10 this week was nearly 3 minutes quicker than his come-back run. Keep it up Mike, and best wishes for a quick return to full fitness.

Someone not going for a PB this time was Mike Pini (VM40-44, 23:34), who had been at a house-warming party on Friday night and deserves credit for even turning up and getting round. An excess of lager and a shortage of sleep did not make for an easy run, and Mike was almost 3 minutes off his best and feeling a little fragile afterwards. I wonder if he might be tucked up with cocoa about 9pm on Friday in search of a PB on Saturday, so I will be checking the results with interest. Mike, May the Fourth be with you

Results
Men's placings:
Gilbert Edmund Fitzgerald Grundy (SM20-24) of Woking AC, was first over the line in 16:31 for the 4th time in 4 appearances.
Adam Smith (SM25-29) (Unattached) was second in 18:05. Thank goodness Adam had his barcode this week so he could be credited with a new PB.
Daniel Peter Heffernan (SM30-34) (Unattached) finished third in 18:36.

Women's placings:
Katie Bingle (JW15-19) of Guildford & Godalming AC, was first (15th overall) over the line in 21:09.
Cecilia Siruffo (SW30-34) (Unattached) was second (22nd overall) over the line in 21:39 in her first Guildford parkrun.
Vanda Caufield (VW45-49) of Epsom & Ewell Harriers, was third (25th overall) over the line in 21:57, a new PB.

Thank you very much to this week's brilliant volunteers, including 8 year old Isabel who I think is the youngest volunteer so far at Guildford. Thanks also to those who have emailed to offer help over future weeks. As numbers grow, we will need even more fantastic volunteers to make the event happen each week and continue to be so successful so please do let us know if you'd like to get involved. It's good fun, I promise

This week the Lido has opened for its 80th season, and I'm looking forward to some more sustained warm weather for a post parkrun swim. They have a brand new Facebook page - why not check it out?

Enjoy the rest of the week and I'll see you on parkrunday - when we may see some of the parkrunners who are usually at Frimley which is cancelled due to the Surrey Heath Show.
Best wishes
Debbie

What a lovely day we had on Saturday! As I marked the course my feet got a bit wet with dew, but by the time 9am arrived it was glorious. There was a fantastic turnout of 134 this time, despite many of our regular runners taking part in the Clandon Park Run and the London Marathon this weekend. James Adams (SM30-34, 19:20) and Martyn Thomas (VM45-49, 27:44) both ran parkrun and then went on to run at Clandon. Very impressive! They were joined by Andy Jones, Cat Wallman and Alan Lovell who were part of the brilliant team of volunteers this week before they went off to race. Thank you to them and to our other volunteers Susan Chadwick, John Gillbe and Colin Kiely. By the way, there were too many Guildford parkrunners taking part at Clandon to mention them all but you can see the results here.

There was quite a surge of people when I asked new people to come forward for a first timer briefing this week as we had 30 newcomers to Guildford. 21 of them were taking part in their very first parkrun. This week's most experienced parkrunner was Neil Chapman (VM50-54, 24:06) who was visiting us for his 228th parkrun at his 23rd different event. Blingy 250 shirt soon Neil! It was lovely to see you all. I hope you enjoyed the experience and will be back soon.

Prior to the start I was able to present David Andrews (VM50-54, 21:13) with his 100 Club tee (which he immediately put on over his other tops and ran layered up!) and Lottie Bishop (JW14, 28:33) with her 10 Club tee. Lottie runs with her small dog and her dad, Andrew. I spotted Andrew taking a small detour to drop off some layers this week, and he was not alone in feeling the heat. As we stood clapping and cheering people at the halfway point we gathered quite a collection of discarded clothing. Mark Raynsford (SM35-39, 21:36) headed to Twitter to celebrate his "hot and sweaty PB" and to share a top tip with London Marathoners which could equally be of benefit to those of us running shorter distances. He said "....smear small amount of Vaseline over eyebrows to stop sweat into eyes!".

Mark was in fact one of 41 people who achieved new PBs this week, out of a possible 100 who could have. Well done everybody! In addition I spotted that Nathan Martin equalled his PB, Ben Gilmore was just 1 second outside his and James Baggott only 2 seconds slower than his, so good luck to them for next week. Another result that jumped out at me was Kieth Spacie's. Kieth (VM75-79) had an incredible run and with a time of 24:00, his fastest since Sept 2012, he achieved an age grading above 80% for the first time this year. Well done Kieth!

With the fine weather and the good numbers, we had quite a buzz around the start/finish area which was really lovely. Please though, could we be really careful not to get in the way of runners yet to finish? Thanks

The Results
Men's placings:
An unknown runner finished first but didn't have his barcode so unfortunately we can't record his result. However, Adam Smith - who had a previous best time of 19:05 but smashed that this week - may wish to take a look at this website to buy a barcode shoe tag for £2.50... DFYB
Nathan Martin (SM25-29) of Guildford & Godalming AC, was second over the line in 18:29. As previously mentioned, this was equal to Nathan's PB.
Daniel Peter Heffernan (SM30-34) (Unattached) was third to finish in a new PB of 18:33.

Women's placings:
Sophie Lovell (SW25-29) of Leeds City AC, was first (13th overall) over the line in 20:26, for the 4th time in 9 appearances.
Michelle Oldham (VW40-44) of Woking AC, finished second (14th overall) in 20:54.
Alice Youngs (VW35-39) (Unattached) was third (28th overall) to finish, in a new PB of 22:01.

On Saturday afternoon there was a reception hosted by the Mayor of Guildford, at which William Blair and Richard McVittie received the Mayor's Award for Service to the Community in recognition of parkrun providing a free, weekly, timed run open to everybody. We are really proud to have received another award! Unbelievably there are still people who don't know about parkrun though, so why not encourage a friend or colleague to come along? Just after the start this week, the volunteers were standing at the start/finish area when a man came over and asked what was happening. I had noticed him earlier, putting a woman through a personal training session in front of the rugby club. John and Colin gave such an enthusiastic description of parkrun that I feel sure the trainer and his client may join us soon. I just hope she doesn't pay him to encourage her round - that would be wasteful when we all spur each other on for free.

On Sunday there were a number of Guildford parkrunners taking part in the London Marathon. The results I know are:
Tim Donoyou 3:36:21
Ben Evans 2:46:08
Susanna Harrison 3:10:41
Stefan Klincewicz 4:43:25
Teresa Male 5:00:12
Michael Rix 3:11:00
Andrea Thomas 3:28:36
Hannah Turner 4:39:31
Well done to you all, and to anybody else who ran that I have missed. You all did brilliantly! I was really sorry not to be able to spot everyone in the crowds but I did see both Susanna and Teresa looking great at mile 25.

If you have been inspired to apply to run next year - when it will be VMLM - online entry opens on 29th April. We've one more parkrun before that though, so I'll see you then
Best wishes
Debbie