CookFamilyRuns

Parkrun – Expectation v Reality

Expectation

7:30: We awake to find all of our fresh-faced children have made themselves a healthy breakfast in preparation for Parkrun. We say good morning, to which they reply with a jolly “Good Morning Mum & Dad!” and a hug.

7:40: We sit down as a family around the table enjoying said healthy breakfast, talking about how excited we are to try our hardest at Parkrun.

8:00: The children skip merrily upstairs to get dressed into their running clothes, that after I have washed and dried in the week, they have carefully placed back into their drawers.

8:10: After brushing their teeth, they skip merrily back downstairs to put on their trainers that they obviously put back on the shoe rack last time they used them.

8:15: The children are ready. They have their shoes on and tied. They have their apple watches on. They’ve used their initiative and made themselves a drink to take with them.

8:20: We leave the house. The children get into the car, one of them even volunteers to take one for the team and sit in the back seat. Everyone is smiling.

8:30: We are on our way to Parkrun. The children are all listening to music with their headphones on.

8:45: We arrive at Parkrun in plenty of time. We park the car and have a walk round the country park before heading over to the run briefing.

9:05: The run begins. We enjoy a lovely family run together, taking in the scenery and talking about our plans for the rest of the day.

9:40: We cross the finish line, get our beautifully coloured Parkrun wristbands scanned and head home, congratulating each other on a great run.

Reality

7:30: Our alarm goes off. We snooze it.

7:39: Our alarm goes off again. We snooze it again.

7:48: Our alarm goes off again. We decide we should probably get up and see what state the kids are in.

7:50: We emerge from our bedroom. Alana is still asleep. Charlie is in his pyjamas covered in last night’s dinner. Jack has got a headache/leg ache/stomach ache/arm ache/a spot/a rash/a bruise/or anything else he thinks will get him out of running. Leo has got his headphones on watching YouTube, and has got no idea we’re even here.

7:55: After asking, and asking, and asking, and asking, and eventually threatening to turn the Wi-Fi off if they don’t listen, the kids scramble upstairs to get dressed.

8:10: Quite what they’ve been doing for the last 15 minutes is a mystery, because they now want help finding their running clothes.

It was in front of their faces the whole time.

8:20: We shout up to the kids to hurry up and get their shoes on. They scramble back downstairs, in a hurry all of a sudden, as they’ve now realised we’re about to leave and the last one out the house has to sit in the back of the 7-seater (the worst seat, apparently.)

8:25: Jack can’t tie his own shoelaces. Alana really should have brushed her hair. Leo’s walking round in his socks watching YouTube videos about Love Island, and Charlie needs the toilet. Brilliant.

8:30: We’re going. I don’t care if you’ve got one shoe on, you can’t find a jacket, your watch is flat, you’re halfway through a wee, I don’t care. WE ARE LEAVING!

No-ones brushed their teeth. The whole house smells like garlic.

8:40: The kids all left their headphones at home and there’s 4 different YouTube videos blaring out from the back seats.

8:55: We arrive at Parkrun. There’s no-where to park because we were so late leaving. We eventually squeeze into a space and get out the car. Leo’s shoelaces are untied. Despite the fact he’s almost 12, we tie them for him so its not ‘all our fault’ when he falls.

9:00: We get to the run briefing just in time. Alana’s crying because despite saying she wants to push herself and get a PB, now we’re actually here and she’s actually got to do it, she’s had a change of heart. Tough.

9:05: The run begins. Alana’s tears have stopped and she’s already in the top 10. Leo, Jack and Charlie begin a conversation about Fortnite skins. I just want to run.

9:15: Leo’s shoelaces are undone. He stops to tie them.

9:20: Alana and Dad are way off in the distance now. The boys are still talking about Fortnite. I’m very sweaty, I’m very tired, and I don’t know what my favourite Fortnite skin is. Thanks for asking every 2 minutes though kids, it REALLY helps.

9:25: Leo’s shoelaces are undone. Again. He stops to tie them. Again.

9:40: We cross the finish line. Jack sprinted off 200m ago and is now crying at the finish line because his legs/chest/neck/head hurts.

Leo and Charlie are in a furious sprint battle. The outcome of this dictates the mood at home for the rest of the day. Charlie wins. Probably not the best result.

9:45: We find the barcode scanners and get our laminated, slightly soggy, pieces of paper scanned, because the kids are too careless to look after a nice wristband.

9:50: We head home. The kids are thirsty because they didn’t bring a drink. It’s our fault for not telling them to. Demands are already being made for breakfast. And the ‘whose turn is it on the playstation’ argument has begun.

10:15: We get back home, throw some coco pops in a bowl for the kids and wonder what time its acceptable to open the vodka.

Crealy Adventure Park and Resort!

Let’s jump straight to it, this is hands down one of the best places we’ve ever taken the kids. A bold statement I know, but after spending a week at Crealy Adventure Park and our very needy and demanding children still not getting bored, I wish we could go back and do it all again.

Let’s start with the accommodation…

Cedar Lodge

Photo credit: Crealy Adventure Park & Resort

Crealy Adventure Park & Resort caters for both days out and short breaks, with the ability to camp in your own tent or caravan, glamp in one of their safari style glamping tents or some rather funky circus/jester style tents, or stay in a hot tub lodge. We were lucky enough to be staying in one of these beautiful lodges.

The lodge itself can sleep 8 people, 6 in bedrooms and the sofa folds out to sleep another 2. Leo wanted to be the one to sleep on the sofa so he’s nearer the tv; no-one argued and they let him have it! Argument 1 avoided.

The girls had one twin room and the boys had the other, while we obviously had the master bedroom complete with double bed and en-suite shower.

The lodge was beautiful inside and out, fully fitted kitchen will all the utensils and equipment you’d need, I really couldn’t fault it.

Outside there was a large dining table and the most amazing hot tub. It was cleaned and maintained regularly and the whole family loved it.

Let’s move on to the park itself…

The High Dive Show

Literally, I’ve never felt so sick in all my life. And that’s saying something given I once ate my body weight in fruit pastilles and sunny delight.

The whole routine is jam-packed with olympic dives, some definitely not olympic dives, comedy, laughter and entertainment. Performed 3 times a day during the peak season, I genuinely don’t know how the divers do it. It’s so full of energy and excitement from start to finish, and the final dive is unlike anything I’ve seen before! I don’t want to give too much away and spoil the surprise, but it’s not to be missed if you’re visiting Crealy!

The Rides

We have quite a mixed bag of children when it comes to rides. Some will go on everything, some don’t like getting wet, some don’t like heights, some don’t like spinning, some don’t like anything! So it was going to be an interesting experience!

There really is something for everyone at Crealy. There are some small rides for younger children, soft play areas, outdoor play areas, animals, bigger rides, water rides, shows and performances, food, drinks, ice creams and a bar! What more could you want?!

The log flume was a firm favourite of ours, and the kids loved the aqua blasters. The queues, given it was the middle of the summer holidays when we went, weren’t all that bad at all. The longest we waited for a ride was about half an hour, and that was for twister which is one of the biggest rides on the park.

Vortex is a series of 3 water slides where you sit in a rubber dingy and go down. Vertigo is a steep (almost vertical) drop and Venom is a longer, bumpy slide, both of which are extremely fast and one of my favourite rides on the park.

Viper is in darkness, with a number of twists and turns and quite a bit wetter.

Or so the kids tell me.

I wasn’t brave enough to try it!

Shows & Performances

There are a number of shows on throughout the day at Crealy, including the beautiful Blossom Bear and her pal Buddy putting on a show for the younger audiences and a pirate show that the kids thought was fantastic.

Evening Entertainment

If you’re staying at Crealy on a short break, you also get access back into the park in the evening to the Adventure Zone. The biggest indoor play area I think I’ve ever seen. At first I thought this was going to be a bit of a parenting nightmare, you can imagine what a bunch of tired, high on sugar, staying up late, getting up early children could be like, but in fact it was brilliant. It was suitable for all ages, including adults, and had a mixture of soft play, slides, ball pits, arcades and loads of space to run around. It was a brilliant way to entertain the kids while happy hour was on 6:30-7:30pm!

As for the entertainment put on in the evening, we couldn’t have asked for better. One night there was ‘wrestling’ advertised. Now we’ve been to our fair share of kids parties in the past, and rather than getting the kids hopes up of a WWE style wrestling match and being disappointed, we prepared them and said it was probably just going to be a few clowns pretend-wrestling on the stage.

Well… I couldn’t have been more wrong! We arrived to find a huge wrestling ring in the middle of the dance floor and the wrestlers put on the most amazing show, full of throws, slams and scuffles. It was a great show for both children and adults. They were lucky enough to meet the wrestlers afterwards too!

On Thursday nights, they have an acrobatic duo performing who put on a fantastic show. It was our last night at Crealy and I couldn’t have wished for a better way to end our week. Full of juggling, dancing, flips, tricks, lights, unicycles and axes (I know, what could possibly go wrong?!) it was a great show!

We had the most amazing week at Crealy Adventure Park and Resort, and whether it’s for the day, the weekend, a week or even longer, it’s a brilliant place for the whole family to enjoy. Highly recommended by the Cooks!

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The PBs, The McDs and the OMGs!

It’s Saturday, or Parkrun Day as it’s now known. After finding some cute Parkrun trackers on Facebook, (Thanks Parkrun Analogue Trackers!) we’ve decided to give the Alphabet Challenge a go and broaden our horizons a little bit. All our locals begin with B or C (Beeston, Bestwood, Brierley Forest, Colwick, Clifton) which already puts us on the back foot to get started. But nevertheless, we’ll give it a bash! And what better place to start than with A. After navigating around the new parkrun website (not sure I’m a fan as of yet, but I’ll bear with it for now!) we managed to find Alvaston, a 30 minute drive from home. So off we go, with the normal ‘Parkrun Journey’ questions:

“Is it hilly?”

“How many laps is it?”

“Can I take it steady today?”

“Can I run with you?” (I’m seen as a better option than Dad, purely because I’m slower so the kids don’t have to try as hard!)

“Whats for breakfast?”

“Is it my turn on the Playstation when we get back?” (Shortly followed by an argument between Jack, Leo and Charlie as to whose turn it ACTUALLY is when we get back!)

What feels like 5 days later, we arrive at Alvaston. A lovely country park, nice looking café (pity they don’t serve wine after the car journey we’ve just had, but I’m willing to let that slide) and a pretty lake.

Charlie and Alana wanted to run with Dad so he can push them and get them a better time, Leo’s old enough to run by himself now, so I took Jack.

Now, the deal we have going with the kids is this; Anyone gets a PB at Parkrun, we all go to Mcdonalds for breakfast as a treat. With that in mind, off we go.

1km in with Jack, he’s chatting and asking questions, I’m puffing and panting a lot more than usual, I check Strava on my watch and we’re running at 5:59 pace. “Jack! I thought you were taking it steady today?!” to which he looked at me and said, “This is steady!” Much to the amusement of the other parkrunners! He then wanted to catch up with Dad and was determined to get himself a PB which is brilliant for Jack, as every week he’s the one saying “I’m taking it steady,” so it was great to hear him say he wanted to push himself.

So off he went with Dad, leaving me on my own still running at 6:00 pace. We continued our run, and I eventually caught up with Leo. Now Leo will push himself to breaking point if it means there’s a Mcdonalds in it for him, and ran the first 2K in 10 minutes, however once he realised that Jack was on track for a PB, he worked out he doesn’t need to turn himself inside out anymore as a Mcdonalds was definitely on the cards. So he slowed right down.

I continued to run with Leo at just over 6:00 pace for the rest of the run, high-fiving the others as we passed them on the out-and-back. I knew I was also on track for a PB, so trying to ignore Leo’s constant questions about food, and how far it is to the nearest Mcdonalds, I got in the zone and finished the run in 31:30. My new PB! Jack whizzed round in 28:14 earning himself a new PB too.

Alvaston was a brilliant course with super supportive marshalls and volunteers, we’ll definitely be visiting there again.

£15 later we had all enjoyed our well-earned breakfast!

Junior Parkrun on Sunday. After asking the kids where they wanted to go, falling out and flipping coins, we went to Hucknall Juniors at Titchfield Park.

“It’s cold!”

“Can we wait in the car?”

“I’m going to take it steady today,” (Yes, again!)

Another argument about the playstation.

But from somewhere the kids had found some drive and determination, and they pulled it out the bag and pushed themselves to some really good times. They were all so close to beating their PBs, something they’ve not been close to for a while. It was fantastic to see.

Overall, we had a brilliant weekend Parkrunning! We’re so proud of the kids and their ability to push themselves, it’s quite a difficult thing at that age.

We’re off on holiday to Devon this week so next week’s blog will be coming from Exmouth Parkrun and a junior one we find nearby. Wish us luck!

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The Cooks

So who are this crazy bunch?

Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.
— Oscar Wilde.

This quote comes as standard for any first blog on WordPress, but I actually couldn’t have said it better myself so I’m going to keep it as part of my blog.

Heather & Charlie

So this is us, Heather & Charlie. Mum & Dad. Or any other names the kids feel like calling us when they’ve lost a game of Fortnite and it’s all our fault because dinner’s ready. But for now, lets stick to Mum & Dad! I wrote about how we met in our last blog so I’ll stick to running in this one! We are currently training for the Robin Hood Half Marathon in September 2019. 8 Weeks away actually! We love going out for runs together, short fast paced ones, long slow ones along the river, as long as we’re running together and we finish at the pub, we’re happy!

Justine

Justine is our eldest at nearly 15. She’s given Parkrun a go a few times but struggles with running, although she’s almost reached her 11 Junior Parkruns and really wants to earn her wristband before she turns 15 and she’s too old to do it anymore! Justine enjoys fun runs we do as a family where time isn’t an issue, such as the Rainbows Bubble Rush we did and the Subway Helping Hearts 5K. Justine is our typical teenager, where you can experience 100 different emotions in the space of an hour! But we love her so very much and she does a wonderful job of looking out for her younger siblings. They love their big sister 🙂

Leo

Leo is our next eldest, he’ll be 12 in November. Now our Leo is a character and a half! He’s an all-or-nothing kind of kid when it comes to running. He’ll either whizz round a Parkrun in 28 minutes, or stroll like he’s got all day. Leo is a very capable runner, but unless there is food or a forest match at the end, he’s not always interested! He’s football through and through, Nottingham forest are his life and the Forest players get ‘Happy Birthday’ messages from him before we do! Leo’s favourite Parkrun is Forest Rec in Nottingham, he got his PB there and has loved it ever since. We took Leo out a few months ago and he managed to run 10K with ease (I, however, was puffing and panting and about to collapse!)

Leo suffers with a condition called Phenylketonuria (PKU). This is a genetic condition which means his body can’t digest protein the way you or I can, so he has to live on a very strict diet, otherwise his development can be severely affected. This really gets Leo down sometimes as he’s a massive foodie, and watching his friends eat what they want can really upset him. However, we are really proud of the way Leo manages his condition and we do what we can to be as flexible as possible.

Alana

Alana also suffers with PKU, however she’s not a foodie whatsoever so it doesn’t have such an emotional impact on Alana. She manages her condition brilliantly and we’re very proud of her. And looking at the way Alana runs, you wouldn’t think her body can’t digest protein! She’s incredible strong and lean, she’s a runner and a gymnast and has got legs that go on forever!

Alana is almost 11, almost old enough to run Parkrun without an adult! To say she’s a fantastic runner is a bit of an understatement. She has run a 5K Parkrun in 24 minutes, a Junior Parkrun in just over 8 minutes and has represented Nottinghamshire in the Cross Country National Championships. Alana runs for Rushcliffe Athletics Club and has enjoyed a great summer of track and field, and is now preparing for cross country season again.

Charlie

Charlie is our little dark horse! Charlie has spent the last year and a half doing Parkruns, tootling round at his own pace and would readily admit that he’s the slowest in the family. That is until recently.

Charlie wanted Dad to run Beeston Parkrun with him one week to give him a bit of encouragement and push him a bit harder than normal, and no-one could have predicted the result! Charlie absolutely smashed it in 27 minutes and has continued to push himself at every Parkrun and every Junior Parkrun since. He’s found a real passion and drive recently and it’s fantastic to see him develop that.

Jack

And finally Jack. Jack is the baby of the family who has just turned 9. Like Alana, he also runs for Rushcliffe Athletics Club but has been unable to compete due to his age. However in April he was 9 so was able to take part in this year’s track and field season. It was great to see Jack compete for the first time and he made us very proud with his performances in sprints.

Jack is naturally built for running and will only improve as he grows and his legs get longer! Jack is always getting picked to represent his school in sporting events and is also looking forward to cross country season.

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Once upon a time..

Welcome to our new blog! We hope to share our passion of running, inspire and encourage others and hopefully amuse and entertain with the day to day life of managing 5 totally crazy children!

I’ll start by telling you a little bit about us and how our passion for running developed. It all started back on 1st January 2018…

So I’m Heather. I was a single mum of my little boy Jack. I always wanted to get fitter and every time I saw someone running along the road or through the park, I always thought, “Why can’t I do that?”

So then one day in October 2017, I noticed a local lady had put a post on Facebook stating that she was starting a ‘Couch to 5K’ course in Huthwaite, where we used to live. My initial thought was “Yeah right! I won’t be running a 5K in 8 weeks!” but after speaking to her, she said I could bring Jack along which was perfect as finding childcare was difficult, so I signed up.

Jode was a brilliant mentor, she was patient, driven, funny, informative, everything you could want in a running coach. 8 weeks later, we graduated after running our first 5K. (It sort of helped that we were running to the pub for tea and cake, but we did it nonetheless!)

It was during the evenings at our running group that I learned about Parkrun. I’d never heard of it before, again I was quite doubtful about running 5K without Jode! But we registered, got our barcodes and headed down to Brierley Forest to check out what all the fuss was about. And I’ve never looked back.

We did a few Parkruns at Brierley Forest, before the opportunity came up to do one on New Years Day at Gedling Country Park. So off we went.

We’d never been to Gedling Country Park before, despite me growing up there, but it was always a pit back then so we were never allowed to play on it! Anyway, back to New Years Day…

We started our run, conquered the monster of a hill that Gedling boasts, when I noticed a guy (very hot, tall and handsome I’d like to add!) running with his 3 children, who were doing their very first Parkrun. I said to him “You’ve done well to get them 3 out of bed this morning,” knowing just getting one child up and out the door can be mission in itself at times. He responded with “They’ve got me out!” we had a laugh, then separated again as the run continued.

Throughout the run, we kept passing each other. His daughter, Alana, was itching to get ahead while his eldest son, Leo, was dragging behind. “I hate running! I hate park run! Can we stop? Do I have to? I’m not doing this again!” I’ve never head anything quite like it!

As we approached the finished, Charlie’s (I didn’t actually know his name at this point because I was too shy to ask!) youngest son Charlie Jr and my son Jack began to run off together towards the finish line, talking about what they had done for New Year’s the night before. They were already calling themselves friends! It was very sweet.

We finished the run, scanned our barcodes (Well, Charlie had left his and the kids in the car because he didn’t have a good woman to organise him, luckily for me :D) and went our separate ways, listening to his kids argue about who was sitting in the front on the way home! (An argument that I remember all too well from being a child myself!)

As soon as I left, I wish I’d have asked his name. Maybe even his number! It would have been lovely to have a friend, also with children, to do Parkruns with. I never could have imagined how things panned out from there…

We discovered each other on Facebook a week or so later, when a photo taken at Parkrun involving us all was posted online in the run report for New Years Day, and we both commented on it. From there we began to message each other daily, swapped numbers, and a beautiful romance began!

The photo posted on Facebook that brought us together

From there we have gone from strength to strength, both as a couple and as a family. We are no longer Heather & Jack, and Charlie, Alana, Leo & Charlie Jr… We are family.

We are Mum & Dad and 5 kids. (Charlie also has a goddaughter, Justine, who he was brought up as his own. She’s not into running as being a 15 year old teenager, other stuff is far more important!)

We love telling our story of how we met, and we love the fact we met doing something we both love and continue to do as a family.

So that about sums up our story of how our running journey began! We aim to write new blogs weekly, maybe 2-weekly (life with 5 children doesn’t always allow much down time!) so we’ll see how we get on!

Stay tuned for more updates, and as the kids say in their Fortnite-themed YouTube videos, don’t forget to subscribe!

The Cooks xx