SEVERN BRIDGE - 1 parkrun - 2 countries - 300 SPECIAL

[@TheFODRunner]

Well done Rachel… just down the road from me! Looking in good shape for Newport!

[@racheld1844]

Thanks Andy. We watched a couple of your Severn Bridge night 5 mile races, including one from 6 years ago. Rory says bring back the beard 😁 We’ve both been watching all the highs and lows of your London Marathon training block. Glad you’ve been able to pick the training back up in the last few weeks and hopefully ready to go and enjoy the race next week.

[@briantimson1397]

Congrats on the 300 Rachel. One of my local ones I have yet to do 😮

[@racheld1844]

We’d booked up a good few weeks before so kept checking the weather to make sure there were no closures from bad weather. Luckily there’s quite a few in the area so we’d have been able to pick something else. Definitely give it a go if it’s local 😁

[@grahamg9811]

Well done on 300 Parkruns. Sub 20 this year maybe? 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️

[@racheld1844]

Thanks Graham. I really hope so. It’s normally just before of after the marathon I get my faster 5k times of the year, so we’ll see what the next month brings 🤞

[@eddiegaul1903]

Congrats on number 300! I think I saw a video from the Welsh Runner when he and his wife ran the one you did. Fantastic time too... I am glad you got your sub 21 and I am not surprised at the timing. I am coming up next week on 20 years of road racing. Sadly no ParkRuns... How do they handle security when crossing borders? Is it an open border? Cool video and congrats to both of you!

[@racheld1844]

That’s right, Kelly and Matt run and film this parkrun. Their videos were good to watch before we went down. As Wales is part of the Uk, there’s no border patrols. The bridge used to have a toll to pay for crossings but this was scrapped and it’s now free to cross. There’s a new, bigger bridge, about 3 miles south of the bridge we crossed, but that has no pedestrian access 🙂

[@carlcblake860]

Congrats on your 300th Parkrun.😊 Massive achievement 😊👍🏃‍♀️

[@6663622]

Great race! 😊👏🏻 Video Super! 🙂🏃👍🏻

[@racheld1844]

Hi, thanks so much for watching 😁

[@essextrails]

Well done Rachel and Rory. That looked like a great run. Sure Rory will get the sub 20 soon. That 21 minute pacer was spot on crossing the line. Good luck in the Newport Marathon.

[@racheld1844]

Thanks Peter. Rory said when he finished, if he’d had realised he was so close, he’d have given the sprint finish a little more speed. He hadn’t realised how near he was till he crossed the line…then it was too late. One and a bit weeks left of taper for us then hopefully we should be good to race. I certainly could do with it, my legs feel worse than ever 😁

[@tomb7427]

Well done Rachel. You're doing brilliantly 👏

[@racheld1844]

Thanks Tom. I’m hoping once my legs have freshened up I’ll be good to go at Newport 🤞

[@clairel3730]

Ooh Shirley's cafe ! Good choice 😀 Good run too !!

[@racheld1844]

Thanks Claire. It was a great place to get our breakfast 😁

[@raleyadventures]

A great 300 special there, looked such a unique parkrun, well done to the both of you 🔥🔥

[@racheld1844]

Thanks! It’ll be hard to top Severn Bridge ‘locally’. Still lots we’d like to try out and would love a run at some of the coastal locations 😁

[@carlcblake860]

Congrats on your 300th Parkrun🎉 That is a massive achievement well done 😄🏃‍♀️👍💪

[@racheld1844]

Thanks Carl. I’m at a whopping 301 now 😁

[@miriamsalo7123]

Congratulations on your 300th parkrun! 🎉. We really enjoyed Severn Bridge parkrun as well a few weeks ago.

[@racheld1844]

Thanks Miriam. Hope your day was as clear as ours? A lot of the reviews on the 5k app mention views were not great as it was so foggy.

[@discopot]

Wow what an amazing parkrun

[@racheld1844]

Thanks Stuart. It will take some beating for sure 😁

[@garymacalister]

This is still on my To Do List - glad you managed to make it down! Good luck with Newport this weekend, I may even see you down there.

[@racheld1844]

Thanks Gary. Severn Bridge was brilliant. I’d pick a nice day to see it at its best but any day there would be a great experience. I’ll keep a look out for you on Sunday. I think they’ll be a few other familiar faces there as well 😁

[@RMSM0204]

Congratulations 👏

[@racheld1844]

Thank you 😊

[@SwimBikeRunStu]

300 😮 Congratulations. Thats an awful lot of missed lie ins 😂😂

[@racheld1844]

Very true 🤣 I don’t get any lie ins. Monday - Friday work, Saturday parkrun and Sunday long run and work 😴

[@middleagedrunningman]

Great run both!! Gutter for Rory

[@racheld1844]

Thanks Tim. 20:01 woes have been exchanged for the often repeated mention of heavy taper legs… from both of us 😁

[@Mack.Tracks]

Woo, well done! Gotta try this one soon!

[@racheld1844]

Thanks Mack. I’m surprised it isn’t even more popular with tourists. Definitely go and visit though 😁

[@gypsymuffinABZ]

Congratulations on 300! 👏 I did this parkrun in 2019. Very unique & fun, really enjoyed it!

[@racheld1844]

Great to hear you’ve ran there too. It’s a brilliant place for a parkrun. It’ll be on the list for a re-visit soon 😁

[@tworunningbrooms]

Well done on the 300. I feel your pain spending Saturday with a man who has just run a 20:0x parkrun going on and on about it 😀 Impressive stats and things clicking into place nicely for Newport. When we did Severn Bridge we ran on the other side of the bridge for some reason. Perhaps roadworks?

[@racheld1844]

🤣🤣 your comment made me laugh Dawn. Luckily, it was soon swapped out for other topics on the journey home. I’ve seen on some videos of the parkrun there that scaffolding was up in places but runners were running round it. A lot of the path surface looked quite new so maybe it was swapped to the other side when this happened 🤔 The bridge definitely had a character of its own, very rattly in places where metal hatches vibrated. We both loved running there.

[@tworunningbrooms]

@@racheld1844 ah I see. Did you note running over Bleachley where Andy FOD Runner and Matt Welsh Runner do a lot of their big sessions?

[@racheld1844]

@tworunningbrooms - yep 😁 I’m watching Matt running round his Beachley training loop right now.

[@newbarker523]

Well done on your 300th! I'm only at 119 but I don't parkrun as frequently as I did when I started running at the end of 2018. I live just over an hour's drive from Severn Bridge parkrun and have done it twice. It's where my parkrun PB of 21:09 happened. It's a great course, like you say. Fully paved, net-negative elevation gain, with a downhill second half which really helps to push it in the final km.

[@racheld1844]

I used to work on Saturday mornings about 10 years ago, so I couldn’t run at parkrun. Then when I gave it up I had to drive my son into Birmingham for swim training. Luckily I got in to a car share with other parents and then got to go a little more frequently. Once my son no longer swam, I’ve been able to be pretty regular most weeks. It took a while for me to be able to get the numbers up. I now work Sunday afternoons which can be a pain with Sunday races 🤦🏻‍♀️ Sometimes I can get back in time, and others I just book off. Well done on your pb at Severn Bridge, maybe it’s calling you for a return to go for that sub 21 😁

[@newbarker523]

@@racheld1844 Thanks Rachel. I think you're right - I need to get back there. I've a cycling holiday coming up so will be after that. If I succeed I'll let you know. Happy running...

[@newbarker523]

@@racheld1844 Hi Rachel. An update... I managed to get my first (and probably only) sub-20 today at 19:41. Not at Severn Bridge, but down the road a bit at Burnham on Sea.

[@racheld1844]

@newbarker523 - that’s not just sub 20, that’s a huge amount under! Brilliant work 🤩 I’ve not looked up Burnham parkrun but it’s quite clearly a fast course 😁 Congratulations and I’m sure you’ll get under that again!

[@newbarker523]

@@racheld1844 Hi Rachel. Thank you so much for the kind comment.