parkruns, Lifford, celebrations and more over the jump!

Warmup
That is where we leave it for another week. Personally, I want to say thanks to everyone who came along to Stranmillis on Saturday morning. That event will fast become a Dub favourite training run for some hill work – so don’t be a stranger at the college! Can I say a massive thank you to my neighbour for allowing me to barrow her large sheet if plastic covering – ta Pauline!

Flashmob parkrun: Stranmillis College
The 28th and newest parkrun on the scene in NI is a 3 loop course set on what feels like the side of a mountain! We have our newbie Julia as Run Director so it’d be awesome to support her and the team if and when you feel like volunteering! We all agreed it was tough, but we’re made of tough stuff, with 32 Blue tops, many friends in attendance and some special Dub volunteer appearances, this morning had the making of one of the best days in the club history (even the cakes were legendary):

parkruns are all about having fun and enjoying running. Two things Dubs are very good at. This was the first run of the Stranmillis College parkrun and chock full of anniversaries – Ronan’s 250th and Roisin’s 200th – huge numbers, it was set to be a very special day. We had more than an Errigle of dubs, if that is even possible?!  Newbie Pbs all round and another podium finish to boot!  Below is a selection of photos we have a full gallery from the event online right here.

Useless Stat Klaxon
We love a good statistic here at Roundup Towers, and Ronan’s 250th parkrun have us the chance to show off a new tool! Anytime we get a t-shirt milestone parkrun, we’ll publish some totally random, utterly useless, but it fills a few screen inches, parkrun stats:

Don’t forget our next Flashmob parkrun will be on Saturday 16th February at Victoria Park where we’ll be celebrating our latest entrant to the green t-shirt 250 club – Kathy!

Lifford 5k
If you’ve been to Strabane, you may be familiar with the Tinney’s – they’re the last landmark before the bridge and crossing the border into Lifford. A three-lap route which takes in the main road towards Letterkenny with some gentle, rolling hills, before tangenting off to the finish. One Dub completed the trio of races:

I had planned to write a spiel about Mr Consistent pumping in solid 22:30s in all three races – then you go and knock this final race absolutely out of the park and beyond! Fabulous running Paul – though we wonder if that former Dub and good friend of the club Ivor (hiding background, below) gave you the extra push to keep going?! Brilliant and we finally got a photo of you running in on of these races:

parkrun
Where one park had 32 Dubs, there was always going to be one who slipped through the net. This week, Ormeau was the beneficiary of our lone blue top – who went for a quick jog down the road. Shall we see who missed out on two cakes?!

Nice running Natalie – especially when one in five events where were cancelled due to the icy and frosty morning. Although for us in Belfast it was a lovely morning with the sun breaking through mid-run! Leave your hat in the drawer for another week (never had the chance to say that before!!) Embarrassingly for us here in the Towers, we couldn’t even find a photo from the event!

Warmdown
Celebrations are defined as a chocolate collection comprising miniature versions of Mars-produced chocolate bars. This week we had a chance to celebrate good times and successes all round. Standby for some great feats in a moment or two. A few people have asked me what my ‘real’ job is when I am not doing this – well – the answer is that I am a scientist! Recently we managed to a grow a vocal chord in a petri dish, the results speak for themselves! Grab your party hat and let’s get going:

Live long and prosper.

Disclaimer: Every effort was taken to ensure the results above are correct (we’re on a cake high at Roundup Towers this week!). If you’d also like to make a complaint, then you’ll automatically volunteer yourself for writing duties next week