Today was the first Parkrun I have done for 4 weeks. This was partly because of being abroad for hols, but also because I have had a hamstring injury that has stopped me from running at all. I think it was because of a longish run i did on a treadmill about 4 weeks ago, as part of my prep for doing a 10k run with my daughter Emily on 2nd September (i had to bail out in the end – she had a great run!). I felt my hamstring go just before the end of the treadmill run, just as i had felt it go at the end of the Hampstead Heath parkrun, except that this time it REALLY went!
Note to self (being an osteopath and practically never practising what i preach!):
- Regularly stretch hamstring at beginning and end of day
- Foam roll and tennis ball into the hamstring, glutes and ITB once a day
- Strengthen hamstring in Eccentric contraction (link to youtube video)
- Run with glute activation as much as possible!
- Don’t lurch when i run, keep those hip joints working!
Yet again, I didnt make it to Riddlesdown for my “furthest away from where i live” parkrun! I just woke up too late, and couldn’t quite get there in time, so I decided in the end to run at Peckham Rye.
So, at 8am I set off for Peckham Rye. Whenever I cross over Waterloo bridge to go south of the river I cannot help but gasp at how beautiful London looks from this bridge, no matter which side of the bridge you are on. It is a perfect vista. Sadly on this occasion I couldn’t stop as there are so many anti-terrorism vehicle restrictions on the bridge now, otherwise there would be a picture of it below! Next time I will definitely get a picture (if the weather is good enough!).
Just so you can get your London bearings….. Peckham Rye is in the London Borough of Southwark……. shown below…..
To the east of Peckham Rye is Nunhead, to the south is Honor Oak, and to the west is East Dulwich.
I’ve never really visited Peckham, being a typical North Londoner. I thought it was lovely, and could easily imagine living here……. food for thought….. having said that, i think that for a lot of the south london parks ive visited….. maybe i’m turning into a south londoner??
There is so much to say about Peckham and it’s diverse and rich history all the way back from Saxon times to the present day that I can’t elaborate here, but there is a good Wikipedia page on it here. It’s a really interesting read, if you have the time!
Peckham Rye takes its name from the river Peck, which is now enclosed underground, like the river fleet in north london. “rye” is an old Saxon word meaning “brook”.
In the 1760s the artist William Blake claimed, in Peckham Rye, to have seen visions of “a tree filled with angels, bright angelic wings bespangling every bough like stars”. I wonder what substance he was taking at the time!!
The park was bought by the London County Council for £51,000, and declared open to the public in 1894. During WWII the Common became an Italian Prisoner of War camp.
For me the most interesting point about Peckham, since i have a Triumph motorbike, is that Edward Turner, the designer and engineer of Triumph motorcycles lived in 8 Philip Walk in Peckham.
Here are all the runners gathering at the start……
…… and some more runners……
Surrounding the park are some really lovely georgian properties….. oh, and there’s a nice motorbike! Such a coincidence!
another nice georgian property…….
Interestingly I met, randomly, a patient of mine who is doing the same challenge of all the parkruns in London, Tom. He is far far ahead of me, on I think number 36, and we knew that at some point we would cross paths, but it was a nice surprise to see him there!
Here we are with a friend of his from Goodgym.
Here I am with the Run director, a lovely lady whos name i think is Cathy? Sorry if i’ve got it completely wrong!
…… and here is the course. It was a cool 3 lapper, which i normally dont like, but since i was just returning from injury and just taking it really slowly, i didnt feel pushed for time and therefore finished the race having just completely enjoyed the experience of running in a beautiful park. I really should just do this with all the races, as naturally i’ll get fitter and faster, so who’s worrying??
Next week Riddlesdown??? Please!!
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