Arbitrary 300 parkrun Analysis

Mark's 300th parkrun.

I do like a spreadsheet! Having just hit my arbitrary 300 milestone I thought I’d do a bit of analysis. At Salento parkrun I tell tourists that it may not be my home parkrun but it is the one I’ve done most often. In fact more than my current and previous home parkruns added together. We live in Southern Italy half the year so our NENDYs (Nearest Event Not Done Yet) are 400 km away (Sicily and Rome)! 

I do like a pie chart so here is the circular version. 

Eglington is close to where my mother-in-law used to live, Talkin Tarn Country Park and Keswick are local when we are in the UK. Most of the 2’s are where I had to repeat to allow Mary to catch up having started parkrun 18 months later than me. The “Once only” are down to Mary having got the tourist bug, mostly driven by challenges such as Alphabeteer, Pirates, etc.

Mary's 250th parkwalk.

Mary also loves a spreadsheet but she uses it more for planning e.g. second Alphabet, 100 locations and getting the latter to coincide with her 250 parkwalks. 

It seemed only right that I do the same for Mary’s recent milestone of 250 parkwalks. The numbers:

And the pie:

We have done the same countries but in a different order owing to starting parkrun at different times; I was already five countries in before Mary started.

Mark's performance by year.

Someone in the parkrun discussion group on FaceBook asked, “What have older people's thoughts been about seeing their performance drop off? How do you feel when you look at your times from a few years ago and notice a decline?”

Of course I had to do an analysis of my average time and age percentage by calendar year.

I looked back and my average time is the same in 2025 (age 73) as it was in 2017 (age 65) and the age grading has correspondingly increased. Feeling Smug!

The improvements in 2018 and 2019 are attributable to training for the London marathons. The improvement in 2021 was thanks to twice weekly runs with Nigel around Penrith during lockdown when you were allowed to exercise with one other. Looking at the two parkruns bracketing the lockdowns I improved by two whole minutes, from 29:07 to 27:07.  

Mary's performance by year.

The same analysis for Mary would show slowing down with age and injury but would not really be worthwhile as she occasionally volunteers as tailwalker or parkwalker which would skew her results.

Dom Martin and Blue Nation at The Clooney

Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Tyne and Wear. Saturday, 15-November-2025.

A weekend trip to Newcastle upon Tyne to see two bands that we have seen before, three times each individually, but now together as a double header. As before, at this venue, we dined at the excellent Cook House close by.

Apparently on this tour Dom Martin and Blue Nation take it in turns as to who goes on first or second. This particular night it was Dom on first and he plays a really mean guitar! I would put money on one of his guitar heroes being Jimi Hendrix, he definitely had that skill and style. Another of his heroes is Rory Gallagher who he mentioned several times.

At one point, Dom came down off the stage and did a walk amongst the audience so we got a close-up view. We have several of his albums but he is definitely an artist to see live. His shows are much more rocking and upbeat than most of his studio albums.

After the interval it was Blue Nation. The lead guitarist does a lot of chat and there is great banter between the two guitarists. At some point one of them always makes an appeal to the men in the audience to take care of their mental health. An excellent set of blues-influenced rock  

For an encore, the two bands team up with two guitarists and two bass players on stage, but I don’t know which drummer was on duty.

It was clear that they greatly enjoy each other’s company and playing as an ensemble.

An excellent evening with some class musicianship. After the gig, it was a quick Uber home and so to bed.

Wine Tasting - North vs South

Bassenthwaite Lake Station, Cumbria. 06-November-2025.

This tasting was a comparison between the northern and southern hemispheres. Each pair of wines were the same grape but from opposite sides of the equator. All wines from Majestic.

It was a slightly smaller crowd than normal, so the wine tasting was held in the lovely saloon car which worked very well there, perhaps due to the openness of the carriage.

Name, Vintage, ABV, Retail Price, Hemisphere, Country 

• Tasting notes 
• Mary’s notes and star rating out of three
• My preferred hemisphere 

For each pair of wines, a show of hands was taken to decide which hemisphere was the winner. Generally we were in agreement with the consensus. On our table my vote was: Northern hemisphere 3, Southern hemisphere 1.

1 Winzer Krems Gruner Veltliner 2024, 12.5% £11.50 Northern Austria 

• Crisp and refreshing, look for peach and citrus with notes of mineral and pepper on the finish 
• Pale lemon; zingy on nose, tart; citrus, good acidity, mineral, medium length ✱½.
  A low score because Mary is not a fan of this particular grape variety!

2 Saint Clair Pioneer Gruner Veltliner 2021, 13% £15 Southern New Zealand 

• Handpicked in a relatively warm vineyard that intensifies and ripens the characteristics. Look for stone fruits and white pepper on the nose and a fruity balanced structure with enough acidity to hold its own with curry or spices. 
• Warmer/soft nose, green apple, citrus; richer, more body, much softer/not so acidic/bit flabby? ✱
• Preferred

3 Naudin Pere et Fils Chardonnay 13.5% £11.50 Northern France 

• Made by one of the oldest mansions in Burgundy, this wine is remarkably aromatic with flavours of mango, peach and citrus. Fresher than its southern hemisphere counterpart it will pair well with white fish. 
• Light nose, not oaked / not much oak; green very slight butter; fresh, sharpish, green, pepper. More like Chablis ✱✱
• Preferred

4 Luis Felipe Edwards Gran Reserva Chardonnay 2024, 13.5% £11 Southern Chile 

• From one of the largest family-owned vineyards in Chile, the fine wines produced offer great value for money. This is a rich, creamy Chardonnay with notes of tropical pineapple, mango, butterscotch and vanilla and a gentle nuttiness. Great with creamy chicken.  
• More open, stronger nose, peachy, tropical, buttery; gentle, tasty, tropical, vanilla/butterscotch; decent length ✱✱
  Note: comparison of these last two was probably as much about the oak treatment as which hemisphere.

5 Le Grand Retour 2021, 12.5% £12 Northern France

• Wine production of the Malbec grape began in South-West France, specifically in Cahors where this wine comes from. This wine is exceptionally fruity with flavours of raspberry, blackcurrant and blackberries and gentle tannins. Great with roast pork! 
• Not typical Malbec/Cahors. Mahogany with brown at rim; soft, fruity, slightly sweet, lighter nose, lighter body; soft, fruity, nice flavours, berry fruit fruits, soft tannins ✱✱½
• Preferred

6 Intacto Gran Reserva Malbec 2022, 13.5% £12 Southern Chile 

• This Malbec has intense notes of black fruits, ripe cranberries and chocolate with some violet notes. A spell in French oak gives structure in the mouth. Great for pairing with slow-cooked meats or char-grilled barbecue foods. 
• More purple; strong nose, vegetal, softer, fruity ✱✱

7 Chateau Sainte Michelle Cabernet Sauvignon 2022, 14% £18 Northern USA 

• From the cooler Washington State, this wine is unlike anything we have tasted from the warmer producers of the USA. Sainte Michelle is Washington's most respected winery, named Winery of the Year no less than 22 times! Look for exceptional complexity and notes of blackcurrant and plums.
• Light nose, lovely nose, dark fruit, slight acetone?; yummy, dark fruit/plums, complex, some tannins but soft, good balance, great length ✱✱✱
• Preferred

8 Rustenberg Cabernet Sauvignon 2023, 14% £16 Southern South Africa 

• Twice winner of Young Winemaker of the Year, Murray Barlow is one of South Africa's most exciting young producers reflected in thiswell-crafted Cabernet. Expect dark berries, tobacco, oak ageing and ideal for ageing. May need decanting. Northern v South 6th November 2025 
• Softer, stronger nose; dark fruit, plums, tobacco, some tannins but more astringent, not as fruity, too young? ✱✱

They opened one last bottle for a supernumerary glass after which we staggered back to the Pheasant Inn for a completely unnecessary last pint of beer before bed.

City Break - Glasgow, October 2025

Glasgow, Scotland. Thursday/Sunday 30-October/02-November-2025.

Another action packed M&M weekend, this time in Glasgow. 

Fulfilling the corporate mission "To Eat, Drink and Have a Good Time!"

Thursday 30-October. 

Since the 30th is our wedding anniversary we decided to extend our weekend in Glasgow and go up early, on the Thursday, for a nice meal there.

A friend recently shared a couple of photos from his album of our wedding that we had never seen before.

We had hired a couple of double-decker buses to ferry our guests from the church (Saint Paul’s Cathedral) to the reception venue on Wimbledon Parkside.

For our anniversary dinner we went to Six by Nico which had been recommended by several friends. Their USP is that they only offer a six course tasting menu (with the option of a matching wine flight). The menu has a theme which they change every few months. That night the theme was Space. Somewhat tenuous connections with some of the courses but the first course was a flying saucer: a levitating spinning dish.

Friday 31-October. 

The morning was a tour of some of the fantastic Glasgow murals. Fortunately, Mary was able to provide some social context for these two murals. At a disco a lad wanting to ask a girl for a dance might approach her and ask using this phrase “Are ye dancin?” to which the reply might be “Are ye askin?” as popularised by Scottish comedians Rickie Fulton and Jack Milroy as Francie and Josie [youTube].

A collage of the best. Unfortunately, a number of the murals have been defaced with tags by graffiti artists.

This cultural walk was followed by a late curry lunch and drinks with old friends Geraldine and Alasdair at Obsession of India.

After lunch, we headed off to the Hydro to hear the multi-talented sisters that make HAIM. Full gig report here Haim at the OVO Hydro.

Saturday 01-November. 

Victoria, Glasgow 01/11/2025 29:11 [272/430]. .

Saturday morning was parkrun (of course). There are many park runs in Glasgow to choose from but this one gave us a “V” for our second alphabet. It was also my 300th parkrun. While not an official milestone it is worth celebrating so I emailed the RD and got a shout out.

SIL Sandra came and joined us and then drove us back to see their brand new house in Killearn, half an hour north of Glasgow. Then back to Glasgow for a rest.

Saturday evening's entertainment was a pre-dinner drink at Vroni's then dinner at Sarti's which again came highly recommended and lived up to expectations. Over a final glass back at Vroni's we got chatting to a lad from Belfast and now have lots of great recommendations for a planned trip next year. 

Sunday 02-November. 

A not-too-early train back to Penrith and a relax. Phew!