Whinlatter Forest parkrun on Tutu Day! Remembering Ben at one of the UK's hilliest, hardest parkruns

The 22nd January is always now a day of reflection for me as it was my late husband's birthday. This year he would have turned 45 and, instead of joining in our running club takeover of Chevin Forest parkrun, we decided to have an adventure in a forest a bit further from home!

Poppy and I headed over to the Lake District on Friday night so we just had a short drive over the Whinlatter Pass to get to the stunning Forestry England location of Whinlatter Forest. We'd heard rumours that Whinlatter Forest parkrun is one of the hilliest parkruns and that it's SUPER tough, but we'd also heard about how beautiful it was, so we've wanted to run there for a while. Neither of these were our reason for visiting on this date though. Ben took me mountain biking in Whinlatter Forest around 15 years ago and I wanted to take Poppy somewhere that Ben had taken me so that we could feel close to Ben on his birthday.

As the date was the 22nd or 2 2 nd then it is known as two two day... or tutu day! So Poppy and I wore our sparkly tutus which felt apt for celebrating Ben's birthday. The course was hilly but totally worth the climb as you are rewarded with the most fantastic views across the Lake District! Definitely one of the more picturesque parkruns we have been to and Whinlatter Forest parkrun is now firmly in my top 5 favourite parkruns! It's similar to Sherwood Pines parkrun (also a Forestry England parkrun), but a slower run with spectacular view points.

The volunteer team were the icing on the cake and I cannot thank Sonia, Jo, John, Tanya, Anna and the rest of the wonderful team for an absolutely brilliant morning. I wish this was my home parkrun! We made black forest cupcakes (Ben's favourite cake) to celebrate and shared them with our parkrun family. It is a day I will always remember and was well worth the drive over. What a great adventure and just the perfect day to celebrate Ben's birthday and remember the wonderful man that was my husband!

Happy running,

Nicola