The God of Surprises

Come and Play in Herschel Park
On Saturday I helped out at Slough Borough Council's Come and Play event in Herschel Park which turned out to be a very rewarding experience. Spending time with families in these beautiful surrounding was both relaxing and inspiring. Herschel Park is indeed a hidden gem very close to the centre of Slough surrounded by the imposing Upton Park estate, sadly at present it is little known to the rest of the borough.

Thanks to £2.7million from the Heritage Lottery Fund, support from the Friends of Herschel Park and more than 500 days of volunteering activities, Slough Borough Council has restored the park to its former Victorian glory.  It wasn't just the fun activities  i enjoyed I learnt a lot too, just in case it never crossed your mind who is behind keeping the park tidy, I spent time with some of the volunteers who, in their own words take care of anything and everything from planting, weeding to looking after the wild life. All in all a very productive afternoon in an environment of creativity enjoying God’s creation at it’s very best.

Reading Half Marathon

It was six years ago that I first ran the London marathon and as part of my preparation ran the Bath Half marathon, back then I was fairly competitive and achieved a personal best of 1.32.50 I was elated and went on to run the London marathon in 3hrs 18 mins. When I lined up in Reading yesterday I had thoughts of achieveing a time of around 1 hour 35 minutes, which would have been an improvement on last years time of 1hr 37mins. As I set off I felt relaxed and was running well I decided to abandon my race plan which was to start slow increasing to a 7.15 minute mile pace a bit faster as the race progresses. It certainly paid off I finished the race in 1.32.52, of course I'm over the moon. Now in my final week of full training next week the tapering process begins as I start to get ready for the 26.2 miles challenge. Running through the streets of Reading yesterday Palm Sunday, no one could tell me this wasn’t where I should be worshipping God, spending time in fellowship is important but we don’t always have to worship God singing hymns and saying prayers in church. I feel blessed indeed to be able to feel God’s presence amongst my fellow runners. Please sponsor me here http://www.justgiving.com/RevJanetBinns