If you answered they are both beautiful parks in Europe award yourself one point. The second bonus point may be harder to come by though. That’s because they both form part of my attempt to run park run at one hundred different venues. The previous weeks effort at Zielony Jar being number ninety seven and Watermead about to become number ninety eight.

I’m grateful to Watermead for becoming my ninety eight while hoping that it won’t be too disappointed that it hasn’t usurped my current candidate in the A to Z of park runs list I’m also trying to complete. That honour belongs to the mighty Whinlatter Forest. Rated as the 759 hardest out of 760 park runs by ‘Power of 10’ it seems to consist almost entirely of running up a large hill until a bit of flat appears for the final one hundred metres. I may be exaggerating.

The A to Z list becomes a tricky decision as the end comes into view. While you would almost certainly want to go with Bushy (as the founding father of park run) and the obscure letters pick themselves, many of the others aren’t so simple. For example where a family achievement at a park run clashes with one that was completed after a ridiculously long drive or you’re proud of completing on a hot morning following a big Friday night out.

After travelling all the way to Poland the previous week, Watermead had the distinct advantage of only being a short drive away this time. Better still the course appeared fairly friendly which is unusual for a country park one. It contains an impressive array of wildlife such as foxes, deer and otter but couldn’t quite match the red squirrels of Zeilony.

During the run itself I was quite quickly overtaken by Elvis Presley. This kind of thing isn’t unusual at park run having been overtaken by Prince and a banana at other events in recent weeks. I did feel much better than I usually do though and allied to the flat course I was finished in the third fastest percentage time I’d ever managed. No need for Mo Farah to worry too much yet though.

Disappointingly my improved performance wasn’t down to any kind of magic potion. One of the worst things about getting older is you can go to the doctors for a routine check feeling fine and come out with something new wrong with you. In my case it was high cholesterol and it seems a couple of months of healthy eating have made a difference and helped my running. Who knew all those dieticians and sports scientists were right all along.

Next week it’s a trip to the north of England for Jubilee park run. Satisfyingly ticking off another letter on the A to Z list while simultaneously becoming the ninety ninth different one.