On Friday night it was time for the OH awards evening. Thankfully my windscreen was finally replaced on Friday, so there was some good news. The cream was cleaning up my eye, and although I still had a little cough, I wasn’t losing my voice any more- I had wondered about just staying at home, but I am glad I persuaded myself to go in the end.
It was being held at a local golf club, just around the corner from where I live (well a couple of miles away, and partly down a lane with no pavements, so I wasn’t running there).
Last year it was a sit down meal, but this year was a buffet and then a disco. It was lovely catching up with everyone, and seeing people with normal clothes (and hair) instead of running gear. I had a very delicious chocolate tart, and everyone had personalised glass tags with our initials on them (and OH on the back)- such a lovely touch.
Mine even had a non-alcoholic drink ready with it (as it included a drink upon arrival- they are very sweet to remember that I don’t drink).
After a few hours of chatting (and some people dancing) they gave out the awards- it was lovely to see the reaction from the winners, especially those not expecting to win. The runner of the year wasn’t there, so they said to keep it quiet and they would give it to her at parkrun as she was volunteering in the morning.
As it rained a bit overnight, I wore my trail shoes as I was heading to Ellenbrook- clean soles at the start!
Dad was going to run there, run parkrun, and then I was going to take him home, as he is doing some longer runs before a half marathon in the spring. I got there a bit early and it was cold, so I ran up and down the old taxi-way a bit (a straight concrete strip in the field). I saw a green woodpecker (but I had left my phone in the car so couldn’t even try to photograph it), and then was stopped by someone walking her dog, asking where she could go to avoid the runners. Now, I am not great with directions, and of course the par has no road names, so after I try to explain it to her (do you know the field with the cows? Well instead of turning left and going through the field, carry on straight…) I ended up saying that there were signs out, so if the sign said turn left, she could carry on straight instead. (I also did say that we didn’t have that many runners and they would be spread out, but she said her dog got a bit excited and would bark a lot so she wanted to steer clear).
As she walked away I then saw my dad running towards me, and shortly after my brother cycled along, so we headed to the start line together.
I’d opted for a t-shirt, and left my jacket on the fence, but the wind and drizzle picked up a bit during the briefing and I had begun to regret my choice of clothes. Once we started I was OK though. We had a good catch up, and finished together (along the trial straight ahead instead of a right-angled turn on slippery mud) in 29.49- we were aiming for under 30 minutes so Dad’s 10K came in under the hour so we were pleased with that. It started to rain a lot harder and the wind picked up so we didn’t hang about for long before heading to the car.
Very dirty soles at the end, although this was taken on Sunday.
I had offered to do the run report as our RD is not keen on that job, so I spent a bit of time coming up with that- it’s here if you fancy a read and a sing along. We also walked into town, and then spent the evening around Andy’s brother’s house, watching the football and eating takeaway chips (a nice treat, but maybe not the best pre long run meal..).
Does your running club have awards? We have awards for perseverance, most improved, best newcomer, and runner of the year, as well as the fastest times, although they always precede the fastest times awards with a lot of conflicted views on whether they should be awarded or not! Do you see a lot of non-parkrunners at your local parkrun? Both Panshanger and Ellenbrook are a bit out of the way, and are used by dog walkers but that’s about it. St Albans is full of people out walking, kids on bikes and people feeding the ducks so it is a bit busier in that respect.
