Long time no posting from me! I didn’t do any parkrun tourism in December, and I have realised that I did the Festive Five but haven’t documented that here. I was away over Christmas so just getting back into routines now. I have a summary of 2024 parkruns in the pipeline but that is coming later…
Anyway back to the race:
I signed up to this race late in 2024, knowing it would be my first weekend back after being on holiday, and not knowing how much running I’d do while away, I thought it would be a good idea to have something in the calendar and a 10k seemed a good distance. I have really enjoyed the Hatfield 5 (miles) in the past, and this 10k looked to be a similar route. The ATW events are always really well supported, and they are quite low key (collect your number on the morning just before it starts sort of vibes) so it sounded perfect.
The few days leading up to the race ended up being sub zero temperatures with lots of heavy frosts and ice everywhere (lots of parkruns were cancelled on the Saturday due to the weather), and the ATW team ended up having to amend the course as part of the original route was flooded.
As they had to amend the course, and part of it was on trail, they offered for people to have an automatic credit on their account if they didn’t run, and I was very tempted by this! It was so cold at parkrun on the Saturday and I felt like I didn’t really warm up all day after, so the thought of going back out into the cold wasn’t appealing. Thankfully some other OH ladies (and Branka, who can be an honorary OH member) were doing it, and as I had signed up to this as part of the OH ladies 12 days of Christmas challenges, I couldn’t really not do it!
The race HQ is right by the parking, and it’s inside (although no heating on in the building I don’t think)- we met by the steps for our traditional pre race photo and then chatted while we waited for the race to start.
The before (all of us) and after (4 of us as Catherine told us not to wait)
We knew a few of the marshals and pacers too, so it felt like a nice social occasion at the start of the year. I kept heading back to my car- once to return my mini scissors and spare bib clips (you have to cut holes in the bibs in order to use them) and then again at the last minute to get an extra coat. Emily and Zena were both going to be jeffing, 30 seconds run, 30 seconds walk, so I decided to join them rather than run alone, and Branka also decided to join, so we ended up with a lovely group of 4 of us chatting on the course.
The route was a lollypop (an out and back with a loop in the middle) where you repeated the loop twice, so on our first lap of the loop we were being overtaken by the speedier runners (momentarily behind the 40 min pacer!), but for the second lap we could spread out and chat as a four a bit more.
The section on the trail was very rutted, icy and frozen, so I struggled to run on that section. I was at the back of our pack of 4 so just caught up once we were back on paths again.
The photos below show the start, where we looped around paths by the uni, the trail section with frozen puddles, views out to the frosty fields, and my face once I’d warmed up enough to take my extra coat off!
As you can see, a very cold day!
I really enjoyed the route, and although it wasn’t the fast road race it was originally going to be, it was great to go off the main path, and it felt as in no time we were already on our second loop. All of the marshals were brilliant- huge thanks to them all for standing around in the cold so the event could go ahead.
As we approached the iciest path for the second time, Emily suggested that we ran side by side as she had seen the photographer at the end (and the photos were included in the entry fee)- however you don’t actually know when the photographer is going to take a photo- so we got the two below- as we are organising ourselves!
You can see my holding my coat (and hat) here- as we passed one of our friends he asked me why I was running with a sleeping bag- I can see why he would think that!
Our aim was around 1Hr20, and we came in in 1:20:26, which I think is pretty impressive pacing. After not running for 2 weeks it was great to do a run/walk to mean I could complete the distance. And despite how I felt at the start, I am so glad that I went out and did the race- it was good fun to run with others and great to be out in the fresh air even though it was absolutely freezing!
You got a nice medal, some Love Corn snacks, and optional water at the finish. I’d made a cup of tea to have in the car before I drove home, and that was a very good decision indeed.
How do you get back into running after you’ve been on holiday?
