Last week I headed off to a fairly new parkrun in Bedford, Jubilee parkrun. Dad was keen to go to a new (to him) event, and while I am happy to repeat, this was event 4 so we thought it would be OK to visit. Mum wanted to come along too, so they picked me up on the way.
Our journey was a little longer than we had originally anticipated, and the parking is not right by the start (it says a 6 min walk on the website) so that was adding to my panic somewhat. I had consoled myself with the fact that if we miss the welcome, we can still be there in time for the main briefing, there is probably some chat about milestones, visitors etc, and of course we can take photos at the end.
Finding the start was simple as there was a long stream of runners heading from the car park, across the road and down an alleyway, and at the end of the alleyway we saw the start area. The main briefing was already going ahead, and as we said goodbye to Mum we were called to the start- they literally said go at 8:59 on my watch- be warned!
The route was three laps, with one being slightly longer as you ran an extra bit through the centre of the park, the other two laps just going around the outside. It was pretty flat, and although it seemed busy during the briefing, the course didn’t feel congested at all, even with the lapping that goes on. That week there were 366 people taking part, but the course was definitely OK to cope with large numbers.
It was such a varied park, with lots of facilities (apart from benches which Mum pointed out after!). Some of the route was shaded as we ran along some tree-lined paths, but around half was in the baking sun- it was hot last Saturday! One of the volunteers had a super soaker and was offering to spray it as we ran past- they put up this photo after and Dad and I were just behind – I thought it was a great action shot!
As it was a lapped course and Mum had followed the volunteers the short walk from the start to the finish, we passed her chatting away on each lap. She had been chatting to someone from the core team about how under used the park was, and so they actively encouraged a parkrun to be there to increase visitors. It was a lovely park and there were loads of houses surrounding it within walking distance, so hopefully the parkrun will alert locals to their facilities.
A few scenes from the parkrun
After finishing we stood in the shade of a huge tree for ages, cooling down, stretching and drinking water, before scanning and taking photos- there was a long queue for the pop up even by this time!
Pop up pics with both parents
Then it was time to walk back to the car. We popped in to the leisure centre to check out the cafe, but it was very tiny, with no free tables, and from what we could see just a few pre-packaged food items, so we decided to look for a nearby garden centre in the hope of something more substantial. Luckily I’d packed some breakfast with me as the cafe where we went lacked any clarity in the options that it served and was a bit, shall we say disorganised? (One of several incidents- I tried to order a tea with oat milk- the guy serving me asked me if I could check the shelf to see the price, and when I could not find a price – for the tea- he didn’t know how to put it through the till, and then could not find the oat milk and rummaged around in various bins (?) under the counter trying to find an odd one before telling me he was giving up looking)
Anyway, we had a relaxed time there before driving back home.
That was parkrun 411, and location 136, and I am back to have been to all the parkruns in Beds.
Up next- another new venue! And then a bit of a break with some holiday time coming up.
