The original plan was for some tourism in the opposite direction, but on Friday night that plan was postponed, so Branka and I decided to head to Barking parkrun and work on Lon-done some more (and enjoy a mud free parkrun- after weeks at Letchworth and Stanborough we both wanted a mud-free run!).
With lots of London tourism, trains are preferable, particularly when travelling back as the roads just get so busy and you can just relax on a train. However, the train route to Barking wasn’t simple, involving 3 changes, and meant getting a train at about 6:45am. Andy suggested driving, and when I looked it was a 55 min drive, which isn’t too bad (and a lot quicker than the 2 hour train journey). The drive was fine and fairly quiet, and we parked up in the car park by the allotments (mentioned on the course page) just before 8:30, which gave us time to wander through the park, see the start area and find the toilets.
Pop up and photo frame fun- yes Poddington the Wonky Bear came too- we are wearing purple for IWD
The first timers welcome was really welcoming, and they explained the course really clearly. It’s two laps, and for each lap you ran along to the lake, next to the lake, then turned at the end and ran back along the lake on a slightly higher path, then did a lap of playing fields. As you run by the lake he challenged us to count the species of birds that we would see- saying their record was 17- I love touches like this and it made it feel very personal. They mentioned also there would be a 30 min pacer too. At the start we bumped into one of the parkrun huns (Lucy) who told us that they often call out your mile time and half way time, and as it’s a flat course and not too busy it was good for fast times. I had run quite quickly on the Friday club run, but decided to try and keep on front of the 30 min pacer and see how I went.
Scenes from the park- a grey day but a pretty park filled with daffodils and blossom on the trees.
Lucy was correct, it was not congested at all, and I found a pace pretty quickly. I was behind the 30 min pacer guy for a while, but at a mile my time called out to me was 9:04, and then at the halfway point was 14:04, so I worked out that if I kept pushing I would have a chance of getting under 28 mins. (For all my parkrun years apart from 2021 I’ve managed this, so it is in the back of my mind to every now and then make the most of a flat course to try and keep that record going). I don’t tend to look at my watch but I could feel I was running well, and at the final turn (where you can see the finish line straight ahead) I happened to glance and saw 26-something, but I had no idea whether I could run the final stretch in under a minute, so I just counted my steps in my head and went for it. A guy properly raced up behind me and we pretty much crossed the finish line together- he was a hair in front (we got identical times in the end) and when I stopped my watch it was sub 28 so I just had to keep my fingers crossed that the official time would show that too.
Did I get sub 28? A finish area pop up picture and the list of my best parkrun times
I was very happy when I got the text- 27:50 was my official time- hooray!
After finishing I ended up chatting to a few fellow vegan runners (I had forgotten I had my buff on so wondered how they knew!), and then chatted to parkrun hun Lucy for a bit before Branka finished. The vibe of this parkrun was so friendly- people were hanging about and chatting, the finish set up was a bit like Ellenbrook Fields with a long straight line to the finish and loads of people hanging around by the finish to cheer in other people. I am very glad we went there- a really friendly and local vibe, fast and no mud!
Token and the back of the “half way” sign which reads “If you’re reading this message your eyesight is great but you are running in the wrong direction!”/ Community Orchard seen on the way out
We decided to head back to the car so walked back through the park- I noticed a community orchard sign which is such a lovely idea (it even said to please just take fruit for yourself and leave some for other people and for wildlife). The journey back still took under an hour so I was home by 11am which isn’t bad really considering how long journeys can take.
Since the 5k app updated and is now the parkrun official app, the colours on the map have changed and now it looks like someone has spilled weak orange squash all over my map:
Voronoi update
So that was parkrun 441, event 151 and currently 39/65 London events (current open ones- eg I have been to Victoria Dock but now that is closed).
Next up is a local one to celebrate a friend’s 350th, and then hopefully a new (to me) one in the Southampton area.