Highbury Fields revisit for Plan C

The plan for this weekend had always been for some parkrun tourism with Branka, and originally we were going to head to Stockley Country parkrun (not Stockwell as I kept telling Andy- he was very confused when he couldn’t find it, and could find a Stockwell park elsewhere in London while I was insisting it was close to Heathrow…). Anyway, the weather was not forecast to be great, and we didn’t fancy driving around the M25 in torrential rain, so looked at a few other options. Branka mentioned Raphael, but looking at journey times it was going to be similar, so we decided to look at train options. I am happy to repeat venues, and Branka hadn’t done Highbury Fields yet, so we decided to head there. We could both get trains to Finsbury Park, and from there it was one stop on the Victoria Line to Highbury and Islington station, and the parkrun is so close to the station (just across the road) it seemed ideal.

Plus, as a bonus, the Angel branch of Bird and Blend is about half a mile along Upper Street (and the walk passes British Patagonia who make amazing vegan pastries)- parkfaff would be sorted too!

My train was due to leave at 7:55, and with the rain I decided to drive to Hatfield rather than run to WGC, so I didn’t need to leave home until 7:30. (Branka had called me as she had a slight issue with her train ticket but she had plenty of time to sort it thankfully) My train was running a few minutes late but even with that (and me having a slight panic as I got off the train that I couldn’t find my car keys and worrying that they had fallen out- they were actually just deeper into my pocket than I had felt when I first checked), a visit to the station toilets and then getting the underground, we were at H&I for 8:30 -plenty of time!

My improving selfie, a photo mid-run, token photo and our pop up picture

We took our purple pop up photos before, and Branka continued with tutoring me on my selfies- I am getting better!

The first timers welcome was very amusing- I would not be surprised if the person ended up doing stand up comedy. She was very engaging and it really made the event feel welcoming. There did seem to be a lot of tourists- of course if you hang around the sign for a bit you end up taking photos for other people and then them taking your photo. One couple had come from north Wales! We said we should look up in case it was a specific event number (but it was 609- that’s not a prime and I can’t see what the fascination would be)- maybe just the proximity to the tube means they get lots each week.

I’d packed a t-shirt, jumper and waterproof in an old race bag to leave on the tarpaulin of trust, but thankfully the torrential rain that was forecast didn’t arrive, just a few spots of rain here and there.

The main run briefing was a bit disappointing as we just could not hear a thing- people all around us were talking, and I think I heard a few milestones announced, but it was one of those briefings when you just clap when other people clap. At least in the first timers welcome they mentioned some of the course hazards such as the uneven pavement and the muddy slippery puddle.

Now, if you don’t know, Highbury Fields is 5 laps. The only other 5 lapper I’ve done is Heslington in York, around a bike track. Here, you start in the middle on the grass, head out to the perimeter of the park (and really it is the perimeter as it is on pavements outside the park- it feels very un-parkrun in that respect as you are by houses and roads and parked cars and all sorts), and then run 5 laps before heading back in to finish on the grass. I decided that to keep count, I would try and have a different song in my head for each lap. I was hoping for songs with numbers, but the first lap was to the tune of Frère Jacques (this is the first lap, this is the first lap, around we go, around we go, run around the park, run around the park, keep on going, keep on going), and I realised that I could easily change the number for each lap and then I’d get muddled. For Lap 2I wanted a song with 2 in it (not sure why I didn’t choose Song 2 by Blur) but I ended up with Bones by The Killers in my head then. Not sure why. Lap 3 was the turn of Three is a Magic Number by Embrace (good for learning that 3x table backwards), Lap 4 was All For One from High School Musical, and then lap 5 was the theme tune from Girls 5 Eva (‘what are you waiting five?’).

I felt like I was running well, and was overtaking people towards the end, but I don’t usually look at my watch. As I crossed the finish line I stopped my watch and saw that the course had measured short- 2.8 miles. I briefly panicked that I hadn’t run the full 5 laps, but I knew I had, and the people around me had finished at the same time. If I had gone for an additional lap it would have been way over. I say all the time not to rely on GPS, and particularly on twisty routes it isn’t 100% reliable. Looking on Strava later, I could see the 5 laps (and the 5 bumps for the slope in each lap), and I could also see that it had cut off the corner each time as the route takes you out of the park at the bottom.

After I finished, I changed my top as it was still on and off raining and I didn’t want to get cold. Branka finished soon after me, and we chatted to a few tourists before walking along to our parkfaff locations. Just after we commented on how lucky we were with the weather, it rained quite hard, but thankfully we were soon in Bird and Blend, getting matcha lattes and topping up our tea collections.

Purple pop up “after” photo, the matcha wall of dreams, heavenly vegan pastries and a matcha latte.

We popped into British Patagonia on the way back, although I saved mine for when I got home as I didn’t think I could eat one of those pistachio pastries without getting in a bit of a mess! I had packed a cereal bar and water, and remembered to drink my water before I changed my t-shirt, but I really should have had the cereal bar too, as walking to B&B and back took time and so I was really hungry and tired by that point. I had it on the platform while I waited for the train home.

Once home I got the text saying it was a course pb too! Granted it was only my second time there, but I’ll take it! I was hoping for sub 30 and I ended up with 28:59 so I was pleased to squeeze in under 29. One of my few faster times this year (I’m never running that fast at Panshanger or Jersey Farm so I will make the most of tarmac).

Do you like lapped courses? Which London parkruns are good to visit by train?