Parkrun #2: Leazes Park (retrospective)

Time for another retrospective parkrun post, in a bid to catch up with every event I've done. This time: the Leazes Park parkrun.

Looking back, it's hard to believe this was only my 2nd parkrun; it feels more like it was my 4th or 5th. And despite it being an early one —  or perhaps because of that? —  I got a time (26:16) that remains close to my parkrun PB, despite it not being a flat course. And despite me feeling so rough on the day that I'd say I was queasy and on the edge of quitting pretty much the whole way round.

It actually makes me feel a bit frustrated that I now find it so hard to match the pace I had on a major off-day. But... if I ever manage to get back to consistently running for 30 minutes, 3 times a week — just as I was doing at the end of Couch to 5K — then I imagine it's probably within my grasp again. And as much as I like to try out new locations, the challenge of beating my time here, on a day when I'm feeling good, does have a certain draw to it.

Anyway, after starting right at the back for my first parkrun in Jesmond Dene, and even having to walk a bit because of the congestion, I decided to start nearer the front this time. In hindsight, I went a bit too far forward. While the start of the Leazes parkrun is downhill — and the kind of gradient you can exploit — I still had people shooting past me immediately. I mean, I felt I was running too fast, but they were really going for it. It was probably only after the first half kilometre, or maybe half mile, that I'd really settled into my place. By then, I'd run down to and around the tennis and basketball courts and was on my way back up a gentle slope alongside Richardson Road and towards the lake. Already I felt sick. It wasn't a good omen.

As it turned out, that section of the course felt like the hardest bit on all 3 of the laps that you do here. Which is weird, because it didn't look particularly uphill. The 5–10 yards that was more obviously uphill just as you reached the lake then pretty much finished me off, physically and mentally, for the entirety of the lake's perimeter.

Once you're around the lake comes what felt like the most mentally draining part for me, however. "Just the hill back up to the start now," you'd think to yourself as you dodge the geese and their droppings near the café, but no — you first have to run just another 50m or so before you can turn back on yourself and head to the hill. Since this run, I've come to find a number of courses have deceptive bits in them like this. You think you're ready to round a corner and set off on another lap, only to realise it's further than it seems to that corner. Saltwell Park (Gateshead) was a bugger for that too.

Once I finally made it to the hill, however, it never actually felt all that bad. Sure, I slowed a bit, but I never felt the horror that I did just after the basketball courts. It actually felt like it was over pretty quickly and then the positive feelings came back as you knew you were about to enjoy a couple of hundred metres of coasting downhill. That always meant I felt motivated to get up that hill, knowing what was coming next.

By the end of my 3 laps, I looked at my phone to see how long I'd taken and completely misread it. I'd read that I'd done it in about 25:19 (if I remember right) and I was both stunned and over the moon. The text later that day brought me back down to earth, but still... it remains a good time for me.

Once I've completed my odyssey of all the parkrun venues within a sensible drive of home (I reckon that means about 25 minutes journey time), I may well settle on Leazes as my 'home' parkrun. It's a nice place to run, plenty of greenery, easy to get to on the bus, and with enough gradients to know that I'm not taking the lazy option of somewhere flat like Blyth. At the time of writing though, I've still only done 8 different venues. I reckon I'll hit 12–15 before I settle down. And hopefully, I'll be doing #9 tomorrow... 🤞