Parkrun #14: Carlisle Park (Morpeth)

Today nearly wasn't a parkrun day. It was nearly a can't-be-bothered-to-get-out-of-bed day. But I'm really glad I hauled my carcass out in the end. 🙂

Last night, I put all of my local(ish) parkruns into a spreadsheet and used Google Maps to fill in a "Driving time" column. The two closest to me that I'd not yet done were Windy Nook and Carlisle Park (the latter in Morpeth). After watching a video of the Windy Nook course, I decided against it on grounds of it looking a bit stony underfoot. Maybe I'll do Windy Nook when I've replaced my running shoes with more cushioned ones, but for now... Morpeth it was.

Ended up leaving it a bit late to set off today, as I remembered at the last minute that I needed to do a COVID test first (Daughter the 1st has it at the moment). One negative test later and I was racing up the A1.

Despite being in a town, Carlisle Park has to be one of the nicest venues I've been to so far. I do love a good riverside and the park itself is just on the opposite side of the river to the town centre and leisure centre, the latter of which had ample free parking (just don't forget your parking disc!). I know it pretty well, as I used to live in Bedlington, just a few miles away, so at least there was no stress about finding the place.

Crossing the footbridge by the leisure centre, the start was just on the opposite side, as I could tell when I heard the applause for various milestones being achieved. I wandered up just in time to hear a quick description of the course (always handy for planning your pace). This one's a two-and-a-bit lap affair, with the "bit" added on at the end containing the only hill on the course — bah! So, that's 3 hills and a lot of flat, riverside running, with the a decent downhill toward the finish.

Without much further ado (and without any stretching 😦), we were off. I counted maybe 4 or 5 seconds before I crossed the start line, but as it would turn out, that difference was hardly going to put me near a PB. Rounding the first corner, we started up the hill for the first time. At this point, it felt totally fine and I was already thinking the run was going to be a breeze if this was all Morpeth could throw at me; my first run in Jesmond Dene's clearly set the benchmark for hills so far. In fact, the hill even had a bit of a breather in the middle as you got about 10-20 metres of flat before the final little incline. Then, coming back down toward the playground, the gradient was just steep enough to get some proper pace on and just not so steep that you put more effort into slowing yourself.

After that, it was a quick hairpin before we set off upriver. This was the only bit of the park I didn't know that well. Having looked at the map, I figured it would feel like a pretty long out-and-back, but on this first of two trips upriver, it felt a lot shorter than expected. Which is weird, because as soon as I turned around to head back to the main park, the tiredness came on quickly — as you can see from this photo as I passed the start line:

The rest of the run felt more and more of... not quite a slog, but I'd certainly lost the bounce in my step. The hill felt really hard the second time and by the time I climbed it on the final tour, I was questioning whether this would be the first parkrun at which I conceded defeat and started walking. But it wasn't; I stuck in there. Approaching the funnel, a couple of kids and their dad were racing down the hill behind me. A boy flew past and while I'd started my own "sprint" finish, I could hear the girl just behind me too. It felt mean to not let her past too, so I slowed down again and coasted into the funnel.

Final time: 26:54. It wasn't as quick as I'd hoped, but... it's not in the 27's and I've not been running much lately, so... that's fine.

On the whole, it was a really lovely morning at a pretty parkrun and it really lifted my mood — exactly what you hope for from this stuff. There were surprisingly few runners mind, which is a travesty for such a nice venue. I remember one guy at the Newbiggin event saying he was from Morpeth but he preferred a coastal run. Mentalist. Anyway, if you're ever in the area and looking for a nice parkrun to attend, I'd definitely recommend this one. It may even be my favourite so far. 🥰

Next up? According to my spreadsheet, Riverside (Chester-le-Street) is my nearest event not done yet (barring Windy Nook), so maybe there. 🤞