Parkrun #36: Ashington Community Woodland
Finally back to parkrunning today. And just in the nick of time to rekindle my hopes of achieving 30 parkruns this year. During June and July, I'd attended 6 on the trot to give me a projected total for the year of 33 and felt like I'd actually got on top of the goal at last. After a barren August, however, today's run now shows a projected total of 30 runs for the year. Squeaky bum time.
So, given the recent lack of running, today's aim was just to get another run under my belt. Blackhill, my first choice, was discounted as my brother (whom I would've met up with) was off golfing somewhere. Instead, still wanting to attend a new venue to make up for the failure to do Penrhyn, I went for Ashington Community Woodland, a relatively new event and my current NENDY. So that puts me up to 19 different locations in total, 7 this year, and on a tourist streak of 13 (which I'm loathe to break!).
But before I get into describing the course and my run in painfully boring detail, what was my time? A fairly average-for-me-right-now 26:35. I'm happy with that. I started right at the back with the tail walker, took 10-15 seconds to cross the start line, had to bide my time to pass people at various points, and didn't really push myself until the final kilometre. So... all good. 🙂
So yeah, a new-ish course, this one. In fact, this was event #7 at Ashington and when the hands went up before the start, it seemed like a good 50% of the 97 runners were first-timers. I'd already watched someone's video of the course on YouTube and seen that it was a pretty narrow course. The most runners you could ever get side-by-side was 3 and in places it was definitely single-file. Not fancying the frantic jockeying for position that would happen near the front at the start, I walked all the way to the back and accepted my time would be compromised.
The course itself consists of two unequal laps. As seems to always be the case, the first of those was the longer. Despite not really knowing the course and its turns beforehand, the marshalling was, as ever, plenty good enough for me to not have to worry about the fact that I'd missed the first-timers' briefing (if there was one). I'd also assumed that the whole thing was completely flat, but that wasn't the case. It was very slightly up and down, but I really do mean "very". The slopes were perceptible and lasted a while, but they were very gentle gradients.
The entirety of the course was in the woodland itself and run on compacted mud or fine gravel trails, with the odd slopey bit being a bit more uneven thanks to water run-off channels. But tree roots weren't really an issue. The ground today was pretty dry too, so no splashing mud or puddles to contend with. At least, none I remember.
Starting so far back on a narrow course, a lot of my first kilometre was spent very gently jogging, waiting for an opportune moment to pass that didn't involve diving into nettles or brambles. Being very British about it, I didn't want to ask to be let through. An easy and legitimate retort would've been that I should've started nearer the front. I figured I'd made my bed, so I might as well quietly lie in it.
Over the course of the run, I slowly picked off one position after another. It's a good job I didn't try to count how many positions I'd made up, as my maths says it was 61 by the end. But I was pleased that I continued to make up places all the way to the finish funnel. And for the first time in ages, I actually used the other runners as targets to motivate myself.
There were definitely times on the course when I had to just bide my time though. I'd catch up to a group of runners only to find us running in a stretch that was either a squeeze to pass on or very much single-file. Arguably, that held me up a little, but it's probably fair to say that it helped conserve my energy for the end too. And my final kick, which arrived about 20 metres from the funnel, saw me pick off my final position, taking me to 36th place. Not quite in the top 50% of men, but so be it.
Tomorrow sees me heading back to junior parkrun, somewhat unexpectedly. I'd thought that was all over, but maybe not. Daughter the 1st is now asking how many more she needs to do to get her marathon wristband. 😀
For me, hopefully another parkrun next weekend. If I don't manage to do another new venue (which would finally get me my Tourist achievement in the 5K app), I'll at least try to extend my tourist streak to 14 consecutive different locations. I do quite fancy heading back to South Shields. But... oh, that might not be possible, what with it being Great North Run weekend. Either that, or it'll be absolutely mobbed. Stay tuned, I guess.
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