Go run

It was a beautiful summer morning as I walked Roobarb.  Across the fields, the rain overnight had brought humidity levels right down and the sky was blue,  broken by the odd cloud or two, birds busying themselves with their morning songs and flybys and way up high, planes heading in and out of City airport.

Looking forward to my 50th parkrun, I headed off to Maldon, planning a quick stop at the local supermarket on route for bread and juice.  After a few minutes inside I left the store and it was if I'd entered an alternate reality.   The sky was black and the rain was coming down at an alarming rate.

I dashed to the car and headed on to help with set up at the Prom, managing to listen to the last few minutes of the ‘free weekly timed podcast’ on route. It is only a short drive but the surface water was already quite impressive and as I parked, I grabbed my umbrella but having greeted another volunteer and taken only a few steps, I quickly decided that a coat was a more practical option.

  By the time I’d finished the ‘short set up’ which involves placing signs around the main lake, the rain had stopped but the amount that had fallen was significant and not draining away, meaning that the paths had quite a bit of water and leaves on them.

The run director had decided to relocate the start and finish to avoid a big puddle and another of the core team set to work on another of the deeper puddles.

I attached the tail I’d opted to wear when deciding to celebrate my 50th as tail walker and chatted with other people as we waited for nine o’clock. I was pleased that one of my work colleagues could join me for her first park run too and before long we were gathering at the relocated start for the briefing.

There were a couple more milestones being celebrated, including Elaine, the RD doing her 100th volunteer stint and after applause for us all, the safety instructions and count down we were off.

I did a bit of walking, a bit of chatting, a bit of photography and then a bit of jogging to catch up with the last parkrunner. Then I repeated. We managed to get around the lake before the fastest runners completed their first lap and a few people encouraged us on our way. It was pleasantly dry underfoot as we entered the woodland walk for the first time and not long after we were passed by the faster runners on their second lap. The sun was shining by the time we reached Brythnoth and the paths were mostly dried.

It was the perfect conditions for a parkrun in the end and just under an hour later, I was finished.

The fair is also in town and I took the picture of one of the ride toppers as I headed to my car.

Returning home for a quick shower and change, I was soon out again to meet friends for lunch in a local pub.

As always, parkrun was the perfect start to my Saturday.

The rest of the day has not been too bad either!