parkrun #37

Not our finest parkrun this time around. I was taking The Son to Bexleyheath for lunch with my grandparents so we made an early start to the day through participating at Bexley parkrun.

The parkrun weather demons were out in force today as the rain and sleet fell onto an already wet and muddy Danson Park. We sheltered under a shared umbrella as we walked from the car park down to the parkrun start area and then waited for the run to start.

The run briefing was very intentionally short, so that the runners were not left standing in the rain too long, and then we were off running alongside the lake. The Son was adamant that he wanted to run by himself so I went off while he jogged round with a few others.

I had spent a fair bit of my youth at Danson Park with my grandfather, since they live a short distance away, so was familiar enough with the course even though I had never run there before. We passed the old mansion house on a continual tarmac run until we reached the woodland area where there was no option other than to slip and slide through the mud.

For some reason I had kept my glasses on for running today and the rain was settling on the lenses so I could not see very well. Unfortunately I lost sight of the runner in front of me and went off route for a short section before realising my mistake and crossing a grass area to join the tarmac path again.

It’s a two lap course so it was just a case of once more around the lake, back past the mansion and through the muddy wood for the last time. My original aim for the day was a 21:20 to hit my Jantastic prediction but that was made with a dry day at Gunnersbury in mind. Instead I faced a tough course in wet conditions so I was well off from my target.

I found The Son sheltering at the finish as he decided that one lap in the rain was more than enough for him. I knew that I should have jogged around with him so now we have a second parkrun where I have recorded a finishing time and he has not.

We plan to visit Bexley parkrun again during the summer for a nice sunny run!

Running Dan parkrun result:

• parkrun time: 0:23:24
• Garmin time: 0:23:24
• Finish position: 12 / 43
• Gender position: 12 / 31
• Age category: SM35-39
• Age grade: 57.91 %