New Year’s Day is one of two ‘bonus’ days for parkrun, where you can do a parkrun even though it’s not a Saturday. (The other one is Christmas Day.) Although tempted by a lie-in, I was keen to clock in a bonus run to get a head-start in case of mishaps later in the year.
Emma and Dave (yay – running friends!) joined for the run, along with expert photographer and post-race biscuit eater Caroline. We felt pretty heroic heading to Mansfield for 10.30am, only to find that most of the others at the start-line were lining up for round 2, having already run a 9am parkrun at nearby Clumber Park.
Undeterred, we set off on the parkrun, which was a flat, 3-lap, tarmac course around the outside of some playing fields. The main defining feature was a series of large seasonal ‘water jumps’, which made it pretty soggy work. Nonetheless, Emma managed to wade through to a personal best, and Dave and I got our ‘fastest times of 2016’.
A very fast person running through a ‘water jump’
Here’s the results page for proof of our endeavours: Mansfield results 1 Jan
Happy New Year to everyone, many thanks to the volunteers at Mansfield parkrun for putting on a great event, and thanks to Emma, Caroline and Dave for joining me on my first run.
Next stop: St Albans
Pre-run: Dave, me, Emma, and (behind the lens) Caroline
52 parkruns, 52 weeks, 52 places 