I was not the most enthusiastic when I woke up on Saturday morning. It was dark, cold and raining, and my trainers were still wet from Mansfield’s water jumps.
St Albans though turned out to be well worth the effort. The course was very different to any I’ve done before, with 1km to a lake, 3 laps round, then 1km back.
By the time I was at the end of my first lap, the field had spread out so there was a continuous loop of people running round the lake and I couldn’t tell the front-runners from those at the back. I really liked that with such a small and open lap you could see all 300+ parkrunners rather than just the ten-or-so who match your pace.
Running round the lake. Slight blurring most likely due to drizzle rather than speed.
The course is a quick one as it’s almost entirely flat, and (save for a very muddy finish) entirely on tarmac. I was pleased with a new ‘fastest time of 2016’, coming in at just under 25 minutes.
A special shout-out to the marshals for inspired words of encouragement such as ‘keep going – only 4.99km to go’, and ‘don’t slip – it’s muddy and we’ve not got any spare towels’.
See the results here: St Albans results 2 Jan
Next stop TBC. Probably Gadebridge unless anyone has any other suggestions?
52 parkruns, 52 weeks, 52 places 