This weekend my friend Rob and I went on a road trip up to Milton Keynes.
We got there very early, but spent our extra time eating Caramel bars and taking selfies, meaning that we were only just on time for the start.
Me and Rob pre-run (very smiley)
Milton Keynes is the first single-lap course I’ve done. It heads along a canal, up a short hill, then loops down around a couple of lakes.
My favourite bit was the zig-zags up the hill, which reminded me of an inverse marble run, and were quickly rewarded by a great view over the lakes.
The lakes (on a slightly sunnier day)
From here I was looking out for the peace pagoda to tell me we were a third of the way through. I’m told that this is quite a big and obvious landmark, but somehow missed it completely. This meant I spent the rest of the run convinced we still had a long way to go, and was very pleasantly surprised when the man next to me told me that there was ‘only 200m to the finish’. (Incidentally, Rob also lost track of the distance, but did the opposite to me and went all out quite a long way before the 5km was up.)
I really enjoyed the course (twice voted the most beautiful parkrun), albeit on a pretty grim day (which was so windy that in parts the lakes looked more like sea than lake). A big thanks to the volunteers who, without exception (a) had very large umbrellas and (b) were really supportive of all the runners.
Me and Rob post-run. (Still very smiley, but this photo is misleadingly sunny and not soggy enough.)
Thanks also to Rob for inviting me up to Milton Keynes, and his family for the tasty breakfast afterwards 🙂
I finished the course in 28:05, and Rob in 23:16, which was his best time this year. Results are up here: Milton Keynes – 06.02.2016
Next week: Andover
52 parkruns, 52 weeks, 52 places 