A couple of runs to report on this weekend . . the last ascent of Ashton Court at parkrun before Christmas, on Saturday, and a lovely social occasion on Sunday, around Blaise Castle, across to Kingsweston Hall and back, along the narrow strip of beautiful countryside that separates Combe Dingle from Lawrence Weston.
As always, parkrun was a joy. All the more so this week for being the "Christmas" run, with so many of the 202 participants in fancy dress, with several friends attaining 100 and 50 parkrun club status, and with a bring and share picnic afterwards, when we, the parkrunners had a chance to show our appreciation to the great bunch of people who make our parkrun happen, week in, week out.
The run, my 124th parkrun, was a struggle for me. But then it usually is, just now, which is something that I need to change. On Saturday Debbie cajoled, encouraged and pushed me to get to the top of the hill and all the way back down again, and I suppose it was an achievement to do so, in fancy dress, in a quicker time than the previous week. But whilst it would be nice to think that I'd run well after a parkrun, parkrun is so much more than just the run itself. It's all about community, friendships, and participation. As has been said so many times before, it's a run with your mates, which is one reason why, to Debbie's consternation, I insisted on encouraging so many of my friends as they whizzed past on their way down, whilst we were still running up towards the top. I'm good at shouting at runners. Need to work on my high-fives, though!
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| with Chrissie Wellington |
One of the first runners to pass us on their way down was Chrissie Wellington, 4 time World Ironman Champion, running her first AC parkrun, and only her second parkrun anywhere. Inevitably she made it look easy, chatting away to the runner beside her with a smile on her face. She went on to finish in 9th place, in a little over 19 minutes. By the time Debbie and I had finished Chrissie was still there, chatting away, posing for photos with all who asked, smiling broadly and enjoying every moment. Of course, I took my turn too, as you've seen.
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| no, I don't know either . . |
Afterwards, whilst Chrissie set off to run back home in Clifton . . she's Iron, after all, we retired back to the Stables for our picnic, for coffee, tea or hot chocolate, and for conversation, and perhaps, one or two silly photos . . and all too soon, after about 3 hours (for a 5k?), our parkrun morning was over. There was shopping to do, chores to carry out, and errands to be run. Fortunately of course, one of the other great things about parkrun is that there's another one, next weekend.
And so to Sunday. I took the softer option and met the other Larkers at Blaise Castle. They'd already run a couple of miles to get there. When I arrived, it was a beautiful bright and sunny morning, and I sent a message to a friend that said something to that effect. As soon as I'd locked my phone in my car and walked away, I looked over my shoulder and saw the darkest clouds, decorated with a bright rainbow, and realised that my text must have seemed peculiar, to say the least!
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| beautiful Blaise Castle |
I took a few photos of my surroundings (sadly the rainbow had disappeared) and before long Maggie and David came round the corner, followed by Abbie, Andy, Alan, Sheila, Chris and Paul. I joined them and after a few metres we paused, and were joined by the morning's other Larkers, who had taken a longer route to the meeting point. We struck out towards Kingsweston House. It was muddy, but we like that. By this time though, the storm I'd seen over my shoulder had caught up with us and it was wet and windy. Some said there were hail stones, but I don't remember them.
Fortunately the storm soon blew over and the sun returned, just in time for us to take some photos in front of the House, and admire the view across Avonmouth towards Wales. I couldn't run as well as I'd have liked to, I was tired and my knaughty knee was playing up, clicking and cracking away. Maggie was great, as always, and stuck with me whilst I struggled, and everyone else was very patient. There was plenty of stopping and starting, sheepdogging and regrouping, so I was never far behind. I was grateful for their patience. And after a little over 6k of stopping and starting, we were back close to Blaise, and we parted, the rest to run back to Maggie and David's, me to return to the car park.
A little later, we were all back at our hosts' lovely home, with red soup and green soup, and bread, and tiffin (thanks Alison) and cupcakes, and mulled wine. And as always, amongst this lovely group of people, much laughter and good fun were shared. Thanks, everyone, for a great weekend. Looking forward to the next one already . .
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