Aaargh can’t believe I alreadt forgot a Bushy parkrun report for last week! I even remember thinking about what to write on the way round. Can’t remember it now though! Never mind!
This week I was on tour with Ralph again and Orlando joined us too on a trip to Wormwood Scrubs. We found it with no problem, averting our gazes from the horror that is Westfield as we passed by. We also found the organisers with no problem and said hello, it’s the flags and stakes that give them away. They told us about the course (2 laps and a smidge) and seemed bizarrely proud to announce that ‘it’s about 100m long!’ E, why not just move the start or finish a bit then?! However once again we had issues with finding a loo! At one point we found a promising looking sign (a picture of a man!) but all that was there was a boarded up door and some wheelie bins. Oh dear.
We took our minds off it with a lame warm up of 5 minutes and joined the gathering throng (of about 30 people). There were the usual announcements and then we off, up a slight incline. Then we went down a bit, and then we got to the serious mud. Thankfully I had worn trail shoes but spikes would have been good here. Unfortunately Orlando was taking new trainers for their first run.
I was hopeful of a podium position in this small field. When I set off I counted 6 ladies ahead at the first corner. I got up to 4th in the first mile but the other three were miles ahead and I had no chance of catching them. I tried quite hard but did not manage any pace starting with a seven today. I blame the mud. And the left corners, I’m used to turning right!My t shirt did not attract as much attention as it did at Gunnersbury, although i got one comment of ‘nice shirt’ at the end, and again someone said they were nearly blinded by the sun reflecting off the gold!
After the mud there was a flat bit where the ground was reasonably firm, and then we went round again. I think! I’m not very good at visualising the route afterwards. The very last bit was down a slope (too insignificant to be called a hill!). I finished in 23rd which is my favourite number, and also my highest ever finish position at Bushy.
So we enjoyed the course, onto the important bit, coffee and cake! This was in the TVH clubhouse which is right next door to the park at the Linford Christie stadium. It was the cheapest post-parkrun coffee ever – a quid for a coffee and a homemade flapjack. Bargain!
On the way home we were discussing the various parkruns we’ve done. This led on to a discussion of the creation of a game of parkrun top trumps. We came up with numerous categories and their potential winners – muddiest (Reading), cheapest coffee (Wormwood Scrubs clearly), highest chance of being overtaken by a double buggy (Richmond), best post-run recovery (Iceland (sorry can’t spell the proper name)), highest chance of falling in a canal (Frimley), longest funnel/queue (Bushy), best chance of winning even if you’re a bit crap (has to be Greenwich!), most corners (Old Deer) best cafe (lots of possibles, maybe Richmond?), lowest chance of getting lost (Kingston), most likely to see a 250 top (Bushy) etc etc! I think it could be a big moneyspinner! (or maybe not!)
