New home, new shirt

~Updated with more photos~

I can't recall ever enjoying running during my formative years in Braintree. During my school years I was never athletic. Even as a cadet I'd compete at Wing Athletics more out of a sense of duty than any degree of competence. It was until 27 that I found running and started to enjoy it. Back in 2010 I was introduced to parkrun and this past Saturday my home town Braintree became acquainted with the concept. 

Saturday was also a special day for me. Having reached the 50 run landmark at the start of June I would be receiving my 50 shirt before the start of the run.

Receiving the much desired 50 shirt

We'd persuaded Fergie down from St Neots, Alec away from Chelmsford, Paul & Emily from a lie in to join us for the inaugural run. My mum & step dad also made it to watch me run for the first time since a primary school sports day, no egg & spoon race this time!

I believe the colour is known as parkrun Red

Mum managed to arrive just in time to hear my name called and the shirt presentation. Race Director Len introduced me to everyone and like a rabbit in the headlights I rather sheepishly took my shirt and got changed, resplendent in parkrun red. 

The Run

The 1st GN parkrun gets underway

I was thankful for the change of attire as my Royal Parks Half shirt was attracting every thunderbug in the county! The course was fairly simple, two laps of the Great Notley park with the second including a climb to the top of the hill. Since the start of March I'd been on a ten parkrun streak of sub 25:00 times so that was the target. Whether that was remotely possible would remain to be seen, my total km for June had been a paltry 35 so I'm rested if nothing else. My hope was that I could tap into a well of deep lying form and that would take me to a decent time. When I lined up alongside my brother in law Alec and said I'd try to hang with him, it was more in hope than expectation! In a mere two months of running he was now quicker than me so it wasn't a surprise that within a minute he was away from me and stretching out a decent gap. 

Paul at the end of Lap 1

Alec finishing Lap 1

Attempting a non camp wave....

Emily smiling at the end of Lap 1, pre hill of doom

Ferg enjoying the Essex countryside

I settled into the different terrain, the course would be described as trail, not a favourite of mine. It even included a stretch of sand, the temptation to emulate Greg Rutherford had to be suppressed. The course was wide enough to accommodate a bumper field of 230 for the inaugural, no weaving or excessive speed required to establish some space. This allowed me to focus on just enjoying the run and trying to return a decent time. There were plenty of twists and turns as the course snaked it's way around the park before opening out towards the finish of the lap. 

Of course the first lap was the easy part, lap two was laid out straight in front of us. Climb the hill, pass the back of the bird statue and then descend down. I chose to attack the hill. I'm relatively strong on hills and I knew that playing to my strength would be beneficial. The ascend was steep, almost a double hill as the angle changed on the way up. By the time I got to the top and tapped the plinth I was done, I could almost forgive the runner near me that crossed in front rather than behind to end the pain! Exerting the effort uphill meant I could use the downhill to recharge and recover my legs. Not that it was only my legs that were on fire, even as I reached ground level once more my lungs were blown, properly gassed out!

One benefit of my strong climb was that I'd almost reeled Alec in. With him just ahead we spoke about the hill in less than flattering terms! I pulled alongside and suggested he tried to stay with me until the end, presuming he'd recover and extend a gap once more. We ran through the sandpit together and the Monaco casino style hairpin double right. I then started to pull away with about 1.5km to go. Alec was still close at a kilometre, enough for me to call back that it would be over soon!

Paul finishing

25:02, first time over 25:00 since March 8th

Alec finishing

Emily less happy at the finish

Fergie finishing

Aside from a glance over my shoulder with 300m to go I concentrated on getting myself across the line. As we approached the final corner there was a young lad on my shoulder, I willed him to beat me and sure enough his sprint kick left me standing!!

The Conclusion

I tried to finish strong, crossing the line in 25:02. This ended a ten run sub 25 streak going back to March, but was a highly satisfactory result. The course is one of the tougher parkrun challenges, if I can get down to a mid 24, perhaps low 24 here then a 23:30 would be possible at a flat event such as Chelmsford. 

The big news is that parkrun can add another Hill of Doom event. Of those I've completed I can list four such events that are worth a visit if you're a running sadist.

parkrun Hill of Doom series:

Wimpole

Finsbury Park

Brockwell 

Great Notley 

The tougher the course, the greater the level of satisfaction when you complete it. When uploading my run Garmin suggested the hill was just a mere 3 metre climb! I felt cheated by GPS!! After chatting to the core team on Facebook we've established the Notley hill of doom is a 29 metre ascend and descend. No wonder it felt tough! My usual hill sprints include a 9 metre climb, so this was a triple hill rolled into one. This explains why even after the descend it took some time to recover. 

For an inaugural the event was perfectly managed as well. Lots of marshals (useful as the course twists and turns regularly), lots of scanners on hand at the end and good information once the PA system was replaced with a traditional megaphone. 

I've already scheduled my summer and I'm expecting to return frequently, possibly more as a volunteer than a runner as it's time to start giving back to the parkrun community. I'm hoping I can marshal at the top of the hill of doom, I feel there's a missed opportunity to give everyone a congratulatory high five before they start the down hill!!

The Eat

This was something the GN team had planned in advance, a while table of cake! After chatting to Run Director Len to thank him for the 50 shirt, I made my way to sign the guest book and then picked up an awesome slice of tiffin. Washed down with a chocolate milk once we picked our car up from Tesco, a perfect recovery drink. 

Cake! Including awesome tiffin