I also didn't expect my first parkrun back to be in St Andrews, but my friend was getting married there and it was a good way to spend a Saturday morning (plus my friend Rosie and her partner Ben were going to meet me there).
St Andrews parkrun is in Craigtoun country park, a bit out of the (very small) town. I managed to plan a route to run there, initally through some houses but eventually on a field through fields and obviously a golf course. Having had a single drink the night before, i felt terrible as I very rarely drink alcohol. The two miles there felt awful, but eventually I found myself in a walled garden that signalled the start of the park. Oh, and it was drizzling quite heavily, a summery dreich which I hoped would lift for the wedding. I had to go round several fences to get to the start and soon realised this was quite a fancy park with not only walled gardens but a miniature train and a castle in a large pond.
The parkrun here is just over three laps. They describe a small upward slope as a hill but its mostly quite flat and the park is lovely. Its all on good path, and very much a park. And there were vikings camping in the field (well, some people re-enacting them). The first lap I was slow and trapped in the crowd, the second lap was better, the third was a flying lap and then the last half was a drag up to the finish. I came in at 26:43 which given how awful I felt, and how slow I started, was fine. We were going to have breakfast at the cafe but it was icecreams or sausages from a van so we headed in to St Andrews instead. Parkrun return achieved!
This week it was my dog Oscar's moment to make his parkrun debut. Due to one thing and another, I was picking Martin off night shift so we went to Haigh Hall parkrun which I have never done before as it is close to where Martin is currently working. I was a bit anxious about Oscar and crowds as he isn't great with people (he growls). But we took a wonder round the park and made the first timer briefing without problem and I thought we were going to be fine as we lined up at the back of the start...
So running on your own with a dog on a harness is great. Running on a crowded footpath is a bit of a nightmare. I felt I had to try keep Oscar out of people's way but both he and I go a bit faster than that. He wanted to run right next to people's feet and push pass people so I had to keep pulling him right back in, and even then it felt tight. We got a few scowls, and I suspect we aren't welcome back. As it thinned out a bit, it got a bit easier. The course is lovely; Haigh is a lovely wooded park so some sections are on hard path and some are more trail-y. The first mile and a half is down hill and the uphill seemed mostly very gentle but maybe my mind was just on controlling Oscar. We wound in and out of the wounds and main track. Oscar had a poo (despite me trying to get him to do this before) which I had to stop to clear up (more scowling) and we spent most of the race overtaking having had a very slow penned in start at the back. A few people commented about Oscar being cheating as he was on a harness (more scowling ) but a lot of people seemed to not mind the dog as they were more focussed on the hill.
Right at the end, just as I realised we might break 30 minutes (not bad for Oscar), and as Oscar got a second wind and started to pull again, Oscar took a dart in to a kids play area and ended up pulling me in to the fence, in front of many people (more scowling but some laughing). We made it over the line in 29:48 - a good inaugral time- and hurried off to pick up Martin before anyone could grumble at us.
Don't get me wrong, it was a friendly parkrun. Its a lovely course and lots of people were keen ot chat. But I probably should take Oscar to some courses I know, and that are a bit less busy first. I am thinking Watergrove for the next as its more hilly (good for me) and usually gets less than 100 runners. Still, a bit proud of my little boy.
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