Fortunately, I always have a plan B.
The original arrangements had me all fired-up to run an off-road, hilly course, so naturally my plan B was to visit a similar type of course, but one much closer to home...
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| lullingstone country park |
So I headed off to Lullingstone Country Park for my third visit to Lullingstone parkrun. For the record, absolutely nothing has changed here, so I won't go over the course description or the history again - for that you can read my blog from my first visit here.
I had planned an easy run of around 25 minutes, however, my second touring companion, who hadn't been clubbing the night before, met me here and this meant that I got dragged around a little faster than intended (which was fine).
So twenty-two minutes and fifty seconds later I crossed the finish line, and in the process maintained my streak of sub-23 minute runs here, which might not sound that impressive, but you have to take into account that this venue is in the top 10 of UK parkruns with the most elevation change.
With the weather conditions being sunny, dry, but bitterly cold, the ground was mostly frozen and firm underfoot. Well it was until reaching lap two, where the combined footfall of the day's fifty parkrunners had turned the top layer of mud into quite a slippery surface.
It's always a pleasure to visit Lullingstone parkrun. Where other nearby venues are bursting at the seams, Lullingstone maintains a very intimate atmosphere due to its small community (the average number of runners is 47.6 per week). I suspect the course profile and the semi-rural location helps to keep it this way.
Since I last ran here the Relive app has been released for my phone, so I converted my GPS data into a course fly-by video.
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