Southend – parkrun location 48

More parkrun tourism for me today: parkrun #80 at location #48 was Southend, joining a couple of friends, one of whom lives in nextdoor Leigh. The course is very pleasant, being three laps of Gunners Park, itself part of a larger nature reserve formed from former military use as its name hints. It includes three laps of the lake and a section along the sea wall (see photo view).

It’s almost flat and 95% on tarmac so despite slightly heavy legs from a cycle ride yesterday, and a bit of a breeze, I decided to go all out for a good time. I passed Claire part way through my third lap and she gave me a mental kick to push on hard to the end. Official time 23:24, knocking seven seconds off my parkrun PB so very pleased with that.

I cheered in Bruno, and then jogged back nearly a km to find Claire to run in with her and to try to give her the mental support she’d given me. She got under 37 minutes for the first time, with the last km being the fastest, so great result for her too.

Then the rest of the morning catching up with friends before trailing back to Suffolk.