After doing my home parkrun last weekend, this morning’s exploration took me to Brundall, just east of Norwich for my 84th parkrun at my 51st different course. It’s a fairly new “countryside park”, and on the small side as these things go, so despite a route looping back on itself, it was still four laps of the park. All on grass, with some modest undulations. It was a dry morning: I had deliberately chosen to head NE from home to get further from the rain to the SW.
As at March parkrun a few weeks ago, I fell prey to the temptation of the 24-minute pacer, today Nicole, on a day when I wasn’t quite up to it. It was a very busy start but I managed to keep close to her, but after half a lap she pulled slightly away and I never quite managed to catch her, but kept her not far away and worked hard to keep close. I thought perhaps she was going a fraction faster than needed, but it turned out that she knew from experience that the course is slightly long and had adjusted her pace accordingly, so although I did manage to get 5km done in under 24 minutes, the parkrun finish line took 24:10 to reach.
I thanked Nicole for pulling me round and making me run a bit harder than I would otherwise have done, and cheered a few people across the line.
