Dewsbury parkrun (30-10-2021)

Over recent weeks, a combination of kids football and dance, and the last weeks of marathon training have kept me away from parkrun. Last Saturday I had an aborted attempt at Pocket with my daughter but this weekend, with us up and staying at the inlaws, it was time for some more tourism.

The next question was where? I did play with the idea of heading to the recently started Chevin parkrun which is close to my brother-in-law, but that required an earlier start. One to keep for a weekend we are staying at his house I think!

Instead I aimed a little closer to “home” and headed to my up north NENDY, Dewsbury parkrun. One advantage of where my inlaws live is the plethora of local events and this was the last remaining gap within about 30mins.

It was a cold, wet morning as I headed off across to Dewsbury. I’d actually only been to the town once before so didn’t really know where I was headed but thankfully Crows Nest Park was easy to find. I was a little earlier arriving than the masses so was able to park up inside the park itself but it looked like there was ample road parking around.

The 1st timers briefing was only tourists with several having headed over from Cross Flatts in Leeds and then it was time to head to the start. Seeing that the start was uphill and knowing that this section had to be passed 4 times meant I was already pretty sure today wasn’t going to be a PB day.

The course itself is one small loop followed by three larger loops around the park. By the end of the little loop though my legs were already complaining a bit! Yesterday I had gone for a training run around the inlaws and had forgotten quite how hilly it is. I had struggled and my legs weren’t quite ready for more hill work.

Up the 6% gradient hill I ran for the second time and then this time the return down the hill saw a change in direction to head around the picturesque duck pond. My splits weren’t great on my watch but at the same time I wasn’t certain I was measuring accurately. By the time I crowned the hill for the 4th and final time I was very relieved to not have to face any more hills!

I finished in 21:45 which is the slowest I’ve managed on my own since parkrun restarted but I was quite pleased given how I was feeling a bit tired! A big shout out to the obviously full volunteer rota as well. It’s one thing volunteering on a nice sunny, warm day. To stand there in the drizzle is another thing.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to stick around for long so had to shoot off but was great to tick off another event. Now to start planning the next location on my hitlist for our next trip up north as I think there are still a few more new places to visit before I start doubling up.