Danehy Park parkrun, Boston – My First Overseas parkrun

Before this weekend I had done parkrun 76 times but every single one was in the UK. In fact only one (Penryn parkrun in Wales) was outside England, my plan to add Scotland in January had been kiboshed by ice and snow! However, when planning our Easter trip to the USA, trying to add a new country to my parkrun map was high on the agenda. That said, adding when in the USA is not quite as easy as it sounds.

As it stands today there are just 80 parkruns across the entire USA, that’s the same number of parkruns inside the M25 here in the UK. Fortunately for me, having spent the early part of the week in New York where there are zero events (although how amazing would a parkrun around Central Park be?), for the weekend we had moved up to Boston that, with three events, gave a bit more choice. After a little research into train timetables from my hotel etc. I settled on Danehy Park parkrun to the north of the City in Cambridge.

Having made all my plans, when I awoke on the Saturday morning I feared I was going to have some deja vu. A look outside the apartment window showed heavy sleet and many of the cars outside had snow on their roofs. Welcome to April weather in Boston! However, unlike Edinburgh back in January, there was no sign of a cancellation on their Facebook page so I got ready to head out to the course.

One of the main reasons that I had chosen Danehy Park parkrun was that it was in relatively close proximity to two subway stops on the Red Line and this line also stopped outside our apartment. It sits roughly halfway between Alewife and Porter stops and I made the decision to get off at Porter and have a short warm up run of about 1.8km towards the park.This would also allow me to knock a couple more streets off on CityStrides and ensure that I was adding a new city. Ironically despite living just outside Cambridge in the UK, I now have more streets completed in Cambridge, MA.

There was a little slush around as I ran from the station but my spirits rose when I entered the park itself to find cones already laid out ready for today’s event, it was going ahead! It was only just gone 8:30 as I’d been lucky not to have to wait for the train and there were just a couple of other people around but whilst it was still cold, thankfully we were out of the wind and the rain had stopped.

Gradually others started to arrive and it quickly became clear that I wasn’t the only visitor from the UK. With the Boston Marathon a week on Monday, some people had already started to arrive in the city and there were also runners from Hinckley, Wiltshire, Stratford upon Avon and a student from Cambridge there as well. Next weekend I expect they will be even more overrun with Brits. It is probably a good thing we were all here though as the poor weather was definitely keeping people away and in the end the event only had 37 finishers, well down on their average of somewhere in the 60s.

After a quick briefing, we were finally on our way with the very first part of the course taking you up a small incline. From here you bear right, going round an AstroTurf football pitch where a few hardy souls were knocking a ball around. This path was particularly wet after the rain with large puddles that you couldn’t really avoid before a short downhill section to circumnavigate another football pitch. This one was empty today but apparently usually there are people on it meaning you need to watch out for wayward balls.

At this point you have returned to the start line but rather than go up the incline, the route takes you straight round a bend and past a dog park. At this stage we then turned back into the wind and the coldness hit again. I struggle a bit with my circulation and soon, all feeling was fine in my fingers, despite having my gloves on. What was pleasing was that despite not running that much so far this year, I was able to keep a decent pace.

The course kept tracing the outer path of the park around some softball pitches, before completing the loop. It is a 3 lapper so it was then time to head round, missing the puddles and the colder straight again. However, unlike when my home parkrun at Pocket switches from two to three laps in the winter, I didn’t find I was ready to end after the 2nd lap and the pace was still feeling good.

At the end of the third lap the course bears off back towards the athletics track in the middle of the park with a slightly nasty hill section as you rise up at the end. It’s probably no more than 5m of height but as my legs were tired and cold, it felt like a mountain. Then you run alongside the athletics track (which today was actually hosting lacrosse in the centre – more ball to dodge!) and finish on the flat. On Strava the course looks like a pretzel and sure enough you can get a photo with an inflatable pretzel to celebrate your tourist achievement.

My time wasn’t earth shattering but was constant which is all I could ask for as I continue my return to a semblance of fitness. I was in 13th spot which was my highest for a while (although with only 37 finishers maybe less inspiring). There was enough time to have a chat with the student from Cambridge and then it was time to run back to Porter station and to get back to the family.

Despite the cold weather, I was really pleased to tick off my first overseas parkrun, making it my 22nd destination in total! Danehy Park parkrun was a lovely little event with some really friendly locals and volunteers. It may not be as well known as Jamaica Pond which will almost certainly see the biggest surge due to the marathon next week (last year they jumped from an average of 100 to 458!).

However, if you are staying in Cambridge rather than the city itself, or anywhere on the Red Line for that matter than it is well worth heading this way for your Boston fix. What’s more is I do get the feeling that parkrun is starting to find it’s feet in this part of the USA at least. As well as the three events in and around Boston itself, a new one opened down on Cape Cod a couple of weeks ago and one of the locals was telling of another new one due to start soon a little further north from the City again.

If my friend, who we were here visiting, continues to live in Boston then I would happily return again to Danehy Park parkrun.