Forty-second parkrun
Nov. 5th, 2016 03:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sawylEarly arrival at the Quay to meet R for her first parkrun. With the normal start area closed off to allow the latest round of work on Exeter's flood defences, the briefing was held in the grassed area just in front of the bridge and where we got revised course instructions to allow for the loss of a couple of hundred metres around the usual start and finish zones.
The new route followed the old as far as Duckes Meadow playing field, where we turned north-east early than usual and ran a section parallel to the river before turning south-west and running the perimeter of the field to get to the normal exit. Instead of turning immediately left out of the field, we carried on straight, doubling back toward the bridge when we hit the Salmonpool Lane entrance, and then following the route as normal, finishing back where we started at the bridge over the new spillway.
I managed a respectable 20:28 and finished 23rd over all. My time was worse than last week, although I felt stronger and my HRM told me that I hadn't hit my threshold, so perhaps I was simply holding back because I wasn't sure about the layout of the tweaked course. R finished in a solid 28 or so minutes — she'd had problems sorting her barcode so she didn't log her exact time — and enjoyed it enough to promise to come back on her next clear Saturday.
With the run over, we collected E from R's car — he was very pleased to see us! — I borrowed one of R's hoodies to keep of the cold, and we went for a little walk in search of dog-friendly place for breakfast. Stopping at Mango's Cafe, I went for toast and marmalade, R went for avocado toast, and we both had a couple of big pots of tea while E made do with bits and pieces of crust.
After a very lazy time, we went for a nice wander round the river, the excuse being that the dog — who is looking very trim these days — needed to work off his breakfast. It as a lovely morning, albeit cold out of the sun, making me extremely grateful for the loaned sweatshirt. All in all, it was a really nice way to start a gentle, lazy weekend...
The new route followed the old as far as Duckes Meadow playing field, where we turned north-east early than usual and ran a section parallel to the river before turning south-west and running the perimeter of the field to get to the normal exit. Instead of turning immediately left out of the field, we carried on straight, doubling back toward the bridge when we hit the Salmonpool Lane entrance, and then following the route as normal, finishing back where we started at the bridge over the new spillway.
I managed a respectable 20:28 and finished 23rd over all. My time was worse than last week, although I felt stronger and my HRM told me that I hadn't hit my threshold, so perhaps I was simply holding back because I wasn't sure about the layout of the tweaked course. R finished in a solid 28 or so minutes — she'd had problems sorting her barcode so she didn't log her exact time — and enjoyed it enough to promise to come back on her next clear Saturday.
With the run over, we collected E from R's car — he was very pleased to see us! — I borrowed one of R's hoodies to keep of the cold, and we went for a little walk in search of dog-friendly place for breakfast. Stopping at Mango's Cafe, I went for toast and marmalade, R went for avocado toast, and we both had a couple of big pots of tea while E made do with bits and pieces of crust.
After a very lazy time, we went for a nice wander round the river, the excuse being that the dog — who is looking very trim these days — needed to work off his breakfast. It as a lovely morning, albeit cold out of the sun, making me extremely grateful for the loaned sweatshirt. All in all, it was a really nice way to start a gentle, lazy weekend...
