Park(run) Life

Sometimes it can seem like the universe is telling you that running is a really bad idea. When Paula and I were driving to Parkrun in Victoria Park yesterday every atom in the world seemed to be united in one message: Do not run today.

Parkrun is an amazing phenomenon. Many parks across the world - and three right here in Glasgow - offer the chance to run a free, timed 5k every Saturday. It's a not-for-profit organisation and all the runs are staffed by volunteers. Big up to the volunteers.

Since the beginning of 2014 Team 4ply has been sporadically attending the Parkrun in Pollock Park but we'd heard tell of another Parkrun, in Glasgow, with LESS HILLS and so we'd decided to set our sights on the mythical flatlands of Victoria Park this week.

Unfortunately this coincided with one of the wettest weeks in British history and we both felt a bit rubbish. Paula was adjusting to some new meds causing her to be proper glaikit. I'd spent the past week transcribing for about eight hours a day, was knackered and starting to hear things.... At one point I was curled up in the front seat of Paula's car pretending to go to sleep. When I opened my peepers, this was the view:

If a motorway could talk, this one would say 'go back to bed you pair of numpties, this running lark isn't for you'. In fact I could almost swear that's what it DID say...

But if Team4ply is anything, it is stubborn to a fault. So we went to our first Parkrun at Glasgow's usually delightful Victoria Park. I've been to Victoria Park on lovely spring mornings, had fossil fun in the Fossil Grove and taken a gentle stroll round its dignified swan pond.

But it looked rather different yesterday:

Rain had fallen, rain on mud, rain on rain. Most of the track seemed to be submerged under water. I was testing out my new 'seal skins' socks (they're not made of real seal skin, stand down vegans!) which are supposedly waterproof. I can report back that they do indeed keep your feet dry, however a small pond of water was collecting inside my trainers and was then trapped between trainer and my impermeable sock. Giving me the sensation of running round with two carrier bags full of water wrapped round my feet. Like a human stumbling 1970s waterbed. Not pleasant.

Just waiting for the fella to shout 'go' was torture; we just wanted to get this over with and get home to normality. But sensibly every Parkrun begins with a brief safety chat and an explanation of the route ahead. A few shivery minutes later, we were off....

This was our view for most of the run, i.e. from the very back, through the grey. This week Paula and I were trying an interval method of running for two and a half minutes and walking for one minute. And it just seemed like a real slog. Our legs simply did not want to run or walk. They wanted to go home to bed with an electric blanket and be positioned in front of a telly watching Labyrinth or maybe The Muppets.

But we battled on: three laps of the soggy, puddle-ridden park and then finally the finish line:

Paula achieved her Parkrun PB* and I found out that while I like having dry toes the sensation of running/walking on water ain't all it's cracked up to be.

We had survived another run together. We had a newfound understanding of the benefits of hills (namely, that water cannot gather at the top of them). It was time to go home, have a cup of tea and watch some Muppets....

*That's 'personal best' - we're runners now dontchaknow!