. parkrun is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get.

Alexandra

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As I edge ever closer to my 500^th parkrun, and we, as a collective, edge ever closer to the 20th anniversary of Paul Sinton-Hewitt turning up at Bushy Park when he was injured with 13 mates for a ‘5k time trial’ on an October morning.  Little did those pioneers know that this would turn into the best and biggest global running event the world has ever known.

In a world of uncertainty and economic concern, cost of living, unrest through the continent, one thing that is ever presen  is parkrun. It is easy to take it for granted.  I do. I missed it so much during it’s break for the Pandemic.  Turn up on a Saturday morning at your local (or not local if you’re a tourist) park and race, run, walk, pace, be paced, have a laugh, volunteer, for 5 k, be handed a token, get it scanned and hand it back.  Cheer other people in, beat last week’s time, get no where near last week’s time, run your 50^th run and eagerly await the post for the hallowed red top, and then go for a coffee and a bacon butty with your mates.  Or you could be one of the incredible volunteers, time scan, tail walk, be on a dodgy corner, give that last needed bit of encouragement before the home straight.  Every single one an essential part of making the day what it is.  Thank you all.

If we stop and think about it, how incredible is this ?  it’s free, it’s a 5k that costs us nothing.  We get to turn up every Saturday in beautiful parks and have a laugh !  You only have to look at the US to see how hard it is to set up parkuns there as there are many paid 5ks races so there is a lot of opposition, or in France where it has been paused due to the need for medical certificates.  We are so blessed to have this incredible concept and never more so in the North West.

I’ve been touring a bit over the past week few weeks and every park I’ve been to has been so different to each other.  I cobbled together reports on Pennington Flash and Clarence after I ran there.  Pennington a cracking three lapper with beautiful views and big puddles and Clarence, bonkersly brilliant Old School cross country mud.  (Last week was the unofficial home of the North West Woodbank)

Another Brucie Bonus about the abundance of runs in the North West are the variety of flat, fast courses.  Congleton, South Manchester, Stretford and today’s run, Alexandra Park.

Easy to get to, just off the Princess Parkway couple of miles off the M60/M56 and just outside the City Centre and so attracts a big field (537 today)  It’s no wonder as we had the ultimate combo of a flat run and lovely day (plus the post London running surge)

Run starts at the Pavilion in the centre of the park with the wonderfully welcoming marshals explaining to tourists and newbies all about the run and how it works.  (Top tip, it is  the type of course that starts off a tad congested but soon widens out so you may want to position yourself with the time you expect)

It’s a 2 ½ lapper around the park with one tight 180 degree turning point at the top end.  One of the great things about this course is  that you get to see the faster runners going off into the distance and flying past you when they turn off towards the finish.

Once you get past the first 300 metres or so where it can be a bit tight, you have the rest of the run to stretch your legs and really go for it.  Its very much a PB course and not one which is going to accumulate mud to slow you down.   If you are marathon training or just trying to get fit, it is exactly the type of run you’d want to come to every month or so to check your progress. 

One thing I do know is that the marshal team runs like clockwork, there was some concern at the start due to the amount of runners and whether there would be congestion at the end.  It certainly wasn’t a problem when I finished as there was a very long finish tunnel which did the trick. 

Then it was off to the café for a well earned brew.  (After you order it go to the left to get your drink, they don’t always tell you that)

Cannot fault this parkrun.  Think this is my 4^th time here (annoyingly my slowest) and certainly up there with my favourites.

See you in a month.