Gladstone parkrun and the end of Juneathon

I rounded off Juneathon with an inaugural parkrun, the “noticeably undulating” Gladstone parkrun in North West London.  I’ve come to expect a sea of familiar faces at London inaugurals, in fact, that was what got me hooked on inaugural events in the first place, and I was not disappointed.  Danny, Jo, John, Reggie, Vanessa, Kirsty, Norm – everywhere I looked there was someone I knew.  There was even a tenuous ‘athoner connection, as Rory, from Valentines parkrun, is a friend of Insert Clever Running Pun Here, a veteran of ‘athons of old.

As we waited for 9 o’clock, it seemed as though the parkrun weather gods had deserted us, and we huddled under a patch of trees trying to stay out of the rain.  But as 9 o’clock arrived, the rain cleared, and didn’t return until the last parkrunner was home.

Norm and I had both cycled to the parkrun, and ran round it together.  There the similarities ended.  For me, the run was faster-than-comfortable-after-a-cycle, and as it went on, my conversational abilities got more and more limited.  For Norm, who has a half-ironman under his belt and an ironman in his not-too-distant future, it was but a gentle stroll and he crossed the finish line looking as fresh as a daisy.

As for Juneathon, I’m rather chuffed with the way it turned out, both on the parkrun* and mileage** fronts.

And now it’s all over, I’m off to reacquaint myself with the sofa.

*5 scheduled parkruns (including 2 inaugurals).
*3 special parkruns (God save the Queen).
*7 freedom parkruns.
*15 parkruns in total.

**100 miles run.
**200 miles cycled.
**300 miles in total.

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