Medina IOW parkrun | fairweatherrunner

No sulking today. parkrun day.

It had been blowing a gale all night so I did check Medina IOW parkrun’s news and Facebook pages first thing to check it wasn’t cancelled before I committed to being fully awake at 7.30. There were no notifications and a peek out of the window showed it was still very windy but dry. However in the time it took to have a cuppa, eat a banana and get dressed it had started raining. Nice.

Over the past few weeks I have been back to some of my close to home parkruns in London which I’ve not run for a while because I had been enjoying a bit of parkrun tourism for variety. Today I went back to IOW parkrun for my 5th run there.

In the two years (I thought it was only one! ) since I last ran there* the course has changed so it was like a bonus new parkrun venue. What was two laps of playing fields has changed into one lap (out and back) to avoid as much wet muddy grass as possible and use the newish cycle track along the river Medina which has a netted gravel surface.

* (I have tried twice since but one time missed the venue change and another time it was cancelled)

It was very wet and muddy over the unavoidable grass sections and I decided to practice trying to run faster on mud (or anything that isn’t smooth Tarmac really) but my Achilles didn’t want to play that game so I eased off and switched to guess how deep that puddle is which kept my feet and ankles nicely chilled.

A miserable wet and windy day, a friendly bunch of parkruners, an OK (bloody Achilles) run on a good course. I must come back in 2016, I think it could be fairly fast on a dry (underfoot) day. Thanks Medina IOW parkrun.

Janathon day 2. parkrun. 3.1 miles run.

It was wet and windy when I looked out of the window first thing this morning. Did I fancy going to parkrun in horizontal rain? Would I rather go back to sleep? It is however Juneathon and as I’ve run 3 parkruns, 3 weeks in a row, it would be a shame not to make it 4 while I can.

So my long-suffering OH gave me a lift to the other side of the Isle of Wight where (fortunately it wasn’t raining) I got a warm welcome from a friendly bunch of parkrunners on a grey windy day.

It was my third run at medina IOW parkrun but a first run at one of their alternative courses. The parkrun was at Gurnard today (first used over the winter I think when everywhere else was too wet) because of the festival last week at their regular venue and because of Armed Forces Day today at their Appley Park alternative.

This course is along the seafront from Gurnard to Cowes and back (plus a short double back at the start). It’s run on smooth pavement and is absolutely flat. A lovely fast course with PB potential. Today unfortunately it was very windy. I set a PB first mile as I literally flew the first half with the wind behind me. After the turnaround point at half way the course curved back into the wind and it became hard work.

I caught up with one of the regular U14 runners who was struggling running against the wind and she tucked in behind me to get respite from it for a short stretch. It was hard going but I found some motivation from having someone close behind me to keep working and trying not to slow down too much. We finished together and by this time the sun had come out and I was suddenly feeling pretty warm.

An IOW parkrun PB of 1 whole second for me today. A slightly slower overall time than last week at Wormwood Scrubs but because of slight differences in the distance run, today was a 5K pace PB for me at 7.55 minute/mile. Just got to work on running a whole parkrun as fast as my first mile today!

Juneathon day 22. 3.11 miles in 24.37 mins.

4th parkrun in 4 weeks. Getting the parkrun bug!