Trelissick parkrun

Red-faced selfie of Tamsyn

This year is feeling full of ups and downs.  I had high hopes for my week in Cornwall and envisaged fitting in an aquathlon in Penzance at the Jubilee Lido as well as completing Fowey Harbour swim, but in the end, they were not meant to be. I did, however, complete Trelissick parkrun for the first time.

So, what’s gone wrong so far in 2018?

I had initially hoped to parkruns at Trelissick and Eden Project during my Christmas break, but after illness swept our household, I just wasn’t able to run.

Earlier in the year, I was booked to present at FitLiving UK, a completely awesome fitness festival in Bournemouth. I was so excited about it and spent ages planning my talk (and reading books about how to give a TED Talk), so it was disappointing to learn that the festival had to be cancelled. Hopefully, it will take place in 2019.

I’ve also had a few problems with my Instagram account and was gutted to read this message this week.

Message saying I've won two places in L'Etape du Tour

I have no idea how I won this – I don’t remember entering any competitions. What a missed opportunity! I would have been in no shape to do it, but having a go with Liz would have been hilarious fun.

Recent challenges

After I ran with Liz, I felt inspired to get back in the pool, so the next day I made myself do a 1600m swim.

I was super motivated and sorted out my membership of Lordshill Road Runners and everything was seeming more positive…

Then Stuart took part in a ‘fun’ rounders match. Unfortunately, a competitive older man who resented Stuart’s natural athletic ability took it upon himself to trip Stuart up. This led to Stuart breaking a finger quite badly and he is now in a cast for a few weeks. This has had a huge knock-on effect. Aside from being in pain, he is unable to drive, necessitating a bus-train-bus journey to work. It also means that he is unable to cycle, so we’ll have to drive to the Isle of Wight for our forthcoming mini-break, instead of cycling and he’ll have to withdraw from Revolve 24. It has also jeopardised his Swim Serpentine entry.

I’ve managed to find a new partner for Revolve24 – thanks Sergio – but I’m a bit stuck in terms of the exercise that I can do right now. It’s taking Stu a lot longer to travel to work, so it’s not easy for me to do anything in the evening 🙁

Southampton parkrun volunteering

Stu and I were RDs at Southampton parkrun for the past fortnight, which has limited my running opportunities.

Volunteering at Southampton parkrun #321

I then went down to Cornwall for a week, hoping that I would get to do some swimming, cycling and running, but the weather wasn’t great and M was really badly behaved 9adn she didn’t want to sleep).

Trelissick parkrun

There was a highlight in my trip to Cornwall (apart from seeing family members) – Trelissick parkrun.

It was an early start for the drive there, but I figured that it was a good time to do the run as M was having a rare lie-in and my mum is currently unable to run.

I parked and managed to catch the end of the briefing, before the compulsory warm-up.

“Compulsory warm-up?”, I hear you say, “That’s not what happens at parkrun…”

We were walked to the start of the run as it takes place on a National Trust property that isn’t open to the public at that time of day. It was a pleasant 5-minute walk, but I think that if you wanted to get a fast time on this course, you’d need to make sure that you were towards the front of the group to get a fast start.

What’s the run like?

As you can see, there’s a downhill section at the start. It’s reasonably narrow and also quick rocky, so it would be easy to lose your footing. There are also some lovely views to the right, which are very distracting!

There is then quite a technical section before you get to The Field. The Field consists of a flat section before a 90-degree turn up a mountain. I honestly thought that I was going to need crampons and as almost everyone that I could see ahead of me was walking, I decided to conserve some energy and walk as well. There is then a flat section across the top before a gentler downhill section.

After that it’s back the way you came, so the finish is at the end of an uphill drag.

So how did I do?

I started off towards the back of the field, next to two runners with buggies. I was surprised to see them as I thought I had read that the course is not suitable for buggies.

On the first section, I trod carefully as I’m wary of tripping on rough paths, following a fall in the Algarve several years ago.

When I got to The Field, I was passed by one of the buggy runners. It was a woman with a double buggy and two children who looked to be around 3 years old and 6-9 months old. I’ll be honest that I was surprised by the pace that she was running at. Then I was even more amazed as I watched her power up the incredibly steep hill. To give you some idea of the incline, it looked as though her arms were outstretched above her head!!!

I made myself keep moving during the second half of the run and on the final hill, I did my best to pick off runners, one at a time.

Red-faced selfie of Tamsyn
Hot and sweaty selfie after parkrun!
Trelissick parkrun 01 Sept 2018

Oh and that buggy runner…

Trelissick parkrun double buggy runner

I should have learnt long ago not to judge someone running with a buggy!

Interesting parkrun stat

parkrunners with the surname Smith average 28:25 for their weekly parkrun, finishing just ahead of the Smyths in 29:12

I’m tempted to try to beat the SMITH average for the rest of the year.

What next?

I’ve got plans for visiting a few other parkruns. Medina (Isle of Wight) and Bushy Park are the next ones on my list.

I’ve also received a copy of Head Start – Build a resilient mindset so you can achieve your goals. So far, I’ve only had a quick glance at it, but I’m keen to read more as it’s full of proven strategies 🙂

I’ve also got a fab new pair of leggings from Copyiat to try out… and mention alcohol drink stuff.

My next big challenge is going to be Revolve24. More about that soon!

How’s your week been?

1 Response

  1. Sounds to me like life got in the way, as it does. Pesky thing! Always fear the buggy-runner at parkrun. Damn speedsters always beat me. Woe the day a double-buggy gets in ahead of me! Permit me to say (and forgive me for cursing on your blog) that the person who tripped up Stuart sounds like a total dickhead. As we might say here in Ireland “may his balls go square and rot at the corners, and may he die roaring for a priest…”

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