Letchworth parkrun - event 383

Letchworth parkrun

On the 19th September 2026 I ran Letchworth parkrun, which was the 383rd event held at the venue, my 305th parkrun and 216th different course I'd attended.

Running had been catching up with me over the past few weeks. A mixture of not keeping up the habit of twice weekly runs as well as no longer walking twice a day up to the school and back all contributed to a disappointing parkrun

I also had a medical problem the week before last which has seen plenty of tests and Drs appointments in the subsequent days. 

Saturday mornings normally see me jumping out of bed with a spring in my step as I look forward to driving somewhere new and running somewhere different. It's not the running that gets me out of bed, it's the journey and exploration that I love. Running is just something that gets me there.

There are some mornings I take some convincing to go. A mental battle of wills with myself where I know what the conclusion will inevitably be, but I still try and talk myself out of it.

But this morning was a definite struggle. The alarm went off and I snoozed for longer than I should. I catastophised a million scenarios related to my heath where all roads led to disaster as a means to talk myself out of it. 

The other side of my brain eventually won out and won.the battle by convincing my other self that I would walk instead of running.

It's perfectly legal to do that. We can parkrun however we see fit, whether that's crawl, walk, run or jog. And I've done that several times, mostly with Hayden and moaning at him to hurry the hell up.

Letchworth parkrun is right on the edge of town and takes place on private land to the rear of Grange Recreation Ground.

The grounds themselves are quite small,.with a football pitch, changing facilities, park and skate park. The meeting place is in the far north west corner and from there it's a short walk to the start.

Exiting Grange Recreation Ground there is a public football which crosses over agricultural lands beyond the park. From the starting point the route runs an almost triangular shape around and across fields before eventually picking up another public footpath leading back to recreatin ground from the other side.

The course is almost two laps, with the final part of each lap taking in the grass of the recreation ground. The finish lays where the meeting point originally was.

With public footpaths, grass and trail all featuring relatively evenly the course provides a nice mix of alternative surface types.

Part way around each lap, leaving the public footpath the course circles one.of the fields which is a sloping uphill sequence on trail which in winter months I can imagine being incredibly challenging.

In fact, during the first timers and welcome briefings 'carnage corner' was referred too heavily. Fortunately for me I'd timed my visit perfectly and so,.despite some spitting the ground was firm, albeit rutted in some places 

After last week's medical concerns I managed to run Haverhill parkrun with no issue whatsoever. I ran the full course and had a mindset very much of 'the doctors aren't worried, so not am I'. But this week with a slightly more challenging course and down in the dumps attitude I managed to convince myself that running was not good for my health, I was going to die and that I should walk to prevent my imminent death.

Running is mins over matter, there's no doubt about it and when the mind isn't well, there's no chance of running well.

I finished in 111th position out of a field of 148 participants in a time of 35.53.

I now have a week off parkrun due to footballing commitments and some time to get my body and mind back in sync again. 

It's all part of the journey.

 

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