Newcastle parkrun was off this morning – that happens on several occasions every summer because of fairs and other events taking place on the Town Moor – so I took the opportunity to visit Rising Sun parkrun, which I hadn’t done since last year. (Geth was visiting his family in Lancashire, so he was off doing the notorious hill at Pendle parkrun. That’s a discussion for another day!)
I was at Rising Sun twice last year – running once, volunteering once – and back then they were still doing a double-lap loop in the middle of the course, which required a lot of sticking-to-the-correct-lane. However, when the Beast from the East hit the UK, they apparently had to change the course so that it was all one lap, and they found it so much more efficient that they kept it like that. Today was my first time running the new course, and I have to say it was so much better. It’s a lovely route, and I was enjoying it so much that I barely checked my watch for distance. I was bang on 33:00 as well, which is not bad considering I’ve been too busy to run for the last couple of weeks!
There was a bit of congestion at the start, but that’s to be expected when it’s much busier than usual, which it always is when Newcastle’s not running. As such, I’d quite like to go back on a week when it’s quieter, as I think I could get a really good time.