- parkrunday 31st July 2021
- parkrun #116 – Woodbank (#1)
- Different event #64
- Time: 28:51
I chose a new parkrun that was close enough for me to be able to reach my physio appointment at 11am in Manchester city centre afterwards. This was my first time touring since the restart, and is my 64th different event. I’ve decided I’ll aim for 100 (joining the Cowell Club) then stop trying to collect more due to the distance needed to travel to them.
Woodbank parkrun takes in two parks – Woodbank and Vernon. What I didn’t know until the run brief (there’s no mention on their website…!) is that the section in Vernon park consists of a down hill section followed by the inevitable uphill section. This loop is run twice. No wonder my time was slower than last week!
There’s a frog in Woodbank Park. It’s one of many to be found around Stockport, like the Superlambananas in Liverpool, the bees in Manchester and the Cows on Parade in Chicago. This one was called Park Frog (although it would be fun to stick the word ‘run’ in the middle!).
There’s also an old tree trunk that’s been carved in recognition of the animals that have served in wars.
Woodbank parkrun took a few moments to remember long time volunteer Alan Melvin who died last week. Alan had been a regular member of the team since 2015 and was normally found barcode scanning and eating cake in the cafe afterwards!
Because my #everysinglestreet runs during lockdown have been at a gentle pace while reading a map and taking photos I’ve found it hard running parkrun and pushing the pace since the restart. I must be out of shape and out of practice because I’ve been getting out of breath running 5k, something that didn’t happen before parkrun stopped. Maybe I just need to pick up the pace a little during my midweek runs.
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