{"id":444,"date":"2019-03-16T12:06:56","date_gmt":"2019-03-16T12:06:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/itsafrogslife.net\/grahamruns\/?p=444"},"modified":"2019-03-17T18:53:59","modified_gmt":"2019-03-17T18:53:59","slug":"parkrun-62-2328-chester-b-course-with-rachel-and-matthew-varnam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/itsafrogslife.net\/grahamruns\/2019\/03\/16\/parkrun-62-2328-chester-b-course-with-rachel-and-matthew-varnam\/","title":{"rendered":"parkrun #62 – 23:28 Chester (B course) with Rachel and Matthew Varnam"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

parkrunday 9th March 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

parkrun #62 – Chester parkrun (NENDY)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time: 23:28<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Chester parkrun with Rachel and Matthew Varnam<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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With Rachel and Matthew Varnam, and their dad!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It was really nice to meet Rachel Varnam at Chester parkrun this morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rachel is one of the core team at Billericay parkrun<\/a> and was up in the North West visiting her brother Matthew who’s a PhD student at the University of Manchester. Last year Billericay parkrun had to cancel and Rachel was one of the main people responsible for organising the trip to run a Gavin and Stacey-themed event at Barry Island parkrun. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

blog.parkrun.com\/\u2026\/2\u2026\/11\/07\/gavin-and-stacey-parkrun<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The start was more than a little chaotic. A marshal came along and stuck a ‘START’ marker in the ground so I went to stand next to it with a few others. Then a large group of people came along from the finish location which is where they held the first timers’ briefing (I didn’t know that…). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frustratingly this meant I ended up starting right in the middle of the pack with lots of slower runners in front of me, including a Couch to 5K group! The path was narrow and it was really difficult to pass as people were spread out across the full width. The grass alongside the path was a quagmire so I avoided stepping off where possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We used the B course this morning because part of the main course was under water. This meant running part of the course on grass. I think after today I’m going to invest in a pair of trail-running shoes for those parkrun courses I know are going to be off-road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I know I’m trying to get as many different parkruns under my belt as I chase membership of the Cowell Club, but I don’t mind adding Chester to my list of events to re-visit as I’d like to run the A course and start at the front!<\/p>\n\n\n\n