It’s Saturday, or Parkrun Day as it’s now known. After finding some cute Parkrun trackers on Facebook, (Thanks Parkrun Analogue Trackers!) we’ve decided to give the Alphabet Challenge a go and broaden our horizons a little bit. All our locals begin with B or C (Beeston, Bestwood, Brierley Forest, Colwick, Clifton) which already puts us on the back foot to get started. But nevertheless, we’ll give it a bash! And what better place to start than with A. After navigating around the new parkrun website (not sure I’m a fan as of yet, but I’ll bear with it for now!) we managed to find Alvaston, a 30 minute drive from home. So off we go, with the normal ‘Parkrun Journey’ questions:
“Is it hilly?”
“How many laps is it?”
“Can I take it steady today?”
“Can I run with you?” (I’m seen as a better option than Dad, purely because I’m slower so the kids don’t have to try as hard!)
“Whats for breakfast?”
“Is it my turn on the Playstation when we get back?” (Shortly followed by an argument between Jack, Leo and Charlie as to whose turn it ACTUALLY is when we get back!)
What feels like 5 days later, we arrive at Alvaston. A lovely country park, nice looking café (pity they don’t serve wine after the car journey we’ve just had, but I’m willing to let that slide) and a pretty lake.
Charlie and Alana wanted to run with Dad so he can push them and get them a better time, Leo’s old enough to run by himself now, so I took Jack.
Now, the deal we have going with the kids is this; Anyone gets a PB at Parkrun, we all go to Mcdonalds for breakfast as a treat. With that in mind, off we go.
1km in with Jack, he’s chatting and asking questions, I’m puffing and panting a lot more than usual, I check Strava on my watch and we’re running at 5:59 pace. “Jack! I thought you were taking it steady today?!” to which he looked at me and said, “This is steady!” Much to the amusement of the other parkrunners! He then wanted to catch up with Dad and was determined to get himself a PB which is brilliant for Jack, as every week he’s the one saying “I’m taking it steady,” so it was great to hear him say he wanted to push himself.
So off he went with Dad, leaving me on my own still running at 6:00 pace. We continued our run, and I eventually caught up with Leo. Now Leo will push himself to breaking point if it means there’s a Mcdonalds in it for him, and ran the first 2K in 10 minutes, however once he realised that Jack was on track for a PB, he worked out he doesn’t need to turn himself inside out anymore as a Mcdonalds was definitely on the cards. So he slowed right down.
I continued to run with Leo at just over 6:00 pace for the rest of the run, high-fiving the others as we passed them on the out-and-back. I knew I was also on track for a PB, so trying to ignore Leo’s constant questions about food, and how far it is to the nearest Mcdonalds, I got in the zone and finished the run in 31:30. My new PB! Jack whizzed round in 28:14 earning himself a new PB too.
Alvaston was a brilliant course with super supportive marshalls and volunteers, we’ll definitely be visiting there again.
£15 later we had all enjoyed our well-earned breakfast!
Junior Parkrun on Sunday. After asking the kids where they wanted to go, falling out and flipping coins, we went to Hucknall Juniors at Titchfield Park.
“It’s cold!”
“Can we wait in the car?”
“I’m going to take it steady today,” (Yes, again!)
Another argument about the playstation.
But from somewhere the kids had found some drive and determination, and they pulled it out the bag and pushed themselves to some really good times. They were all so close to beating their PBs, something they’ve not been close to for a while. It was fantastic to see.
Overall, we had a brilliant weekend Parkrunning! We’re so proud of the kids and their ability to push themselves, it’s quite a difficult thing at that age.
We’re off on holiday to Devon this week so next week’s blog will be coming from Exmouth Parkrun and a junior one we find nearby. Wish us luck!
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The Cooks
xx
CookFamilyRuns 