parkrun, 27th July 2019

I was a bit put out recently when very good friends of ours moved from York to the small market town of Easingwold. Not only is York a lovely city, easily accessible by train but there house was 5 minutes walk from the start of York parkrun (even though I only made it there twice)!

However, luckily, a parkrun has recently started up in Easingwold (called Millfield) – and the start line is also only 5 minutes walk from our friends’ house. As we were staying for the weekend to go to a wedding, Millfield parkrun seemed like the perfect way to start the day.

Saturday morning came and the weather was awful! As we lay in bed listening to the rain hammering against the windows, I was trying to think of excuses not to go out. Luckily the rain subsided to a drizzle, so a short jog later I was on the start line with 96 other idiots. There I met a familiar face – toonrun stalwart Jeff Henderson. Jeff is trying to do the Yorkshire parkruns, having done all in the North East.

Gill wasn’t 100% so had come down to spectate and had also spotted another NE parkrunner in Craig Barlow. We know Craig from Gibside where he is a Run Director.

The 3 lap course itself is a nice mixture – it starts on grass in the park, then there is a stretch on tarmac before it becomes more of a trail run on gravel paths through fields and woodland. For half of the course it felt more like being in the country rather than a park.

There are a few twists and turns and it is slightly undulating, but I would say that it is still a fairly fast course. I was happy with my run and even overtook people on the last lap to finish 5th in 20:03. Must go back to get sub-20!