As parkrun returned in Ireland, I decided that heading a short distance across the border wasn’t too out of keeping with the spirit of things, and the fact that Dundalk was well under an hour’s drive away sealed the deal.
As it’s only just starting back and they’re feeling their way, there are no facilities on site – use the hotel was the general idea. There is plenty of parking, free on a Saturday, though that didn’t stop many people bumping onto the pavement by the yellow lines. Let’s be charitable and there were many people who figured 5k was their absolute limit, so walking an extra 150m would be too much.
There’s a lovely big windmill on campus, which is a feature you can’t miss.
As a multi-lap route running round some fields, this could be uninspiring, but I found plenty to look at, and the course twists just enough to keep it interesting. One side is slightly downhill, the opposite slightly up, but otherwise this has the potential to be pretty quick, so long as you can get round everyone. Not an issue I had, so this was my quickest of the year again – I’m not running much, but it is still getting easier now I can parkrun regularly.
Let me jump you straight past the fact of three laps to the finish. I was moving fairly well, and looking forward to the finish and a guarantee of being quicker than previous weeks. As a result I perhaps switched my brain off, and accelerated towards the very obvious finish line, next to a container in the middle of the park. We had run down there already, so I knew it. I accelerated to use up whatever I had left.
And was applauded as I past the finishing line, pointed towards the roundabout, which now seemed an implausible distance away. I had overcooked it, because the finish line had shunned me, facing the other way and waiting for me to return. I had thought my watch was going to make this course a little short, rather than reaching the more obvious conclusion that having run 4.7km, the finish line was not quite as imminent as I was attempting to make it.
There you have it – be careful with the finish, it may be slightly further away than you think it is, if you forget about the loop.
Otherwise there were no dramas, plenty of happy people and a few – though not too many – visitors from elsewhere, glad to be back at a parkrun with .ie in the URL. The playing fields were fairly busy, so be sure to follow the crowd, and paths, rather than any small groups who might break off to run across the grass, but otherwise you can’t really go wrong.
Till the finish.
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