run #347 location#94
Reason for visit: one of those pesky Wilson Index numbers! Oh, and apparently completed my Snakes challenge, (10 beginning with S) which I didn’t realise till afterwards! So that was nice.
Access:
I won’t lie, this was stressful. The campus itself isn’t completely well direction marked, there are some signs for NSC, more for the National Aquatic Centre, but in the torrential rain, and negotiating roadworks, and Dublin traffic, I was relieved to be onsite at 9.00. Then the fun started. The webpage says it starts near Abbotstown House. But there were no signs for that! It also said car parking at the Special Olympics offices. Again, no signs for that either. I parked up at a number of buildings that looked as if they might be the Irish Sport Headquarters, but anyone I asked (with an ever-increasing wild look in my eyes) “parkrun????” just shook their head, or had never heard of it.
At 9.36 I handbrake turned into the carpark. To save you some time and stress, the What Three Words for the car park are trio.lend.video
Course:
Dashing across to the disappearing back of the RD, I asked where the start was, and set off to try to catch the tailwalker. It’s 2 laps, mostly (wet and slippy) grass, but with a few muddy tarmac sections. It’s all marked with arrows, though I still managed to take a wrong turn, and on the 2nd lap I still hadn’t caught the tailwalker who was happily packing away the arrows. I did eventually catch her with about 800m to go, and she was most apologetic.
Gear:
Shoes first – I was in my Saucony’s, but trail shoes would be a better option here. I wore my blue trousers as they have a good zippy pocket for car keys, my parkrundancer apricot T which nobody got to see as I had my black pacamac on, PWT blue cap to keep the rain off, and cow cowl.
Crowd:
Small group today, I was the penultimate home in position 28. They were a friendly chatty bunch in a thankfully dry marquee afterwards, with some delicious home made ginger parkin buns. Yum!
I got chatting to someone about the number challenges – Wilson is probably still OK as it just involves individual runners attending this, that and the other event. But the Nelson, Fibonacci and Primes are now being discouraged, as they mean some events would be completely swamped on particular days. I can understand the logic.
Time:
I know this won’t be accurate as I took a wrong turn, but 42 ish minutes, considering I started late, was OK. First in my age category!
Strangely Appropriate Song On Shuffle:
“And I would drive one hundred miles, and I would drive one hundred home, just to get the Wilson Index number that I need upon my phone……….”
I didn’t have time to put my headphones on, so the sound most of the listening wildlife would have heard was me swearing.
Environmental note: yes I do feel guilty driving long distances for spurious reasons, but I try to minimise it, and car share where possible.
All my parkruns:
NI (and other) parkruns: summary list
Filed under: Dublin, Ireland, Parkrun, parkrunDANCER, running | Tagged: Sport Ireland Campus | 1 Comment »
Dancing At Lunacy 