parkrun #398 event #110
Regionnaire Regained!
Now the past couple of years, a part time job in tourism, coupled with being a one-car family, has seriously hampered my regular parkrun attendance. So it’s with great elation when I discover that I have a day off work AND access to the car, and oh lookee, there’s one left of the newest crop of Norn Irn runs that I need. AAAAND, it’s a letter N which I need for my Namely challenge. So off to Newry I went!
Access:
Newry is well connected by the A1 dual carriageway, and the directions on the parkrun website plus the postcode (BT34 2EQ) will guide you through the city’s one way cobbled streets to get close to the start. There’s plenty of on street parking (2 hours for £1.60) as well as a number of handy carparks. The Buttercrane Shopping Centre is also nearby.
Public transport is less easy – the train station is 2km outside town, and the first Goldliner bus from Belfast arrives at 9.30. Mind you, the bus station is very handy to the start line so if you do arrive this way then it’s a short hop, skip and a jump.
Crowd:
I was there on their 13th event, and there were just over 100 runners. Plenty of folk walking, pushing buggies, and running with furry friends. Chatted to a few folk I’d met before, but didn’t spot any other cow cowls.
Course:
Dead easy out and back along the side of the canal. Flat all the way, packed gravel surface. There’s a friendly marshal at the turnaround point who might even take your photo.
Gear:
The weather was fine, quite warm but no too hot, with a slight dampness in the air. I was in my grey skirty calf lengths, I think they are really a tennis garment, but I like them for comfort. Rarely worn 250 T shirt, because the numbers are peeling off. Sauconys. Zippy waist pocket which is too small for my phone, but I was carrying my phone taking photos so that didn’t matter.
Facilities:
Toilets at the market, or the shopping centre. Coffee afterwards at Courtneys, though I opted for Krem, where an americano and a granola bar cost me the very non-Belfast price of £4.50.
Strangely Appropriate Song on Shuffle:
I’ve got out of the habit of running with music, but I had dug out my Aftershox and charged them up for today. I was doing a “jeffing” approach of run for 20 seconds, walk for 20 seconds, but when running with music I up that to 32 bars, as anything else messes with my inbuilt musical qi. Lots of Eurovision songs came up, these are great for running to as they are 3 minutes long, usually upbeat and in neat 8 bar phrases. But I laughed out loud when Vangelis Chariots of Fire appeared.
All my parkruns:
NI (and other) parkruns: summary list
Filed under: Parkrun, running | Tagged: ni parkruns, parkrun | 1 Comment »
Dancing At Lunacy 