Serial parkrun tourists set themselves various challenges: all the events in certain geographical location, for instance, or run times ending with each of the number of seconds 0-59. A popular goal is to become an “alphabeteer”, to have a run a parkrun begining with each letter of the alphabet. There’s not (at time of writing…..) an X, so St Andrews, or anything with a “Cross” in its name is acceptable. Z is elusive, but managable (there’s one in Poland).
Even having completed all the Norn Irn events, and a few others in London, Manchester and Scotland, my alphabet collection is pretty sparse. Currently on 36 different events, I still need 8 more letters! Maybe I’ll be able to coincide completing the alpha-set with my half-cowell of 50 different parkruns.
Anyway, with my husband doing more work in Dublin and the south of Ireland, I’m finding the opportunity to run more of the Irish events. “I need a G and T!” I am often heard to cry, and so I was delighted to get the chance to earn my T, at Tymon Park.
Access:
We stayed at the Louis Fitzgerald Hotel, which has handy access to the M50, the busy Dublin ring-road. I’d travelled down by the Enterprise train, and managed to book early enough to get a return for £30. If you don’t book at least 3 days in advance, a single fare is £34, so it pays to plan ahead. I took the LUAS tram out to Red Cow, and a single fare is e2.90. The tram is clean, and the service very frequent, with stops right beside Conolly station, or for a more frequent service walk round the corner to the Busaras (bus depot). The hotel is short walk from Red Cow, though I managed to get lost! The directions given to me were “cross the bridge and turn left”, when they should have been “cross the bridge and then take a HARD left doubling back on yourself down a wee alleyway until you are beside the main road”. Anyhoo, I’ll know for next time.
We used sat-nav to get to the car park at Tymon, which is right beside the M50. The start and finish are both beside the car park, on the Limekiln Road entrance.
Facilities:
There are no loos in the park, but the GAA huts sometimes open in time to allow runners to have that all important pre-run pee.
There’s no nearby cafe afterwards, but volunteers bring along flasks of hot water, tea, coffee and biscuts, and this makes for a very convivial post-run atmosphere. Car parking is free.
Crowd:
There were 117 runners on the day I visited, which is pretty close to the average attendance.
My husband remarked that there seemed to be more women than men, though I think that was just cos the men all arrive at 9.29. One or two dogs, and a buggy which I slipstreamed behind at the start. There was a warm and friendly welcome from the volunteers, who were happy to pose for a photo with Cracker.
Course:
It’s a 2 lap course on flat tarmac paths, past some lovely little ponds and handsome trees. There’s an almost imperceptible gradual rise on the first km, which my calves certainly registered on the second lap.
Gear:
I had to choose between my genuine 100 shirt, or my jokey 150 one, in the end going for an all black ensemble set off with cow leggings and cow cowl.
My Garmin has started to play up, and the screen went completely blank a few minutes before the starting whistle, so I couldn’t rely on it.
When I examined my splits later my pace was extremely erratic – I’m not sure if that was me, or the watch playing silly beggars.
Time:
My running times are really poor at the minute, and I didn’t even manage to sub-30. But hey, that leaves me the possibility of re-visiting to catch a PB whenever I’m back on form.
I’m carrying about an extra stone (14 pounds, 5 kg) after an indulgent Christmas period, and I need to up my miles and down my calorie intake.
Strangely Appropriate Song on Shuffle:
It’s always good to listen to local boys U2, and I smiled when “Sleep Like A Baby Tonight” came on, as after my whistle-stop 24 hour trip to the city I’m sure I would be quite tired.
And the rest:
I was booked on the 15.20 train home, so after a leisurely shower, I bought a tea from the garage shop at the front of the hotel and took the LUAS back into town.
The sunshine was glorious, and I was trialling some new travel clothes from Like Mary.
I strolled along the side of the river, acheieved my goal of obtaining a bus fare refund, found the new Harley Davidson shop in Temple Bar, and had lunch in Mexico To Rome (great value at 9.95 for a starter of bruschetta, main of chicken and mushroom pasta, and a glass of wine), with a ringside view of all the shenanigans outside.
There was a free exhibition in the imposing Custom House, which I found fascinating from both a historical and architectural viewpoint.
I was especially taken by the Riverine heads of the various river gods, each decorated with motifs relevant to their location. Apples for the Blackwater, a chain for the Foyle, and leafy vegetation for the Liffey and Shannon.
There were plenty of seats on the train, and I had a relaxed journey finishing my Pratchett, “Monstrous Regiment”.
Filed under: buildings, Dublin, Parkrun, running, travel | Tagged: Dublin, parkrun, Tymon | 1 Comment »
and I chose my accommodation based on proximity to a parkrun I had yet to do. So I ended up in a very well located Air BnB in Bermondsey right beside beautiful Southwark Park.
Wide tree-lined avenues,
and car-parking didn’t seem to be an issue. Most people walked, so I’m guessing they live locally. Bermondsey tube on the Jubilee line is a 10 minute stroll away, and there are a couple of bus stops near by too. Sadly, the toilets are in the cafe,
which doesn’t open till 9, but Surrey Quays shopping centre is the closest alternative.
I did spot my first cow cowl “in the wild”, as well as an apricot shirt from Stormont.
So I tucked the keys into my grey wrist band, and looped Cracker onto my watch strap.
However, it took me to the front entrance, by the big house, and I knew that the parkrun started at the back. So I had to do a little bit of driving around in circles, another compulsory manoeuvre for today’s traveller. But I got there in good time, parked up, had a bit of a wander around to get my bearings, and joined in the warm-up session.
There’s plenty of parking – there needs to be as this has regularly over 500 runners.
So a good funnelling system is in place.
Well done, young man!
I did find a friendly black dog to chase, which reminded me of how helpful running can be in dealing with dark thoughts.
While I was there I managed to lose the just acquired driving licence, which I’d picked up from the collect-at-Argos service that very morning! But the staff were delightful, and having given them my mobile number they called me later that day to say they’d found it down the sliding doors of their display cabinet. Big thankings to them!
But it was runnable with care. I did start off with the champagne bottle and glass, but cast them aside after the first lap. Given the slippery surfaces, the added obstacle of carrying props, and the fact that I’d stayed up till after midnight to see in the New Year, I shouldn’t have been surprised that I didn’t quite manage a PB, though a time of just over 27 was satisfying enough. A quick glass of water and a chocolate in the hospitality centre, and it was time to head to number 2. Lots of people were doing the same, in fact I think there was a mini-bus which went from Comber-Stormont. I was glad I’d picked Comber, as the other early alternative at Waterworks WAS cancelled due to ice – a very tough decision for the RD to make.
Dancing At Lunacy 
