' Can I have a lift to work tomorrow?' asked Mrs R on Friday evening. 'Of course', I replied, not just from a sense of marital duty, but also because the workplace to which I would take her was not far from Brighton's Preston Park which, since April, has been the home of a new Parkrun. Parkruns are regular Saturday morning runs over a measured 5k; anyone can take part. Saturday mornings are consecrated to swimming training in term time, but in the holidays I have managed to run the Hove one twice, though not since New Year's Eve 2011.
Here, thanks to Mark Brocklehurst of the Preston Park Run Group Flickr Group , is proof that I was there, though it does not show me running, but gathering my strength beforehand.
The last time I was here was for the start of the 2012 Brighton Marathon, my last. Good omen or bad? I knew that there would be over 35 fewer kilometres to run today. The park is clearly the centre of Brighton's athletic life; here a British Military Fitness group gathered to perform physical jerks under the cruel eye of a man in combat trousers; there women gathered around a Fitbit banner; another man was placing plastic markers all over the grass for some arcane exercise class. I sat and awaited the start.
After a parkrun welcome to new runners, always encouraging, we set off. I kept to the rear of the pack. The course is best thought of in three sections, an initial run to the bottom of the park and back, and then two P-shaped laps. There's a slight incline towards the end of each lap, and we were urged to beware of bollards and low-hanging branches. My knee, though a little painful, was not too disabling, but the sight of tiny children, running with their parents, far in front, was not encouraging.
Nevertheless, I finished in a not too shaming 28:41, and had a bacon sandwich in the lovely Chalet Café.
On the subject of 5Ks, I strongly urge you to sponsor Ms Rachel Playforth, poet, cataloguer, digital repository expert, cat owner and now runner, as she prepares for the Cancer Research UK Race for Life Twilight in the very same park. You may do so on Justgiving.
