On Tour!

7 May 2016

Saturday is Parkrun day, at least it is in our house. This Saturday was a little different though because, for once, there was no Parkrun on the Common. A big event was going on there, a kind of obstacle race with giant inflatables like bouncy castles and the Parkrunners had been ousted for a week. Commando thought he’d probably go to Victoria Country Park instead and, remembering the last time I’d watched him run there, I was quite looking forward to it. There’s nothing quite like a stroll beside the sea first thing in the morning to set you up for the day.

As it happened, I did get my stroll by the sea but not quite in the way I expected. It turned out a fairly large contingent of his running friends had decided to go to Lee on Solent to the Parkrun there. Commando decided he’d join them, possibly because someone said the flat course was a good place to get a PB. They were going on tour and I was going along for the ride.

We were early but a few other runners arrived at the seafront car park at more or less the same time. We weren’t far from the cafe I visited when Commando ran the Gosport Half Marathon back in 2014. At least this time the weather was better and I knew where to get a coffee when everyone was running. Obviously, this was my top priority. There was a lot of chatting while we waited for everyone else to arrive.

A steady trickle of runners joined us over the next quarter of an hour and, once we were sure everyone was there, it was time to move towards the start line. The runners split into two distinct groups at this point. The men, for the most part, did serious things like stretches and warm up exercises and the women did a lot of laughing and chatting. At one point even Commando looked like he might be going to stretch but he may have just been checking his shoe laces.

The announcement that the race was about to start was my cue to get out of the way. The last thing I wanted was to get caught up amongst the runners and end up swept along as an accidental park runner. Runners took their positions. The fast ones were right at the front, everyone else slotted in further back in spots more suited to their speed. The seconds ticked by. There was a synchronised checking of Garmins (or other similar devices). Everyone was on their marks, set to go.

Then they were off. All those taut muscles, like coiled springs, exploding forwards. I stood around scanning the crowd for Commando but, despite this being a far smaller Parkrun than Southampton, even swelled by so many foreigners, I never did mange to spot him. Once I was sure he must have passed I set off for a well earned coffee.

The cafe was empty and had only just opened. In fact the coffee machine wasn’t quite up to temperature so I made use of the facilities and stood around waiting for a bit trying not to look at the tempting array of cakes. Eventually I emerged back onto the small parade of shops with my take away coffee in hand. It was worth the wait and no cake of any kind was consumed.

Now it was time to find a good vantage point to watch the rest of the race and see if I could spot any of Commando’s friends and cheer them on. Across the road from the cafe I found a row of little walled beds filled with bright daisies overlooking the seafront. The flowers distracted me at first but I soon realised this would be a great place to watch the runners so I set my phone up on the wall, crouched down and took a few experimental shots. Little knots of runners passed me but none I recognised, although I had to admire the man carrying the huge, heavy looking back pack.

The course at Lee on Solent is a basic, out and back, affair along the seafront and, after a while, the first runners began to come back the other way. Concentrating hard on all the runners I crouched there, my finger poised. The problem was other spectators kept strolling in front of me! It was frustrating but I was hardly in charge of the beach.

In the end I decided to head back towards the finish line. Soon I was standing beside a small garden surrounding a war memorial. On another day I’d have gone for a closer look but I was determined to catch Commando running so I needed to find a better vantage point. Heading off in the general direction of the finish line I found  some railings that looked like a good place to watch the race so I stopped there. Moments later I spotted Commando. By sheer luck I’d got my photo.

Once Commando had got his barcode scanned he came to join me, along with a few of his friends. As the last runners trickled past they stood around dissecting the race. There were moans about bottlenecks at turning points, especially on the slope where runners were squeezed into a tight space going in both directions. No one got a PB as far as I could tell but no one seemed too unhappy about it. Perhaps it was the sea air.

With everyone present and accounted for we strolled along the rapidly emptying sea front to another cafe I hadn’t noticed before for more race dissecting and general chat. The parkrun Tour was deemed a success, despite the lack of PB’s and everyone agreed we should do it again some time. There really is nothing quite like a stroll (or a run I’d you’re so inclined) along the seafront first thing in the morning to set you up for the day.

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