I usually find January (and February) quite a struggle, as I'm sure most people do. It's a combination of the post-Christmas and Hogmanay comedown, sometimes feeling a bit daunted and unsure about the year ahead, dark cold days and seemingly not much to look forward to.
However so far - and I'm aware we're not even halfway through the month yet - I've made my peace with January. And I can only put this down to one thing - parkrun. If you're sick of me banging on about how great parkrun is, then this blog post is not for you!
We're less than two weeks into January, and already there have been four parkruns - what a great way to start the year!
I'd heard of the 'New Year double' in 2017, but as we were staying in a remote location near Loch Awe for Hogmanay, it would have been impossible to participate. New Years Day is the only day of the year you can run in two parkrun events and have both results count. Many parkruns also offer a Christmas Day option, and it is possible to run two on the 25th December, but only one result counts.
As we were staying in Dunfermline with friends for Hogmanay, it made sense to participate in two events not too far away. Kirkcaldy parkrun offered an earlier start time of 9am, to allow for runners to travel to their second event of the day - the obvious choices being Dunfermline or Loch Leven, both starting at 11am. We opted for Loch Leven due to the proximity to Dave's parents and the post-run sustenance that would inevitably be on offer!
Despite an alcohol-free Hogmanay for me, it was still a struggle getting up at 7.45am after only getting to bed at 2.30am and not sleeping very well! It was also a much chillier morning than I'd thought was forecast, so after scraping the ice from the car, we finally set off to Kirkcaldy at 8.30am.
I was so pleased that Dave had agreed (been cajoled?) into coming with me - it certainly made it much more fun to have company. We both felt pretty rubbish from a lack of sleep, so opted to take the Beveridge park route slow and steadily. We ran together the whole way, enjoying seeing the sunshine breaking through the trees, and the great support of the marshals and volunteers who'd selflessly given up their 1st of January morning for this to go ahead.
Kirkcaldy parkrun is a really brilliant course and I look forward to a return visit when feeling less tired! It's all on tarmac, and is two loops but with a wee run round the boating pond on the second loop to mix it up a bit. There is an incline - which you have to do twice - but thanks to some brilliant volunteers cheering us on from the top, it didn't feel too bad! There's also a lovely sweeping downhill section after this which you can really make up time on.
In total there were 342 participants, which is a course record for Kirkcaldy, and Dave and I were quite happy to come in at 34.05.
We got back in the car to head to Loch Leven's Larder, and soon realised there were 4 or 5 cars in front of us doing exactly the same thing! We actually got to the Larder for 10am which was perfect as it gave us time to use the toilets and have some food. Subsequently we felt a whole lot brighter and more awake for parkrun number two of the day!
I decided that now I was awake and warmed up, I'd push myself a bit more and see how it felt. There was a bitterly cold wind coming from the loch, but it was a beautiful morning.
I was really pleased to run a time of 25.25, with Dave coming in consistently with a time of 34.15.
We were cheered on and met by Dave's mum and dad, and we all kept saying to each other what a wonderful way this was to bring in a new year!
A brilliant morning for Loch Leven parkrun - the attendance was 383 which was a huge course record and even more impressive when you learn that a few weeks earlier, on the 15th of December, they'd had 31 runners! The volunteers did a tremendous job in keeping everything moving, especially the busy finish funnel, and the results were out within two hours of the event starting!
We also managed to get some brilliant photos, although cruelly the photographer was situated on one of the tough uphill sections!
We were pretty exhausted afterwards of course, but had that post-run glow and feeling of contentment that we'd managed to get up and complete these two parkruns. Too many January 1sts have been lost to hangovers - I now know how I'd rather spend the day!
It felt a bit odd that just four days later we were about to run parkrun again! This time back on schedule at Vogrie on the 5th of January. There was some extra excitement in the park as Persil, one of the corporate sponsors of parkrun, were there taking photos and handing out laundry tablets at the end.
I also opted to run this one a bit faster, although a sub-25 minute time did feel tough after running six miles earlier in the week. I haven't been running all that regularly post-marathon so the legs got a bit of a shock!
By yesterday, the 12th of January, I'd decided to slow it down a bit having had a cold all week. Another brilliant morning at Vogrie, with their second highest attendance (266) and a new finish funnel to alleviate a bit of the congestion there.
Four parkruns by the 12th of January, and as alluded to in my 2018 review post, I'm looking forward to continuing my parkrun journey in 2019. I can't imagine Saturday mornings without it!
However so far - and I'm aware we're not even halfway through the month yet - I've made my peace with January. And I can only put this down to one thing - parkrun. If you're sick of me banging on about how great parkrun is, then this blog post is not for you!
We're less than two weeks into January, and already there have been four parkruns - what a great way to start the year!
I'd heard of the 'New Year double' in 2017, but as we were staying in a remote location near Loch Awe for Hogmanay, it would have been impossible to participate. New Years Day is the only day of the year you can run in two parkrun events and have both results count. Many parkruns also offer a Christmas Day option, and it is possible to run two on the 25th December, but only one result counts.
As we were staying in Dunfermline with friends for Hogmanay, it made sense to participate in two events not too far away. Kirkcaldy parkrun offered an earlier start time of 9am, to allow for runners to travel to their second event of the day - the obvious choices being Dunfermline or Loch Leven, both starting at 11am. We opted for Loch Leven due to the proximity to Dave's parents and the post-run sustenance that would inevitably be on offer!
Despite an alcohol-free Hogmanay for me, it was still a struggle getting up at 7.45am after only getting to bed at 2.30am and not sleeping very well! It was also a much chillier morning than I'd thought was forecast, so after scraping the ice from the car, we finally set off to Kirkcaldy at 8.30am.
I was so pleased that Dave had agreed (been cajoled?) into coming with me - it certainly made it much more fun to have company. We both felt pretty rubbish from a lack of sleep, so opted to take the Beveridge park route slow and steadily. We ran together the whole way, enjoying seeing the sunshine breaking through the trees, and the great support of the marshals and volunteers who'd selflessly given up their 1st of January morning for this to go ahead.
Kirkcaldy parkrun is a really brilliant course and I look forward to a return visit when feeling less tired! It's all on tarmac, and is two loops but with a wee run round the boating pond on the second loop to mix it up a bit. There is an incline - which you have to do twice - but thanks to some brilliant volunteers cheering us on from the top, it didn't feel too bad! There's also a lovely sweeping downhill section after this which you can really make up time on.
In total there were 342 participants, which is a course record for Kirkcaldy, and Dave and I were quite happy to come in at 34.05.
We got back in the car to head to Loch Leven's Larder, and soon realised there were 4 or 5 cars in front of us doing exactly the same thing! We actually got to the Larder for 10am which was perfect as it gave us time to use the toilets and have some food. Subsequently we felt a whole lot brighter and more awake for parkrun number two of the day!
I decided that now I was awake and warmed up, I'd push myself a bit more and see how it felt. There was a bitterly cold wind coming from the loch, but it was a beautiful morning.
I was really pleased to run a time of 25.25, with Dave coming in consistently with a time of 34.15.
A brilliant morning for Loch Leven parkrun - the attendance was 383 which was a huge course record and even more impressive when you learn that a few weeks earlier, on the 15th of December, they'd had 31 runners! The volunteers did a tremendous job in keeping everything moving, especially the busy finish funnel, and the results were out within two hours of the event starting!
We also managed to get some brilliant photos, although cruelly the photographer was situated on one of the tough uphill sections!
We were pretty exhausted afterwards of course, but had that post-run glow and feeling of contentment that we'd managed to get up and complete these two parkruns. Too many January 1sts have been lost to hangovers - I now know how I'd rather spend the day!
It felt a bit odd that just four days later we were about to run parkrun again! This time back on schedule at Vogrie on the 5th of January. There was some extra excitement in the park as Persil, one of the corporate sponsors of parkrun, were there taking photos and handing out laundry tablets at the end.
I also opted to run this one a bit faster, although a sub-25 minute time did feel tough after running six miles earlier in the week. I haven't been running all that regularly post-marathon so the legs got a bit of a shock!
By yesterday, the 12th of January, I'd decided to slow it down a bit having had a cold all week. Another brilliant morning at Vogrie, with their second highest attendance (266) and a new finish funnel to alleviate a bit of the congestion there.
Four parkruns by the 12th of January, and as alluded to in my 2018 review post, I'm looking forward to continuing my parkrun journey in 2019. I can't imagine Saturday mornings without it!
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