Preston parkrun and Pilling 10k

This morning we woke up very early and met up with some of the Wind Cheetahs to go to Preston parkrun. Our own parkrun at Barrow was cancelled due to another event going on in the park. It was good to take the opportunity to try another parkrun elsewhere and see what goes on there. I'd heard good reports about Preston parkrun before so was very happy to give this one a go.

We were not disappointed! Beautiful parks (Preston parkrun takes in both Avenham Park and Miller Park), friendly runners and well organised, cheery volunteers meant we had a good morning.

Unfortunately William managed to fall at the start of the second lap. After establishing that nothing was bleeding/broken he kept going, although his hands were hurting (and later his nose, apparently!). Andy and Sam had overtaken us at this point so were well ahead. Sam seemed to be enjoying the run and surroundings immensely. William began running properly again for the last half of the third lap and managed a little sprint into the finish. He really enjoyed the railway bridges, both for watching the trains going over the top and for the echoes underneath! I was also very appreciative of the other parkrunners who shouted out words of encouragement to the boys as they ran past. Had a good chat with the backmarker too.

More brilliant pics from Preston parkrun can be found on the group flickr page! Spot the Cheetahs!

I'd quite like to give this course another go one day. We couldn't stop for post parkrun refreshments unfortunately as we needed to get ourselves to Pilling for the Pilling 10k and had one hour in which to do it! After spending what seemed like ages getting out of Preston, we got out on the road only to be stuck behind tractors, lorries and a herd of cows crossing a busy main road!

We managed to pull into the car park of the Elletson Arms Pub in Pilling (Race HQ) at 10.55am for an 11am start! I grabbed my water bottle and a cap as it was raining by this point and dashed into the pub to find I wasn't too late to enter. After grabbing my number and a quick stop in the loo, I ran out of the pub to find everyone heading to the start line down the road.

This has got to be one of the flattest courses I have ever done so I was very confused to find it quite hard going. I ran with a WWC friend for the first half and did as well as I had in the past but struggled with the second half. Just couldn't keep up with the pace. Whether that had to do with finishing running a 5km course an hour earlier I'm not sure! I didn't get a PB for this one but was only a few minutes off so wasn't too disappointed either. I can't believe I'm actually saying this but I think I prefer a more undulating course! Very happy of course with my new medal too. Also well done to our 3 Cheetah ladies who won prizes!

We're off on another early start to Lancaster tomorrow so Andy can take part in the Lancaster Castle 10k and hopefully I'll do the fun run with the boys. More on that tomorrow!