“Life’s tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late” – Benjamin Franklin
Good morning lovely Dashers. Another week on planet Earth and I hope it’s been a good one for you. As I look out the window typing this, it’s very misty; Autumn is surely here – not that we had any Summer to speak of so it probably doesn’t make any difference to be fair! Nevertheless, I trust that you managed to keep running strong and well this week. Not parkrun related but if I may bring your attention to the amazing Coast to Coast walk that our very own Chris Cash, Debbie Cash and Beccy Jepson are undertaking. The daily updates are on the Facebook page and are amazing; and the smiles seem to be as consistent as the weather isn’t! Good luck for the rest of your journey guys.
Another parish notice is the new website. It looks fantastic and much kudos to the team who brought it to life. The weekly parkrun league tables are on there now so you can digest to your hearts content – just beware there is a picture of an old fat bloke on there trying to run which nobody needs to see!
I visited Warrington parkrun for the first time this week. It was nice to run a course which only had one lap (apart from a small loop at the beginning) and the route took in a variety of surfaces and views. Definitely one I will return to at some point. I was one of 3 first-timers this week out of a total of 16 hardy Dashers who visited 12 different parkrun venues. As usual, we had some sparkling performances with Brian Shaw (4th at Burnley) and Diane Dudgeon (3rd at Witton) both achieving superb Top-10 finishes. We also had shiny new PB’s this week from in-form Helen Woodcock (at Burnage) and Barry Shackleton (at Worden) Great stuff by you all!
The excellence continued in the Championship tables. Both Andy Smith and Steve Whitehead achieved their best performance scores of the season thus far with speedy runs this week. Andy remains in 4th place in the league table but is now only 0.03% behind Jez Turner which equates to just a couple of seconds. Incredibly close. Brian Shaw extended his lead again at the top over Simon Smith.
The mountain air is still clearly in the lungs of Andy and Julie Smith as Julie also smashed her best performance score of the season this week (by some distance as well) The leaders, who remain Linda Coffey, Jacqueline Shaw and Diane Dudgeon may be looking over their shoulders!
So as we stride with laser-like focus into week 37, a couple of forward notices. Blackpool parkrun is cancelled next week (which is the only local one I am aware of so far) so no trip to the seaside if you were planning one. Also, next weeks report will be slightly later in the week I’m afraid. I am taking my 86-year-old Dad for a long weekend in Boston (the USA one not the Lincolnshire one!) so won’t be back until Tuesday. It’s a bit of a nostalgia trip for him – we lived there when I was a toddler and he was working at MIT & Harvard (I think the brains of the family skipped a generation because I certainly didn’t get any!). We lost my Mum a couple of years ago and so taking Dad back over there will be very bittersweet for him I expect but I’m sure will also bring back many happy memories for him and we should have a great time. I am very disappointed though, that Boston has not seen fit to put on a centrally located parkrun that I could do – how rude of them…
So, apologies in advance that next week’s report will be slightly tardy but, nonetheless, have a wonderful week and happy parkrunning!
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