So, after 129 parkruns it was time to pay Bushy Park a visit. We had planned to stay the night before near Richmond as we had tickets ( a Christmas present from our son and daughter-in-law) for a play at the Richmond Theatre.
Then it was up early, and drive over to Bushy Park to make sure we got a place in the car park (free, but donations are invited – nice idea) near to the start.
Our home parkrun has anything from 200 to 400 runners that turn up each parkrunday, so to be in a line up with 1,527 runners/walkers/joggers was quite a quantum leap. The startline here is four times the width of our home run, but the first 200m or so is across a wide part of the park, which gives ample opportinity for the “parkrun conga” to settle down for the rest of the route.
Usually, by about 2k, I am in a quiet space with few people overtaking me and those in front remaining at a constant distance. But at BP, you are constantly in a convivial crowd, but not in a congested way. In fact the people around me served as unwitting pacers and I managed one of my fastest times this year. 🙂
At the end was my first experirnce of multiple finish funnels. I was a little apprehensive about this, given my inate ability to mess up the system, but I need not have worried, as the funnel managers have got this off to a fine art (well, of course they have!).
After the run, we even had time to dash back to our hotel, lose the parkrun fresh look, and get back in time for a post parkrun (all day) breakfast at the cafe in the park.
A truly unforgetable experience…in a nice way 😉
Fab pictures! I’m so happy you made it to Bushy parkrun at last, it doesn’t disappoint! Lx
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