The parkrun 20202020 Challenge - Number 5

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My fifth parkrun of the challenge was Greenwich. I expected it to be in Greenwich park - beautiful surroundings, wide paths, popular running park. No. It is in Avery Hill Park just outside Eltham, five miles away. Ok, so it is in Greenwich Borough but Avery Hill parkrun would make it much simpler.

Anyway.... I ran over there after visiting all the Blue Plaques in Greenwich Borough which took me through Blackheath, Greenwich, Charlton, Shooter's Hill and Eltham. With 14 miles already under my feet I would need to be in good form to go sub-20. I used the fact I wasn't keen on traveling all this way again to motivate myself.

The webpage gave me a good idea of the route. Three anti-clockwise laps starting at the cafe and finishing roughly in the same place. I asked a couple of runners about the dog-leg behind the trees and they clarified that it is actually a straight run to the path at the bottom.

After a quick stretch I started my watch and set off at speed. I hoped to get a fast first mile in allowing me some respite towards the end. I had to make a few avoiding manouevres to keep two metres from other park users but it was relatively quiet despite the warm, sunny weather.

Towards the end of the lap was a slow climb which sapped my energy, I was panting by the time I reached the top and relieved to have a stretch of flat/downhill to recover. One lap, one mile, 6:14.

Lap two I powered on, forcing myself not to drop the pace. I caught a couple of other runners which gave me an illusion of competition. Two laps, two miles, this one 6:15. I now only needed to do the last lap in under seven. I knew I could slow down but didn't want to risk missing out by a couple of seconds so I kept on the gas.

The last climb really hurt and I was gasping for breath but with only a quarter of a mile to go I wasn't going to slow up. I finished in 19:17, well under the 20:00 I was aiming for and meaning that the last mile was 6:08 with the usual 40 seconds for the 0.1 to the finish.


I really enjoyed the course and the setting and would recommend a visit. I hope to return when parkrun is up and running again and do it with others.


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