Hoblingwell parkrun - event 197

On the 23rd July 2022 I ran the Hoblingwell parkun which was the 198th event held at the venue, my 87th parkrun and 22nd different course I'd attended.

Having not run for nearly three weeks aside from an attempted run at the Warszawa-Praga event two weeks ago I was nervous about resuming running activity. Judging when your body is ready is not an easy task, particularly when your not accustomed to niggly running injuries and are generally impatient by nature.

My parkrun planner has been carefully curated to find a blended mixture between alphabet achievements, ticking events off inside the M25, completing all the parkuns in Kent and working through the list of nearest events not done yet (NENDY'S).

Ironically, after my injury the next event scheduled was Hoblingwell. An event inside the M25, third on my NENDY list and inside a little pocket of parkuns which I'd already completed and made sense for me to tick off.  Indeed, I'd also been hobbling very well recently!

I hadn't really considered looking for an alternative event, one more suited to a recuperating runner. Perhaps I should have done, but fortunately all's well that ended well as I had no ill effects in the end aside from a lack of stamina and failing to get my legs working all the way around. Although with the heat of today's run it was likely that was the bigger hindrance and not my dodgy calf.

Today's run started with temperatures in the mid 20s, but this week's warm weather had evidently taken its toll on the wider surroundings with the recreation ground upon arrival resembling the colour of straw. It also meant that the ground was baked solid making for much better running conditions than would otherwise be found in other parts of the year.

Hoblingwell Recreation Ground has a carpark and community space where there are bathroom facilities and area to socialise post-run. This space is at the centre of the recreational space with a play park and skatepark attached to it. To the west is a woodland area with more wild, lengthier grassland separating the woods and community space. To the east is a series of rugby/football pitches spread across three tiered areas. The area to the south is at the highest point of the space and each of the three tiers drops down from here. This does mean that the course, which uses all areas of the recreational space undulates as it transitions between each of the three tiers and into and out of the woodland. 

From the course map itself, it can be a little tricky to work out the exact route, but there are flyby videos on YouTube which make things a little easier to understand. During the first-timers meeting, there is a more detailed laminated map and the lady who gave us the briefing showed us as much as she could using this aid - as from the starting point you can't really see much else of the course 

The start is on the top most field at the southern end of the park where participants run, walk or jog in an anti-clockwise direction completing one lap back around to the start. Halfway around the second lap participants drop down to the middle field where there a tarmac path that runs parallel to the sports pitches which weren't marked out but are likely to be for most parts of the year.

At the end of this path participants turn right heading towards the bottom field but turn left, up a banked hill and skirt the skatepark which is on the left hand side. This is apparently a recent addition to the park and looks like good fun (must return back with the children for the Junior event and have a post-run play here one day!). The path from here then turns left again, and rises around the car park and follows the edge of the longer, more wild grass to the road that runs alongside the southern perimeter of the park.

Participants then follow the road upwards as the woods comes alongside the path which bends around to the left. On the crest of the bend is a marshall and a turning right into the woods which on a day like today was a welcome respite from the sun as the trees provided plenty of shade.

Sadly the wooded area wasn't particularly long, but it did provide a nice downward dip before coming back out again next to the skatepark where you follow the outer edge of the bottom most tier of pitches all the way to the very end. Once there, participants turn right, onto the pavement of the road that runs alongside the eastern perimeter of the park.

This road heads upwards briefly before turning right again where the route takes you in-between tiers two and three. A nice, wide (and flat) ridged path where there is a slope to your right leading down to the third tier and the second is to your left. At the end of this section is the banked area that takes you back around the skate path and into the woods once more for a second lap.

It was on my second lap that my legs began to flounder and I caught myself walking for a breather. It always frustrates me when I stop to walk, and it's normally always a psychological cause for it. There was a fair amount of heat yesterday so I was glad to catch my breath, and I also had to remind myself that I was coming back from an injury so consciously reminded myself to not feel too bad about it.

After the second lap out of the woods, around the bottom field, instead of heading up the banked hill for a third time the course bears left back along the edge of the middle tier of pitches to the tarmac path. The course turns left and follows this path back to other end in the opposite direction to the way you came at the start of the course. At the end, the course turns right, back onto the grass and up the top of the park, running clockwise around the top tier all the way to the finish which faces in the opposite direction to the start.

It was nice to be able to attempt a sprint again at the end. I don't know if it was the heat, or just my active imagination, but I was overtaken by a man who smiled at me as he passed. I was convinced it was Michael McIntyre. I was adamant that I wasn't going to finish behind him and I wanted to see if it was him or not. But despite my best efforts I couldn't quite catch up with him and so it was a double disappointment when he turned around at the end and it wasn't him at all. Apart from his hair he didn't actually look like Michael McIntyre in the slightest.  I knew I needed to sit down and take a drink at this point!

I finished in 46th place in a field of 96 participants with a time of 30:55, a result that with all things considered I could be rather proud of.