The Leas parkrun - event 86

On the 1st October 2022 I ran The Leas parkrun which was the 86th event held at the venue, my 97th parkrun and 32nd different course I'd attended.

Working my way around the parkrun venues of Kent has left me at the mercy of the weather. Planning when to run specific events has been combining a number of variables including event numbers, event types and location. But it's also meant autumnal visits to the coast where wind conditions could potentially be tricky making for some difficult runs.

I love the sea and the coast in all its seasons so have no concerns about running into a biting, near gale force headwind. In fact, I am actually relishing it. On the Friday night before I was due to run The Leas parkrun we went into town for my niece's 16th birthday meal. It was tipping down with rain and the wind was blowing strongly. I tried to remember the last wet parkrun I'd ran and struggled to recall anything other than a few soaking wet Cyclopark events towards the end of last year. But when I woke up in the morning the wind and rain had been replaced with still blue skies and beautiful sunshine.

On arrival in Minister on the Isle of Sheppey the sun was bright in the western sky, positioned dominantly causing long autumn shadows across anything that stood in its path. The waters of the Thames Estuary were calm, the tide out and views all the way across to Southend in the north were clear and vivid.

The Leas parkrun, although only marking it's 86th event was actually celebrating its third birthday, having run its inaugural event on the 28th September 2019. The enforced COVID-19 break causing the misalignment between event number and birthday years. It was also the wider parkrun organisations birthday too, celebrating becoming an adult on its 18th birthday. With the weather and the occasion it was perfect morning for a walk, run, jog along the Kent Coast!

I had arranged to meet my friend Glyn who is a regular runner at the Great Lines event. We got talking after I ran the Pegwell Bay event and how close I'd come to breaking the sub 27 minute barrier. He suggested that as The Leas course was fast and flat it would be a great course to attempt a pacing attempt with him running to the appropriate time and me trying to keep up. Sadly he got a minor case of shin splints and wasn't able to run.

My strategy was to just run my normal parkrun and take the usual approach of seeing what the time was once I crossed the finish line. But whilst I was listening to the pre-race briefing I spotted a chap wearing a 27 minute pacer bib. Looking around at the other participants there was no other pacer present and so I took this to be a sign for a challenge.

My whole strategy therefore changed and I decided to just stay as close as I could to the pacer and see where it took me.

The course is a lap and three quarters, or an out and back twice that doesn't quite come all the way back. From the start, which takes place at the Sweet Hut on the Leas promenade participants head west along a wider concrete coastal path into the glare of low morning sun. On the left you have the shingle beach and the right a grass bank that leads up to some enviably located residential properties.

Just before half way on the way out the path forks upwards. The coastal path bridges a tributary here which is made up of a single boardwalk style path. As the event is ran in both directions the forks purpose is to prevent congestion and allows safe passage for two-way traffic. This fork rises up the bank on the right sharply, but soon dips back down to rejoin the main coastal path which remains flat all the way out to the end of the course which is marshalled so you don't run to far and fall into the sea.

Along the way you pass a number of quintessential beach huts, raised on stills and adorned with typically British seaside colours. You pass these four times, once on each pass out and again on each pass back. On the route back you take the boardwalk path instead of the upward fork and keep going until you meet another marshall and another set of cones.

I was quite happy running in the wake of the 27 minute pacer, until I got greedy. On reaching the fork I decided to take the upward slope at full pelt which put me ahead of the pacer where he remained until almost the full duration of the first outward lap.

I'd somehow got it into my head that I was going to beat the pacer and smash out a brand new PB. That may well have worked but my mind hadn't quite told my legs and so without much warning I slowed right down from a fast run to a walk. Annoyed with myself I tried to get myself going but over the course of the next lap I found myself in this frustrating pattern of running and walking where I just couldn't regain my rhythm.

Inevitably the pacer not only overtook me, but sailed off into the distance, his orange bib getting smaller as he made his way back to the Sweat Hut and the finish. It wasn't until the final turnaround point on the second lap that I got myself together again and tried to regain whatever lost ground I'd given up through walking.

As the route back was long and flat it set up some great sprint finishes, particularly as I found myself in a gaggle of runners all desperate to come out on top.

Once over the line I stopped my Strava app which said 28.09. I was well pleased with that time considering how much I had walked. But once fully saved and calibrated it recorded a moving time of 27.35 which I found quite difficult to believe. If my official time was anywhere in that region it would be my second fastest recorded parkrun time!

I finished in 36th place out of a field of 76 participants in a time of 27:38. I had indeed recorded my second fastest parkrun time which I was over the moon with. Had I not walked and managed my pace correctly alongside or just behind the pacer my time would have been even more impressive. But I learnt a lot instead and that experience will hopefully hold me in good stead for future events.