Walmer and Deal Seafront parkrun - event 144

On the 8th October 2022 I ran the Walmer and Deal Seafront parkrun which was the 144th event held at the venue, my 98th parkrun and 33rd different course I'd attended.

After two recent visits to the Kent Coast made even better by the weather, you'd forgive me for being cautious on betting on a hattrick. But as it was, I headed to another Kent venue at the seaside with amazing blue skies, no wind and spring like temperatures.

The Walmer and Deal Seafront venue is probably the furthest venue in Kent to reach via my house as there isnt a direct route. So I set off at 7:20 with the sun low in the sky directly ahead of me as I head east along the M2 and A2 towards Dover. 

I had never visited Walmer or Deal and so part of the appeal for me in ticking off all the parkruns in Kent is visiting places I'd never been before and exploring my home county.

I had planned this run with the intention of ticking off another Fibonacci number (144), but hadn't realised the event was celebrating their fourth birthday. Like last week at The Leas which was celebrating their third, I arrived feeling like a bit of a gatecrasher to someone else's party. But as like last week I was soon made to feel comfortable by the volunteers and the welcome given during the first timers meeting, even if I was surrounded by people dressed up as pirates!

Just before the first timer meeting started a lady said hello to me and said that she'd recognised me. We didn't really get much of an opportunity to introduce each other any further before the first timer meeting started with a 'are there any tourists here today?' The lady who had just introduced herself spoke first, she was from the Cyclopark parkrun, which I too answered as the same. I later learnt that her name was Adrienne and she too had been working her way around Kent ticking off as many of the venues as she could, although she had one less to tick off than I did.

I love the fact that parkrun is so inclusive and that people in the main are so warm, welcome and friendly. The new park walk initiative is an extension to what parkrun is already about, reminding people that it's not about how fast you complete a 5k run, but about getting out and completing the distance via whichever means and meeting people at the same time. By walking and taking a slower pace you can have a chat and talk to people who are like-minded or are in similar situations, helping mental well-being as well as physical.

The course itself was incredibly flat, probably the flatest one I'd ran, including that of Pegwell Bay which I completed in September and achieved a new Personal Best for the distance. 

From the start which is taken on a wide expanse of grass on the promenade runners head north from Walmer into Deal. 

There is no real distinction between the two towns from what I could see, but there was certainly more things of interest to look at in comparison to last week at The Leas. 

From the grass, participants feed onto the main promenade path, which is much thinner than the promenade at The Leas and is split into two. A cycle lane and pedestrian footpath coexist, but does mean runners have to be cautious and not use the cycle lane for fear of upsetting any irate cyclists.

All the way up to the first turnaround point at  Deal pier is a series of buildings to the right, which sit on the wide shingle beach. From beach huts, to small cafes and a lifeboat station there's lot to keep the eyes occupied. I was looking both out to sea and inland as there were houses I recognised from being on TV programmes or Netflix episodes I'd seen and recalled from some dark part of my memory. Just before the turnaround point you are treated to the view of Deal Castle, the first of two castles on the route (not many parkrun courses can say that!). 

From the start, to the turnaround and back to the start again is approximately 3km. There are helpful markers at each kilometre giving guidance to runners as to how far they've come (or got left). On the way back, you carry on past the start and continue to head south towards Walmer Castle which marks the second turnaround point.

There isn't quite so much to see on the second part of the course which is more rural, although the sea to the left was plenty enough of a view for me. On the way back the path thins out a little more and with multiple benches dotted along the path it does make things a little narrower still. So whilst it does mean that runners do have to pay attention to not crash into a bench (or one another) it does make things interactive as you can easily high-five runners coming the other way or give out encouragement which there was plenty of going around.

On the basis of last week and attempting to outrace myself I deliberately made a conscious effort this week to try and pace myself more leisurely which worked well as I completed the full run without any pauses to walk. It just goes to show how much I over exerted myself with the length of time I walked last week and still got a reasonable time.

I finished in 76th position in a time of 27:11 out of 190 participants. The recorded time was just seven seconds off of my quickest time set at Pegwell Bay which is rumoured at falling just short of the mandatory 5k distance.