Bedfont Lakes parkrun - event 641

On the 13th May 2023 I ran the Bedfont Lakes parkrun which was the 641st event held at the venue, my 130th parkrun and 59th different course I'd attended.

I wasn't going to parkrun this week and was going to volunteer locally instead but it appeared that many of the closest venues had a full roster including my home parkrun Cyclopark.

The reason for not running was quite simple, I'd booked to take part in my first 10k run in Seaford which took place this morning as I write this. I wasn't entirely sure that running a 5k run the day before my first 10k run was the best idea. But after not finding a volunteer spot I decided to keep the tourist streak going instead.

Bedfont Lakes wasn't initially my intended venue, but after a look at my schedule and planner I decided to change things around somewhat and save my originally planned event, Rendlesham Forest for another day. I've heard good things about it and so want to enjoy that one fully. I figured Bedfont Lakes would be an opportunity to take a nice gentle run and save on the miles as it wasn't quite as far to go the day before travelling down to Seaford.

Even though as always, I'd done my research I had two misconceptions about Bedfont Lakes. One, that it wasn't going to be very pretty and two it was going to be pancake flat.

The first misconception was born out of the location of Bedfont Lakes which is practically next door to Heathrow Airport and generally speaking the area around Heathrow tends to be rather industrialised and well, not very pretty.

But the more parkruns I do in and around London, the more I'm surprised by the number of hidden gems on offer. Places that offer scenery and quiet haven in the middle of noise and hustle and bustle. Roundshaw Downs a couple of weeks ago was very similar, you'd never have known you were on the edge of a sprawling metropolis.

The second was the slopes. I won't call them hills or undulations as by and large the course was exactly as described, a two lap flat course around the country park, but there were areas that went up and down and I guess these are more noticeable on flat courses as they come as a shock to the system.

The course starts in the middle of the country park and begins on a narrow path which winds it's way around for four hundred meters or so and joins the main path where the start of two laps begins. After the two laps are successfully completed participants turn left and back onto the windy path and complete the last 400 meters to the finish.

Run in an anti-clockwise direction all on compacted gravel paths the route takes participants around the park, which after a wet spring so far was vibrant and green and smelt of the country. There were lots of puddles throughout the full duration of the course which meant either detouring around them or running straight through. There's were inevitably those you could also probably jump with an extended running stride but overall it was all rather a lot of fun.

My intention was to run at a gentle pace and take it easy, but I'm not quite sure what happened as I soon found myself in full blowing mode and trying desperately not to finish behind the random stranger who I told myself wasn't allowed to finish ahead of me. 

I finished in 58th place out of a field of 138 participants in a time of 28:17. Not my fastest ever time, but a reasonable accomplishment on a reasonably challenging course.

For the record, whilst writing this after my first 10k race this morning I finished in 57:50, which is the unofficial time set by my Strava. This was a massive surprise to me as I'd set myself a target of finishing around 65 minutes - a sub 60 was a later goal, and so to achieve it on my first attempt has made my day!