Pymmes parkrun - event 604

On the 23rd March 2024 I ran the Pymmes parkrun which was the 604th event held at the venue, my 175th parkrun and 99th different course I'd attended.

There are 62 parkruns in the Greater London area, and visiting them all is arbitrarily known as LonDone. If you widen that out a little bit further to include all parkrun events inside the M25 you'd need to attend 76 parkrun events and you'll get to rightfully claim LonDone+ status.

Which is why I found myself in North London, a stones throw from Tottenham Hotspur Football Club and their impressive new stadium at White Hart Lane. In nearby Pymmes park to tick off my 36th Greater London event, and 44ti picked h out of 76 inside the M25.

Foordy said that he wanted to visit somewhere quick and fast. I checked my planner and ruled out the scheduled event at Lloyd on the basis of previous research and the 'challenging' reputation of the course. And once I'd read the Pymmes course description which used words such as 'flat' and 'simple', I'd found ourselvesviable alternative.

I picked Foordy up bright and early and head towards the Dartford Crossing and the North Circular. He'd woken up with a song in his head and so for forty minutes I was punished with TRex and Hot Love blaring out on repeat.

La la la, la la la la

Once we'd arrived and parked up, I was desperate to get out the car and away from a song even older than I am but had misjudged the weather. It may have looked like spring, it may have smelt like spring but it certainly didn't feel like spring and I was regretting my shorts and t-shirt without a jacket look.

I followed Foordy around looking for a toilet, and played bouncer as he used a bush due to not finding one. Or at least we did, but random acts of vandalism meant that they'd been locked up and taken out of use.

In fact, the lack of facilities was mentioned in the pre-race briefing. Apparently the event are looking to work with the local authorities and provide parkrun with a toilet key and will be looking for a special toilet marshall in the coming weeks to help people like Foordy who have a weak bladder before/after the event. 

The briefing in held in the central area of theT southern.end.of the park. The top half of the park is made up primarily of playing fields with football pitches taking up most of the space. The southern end contains all of the formal gardens, a play area and a couple of small water areas which you'd label as a lake which makes it sound grander than it is.

The parkrun course starts on the eastern side of the park and follows the pathway north around the perimeter pathway for just under three laps. The finish is on the southern end of the park and the funnel spits you out into the central meeting area where the briefing takes place and the tarp of trust sits.

Whilst the course is described as flat there are a couple of small dips and bumps along the way, most notably on the southern end. But these bumps and rises on flat courses always feel much worse than they are due to everywhere else being so flat. The pathway around the park is of decent width and with the right number  uof attendees didn't feel cramped and there were i no bottlenecks at the beginning, which is always good.

Due to the course feeling fast, naturally I felt that I was running fast and so I had a cursory look at my watch shortly towards the end. I felt that I was on target to get near my PB and so went all guns blazing in order to try and beat it.

I finished in 57th place out of a field of 153 participants in a time of 26:39. Ultimately I'd fallen 5 seconds short of my target, but it was a target I hadn't realised I was aiming for until right at the end of run. Either way, PB or not, I can still be pleased that two of my fastest three ever parkruns have been this year which to me is a sure fire sign that I'm doing something right.

La la la, la la la la

Still got that bloody song in my head though!