Lloyd parkrun - event 658

On the 8th June 2024 I ran the Lloyd parkrun which was the 658th event held at the venue, my 187th parkrun and 109th different course I'd attended.

There was no blog post last week as I repeated a fairly recent event. I headed back to Thames Path, Woolwich with both Andrews and had another great run on what is a wonderfully quirky course. I also managed to set a new event PB and was also 4 seconds shy of a new parkrun PB (again!)

This week was just another one of those weeks where planning evolved, decisions got made and got changed all over again.

At one point we were heading to Bushy park, home of parkrun. But Foordy was travelling during the week and couldn't stomach another part rotation of the M25 so we set ourselves up for Maldon Prom over in Essex for what looks to be an enjoyable event with some lovely estuary views.

But I woke up to a text message on Saturday morning from Foordy who had made himself unavailable for the morning. With Hayden at a football tournament in New Ash Green I had a decision to make. Stick to the plans if made with Foordy, run locally or find another venue completely.

I made the decision to tour again, but one that allowed me to get to New Ash Green fairly swiftly afterwards. Lloyd parkrun in Croydon was one of those events that I'd decided to save for the warmer summer months based on my research and was one of the closest events that I'd not done yet. It also allowed me to be in New Ash Green within 45 minutes afterwards.

My research had determined that Lloyd parkrun was a trail course and that it was a challenge. Mainly due to the terrain, but also due to the fact that it was fairly undulating. Having been running with Foordys choices of parkruns for the most part this year we'd avoided anywhere with hills or grass. So this event was going to be extra chballenging for me purely for the change in surroundinga

The course is two identical laps of Lloyd park taken in an anti clockwise direction. The course takes in part of the park, but there's much more to the space than the parkrun route which only covers half of the park.

Upon arrival you could see that the area that the park resides in was far from flat. It didn't look especially hilly, but you knew that you were going to be in for a workout!

Starting from the south west corner next to the carpark (which was free for up to three hours) the route heads past the pavilion building and coffee shop before heading into the woods via a footpath. The route becomes narrow here and runners can run two aside, but overtaking becomes tricky as you have to overtake through the longer grass aside the main path which is essentially two single file dirt paths made over time from the number of people using the path to explore the park.

The course continues to make its way around the park through the trees and natural parkland which is made up of fields with long grass and vegetation. Being June and at the start of summer the area was at it's finest, full of greens and abundance.

After circumnavigating a small section of field the course starts to make its way back to the start, but as you start to think your on you way back, the route takes a dogleg right and heads up hill through a hidden path through the trees. It comes as a little bit of a surprise as you can't really make it out as you head your way around. But it's there all of a sudden and it takes you up sharply to another field of long grass where there's an out and back section around a tree to content with.

Once the out and back section has been completed the course heads back sharply down the hill in which you've just come. Care needs to be taken here as there are a number of tree roots and it's quite easy to trip if you're not got your wits around you.

After the hill has been conquered, the path follows the remaining edge of the park before transitioning onto a tarmac path for the last part of the course. This surface change comes at a nice time at the end of the lap and allows you to build up a little bit of pace you might have dropped on the earlier part of the route.

This final part of the course takes you around a play area to a line of trees next to the carpark where the finish lies in wait. On the first lap you carry on to the start line before completing the second lap in the exact same way as the first.

I struggled with the hill in the second lap, which was a disappointment, but wasn't my first hill failure and by no means will it be my last!

I finished in 120th position out of a field of 237 participants in a time of 30:44. Not my fastest parkrun time by any means, but one I'll contend with on the basis of being rusty on the course type. With Foordy heading back to Canada and the sun coming out, I'll have a few more grass/trail based events to look forward to in the coming weeks.