Alexandra parkrun - event 184

Alexandra parkrun

On the 5th April 2025 I ran the Alexandra parkrun which was the 184th event held at the venue, my 231st parkrun and 149th different course I'd attended.

No sooner had Hayden and I arrived home from our trip to Harrogate, it was time to get back into the car and head north again.

Gillingham were due to visit Manchester again for their third ever visit to Salford City football club. Hayden and I have attended every single game Gillingham have played against Salford and at the beginning of the season this was one that we'd pencilled into the diary as to having to do.

It just so helps that there's always something to do in Manchester and combining it with a parkrun there is a wealth of options to choose from. Despite having done Heaton Park before our fixture last season, and Woodbank before playing Stockport the year before there was still plenty to choose from.

I wanted to do Peel parkrun, but I'd already ran at the scheduled parkrun event number so settled on Alexandra which also had the added benefit of being super flat and fast. Perfect I thought for Hayden who's previous experience of parkrun mostly involved hills.

Our 'purple palace', a Premier Inn was located right next to Old Trafford football ground which was a little bit of added excitement for Hayden as it was the biggest club stadium he'd seen in the flesh, even if it was from only the outside. From our table having a pre-bed drink we could see the stadium lit up and the words 'Manchester United' in neon red from the window.

In the morning we arrived at Alexandra park, a short drive away and parked on one of the side streets to the park. 

We had to cross diagonally over the park to find the start and meeting area. We followed some of the course around towards where we needed to get to and the flat description was certainly accurate. With wide tarmac paths all the way around it was a venue I'd love to have actually ran at, but having Hayden with me not much running actually took place!

From the start, at the bottom far right of the park outside the pavillion next to the cricket pitch, participants run around the cricket pitch to the back of the pavillion where two full laps of the park are undertaken.

The course takes you mostly all around the park, via a long drag up the western side before a 180deg turn back again cutting inside across the park to the cricket pitch again. After running around the back of the pavillion for the third time, the route cuts inside the park and a smaller inner loop is taken which brings you back to the start line in the opposite direction from which you started.

As I wasn't quite in the mood to listen to Hayden's long list of things that were hurting I decided to just jog as lightly as I possibly could. I think I'd I tried I could have walked faster, but thought I'd I kept a very slow, steady pace that Hayden would run and catch up with me

But he didn't, so I ended up being a little further away from him that I felt comfortable with and had to hang back and wait.

Being a popular course with the locals it was quite frustrating watching 500 people stream.on.past and cover two laps before we had even completed our first. 

The longer the run went on, the less people who were on the course and the further behind we fell. A lady who was run/walking near Hayden asked me if Hayden was with me, and I confirmed that indeed he was, as she was worried about him being on his own. Her surname was actually the same as ours, having seen her name appear under ours on the results listing. Which was bizarre and a little bit annoying as it would have made a better conversation and impression on her than the one I felt we had about child neglect.

So whilst Hayden's apparently stitch and stomach ache meant that he hadn't done much running and had achieved 5k through quite slow walking I can rest assured that at least he actually did it. Yes parkrun is not a run, and yes it can be a walk and a jog, but the dad in me would very much like Hayden to try a little bit harder!

As it was, I finished in 521st place out of a field of 535 participants in a time of 51:32 which was over half a minute slower than last week which was on a much tougher course...

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