Isabel Trail - event 231

On the 3rd May 2025 I ran the Isabel Trail parkrun which was the 231st event held at the venue, my 235th parkrun and 153rd different course I'd attended.

parkrun rules state that children under 11 years old need to be accompanied by and adults within arms length. Which is fine and all fair enough. But what happens when you have two 10 year olds that are on complete opposite end of the athletic spectrum?

Back in August I took Hayden's best friend Henry with us to Morecambe where alongside the football he completed his first parkrun. On dropping Hayden off at school a couple of weeks ago Henry came up to me and asked if he could come with me and Hayden on our next away day. I agreed, but one of the conditions was he needed to join in on Saturday morning at 9am for our standard 5k walk, jog or run. 

Initially I had planned to book a Premier Inn in Stoke-on-Trent and run Hanley parkrun, but the local Premier Inn prices had gone through the roof on what I suspect to be celebrating Port Vale fans making a weekend of their promotion party.

Instead I looked around at possible plan B's, with one obvious choice standing out. Just south of Stoke lies Stafford which has hosts a parkrun event called the Isabel Trail. Not had I been looking for another 'i' towards completing a second parkrun alphabet, I needed an 'i' to complete the Old MacDonald challenge (running at an E,I,E,I and an O). 

Who doesn't love a creative parkrun challenge btw?!

The added bonus was that there was also a Premier Inn in town and it was also well in budget!

After what was the worst trip north of the season, with multiple delays and a stop/start journey all the way, we managed a quick drink at the onsite pub where both Hayden and Henry attempted to change my mind with regards to the morning plans.  I wasn't going to be convinced in anyway shape or form, but kudus to the boys for trying.

We were up in the morning and Henry got dressed into his bright yellow running shoes which made him look the right part.

On our Morecambe adventure earlier in the season Henry didn't quite have the legs for his enthusiasm. He talked a good game but ended up finishing behind Hayden and I, so when I saw his new shoes I teased him a little bit saying that with shoes like that he's going to have to run this week!

Maybe I shouldn't have teased as him, as that's exactly what he did!

As mentioned above, the regulations state that under 11s need to run in arms length of an appropriate adult. So when we made our way off along Isabel Trail on an out and back course in the middle of Stafford my expectations were that the three of us would amble our way along the course whilst I dragged the boys along with ignored words of encouragement.

But on a bright, sun shine filled morning with a slight chill in the air that wasn't quite the case. From the off, Henry with his brightly coloured shoes was off and away, his height and agility allowing him to weave in and put of what was a record attendance at the event.

Based on a double width path, the trail winds its way through Stafford, of which 2.5km is used on a Saturday morning for the parkrun event. Weaving via open scrubland, following a shallow river and running around the back of homes and industrial unit there was not much to see, but lots to keep the eye occupied at the same time.

Hayden to his absolute credit ran the first kilometre and gave it a fair stab, until.his stamina deserted him completely and he slowed down to his usual casual walk, armed with an excuse about an injured part of his anatomy. This week it was his right foot, but wth Henry goodness knows where up ahead I was stuck in a quandary.

Do I run and catch up Henry and slow him down to wait for Hayden. But if I do catch him up, is it really fair of me to stop him.when he's put blood, sweet and tears into his efforts so far?

Being an out and back.course it meant that as we made our way into the second kilometer people.were already coming back towards us in the other direction on the way to the finish. All i had to do was keep going and mine and Hayden's paths would eventually cross with Henry's.

I still wanted to reduce the gap to Henry though as in my mind he would have given up by now and would be walking. So if he was walking at the same pace as Hayden we'd never catch up! So I started to run again and encouraged Hayden to have a go and was ignored as usual.

As I'm making my way further away from Hayden, Henry eventually comes back towards me in the opposite direction, still running and still full of enthusiasm. 'Are you alright Henry, want to wait for us?!', there was no chance! He was off and whizzed past in a cloud of dust from the gravel based path.

I was now in complete no mans land. Miles from Henry and miles from Hayden. I didn't know what to do and so I stopped to walk thinking I'll keep going and then face Hayden on my way back as he's still making his way out. I can then see if he is okay, but then what about Henry as he will surely be near to the finish by this point?

Deary me, talk about a stressful parkrun morning!

I'm the end, after much internal deliberation I decided that I'd run after Henry and try to catch him up. That as I past Hayden on the way back I'd tell him to keep on walking and that Henry and I would come back and meet him once we were done 

So that's exactly what I did and ended up quite enjoying myself as running back I was quite full of energy and had some okay pace overtaking people and giving myself a very false sense of achievement. It did absolutely help that the whole course was pancake flat!

As it turned out Henry and I weren't that far apart after all. I finished in 306th place out of a field of 353 participants in a time of 36:42 which was just 50 seconds behind Henry who I thought was quite a lot further up the road.

It turns out he had caught a dose of the sneezes on the last quarter due to hayfevwe and couldn't run and sneeze at the same time. Not quite sure what they teach these kids at Hayden and Henry's school but his excuses are slightly more creative than Hayden's!.

After wed completed our mandatory 5k, we head back to look for Hayden. We made it to the 1km marker before our paths crossed again and there he was, out of his leisurely walk without a care in the world and a slightly emphasized limb which funnily enough disappeared soon after breakfast!

Looks like the secret is in the footwear. If you look like you can run, then you have to be able to run don't you?