Walking along the Wadham Road which is parallel with the very noisy A406, Walthamstow parkrun takes place at the Peter May's Sports Ground, tucked behind a screen of trees, residential houses and the incredibly named ‘curry in a hurry’ takeaway.
The name Walthamstow comes from the Old English ‘Wilcumestowe’ which translates to ‘welcome place’. This was very much in evidence from the Run Director who shocked me by saying she remembered me from when I’d previously visited Walthamstow in 2019 seeking my ‘W’ for the Alphabet challenge (running a parkrun starting with each letter of the Alphabet). I was able to give her an update on that particular challenge, explaining how I’d gone to Poland to complete it by getting my ‘Z’ at Zamek w Malborku parkrun.
The course is a 3-lap course predominantly on grass. Going anti-clockwise around football pitches, turning left, hugging the outskirts of the recreational field, behind the sports centre and back to the start.
Despite the rain earlier in the week, the ground was still firm much to my relief.
Although a very humid and cloudy morning 160 participants decided to start their July doing the event with one person having travelled all the way from Carlisle to complete his first parkrun. It’s always interesting to hear how people find their way to parkrun. People registered for parkrun is currently at 9 million and rising!
Before heading off we were reminded that the upcoming Saturday 08/07/23 will be the 75th anniversary of the founding of the NHS and that participants are asked to consider wearing either fancy dress or white and blue to show support for the service, parkrun for the NHS.
It wasn’t my intention to go out quickly however sometimes the legs just feel fresh and I settled into a rhythm which was quicker than I’d expected. My trusty Garmin watch told me I was on for a sub 20min finish: always a Holy Grail time. Sadly my Garmin signalled I had reached 5k with the finish line still 10m away! My official parkrun finish time was frustratingly the wrong side of 20mins. It was a 6min 30sec improvement on my previous visit which I was thrilled about #gettingolderandfaster
We thanked the volunteer team before heading home, Shveta with a spring in her step but not in a hurry and with no need for a curry 🙂 #Shvetagettinglondonedone
Happy running
I am confused because July 1 is a Monday. Special occasion?
Interesting