Situated in the county of Kent, Tonbridge is a market city on the river Medway which can be traced back to the records of the 1087 Doomsday Book. Tonbridge is 29 miles away from London, home to 41,000 people and consistently ranked as one of the happiest places to live in Kent.
The town has a medieval castle, standing watchfully over the market town high street. The castle is next to the 160-acre Haysden Country Park, which is home to Tonbridge parkrun.
I introduced myself to the very friendly Catherine today’s Run Director as I had emailed in to volunteer and run. Parkrun has a volunteer app which you can download to your phone which turns your phone into a barcode scanner. With my tech checked and fully working I was ready for volunteer duties but first, there was the small matter of the run.
Although the sun was peeking through we were informed that under the humpbacked bridge, a huge puddle awaited us, which could not be circumvented. I looked down at my brand new Puma shoes taking in their sparkle for the final time.
Catherine counted us down and then we were off, all 541 of us. Parkrun events don’t tend to ‘seed’ people, it’s a run, not a race and I found myself boxed in when we set off. However, having run 23k the previous day this was probably a blessin,g I instead gazed around enjoying my surroundings. Ignoring the HUGE puddle this is very much an anti-clockwise out and back-again course. The beginning section is alongside football pitches but really comes alive once joining the cycle paths. Running across the curiously named Lucifer Bridge, around Barden Lake and the dense forest sections was wonderful. I'm blanking out the puddle under the bridge.
I’ve used Brookes Adrenaline GTS as my everyday running shoe for about 5 years. I’ve decided to try the Puma Magnify NITRO 2 as a replacement, particularly with an eye to longer runs (10k +). I wore them for the first time yesterday on a 23k run at an average 5min 30sec pace largely on pavements with very little elevation. I hadn’t run that distance for a few weeks and the shoe gave me a very comfortable and supported ‘ride’. The shoe has Puma’s thickest nitrogen-injected nitro foam in the midsole on top of their PROFOALITE material perhaps explaining why it’s not very light. I started to tire from 18k but still had 5k to get home (got my route wrong) however I could feel the firmness of the foam in the midsole giving me the support and confidence to keep running.
Today the shoe gripped well on the sluggy areas of the course. As I picked up my pace for the final 2k the shoes were responsive suggesting they’re not a hindrance to going fast but I want to try them at a drier parkrun to see how ‘quick’ they really are. But certainly based on yesterday’s long run I think they will replace the Brookes.
After finishing my run I took on my volunteer duties as there were 498 people behind me to be scanned 😀
Barcode scanning is a great role to do, you’re able to speak to other participants and ask them how their run has been and everyone I scanned had certainly made room for any Easter Eggs to come.
With scanning duties done and uploaded, I said my goodbyes. The volunteer team had been wonderful and I’d really enjoyed myself. This could this be a testament to being at one of the happiest places in Kent or perhaps just the magic of Saturday morning parkrun events.
Next week I’m eyeing up going to Panshanger parkrun (yes this is in the UK) but we’ll have to see.
Happy running
I love these posts! I’m not a runner but a speedy walker and am so happy that Parkrun is embracing us walkers. Shame about the shoes though! Hope they scrubbed up.
Sounds like a great park run. Especially after such a long run the previous day!