Date of Visit : 14/1/2023

Introduction

Well this was the dreaded week we all went back to work after Christmas. I had a hard week the car failed the NCT at 9.00 am Monday morning because the right hand dip beam failed between me checking it at our apartment in Rathmines and reaching the test center just off the M50. I was fairly disgusted by that. The NCT system itself is under scrutiny with the ongoing backlog of cars to be tested. For me though persuasion is the elixir of the 21st Century. I rang the helpdesk in 2022 about an appointment got the right advice and got a priority appointment for January. I think it’s like most things in Irish Society engagement works best. After the bulb blew and the test failed I persuaded an over worked Ford center in Rathfarnham to fix the bulb and then got straight back onto the NCT guys got the car retested Friday evening and it passed. Looking back now that seems rather fast compared to what I heard on Newstalk. Anyway I’m sure you’re dying to find out how I managed to persuade my pregnant wife to get up early and go to Poppintree parkrun. Well I didn’t her brother Ted suggested and I just went along with the idea. When life gives you lemons eh?

Journey to parkrun

I’m back training for the Dublin Marathon 2023 and for now it’s practical to put my Long Run into a parkrun. Poppintree was 9.6 km away from where we live so I ran across town. I got lucky the route was almost dead straight.

Course

The course is a 3 lapper. You’ll run 2 large loops and then cut the corner on the final small loop. This course is almost completely flat and superbly surfaced. With only a handful of sharp turns and potential puddles you could take an all time PB seriously on this course.

Live a Little

The morning we ran at Poppintree it was a cold and windy January but the sun rise and hit me just right by the outdoor gym and my problems from the week melted away. Take this in it help you enjoy the run. If you can’t quite get the sun pick your mood below and keep pounding the pavement. This sign appeared to be a permanent fixture in the park.

Volunteers

To get to 10k before I started parkrun I jogged up to the volunteers in their funnel and asked if they’d consider taking in a rogue barcode scanner for the rush betweeen 25 - 35 mins. They accepted me with no problems after I reasssured them that my wife had given me the required training as a volunteer. We had a grand chat about the Banshees of Inisheran after my run. I can’t recommend volunteering like this enough. I keep telling everyone in Tramore Valley and Glen River that they should run and help it if they can.

The split point for your third lap will have an Air Traffic Control style Marshall. Be warned he was having none of this shortcut on the second lap you had to signal with your fingers three or he was directing you around for another long loop. He was waving his hands like ground control in Charles De Gaulle with his hands and booming out the motivation. It looked rather stressful to me but he seemed to be very experienced and enjoyed haring after a few stray parkrunnners. He was also inclined indulge in mid parkrun chat and tell you have bags of time.

The singing and dancing Marshall we met on the long loop was a new one on me. On the first lap it was Five’s Keep on moving, the second lap was Kanye’s stronger and the third lap I’ve forgotten but the marshall kept this up whilst jogging on the spot and generally doing a jig to an almost flawless tune. This was remarkable skill and I enjoyed it immensely.

If you want to volunteer email poppintree@parkrun.com