Date of Visit 25/2/2023

Introduction

On Monday I wasn’t feeling a run. It’s rare but it happens. I spent that night researching car insurance quotes. I have a new tactic for dealing with insurance companies if it’s cheaper elsewhere I take it right there. I’m not wasting my time ringing my current insurer. My time is valuable. A price match isn’t good enough and why wasn’t I quoted at that price in the first place? Some reading this might consider me cut throat or totally mad not to ring and demand a lower quote from my current insurer but I have been studying machine learning recently and those algorithms can predict my churn likelihood with near 90% accuracy. They know fairly easily that I’m likely to change provider. Last year I added up the hours I spent on the phone bargaining. I billed my time and I was shocked that I spent more than my first quote. I’m borrowing from Gen Z when dealing with insurance companies you want my attention? Be sure you maintain it. By Tuesday evening I felt under the weather but I thought it was Hayfever. It certainly felt that way. It took me until Friday (my fifth day of rest) talking to Mom fully recovered before I considered COVID-19. In summary my week wasn’t super then we went to St.Anne’s parkrun and super soared back over our lives like the sun that greeted us as we jogged into the park.

Course

St.Anne’s parkrun is exactly what a super parkrun looks like. The morning we visited a total of 450 people finished. The food trucks were in full swing, the playground was jammed and yet that didn’t stop anything. Other parkruns would crumble under this kind of activity fearing the council would plague them with concerns instead of implementing solutions. At St.Anne’s this all felt normal. In fact a I felt they had a few more gears to run threw before they started to get to anything that looked like pressure. My take away is that this kind of cohesion needs to be replicated. It reminded me of Steven R. Covey’s Win/Win or No Deal. I could see the wins everywhere at St. Anne’s.

You will start next to a mile long spread of food trucks. You’ll pass these food trucks twice and on my second lap I pushed myself harder. I was hungry. As opposed to the middle of the week where I felt flat or my head was pounding, my motivation suddenly rose with avengeance on lap two. The course itself is flat and straight most of the way. You turn in a figure of eight in the forest area and the hill by the castle ruins will challenge you but that ruin is 500 meters from the finish line and I could smell the hotdog I devoured about an hour later as I was sprinted home to my best finish over 5k in three years.

You might think I’ve run out of extraordinary things to say but that wasn’t it. Julie continued being phenomenal and ran whilst 30 weeks pregnant. Her finishing sprint looked easy. I’ll get back to everyone when I carry out something phenomenal.

Live A Little

Live a little at the start. You’re surrounded by open food trucks in an open field on Saturday morning about to head off an a parkrun. This is how good it can be everywhere. You’re not everywhere you’re here and here is a superstar style parkrun. This experience should be savoured.

Volunteers

I couldn’t help but notice the small army of volunteers at St.Anne’s they were everywhere and one quite literally paced me over the line for my best finish in 3 years. The RD the epitomy of calm reminded participants of the ‘No Barcode No Time’ but then insisted that paper, mobile devices and neck tattoos will be fine. Neck tattoos was new to me and I was so taken by the idea I volunteered as fourth scanner. Unfortunately no neck tattoos were scanned and I received no bribes for PBs. They don’t deliver like this everywhere. I’ve paid 25 euro for 5k on an airport runway and they couldn’t hit the St.Anne’s level of organisation and enthusiasm and they had Bressie to motivate us. The best way to see what I mean is by volunteering so drop a mail to stannes@parkrun.com and see what I mean.

Conclusion

A super star level of parkrun awaits you at St.Anne’s.