D is for Dinton and a Double Digit birthday
My early October parkrun was at my home venue — at Dinton Pastures — in Wokingham, which is a venue that all my family could attend, and it was one week after the London Marathon.
In previous blog posts I have talked about how I have been training with my daughter Anna, in her quest to complete her first marathon. Well she only went and smashed it — finishing in 3h 49m. Her husband Mark also got round successfully in five hours, although he found the last 8 miles quite a challenge, suffering with shin splints. Louise and I went up to London and spectated, intercepting Anna three times during the run, and the atmosphere throughout was amazing.
So the Dinton parkrun on 8th October was a first post marathon run for both of them — showing off their finishers T-shirts — along with all three of their children and the dog.
I ran with them and my eldest two grandchildren, and it was Callum’s 10th birthday as well. He was so keen to take part that he turned up in his goalkeepers outfit as he was being whisked off to a football match straight after the event.
It was yet another dry bright day, and as I cycled to the start there was a definite autumnal nip in the air, with a heavy dew on the grass when we first arrived.
Also taking part were Louise and her sister Sara, who was visiting for the weekend (staying with her Mum Rosemary who lives locally to us). That meant that Anna’s youngest daughter could pace herself with Grandma, without feeling under pressure to keep up with her elder siblings. It worked very well, given the logistics to dovetail with the other kids sporting activities that day.
In terms of position my family group finished in just under 31 mins, with everyone completing the run without stopping. There was the obligatory sprint to the finish line between the two kids — sorry I’m guilty as charged that my competitive genes have passed down through the generations!
The multi-generational aspect of parkrun is one of the main things that appeals to me. I first ran with Callum at the Santa Dash last Christmas, which was his first 5km event. That event was also at Dinton, although a slightly different course configuration to parkrun. And we did it in fancy dress Santa suits which gave it a festive feel. With 1km to go Callum was beginning to tire, so I got his attention by playing the ‘football game’. The rules are simple, every time you overtake someone on the run you score a goal, when someone overtakes you that counts for the opposition. The point being that by the time you get to the finish line then you want to be ahead in the game. Well, the distraction technique worked perfectly that day as Callum no longer felt so tired and was super keen to overtake others. I think the final score was something like 8–1!
He wanted to know if we could play it again at parkrun, but to be fair that 9 months since Santa Dash has improved his fitness and strength so this time he didn’t need the external stimulus.
They say that running is as much a mental challenge as it is a physical one and the football game is a brilliant way to concentrate on something else when the going gets tough. Try it for yourself.
