R is for Reading by the River and Rosemary
After a holiday break over Easter, we are up to the letter R and a local event in Reading. To be fair, I couldn’t have done this parkrun over the past two weekends as the course has been flooded. The route is adjacent to the river Thames and acts as a flood plain when the water levels are high. Given the significant rainfall totals in late March — extending over the Easter period — then the run has been a victim to the elements.
But drier conditions this week have helped, along with a few course adjustments to avoid the lowest lying areas. So it was a dry but chilly start when I left home shortly after 8am to cycle to Thames Valley Park. I aimed for the Waterside Centre as the focal point to find the start, adjacent to the river. I locked my bike up by a park bench, and immediately spotted that the river was hosting other sporting pursuits this morning. There were rowing eights being coached and some open water swimmers — hardy souls given the ‘fresh’ conditions.
Louise had travelled separately to me this morning, having picked up her mother Rosemary to come and spectate. The park bench was the perfect spot for her to use, with views of the everything going on at the river and the start and finish areas of the run. She has been a big supporter of my challenge, and given the letter R, wanted to support this particular event.
And had made a generous charity donation to British Heart Foundation this week. Thank you very much. This means that I am now up to 18 donations which is very encouraging to be able to support such a great cause. It’s in memory of my father-in-law Ken, who died last year after a long illness. He had an undiagnosed heart condition that contributed to him suffering from vascular dementia. Hence our family connection to the charity.
In terms of the run, Alexa did the first timers briefing to welcome the newbies but left the course description to the Run Director Fergal. Given there was still some lying water on the usual route, today’s course was an outward run east alongside the river to the nature reserve, with three loops of the trails before returning back along the river heading west to the finish funnel (conveniently in view of the park bench).
The course itself was perfectly manageable — with just a few puddles that could be skirted around without the jeopardy of slipping. I was in running shoes and that was fine.
My time today was another quick one, at just over 23 minutes, finishing in position 28 and second in age group. I was feeling good after a recent ‘active’ holiday to Jordan, which involved 3 hours a day of cycling plus a 12 mile trek along the trails at Petra.
My trip away coincided with Rosemary taking her two daughters (Louise and her sister Sara) on a Saga cruise to Holland. On one day she managed nearly 10,000 steps around the Keukenhof gardens to see the spring flowers, showing that at 90 years old it’s still possible to stay mobile and be engaged in everything that’s going on.
Following the run I spotted a few other members of my triathlon club TVT, and got chatting to Joel and his friends, explaining the challenge and where I’m up to with the various letters. My itinerary is now pretty much set over the coming few months, having booked my accommodation and travel for the ‘away’ trips to York and then Holland (for letter Z). And I’ve managed to offset the travelling costs by booking the Channel crossing on Tesco Clubcard points and the hotel stays on Marriott reward points. So it’s feeling like it’s all coming together nicely.
And finally, in terms of today roll call for people with names beginning with R, the gold star goes to the three Richard/Rich (one of whom was a volunteer), with a tie for silver for the one (and only) Rachael, Rajendra, Raph, Robert and Ronald.
Thanks as always to the Hi-Viz volunteers — we couldn’t do parkrun without you. And at least today you didn’t have to get wet!
