U is for Upton Court and a tourist Uniform
The spring weather is certainly improving as for the first time in ages I’m sitting writing this blog wearing my shorts. This morning was a 3 hour cycle — run — cycle combo as I pedalled out to the far side of Windsor to complete letter U at Upton Park.
I remember this venue from about fifteen years ago when, on a Friday evening, I would drive my son Harry to Slough Hockey Club, which is adjacent to the park. As a teenager he had Berkshire county hockey training and I would regularly go for a run whilst he was at the session. So as I cycled today across the bridge at Windsor onto the northern side of the Thames, the place names of Eton and Datchet brought back memories of those times gone by.
I arrived at the park in good time, and followed the line of participants walking from the car park area towards the Rugby Club which is the start and finish area for the park run. The club generously opens up its facilities for participants which meant I had a changing area to replace my cycling shorts with running attire.
On my way in I had spotted the event ‘sign’ and headed over to it for the compulsory alphabet challenge photo. There was another running group there as well with the immediate offer to help me take the photo.
That’s the ice breaker to start a conversation, which introduced me to the Scunthorpe based group who were all supporting their friend Siobhan complete her own Alphabet Challenge. The last letter she needed was U and today was her chance to shine. And the tourist uniform she was wearing was very impressive — with the place names of each of her PR letters printed on the back. Now there’s an idea I could borrow!
We all made our way over to the start where RD Stuart welcomed us. It was a classic venue of two laps around the perimeter of the park, two sides of which were on grass and two paved. That meant running cone to cone to follow the course, which included an extra loop around the far end field on the first lap. Proper ‘old school’ run in the park.
Of today’s milestones was a 250th event for Jim, who everybody seemed to know, so I’m guessing is a local! The most iconic section of the course was the slight run downhill on the paved section where in the distance you could make out the outline of Windsor castle. This must be Slough’s equivalent of the Long Walk, for which Windsor park is so famous.
And today’s run was pretty consistent with my previous outings, finishing in position 22 in 23m 45s, and second in age group. On a sunny and increasing warm morning, this was a great way to start the weekend.
Having changed back into cycling gear, I pedalled back across the park and returned to Windsor where I had made arrangements to meet a cycling group from TVT for coffee. I got to the venue bang on 10am — which was my planned ETA — and we sat outside having a drink and enjoying the spring weather together. That also meant I had company pedalling back towards Wokingham which added to the social occasion of the day. Whether it’s runners from Scunthorpe or triathletes from Reading, these sporting groups all have a common goal and offer shared experiences.
And for today’s roll call, out of a field of 185 there were no runners whose name started with the letter U, and so today’s gold medal is shared with the on-field hi viz heroes — thank you all.
If you have enjoyed reading my blog — with just four letters now left to complete — then please show your appreciation by supporting my charity fundraising for BHF. That would mean a lot.
