Juneathon Day 14 – Tollcross parkrun

June 14, 2014 by winsometahn 12 Comments

I continued with the parkrun tourism this morning with a trip to Tollcross parkrun in Glasgow’s East End. Tollcross Park is yet another of Glasgow’s Victorian parks, with large green spaces, ancient trees, ironwork and a winter palace (though sadly derelict). It is also the site of Glasgow’s International Swimming Centre which will host the swimming for July’s Commonwealth Games. Because of this there was a large amount of fencing and workmen in and around the park, though not affecting the course.

The course is 2 1/2 laps of the park, along paved paths and up and down hills. It is a very hilly course.  It is however a lovely course and this morning the park was quiet and peaceful. Compared to the 350+ runners who regularly attend Pollok parkrun (previously known as Glasgow parkrun) and the 180+ at Victoria parkrun, Tollcross has a more modest attendance of about 50 to 60 parkrunners. However they more than make up for it in friendliness. The finish line is in the middle of a grassy slope, with the Token scanners waiting back at the rose garden meeting area and many of the parkrunners stayed on the grass waiting for all the finishers to cross the line.

I’m beginning to become aware of a phenomenon whereby new parkruns feel twice as far as familiar parkruns. This was certainly true today, and with the warmth (20C at 9:30 am!) and humidity I found myself fading badly during the final lap. However with hills like that, I suspect Tollcross parkrun should become a regular feature on my marathon training plan.

I also ran a half mile warm up and cool down to and from the Swimming centre carpark for a nice round 4 miles on Juneathon Day 14.

 

Juneathon Stats:

• Running:  34.27 miles
• Cycling: 19 miles
• Core Strengthening: 5 x sessions
• Yoga: 1 x 1.5 hour class
• Scottish parkruns: 8 of 14