"L" is for... Lloyd

12.10.19 - #11 Lloyd - Buoyed at Lloyd with "Orange Army" Deployed!

I woke up to quite a bit of cloud this morning - drizzle and a dark, grey, miserable looking day. I had a bit of a drive ahead of me, roughly an hour and half from my house to Lloyd parkrun in Croydon, south London. 

Driving down the M25 I started thinking about how I wasn't particularly up for a parkrun today. It was nothing major really, I was just extra tired and worn out after a hard week at work and could've quite easily had a lie-in and easy day....

.....but then I thought about my cause and why I decided to do this challenge in the first place. I figured that people with MS are probably not particularly up for battling Multiple Sclerosis and its debilitating effects today....or any other day, for that matter. Is driving to Croydon and running 5K for an amazing charity really that much of a hardship for me?

There was a time (a long time) when running 5k was way beyond my reach as I couldn't even walk a few steps pain-free but thankfully today is not one of those days. I usually make a conscious effort to not take my health for granted, so I had a few stern words with myself and decided to just turn my music up, sing along and keep driving - people were meeting me there and others were relying on me......so that's what I did.

Lloyd Park is a lovely expanse of lush, green space and wooded areas with sports facilities, a kids play area and plenty of tracks for a good walk or run.  It's a slice of wild countryside within just a few minutes drive of central Croydon - a well-used, public park which occasionally hosts running bigger events and music festivals as well as the weekly parkrun gig which attracts an average of 154 participants.

Much of the journey was retracing my route from a couple of weeks ago when I visited South Norwood parkrun. The only difference today was the drizzly weather.

Thankfully we weren't experiencing anything like the terrible tropical cyclone, Typhoon Hagibis, which was just hitting Japan and devastating the lives of many and causing disruption to the Rugby World Cup. Here in the south-east of England we were experiencing lots of heavy rain and flooding in many places but Lloyd parkrun was still on. Phew!

Today's Run Director was Debra Bourne (also Lloyd's Event Director). I'd already met Debra at Tring parkrun a few months back, when she was voluntouring and promoting her book. I was also volunteering there because although I was due to run my first letter "i" parkrun at Ipswich that day, that pesky crooner, Ed Sheeran, scuppered my plans and decided that he needed to steal the Ipswich parkrun venue for his homecoming concert.

I was forced to postpone my "Spell-it-Out" schedule for a week but I did get to earn another Volunteer credit to add to my tally on Tring's 'Hawaiian Shirt' themed event, complete with men in grass skirts and coconut bras, a dog sporting a Hawaiian lei style flower garland collar and some very dodgy ukelele playing which left a lot to be desired....and just to be clear, the men had the ukeleles, not the dog....mind you, the dog no doubt would have strummed a better tune! (Sorry, Ken!)



 I love volunteering though and my ankle appreciated the enforced rest so it was a double-whammy, win-win situation....every cloud and all that!

Speaking of clouds.....I'd heard that Lloyd was particularly hard in the winter months, after rainfall, and as we'd had a lot of rain leading up to this weekend I was expecting quite a muddy challenge. 

Mistakenly driving straight past the car park I was flagged down by my Mum's husband, David, who spotted my accidental detour and ushered me the right way. Despite having lived fairly close to this area for years and working near Lloyd Park many times, I'd never actually been to the park before.

I then saw my Mum & Dad standing chatting to eachother - nice and early as it was only about 8.20 (good show!) - so I chatted to them for a while. Apparently you are never too old for a hug!

Dad and I chatted about Strava and cycling as he is a very keen (and may I add, an extremely good) cyclist. After taking a few pictures the drizzly rain started to make me feel a bit chilly so it was conveniently time for a demo and I showed Dad how instantaneous Garmin Connect & Strava are by going for a quick warm up jog to the end of the field and back.

After my laboured warm up through a sticky football field I spotted someone who looked like my good friend from Tring parkrun, Kate....but it couldn't be Kate as she lives in Hertfordshire and we were in Croydon.....

....I rubbed my sleepy eyes and to my astonishment realised that it was in fact Kate and she had driven all the way down to run Lloyd with me, supporting my challenge - what a great friend you are, Kate, thank you!

I wasn't really used to having so many of my "Orange Army" of supporters alongside me - some of my nearest and dearest all together in one place, at the same time. I was touched but slightly overwhelmed and little did I know that even more were on their way to join us!

Time seemed to fly by at this point and, too busy chatting and enjoying the company of family & friends, I'd almost forgotten about the parkrun. By now there were quite a few people limbering up with warm-up stretches and runs.

That was when I spotted Neil (family friend and parkrun veteran extraordinaire) along with my older sister, Jenny, her husband, Steve, and their two kids.

Jen was on photo duties today, looking after my young niece and nephew while Steve was running. Steve and Neil were the lucky recipients of my orange "MS parkrun Challenge" t-shirts. Mum was also running in an orange running top today so together the orange force was strong!

In total, 191 people lined up for the start whilst RD, Debra, stood on top of the mound with her megaphone doing various shout-outs to the milestone runners. It suddenly occurred to me that, in all the excitement, with the distraction of so many people I knew there, I'd forgotten to remind Debra about my shout-out for the Multiple Sclerosis Society and my mission to create awareness and raise sponsorship.

So today at Lloyd I was just another brightly dressed runner but I hoped that, conspicuous by the brightness of our matching day-glo tops, others at Lloyd Park might read the messages emblazoned on our chests and backs and learn of our mission to help such a deserving cause.

Off we went, squishing with every step! With squidgy and squelchy mud under-foot and looking down to make sure I didn't bump into anyone, my ears registered the loudest "Go on Maaaaatt!" ever heard by mankind. My younger sister, Louise, turned up just as we were setting off. I waved over as she, her boyfriend, Sam, and my other niece got out of the car with Peggy Dog and waved me off.

These late additions to my support crew gave me an extra boost as I settled into my stride, beaming not only because of my luminous t-shirt but also with pride. I felt so grateful to be joined by so many people that I care about but also very humbled that they believe in what I was trying to achieve and wanted to play a part.

I wondered if any fellow runners might suspect that something was going on yet? If not, they soon would! ;)  

The first kilometre starts off quite flat, on a fairly muddy field, but it's not long before hills crop up. At first it's a long, gentle hill (a really long, gentle hill) with lots of tree roots and bumps on a tricky pathway - narrow, worn, uneven, sticky and muddy.

Don't worry though, it soon becomes flat and you even get the treat of a downhill section which must be a good 10 metres or so of extreme slippiness.

Rather than taking advantage of the flat by running faster and making up speed here, it's definitely best to just put all your effort into trying to stay as vertical as possible. (Sadly, not all of us managed to stay upright....cue Peppa Pig style mud splats to tone down the orange top!) After that you run around a sharp bend and, dare I say it, it's rather more pleasant for the heart-rate for a bit.

The 2nd kilometre....now what can I say about the 2nd K? Well the bit before, the rather pleasant bit, is entirely a false sense of security but it does allow a little respite to conserve energy for the bigger hill which follows.

Now I know what Debra meant about this being one of the hardest parkruns in UK. The hill is so steep, through the trees, that you see evidence of slipped footprints which have gone before. A lot of people walked this section and I'd say that was for safety just as much as the difficulty level. This was a steep and slippery hill, especially in the wet.

Once you've made it past the initial slippery section of this hill it goes on a bit further, on to grass with a bit more grip, but by now the hill's worst damage is already done and everyone on it seems utterly exhausted. I've said it before and I'll say it again - I love hill running, weirdly, and this hill challenge made me smile once I eventually got my breath back.

The only thing about the 'what goes up must come down' theory is that when running down the other side it is equally, if not more, slippery!

Once you've made it past the slippery slope the course then flattens out nicely and takes you around to the beginning again for lap 2 and the 3rd, 4th and 5th kilometres, where I had shouts and cheers from many people including my 3 year old niece along with my sisters, my Dad, my Stepdad and Sam, a professional photographer. 

The older niece and nephew tried to run with me briefly as I set off for the second and final lap of the course, wanting to get in on the action and helping me to keep going - a fun and thoroughly welcome distraction.

Lap 2 was soon done and dusted (not that there was any dust around, just sticky, squelchy, wet mud!) and Lloyd was complete. It was a totally enjoyable mission of a parkrun -  a challenging but satisfying course which was made easier knowing that my friends and family were cheering me on and waiting for me at the finish.

Once we were all through the funnel we took the opportunity to snap some photos as a memento of the fantastic time had by all. We had the luxury of a super-skilled, professional photographer today, with Sam there, so we made the most of it (well it'd be rude not to!) I think that by now people were probably suspecting that we weren't just there for the parkrun, especially when RD Debra joined us in some of the pictures!

I can vouch for Debra's description of Lloyd parkrun - it is indeed a tough but very enjoyable and rewarding course.

Afterwards we all enjoyed a well-deserved cup of tea whilst spending a good couple of hours poring over split time stats (pardon the pun!) and various parkrun stats.

Our spirits had been lifted by the great atmosphere - the infectious positivity, the buzz you get from helping others and championing a cause and the sense of togetherness and belonging, not just from within our close circle of family/friends but also from the wider parkrun community.

Debra's certainly not wrong when she says (in her book title) that parkrun is "much more than just a run in the park" and our time at Lloyd Park was a great example of the parkrun movement's inspirational philosophy in practise. When a few like-minded people come together and give their time and effort for the good of others it's amazing what can be achieved.

Through this fundraising challenge I'm trying to make a difference to the lives of others in the best way I can and I'm grateful to everyone who has helped me this far in my quest - be it through generously donating on my Just Giving page, liking or sharing my posts/links to spread the word, reading my blog and leaving a kind comment or going the extra mile (quite literally!) to join me at one of the parkruns I've selected....thank you one and all. 

I'd love to know what you think....
Which is the most difficult parkrun you've ever done?

Please leave a comment below, even if just to say Hi!

Next up: EVESHAM!

Please click here for my Just Giving page - raising funds for the MS Society charity

https://www.parkrun.org.uk/lloyd/

*** Special thanks to Sam for this week's photos ***

If you're looking for a talented, personable & professional photographer for family portraits & commercial photography services in the Surrey, Sussex, Kent, Essex & London areas, I can personally recommend Sam...please see his website for more details:
https://photos.everlastingmoments.co.uk