A parkrun in the rain



It poured with rain last night, so much that it couldn’t possibly rain any more today. So I was surprised to wake at 6 this morning to the sound of further rain. I got up, careful not to wake anyone, and crept from the house to the car, just as the rain stopped. Then I drove out to Busselton for the Parkrun there, just as the rain came back again.

Mercifully, it stopped raining about 20 minutes before the run started. Busselton’s Parkrun is pancake flat, 2.5 km on a bike path following the coast, and then 2.5 km back again. I went out like a rocket, doing the first k in 3:40, and confused and unsure of what to do because there was nobody in front to follow. I was gulping down the cool fresh air, but a week of eating badly and not training meant I didn’t have much in me.

Too soon, I was overtaken by a man padding softly along the trail, going faster quite effortlessly. As he headed into the distance, I told myself I could keep up. I couldn’t keep up.

Not long after, a second guy went pass me, similarly light on his feet, not a wheezing, groaning mess like me. It was strangely hard to focus without any distractions. In Singapore, there’s the gang of pensioners doing tai chi in the middle of the path. There’s the countless Starbucks. There’s barbecue pits and horrendous humidity. I didn’t realise until I didn’t have them how much I missed them, and slowly, inexorably, my pace began to slow. Would I ever get to the end?

I salvaged third place in 20:01, then drove home to get ready to leave Australia. Not that I was in a huff, honest. 20:01 is a respectable time for me. I’d just hoped for more. Or less.


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