Lincoln – The last of three
Lincoln parkrun. Another new venue. My 21st new venue of the year. At this point I’m collecting them like Pokémon, except sweatier and without shouting my own name out every two seconds. This one takes place in Boultham Park, somewhere I’d previously visited for geocaching (quite unsuccessfully), but never for running.
What’s Goin’ On
It’s that magical time of year when Daughterus Maximus takes a “Christmas holiday”. Well, she described it as relocating to Milton Keynes for three weeks over Christmas, armed with a mountain of work caused by some earlier, Olympic-level procrastination (allegedly). It may also be that she underestimated quite how much work comes with switching from a science course to a creative one. Or, and hear me out here, there is just… a lot of it.
Either way, today was the day of the southwards migration. Yesterday I drove up to Lincoln through traffic that was suspiciously lighter than expected, which meant I had time to see Maximus for dinner at a well-known Asian fusion chain whose name rhymes with bag-a-hammers. I stayed at the Holiday Inn Express again, having only just discovered that booking direct gets you much better deals. The deals get even better when you can knock another 10% off thanks to your employer — a small but satisfying victory in the ongoing war against hotel pricing.
Back at the Plot
Meanwhile, down on the farm, Maximus initially suggested she might walk the parkrun course, but later decided that packing three weeks of her life into boxes was probably more pressing. She still wanted a wake-up call though. So: bing-bong. Time to get up. I’ll see you later.
Lincoln parkrun is only a short drive from where I was staying. It was a cold morning — not “brisk” cold, but “nearly freezing and questioning your life choices” cold. Fortunately, I’d packed enough running layers to resemble a badly organised onion. The course was firm but not icy, which is parkrun-speak for “you probably won’t fall over, but if you do, it’ll probably hurt”.
The route consists of three laps around the park. I generally dislike multi-lap courses — they feel like running inside a washing machine — but I make an exception when it’s a new one. It was apparently fairly busy by their standards, and I finished in a respectable 34:25. Respectable because I’m still recovering from a cold. I was still riddled with snot, which makes it something of a miracle that I completed it at all. Cold air does help my nose though, so at least there was that small, dribbly silver lining.
Overall, a pleasant run. Probably my second favourite of the three Lincoln parkruns. I wasn’t keen on Yarborough Leisure Centre, but Doddington Hall was excellent and still holds the crown.
Lincoln parkrun does coffees and breakfast in the nearby indoor bowls centre, but I skipped that — I had an appointment to keep, and it involved soap and hot water.
Hotel checkout was at 11am, which left plenty of time to run, return, shower, change, check out, and then fetch Maximus without breaking into a stress-sweat.
Motorways
And now for the least exciting chapter. Although not entirely. First, we went “Uphill” to buy some nice whisky and get breakfast — because nothing says “productive morning” like carbs and alcohol purchased before noon.
Then we headed south towards Milton Keynes. Conversation in the car was… limited. Maximus slept for most of the journey, leaving me alone with my thoughts and the motorway. Thankfully, traffic was fine and the drive passed quickly and without drama.
Back in MK, Minimus had got the days wrong and had a friend coming over that afternoon. I sat and chatted with Maximus and Kas for a while before heading off. I also had a couple of Christmas cards to hand-deliver. Jimmy and Emma were home, kindly supplied coffee, and chatted for an hour before I finally made the last leg of the journey home.
So, Lincoln parkrun: a nice course. A bit narrow in places, but much better from the second lap onwards. I’m glad I did it — another tick on the list, another parkrun tale told.
