Urban Adventures
Alvaston parkrun this week — a return to the sort of urban course I know all too well from years of living in Milton Keynes. You know the type: manicured grass, football pitches, a café that smells faintly of bacon and ambition, and a backdrop of new‑build houses that all look like they were assembled from the same IKEA flat‑pack kit.
It’s not wild, it’s not rugged, it’s not hilly, and there’s definitely no risk of livestock wandering across the start line. But it is friendly, flat, and fast. And sometimes that’s exactly what you need.
Anyway, I’d been down in Milton Keynes on Thursday night and Friday. And my normal parkrun companion was away for the weekend. On which note though, Dan from SDRR was going to Alvaston, and that was enough to convince me to go there rather than going somewhere alone.
The Shape of Things
The course at Alvaston is a sort of spider shape — an out‑and‑back to the north, then one to the south, and then you repeat the northern one for good measure. It’s the kind of layout that makes you feel like you’re doing laps of your own memory. “Have I been here already? Oh yes. Yes I have.”
The paths are wide, the surface is good, and the whole thing felt quite well organised. Almost suspiciously so.
The wide tarmaced course meant no mud and no tree roots.
The Running Bit
I trotted round in 33 minutes, which is perfectly acceptable for me at the moment. Not fast, not slow, just a steady plod that kept the lungs working and the legs honest.
Dan from the running club was there too, but he had to dash off straight after the finish. Something about having the wrong brake pads on the car, or something. So I was left to enjoy a quick coffee on my own, which is fine — I’m perfectly capable of drinking caffeine without supervision.
Bonus Looping
Alvaston Park also happens to contain one geocache and a set of Adventure Labs, which is basically an invitation I’m incapable of refusing when I’m on my own. So after the run, I set off for a second loop of the park, this time armed with a phone rather than a barcode.
The cache was found, the labs were completed, and I probably looked like a confused jogger who’d forgotten to stop running. But that’s parkrun tourism for you.
All Wrapped Up
A tidy course, a decent run, a bonus batch of finds, and a coffee to round it off. Not a bad Saturday morning at all. No hills, no drama, no mud‑based slapstick. Just a straightforward parkrun in a neat little park.
Parkrun #62, and another one ticked off the list.
