Running the Parks

Run time : 40 or 50 minutes on and off? Distance covered : about 4 miles Soundtrack : Two Crime Writers and a Microphone podcast Conditions : overcast but warm No proper stats for this one as Strava glitched, but it doesn't matter too much as I'll need to come back to this park to cover more of it. It's massive, so massive in fact that I got lost and came out an entrance a mile away from where I parked. Pollok Park is one of those places I hadn't been in years, and couldn't remember anything about, but when I got there it was like a whole section of childhood memories became unarchived. I remember the house. My parents took me to the park as a kid, and I would ask about the next time we would be going to "Pok House". It's easily the biggest of the Glasgow parks, and was names Britain's best park in 2007. The Wikipedia page is naturally more fleshed out than those for the other parks. Originally part of the Old Pollok Estate, and the...

Run time : 31:51 Distance covered : 3.21m (5.17km) Soundtrack : Two Crime Writers and a Microphone podcast Conditions : actual sun Another park I've never set foot in despite driving past hundreds of times. I barely even knew it existed, but I'll definitely be back, especially since I didn't cover the whole place. I don't plot out these runs, just see where I end up, and on this occasion that led to me ending up on a track along the White Cart Water river, which was pretty to look at, but kind of a bastard in terms of steep climbs and steps. A lot of people out walking, despite, or perhaps because of the lockdown. A walk in the park is pretty much the only outdoor recreational activity open to people right now. Usually it's easy to stay clear of other walkers and runners, but there were a few tight stretches of paths where for the first time I felt kind of uncomfortable being close to other people (more for their sake than mine, in the case...

Run time : 31:18 Distance covered : 3.2m (5.15km) Soundtrack : BBC Radio 4 drama, The Man With the Golden Gun Conditions : drizzly Taking a break from worrying about coronavirus to get out for my first park in a while. I had been scheduled to run a 10k in Callander this weekend, but unsurprisingly it was cancelled. I'm very much a solo runner, so if Parkrun ends up being cancelled, it won't make any difference to me. I was talking about that with friends who do regularly take part, though and Parkrun is an interesting case. It's not like cancelling a sports match or a rock concert. Because of its semi-organic nature, it's probably impossible to actually prevent Parkrun from taking place, even if the official events are called off, because a lot of people will just show up at their regular park at 9am on a Saturday, whether it's official or not.  Anyway - Tollcross Park. This is a nice old Victorian park in dire need of some TLC. This...