Victoria Park

Run time: 35:14

Distance covered: 3.83m (6.16km)

Soundtrack: New Yorker Radio Hour podcast

Conditions: biblical flood

The first thing to say about this run is that it was wet. 

Really wet. It started out in heavy rain and got worse. I don't think I've ever run in rain as hard as that. 

It was my first single-park run for a while. A lot of the parks are small enough that I've grouped them together on single 5k(ish) runs, but there are still a few big enough to complete the whole run in one park, and this one stretches out for a comfortable fifty acres. 

Victoria Park is one of the parks I was more familiar with. I used to play basketball on the courts in what I remember as glorious long, hot summers in the 90s. It was one of the few parks with outdoor courts back then, so the park was like a magnet, drawing all of the people independent-minded enough to play a sport other than football from across the city.  

More recently I've picnicked with my family on the expanse of grass and read books while my kids played on the slides and climbing frames of the playpark. But once again, there was more to the park than I had realised.

As you would expect, it's named after Queen Victoria, and was created in honour of her golden jubilee in 1887. One of its most recognisable features is the ornate ironwork gates donated by the Ladies of Partick Burgh. The gates are courtesy of the Saracen Works, who were responsible for a lot of the heavy metal in Glasgow's Victorian parks. 

I have a lot of happy memories of this park, and despite the deluge, it was good to be back and see a little more of the park. The basketball and tennis courts and the arboretum and the pond were all familiar sights, but I had barely covered the western half of the park. I splashed through a series of paths, discovered the fossil grove and circled the bowling green. The weather meant I had the park mostly to myself, which was a nice change as it's one of the busiest parks in the city on hot days. 

After a few tough runs, I felt in slightly better shape on this one, and that's reflected in my pace. Part of that is the reasonably flat terrain, and the fact it's easier to run in one park without having to think about keeping to a route between multiple parks. The sheer intensity of the rain took my mind of the normal unpleasantness of running too.    

Victoria is definitely one of the best parks in the city. Like a handful of others, it would be the main park in a lot of cities. I guess in 1887 when Partick Burgh was a more distinct entity, it was the main regional park. It's well worth visiting. Hopefully it's a little less damp on my next visit.