Posts Tagged ‘parkrun’

Hartstown is on the outside of Blanchardstown and has a small parkrun in the community park that is also alive with football on Saturday mornings. The parkrun is easy enough: two laps and very flat but it is just running around a field. Luckily, I was there on their 9th birthday and scored two pieces of delicious homemade lemon drizzle cake.

Last weekend the Worfolk family took on Marlay parkrun. It is the biggest one in the city and very well organised with plenty of marshalls, a PA system and an organised warm-up. It is also a single loop with only one realy hill in it making it very attractive.

Yesterday I did St Anne’s parkrun. It’s a trek up to Clontarf but it is also one of the most popular runs in the city, averaging 344 runners per event (second behind Marlay). The course is a tarmac paths around the perimeter job, but with some lovely bits through some trees and past the duck pond. And one edge of the park looks across the bay towards the mountains.

Very well organised with a big finish funnel and plenty of friendly marshalls.

This is a hidden gem of a parkrun. The Sport Ireland Campus is based on a former country estate and contains a mix of historic buildings and new state-of-the-art sports facilities. The parkrun course varies but is usually a couple of laps all run on grass and trail. It’s so scenic you wouldn’t even realise you were in Dublin. And there is tonnes of parking and a public toilet, too.

After four weeks of not running it is good to be back! I’m still not feeling great but I managed to run the whole thing so I was pleased with that.

The parkrun itself is nice enough. Three laps around a field, so nothing to write home about (although I am writing about it here) but the marshals were friendly and everyone had a good time. Not to be confused with Waterstown which is, ironically, next door.

Another week, another new parkrun. This is two laps of flat sith a short stretch through some trees but otherwise around the edge of fields. Unfortunately, I felt ill on the second lap and had to walk most of it. But I still came home in under 40 minutes so the first lap can’t have gone too bad. I managed to get a post-run brownie from the coffee van, too.

Waterstown parkrun celebrated their 400th event this week. Which meant there was cake! It is a lovely course, too, although has a fair few hills in it. Nothing too step but it is is up and down.

I’ve been doing some parkrun tourism recently. Yesterday, I did Dodder Valley. It’s a nice course. Two laps and mostly flat, with a slight rise on the second lap. Some lovely views looking down into the valley, too.

If you’re looking for a flat parkrun, Selby is a good shout. It takes place on an airfield and you run an out-and-back hockey still shape that is entirely flat. There isn’t much else to look at but I didn’t find it boring and there was a good crowd. Thank you to all of the volunteers for making it happen.

Last Saturday, I completed my 300th parkrun.

Unfortunately, there was no time to celebrate. I was hoping to do it on 1 April and had even cleared a space in my diary to finally stop for coffee after. But then I had the flu so missed that run. By the time the next week rolled around, it was in the middle of the DUHAC 24-hour relay, so I had to keep running. But good to make it through the unofficial milestone.