Gateshead parkrun

23rd March 2019

Guest post! Sarah here, Rosie and Becca’s friend and sometimes parkrun companion! I joined the ladies on Saturday March 23rd for the Saltwell Park Gateshead Parkrun #352 as I wanted to join in with the locations I was familliar with and wanted to try.  I don’t run because I enjoy it as much as I assume they do, mostly out of wanting to stay fit and healthy 😉

Parkrun is a great way to keep up the activity levels as it’s over and done with by 10am usually!  The atmosphere at Gateshead parkrun was fantastic (as it usually is at parkruns) which makes such a difference to motivate me to get out and actually enjoy myself. The weather on Saturday was gorgeous; chilly but sunny (which is perfect spring weather imo) and all the spring flowers were making an appearance around the park.  Most people had turned out garbed in green too, as a fundraising event for The Lorn’s Legacy, a brain tumour research charity, had taken over the parkrun.

The stats:
Course number 4/24, Saltwell Park Gateshead had a turn out of 302 runners.  The route is all paths and takes a scenic route around a lake and bowling green, with some hilly sections.

Time: 44:19 (my Garmin recorded 41:35??)
Position: 296th (slow but steady)
Female Position: 116th
Age Category Position: 16th (SW30-34) (yes I am already the big 3-0 unlike my youthful friends!)
Age-graded score: 33.40%

Course location: 4/5

Saltwell park was very easy for me to reach, Becca left her car at my house and we left together at about 8:25am.  We parked in a cul-de-sac that I knew would be quiet and easy to get to as I had parked there once before.  The area around the park is very residential and potentially limited parking spaces as it is mostly Victorian terraces.  There is apparently a car park which I did not know the location of without directions.  The cul-de-sac we picked was close to the entrance closest to the start and finish of the race so it seemed ideal.  The park itself is beautifully kept and has a variety of different areas to make the run interesting. 

The course did however involve two laps of one section and three (!) of the lake which led to a lot of faster runners lapping me.  Sometimes that can trick you into thinking you’re nearly done when you’re not! I prefer single lap routes personally.  Some faster runners have a habit of overtaking you very closely and it can be quite intimidating for slower runners like myself, not exactly the community spirit that parkrun is wanting to promote! Still it was nice to run past ducks and people walking their dogs, plenty to keep you entertained.

Course difficulty: 3/5

People say this route is difficult, as it contains a few hilly sections that can really cause slowdowns.  I did have to walk through some sections of this as my legs were just not used to doing 5ks and they were just giving up.  I do run at the gym on the treadmills every week and can do 15 mins non stop on speed 5, but that obviously is what I’m used to haha! There were some nice downhill sections though which helped me along a bit and I was prepared for the hilly bits as I wasn’t planning on running the whole time anyway.  I do know my pace and keep it up as long as I can before giving in to the walk. 

There were several twisty bits where I had to dodge out of the way of faster runners coming up on the inside! This slowed me down a bit, but I kept an eye out for Rosie coming past me as I knew she would lap me at some point and we did a sweet high five!  Overall, I would say I found it difficult but I am out of practice anyway.  All our times were quite good compared to our averages which means it can’t have been all that hard! I never let my slowness put me off running! It’s the taking part that counts 🙂

Course enjoyability: 3/5

Nice scenery, fantastic atmosphere and marshals cheering us on, beautiful weather and cute animals!  A few difficult sections and a little repetitive, at least it was around a nice lake.  It was nice to have paths instead of sections of muddy grass.

Overall experience: 4/5

I actually had a really nice time on Saturday morning! I donated some cash I’d collected at work to the charity takeover which made it feel even more worth doing, and I love doing exercise with a social element, it keeps me motivated.  I had wanted to do Saltwell Park as its a place I visited a lot as a child as my mum is from Gateshead.  There is a lovely cafe to visit in Saltwell Towers after the race is over and we had some tea and chocolate cake from the charity bake sale as a reward!

So would I do this parkrun again??
I’m not sure if I would do it again on my own as I prefer getting down my allotment nowadays for exercise instead of running, but I will be joining Rosie and Becca for future parkruns on their tour of the North East!