Now that I have completed the UK Alphabet, my focus has turned towards the East of England region. As there are so many events to choose from, I'm going to start by working through events in alphabetical order again, with an emphasis on working east to west, which for me, effectively orders events furthest to nearest.
During my initial exploration of the challenge, I did make a mistake however, which I only realised after running this event - I didn't realise that Aldenham parkrun was in the region, and so I started this phase of parkrunning by running Ally Pally parkrun instead!
The area
Ally Pally, or Alexandra Palace, is a purpose built community centre in Haringey, North London.
Unlike other palaces in the UK, Ally Pally has no royal connection, and instead has been entirely community oriented since its conception. The palace houses a theatre, concert hall, a convention centre, an ice rink, and has facilitated BBC broadcasts and studios for many years.
The palace overlooks Alexandra Park, which is a tree-lined open space with views overlooking most of London.
In addition to the views of London, the park offers impressive views of Ally Pally itself.
The course
Runners begin along a central path, and complete two laps of the main paths around the park, before returning to the start area along the same central path. The course is a mixture of tarmac and trail, so can become muddy in wetter weather, and the course takes runners up and down the hillside upon which the palace sits on each lap.
Limited paid parking is available in the palace car park, however, this is also currently the location of a testing facility, and so access may be limited. No public toilets are available in the vicinity of the park, however, lots of cafes are available in the surrounding area which offer use of their facilities to customers.
The run
After the lumpy Wendover Woods last week, knowing that the course this week was another lumpy one, I decided that I would pace the run much more evenly this week. The surface was an interesting mixture of tarmac, trail, gravel and dirt, and when combined with the changeable weather this morning, it seemed like there was going to be nothing constant about the day.
Fortunately for me, I did manage to find a group of people who were running at a fairly consistent pace (I assume faster runners who were having an easy day), and so I did manage to run the course in one of my more even splits so far!
Thanks to the volunteers for hosting such a seamless event!
References: Alexandra Palace