This morning I have another parkrun review for you, this time from one of my favourite running bloggers, Mary, from A Healthier Moo. She’s an ultra running superstar and basically my running idol. She’s practically unbreakable and such a lovely person (who I’ve actually met in real life so I fully attest to this!). Mary and her husband, Dan, have recently had an adorable little baby boy as well so check out her current journey back to running on her blog. Over to Mary now and her write-up of Northampton parkrun.
Location: Northampton parkrun takes place at the Racecourse on the edge of Northampton each Saturday morning. It’s super easy to find, and you usually spot the streams of runners jogging in long before you reach the Racecourse itself.
Parking: Parking at the Racecourse is rubbish! Although parking at the Racecourse is free, it’s incredibly limited so if you plan on driving to Northampton parkrun I suggest you leave early, and arrange to share cars. I’ve arrived many times before 8:30am only to discover that there are no spaces left and I need to trawl the side streets looking for somewhere to leave my car. There is a fair amount of parking available on side streets, but it helps if you know the area and which streets you can park on. Several of our club members tend to park a little way out from the Racecourse and then jog up to the park as a warm up.
Amenities: The changing room toilets at the Racecourse are open for parkrunners from 8:45am and as there are so many changing rooms, there is never a queue.
With regards to post-run drinks, several runners seem to have now discovered Magees, and this is where I normally head for a post-run hot chocolate (with homemade marshmallow) and salted caramel tart! The alternative coffee shop is The Good Loaf, – a coffee shop which aims to provide employment opportunities to local vulnerable women.
Course: Northampton is a one and a half lap course run entirely on tarmac paths around the edge of the park, other than the finishing funnel where runners are fed off onto the grass.
There is a mad rush at the start as runners spread out wide across the grass alongside the start line before filing into their positions on the pavement. It can take several minutes before the pack begins to widen out after the start.
As the park is fairly open, with trees just around the edges – you can make out the majority of the pathways from the startline. Really handy when trying to show the course to runners who have not been out on it before.
You really can’t go wrong with the route, as the first lap takes in the whole park, with the second (half) lap cutting across the centre. The cut-through is lined with family members and supporters so it’s very clear where you need to turn. There are no tight turns to navigate – just corners as you come to each of the edges of the park. The field has always spread out enough by the time the front runners lap the back runners, so overtaking lapped runners does not become an issue.
The very slight ‘hill’ at the end
Elevation: I would describe Northampton as a pancake-flat PB course, although some would argue that there is a hill at the far end of the loop, which you hit both times round the course. It’s nothing too taxing though. (I just checked and apparently there is 61ft of elevation gain in total over the course.)
Number of participants: Having started out with a fairly small amount of runners, the Northampton course now regularly sees more than 400 sets of barcodes scanned each Saturday morning, with 479 being the highest number of recorded participants. There are quite a few running clubs and jog groups in the area and only a limited number of parkruns, although Kettering parkrun has just started up nearby, which should hopefully begin to ease some of the numbers at the Northampton course.
Other: The course record is 14:52 for men, set by Andrew Baddeley and 16:58 for women, set by Hayley Munn. Andrew’s parkrun PB incidentally is a staggering 13:48!
There is often a photographer at Northampton parkrun, – something which I thought was standard at most parkruns until we took friends that were visiting one Saturday morning and they commented on how nice it was to be able to look through photographs after the event, as their parkrun didn’t ever have anything similar. However, it seems no ‘good’ pictures of me not red-faced/heel striking/arm flapping exist!
Mary running strong!
A great course for when you really want to stretch your legs out a little and go for a fast time.
Thank you, Mary! You can find out more on their Facebook page and Twitter (and of course the parkrun website).
Have you done the Northampton parkrun before?
What’s your perfect post parkrun treat?
This photo made me laugh so much as I literally had no idea that Jim, the photo bomber, was behind me doing that. It was only when I looked at the photo I saw. Hehe.
The cowl (or buff) was actually really nice to wear as it was quite nippy at parkrun. Winter is definitely on it’s way 🙁 I’m really not looking forward to the cold morning’s of parkrun set-up and then running in the nasty weather. Hey ho.
Not particularly consistent really and fairly slow in comparison to previous runs (25:39). But my legs felt alright post marathon (well, they would do I guess after almost two weeks off!) andI’m still trying to take things nice and slow. I want to be really motivated when I get back into proper training so I don’t want to ramp things up too quickly now. I probably won’t run a huge amount in the next few weeks if I’m honest as I also have my eye laser surgery coming up this month. (I will blog about that experience.)
From my 
It was full of halloumi, feta, olives and aubergine.
Perfection. I did get enormous food envy though as one of my friends ordered the Willy Wonka Kinda special.
I mean WOW. It looked amazing. She found it got very sickly (as you can imagine) so I was able to help her out at the end 😉 But yes, it was ridiculously sweet. She was in a sugar coma afterwards which was quite amusing (seen as how it’s usually me who ends up that way!).
That’s Michelle in the green t-shirt storming along
They are generally very friendly and will move out the way for runners but just watch where you’re putting your feet!
Over the whole course the elevation gain is just 19m. This means that it can be a very fast one…although with Town Moor being very exposed any amount of wind can be a battle!
The top left picture is where we parked the car just outside the church hall
The parkrun crew were setting everything up and I was getting slowly more wet. I had no time goals but I wasn’t going to hold myself back. A faster paced parkrun has helped previously the day before races so I’m happy to stretch my legs, knowing I won’t be going anywhere near those paces the next day!
My dad cheered me on and it was back down the decline and off along the river. This was lovely and flat and I gained some speed. It was a nice pace actually. Surprisingly I didn’t feel the “Omg how much longer?” pain but rather a comfortable tolerance of the pain.
I’m really pleased with how I felt during this run. Albeit a slightly niggling calf, I enjoyed the burst of speed and didn’t feel like I was dying. Always a plus!
Then we made quick haste to get back to the car and then to find somewhere for brunch to warm-up.
We found a lovely little cafe/restaurant called 
It was honestly one of the best fry-ups I’ve ever had. I love that they separated the baked beans in a little bowl as I hate beans touching my eggs. The black pudding was to die for. And the service was fantastic. The bacon was super crispy and it wasn’t swimming in a pool of grease. Lovely.
And in the evening we had a nice meal in another pub (I didn’t need lunch after my mammoth breakfast!). I had a very taste starter of sardines (random I know but nice) and a goat’s cheese and sun-dried tomato salad with a side of sweet potato fries because #carbs 😉
And because I needed more carbs I had a brownie with ice cream for pudding. SO good.
Location: It’s set in the lovely Royal Victoria Country Park. It’s not that hard to find and once you arrive at the park you can usually see the signs and flags. The scenery is pretty with lots of trees, foliage and a view out to the sea.
You go round a few trees to finish off the lap before starting on the stones again. During the winter there can be many puddles on the stone track and you’re likely to get muddy and wet.
Usually during winter we switch to the winter course which is tougher. It again involves three laps but instead of running straight to Bluebell Woods it goes down a decline towards the nearby coast and you run alongside the water for a bit. This can get very windy and if it’s raining can be hard-going. You then run back up another path, but this time at an incline which though isn’t that steep does seem to go on forever. The rest of the route is fairly similar though instead of going along the grass you just head back down the stone path to repeat the lap.
Occasionally, due to summer events, we’re moved to the cricket pitch. This is called the “Marmite Course” because it’s five laps of the pitch which are very flat but quite dull. It’s a great way to get a PB but it does drag on. It’s also tough remembering how many laps you’ve done!
Elevation gain is 70ft over the entire run.
It’s a very friendly parkrun and I fully recommend it. No it’s not a PB course but it is pleasant and pretty!