Thunder, lightning and a memorable Parkrun at Bowral!

What an interesting week it has been!

 

At Speedygeese on Monday we ran our intervals under stormy skies and we all ended up drenched! Tuesday it was perfect and cool early in the morning for my run with Teddy but when I ran 10km after work it was very hot with just a few raindrops to cool me down. My mid-week run on Wednesday stayed rain free but was pretty warm by the time I finished. It was a bit of a struggle running 15km.

 

On Thursday I ran in the evening to avoid the heat and as my program included hill repeats I decided to run them at North Lyneham Ridge. As I approached the off road ridge I did observe very black clouds above me.   However, I continued with my plan and managed to complete 3 x 1 minute hills and 3 x 2 minute hills jogging down the hill between each repeat, before the thunder started rumbling very loudly! As the sky darkened I continued to run around the ridge taking a few wrong turns and feeling just a tad frightened as the lightning flashed and then down came the rain, not just rain but a head wind pelting it against me so that I couldn't see in front of me. I was so relieved when I reached the gate to climb through and head on the cycle path back home with the heavy rain falling on me, thunder roaring and lightning so close it made me jump. I have never been more pleased to reach my doorstep and stumble inside absolutely drenched like a drowned rat! I peeled everything off before heading straight for a hot shower. That is not an experience I am keen to repeat in a hurry!

 

A far better experience was the road trip Margaret and I took to Mittagong after work yesterday in order to run the Parkrun at Bowral this morning. This is LL's local Parkrun and Ewen, Jim and Bryan drove from Canberra this morning to run too. Last night it had poured most of the night and as the Parkrun starts and finishes on grass we expected it to be very soggy underfoot. However, it wasn't nearly as bad as expected and  it was so much fun to be part of LL's regular run. The narrow grassy start lasted for about 500m and then we ran on a concrete cycle track until the 2.5km turnaround point when we returned the way we came. This is when we realised that the path sloped slightly downhill as we ran out and the slight incline was quite noticeable on the return culminating in a steep little finish on the grassy slope. Not being used to grass or concrete all of us Canberrans had slower times than usual. However, Margaret smashed the previous W65 record so that was fantastic. We plan to return to repeat the experience in a few months. I need to train more so that I can beat the W60 record. They are such a friendly, welcoming group of Parkrunners. My favourite part of the morning was definitely the excited greeting Norma gave us when she arrived and spotted us. It was indeed a memorable event.

LL and her Canberra friends after the Bowral Parkrun

Street art in Bowral

 

Olive Groves at Grandma's Little Bakery in Collector

Margaret in the arbor overlooking the gardens at Grandma's Little Bakery