The Gypsy Shit Benchmark

I'm fortunate enough to have a Bracknell Parkrun 5 minutes walk from my back gate. This means I have to have had a really heavy Friday night not to attend.

Now the thing about Bracknell is it's always been considered one of the tougher Parkrun courses locally and it got even harder in January this year when they changed to a new layout with extra technical woodland and spongy woodchip underfoot. Now I like the new route much better but it did take me six months to get inside the PB I'd set on the old course.

So I've been thinking for a while, especially since I did a bit of Parkrun tourism and easily destroyed my Bracknell time, what time I would get if I ran the old course now? Thing is it was 3 dull laps that I've just not been able to bring myself to try on my own. Maybe one day we would get an organised run round the old route, just for old time's sake. Well that day was today.

But why?

Well we've had a lot of traveller activity in the area this last week. Honestly I've never seen such a concentrated collection of white vehicles in one place. What is it with the white cars? Anyway at one point during the week they decided to take over Great Hollands Rec where the Parkrun occurs and a cancellation was likely.

Fortunately they moved on / were moved on by the authorities in time for the Parkrun to go ahead. Unfortunately they have used one of the new parts of the course (if you are on Strava the bit known as "Allotment Drop") as a toilet. Didn't fancy checking it out in person but based on the descriptions on the Facebooks it sounded like rivers of human shit down there. Nasty.

Sooo the organisers had no choice but to run us round the old route which avoided Shit Mountain for the most part and gave all of us that were doing Bracknell last year the chance to see how we've improved in the proper context.

I'm pleased to report that I cruised to time 2 minutes faster than I was running the same course at the end of last year. The problem is when we switch back to the normal route next week it will probably take me another 6 months before I dip under the Gypsy Shit Benchmark.

Oh well. Goals.

In other news my amazing new running vests have just winged their way from China. Led Zep and a collage of band logos. These can go in rotation along with my all over print Number of the Beast running vest which gets random people throwing horns as you jog past them. Reckon I'll get a good 5 seconds per mile boost from these new ones. Especially when combined with this playlist!

Metal. \m/ \m/