Tutus for March 22 and an interval session with the youngest. Today was a good day.
Parkrun 13: Nulkaba Parkrun
Location: Nulkaba, NSW
Time: 34:48
Position: 90
Every time that parkrun falls on the 22nd of the month, Nulkaba Parkrun commemorates by encouraging runners to wear a tutu, adding a little bit of fun and colour to the run. The problem with Nulkaba is the high number of tourists who run at it, given its proximity to the Hunter Valley vineyards, who invariably miss the memo.
Not that I expect them to get the memo in the first place, no do I resent having tourists at “my” parkrun. It’s just that it looks like about a third of the runners have come wearing this strange attire and everyone else is, well, normal.
It’s just a weird dynamic.
Not that I particularly care today. I wouldn’t normally partake in any of these things myself, but for some reason this time, I thought I should branch out and embrace my uncomfortableness a little. My ex-wife was particularly keen on me wearing a tutu, given I was running today with my daughter for only the second time this year. She figured she’d get a kick out of it, and she wasn’t wrong.
My daughter is desperate to become a distance runner, and she does have some natural ability. Her form is excellent, and she does dedicate herself to becoming better. But she lacks conviction when the going gets tough which, given she’s still only 12 years old, she can easily develop.
But for now, our parkrun consists of 7 lots of 4 minutes of running and 1 minute of walking, although the last of these reps today will ultimately be closer to 6 minutes than 4 as we chose to continue to run home rather than take a final walk break.
This week, like last week’s run, isn’t fast, but it is fun. And this week both of us feel this way.
This is my seventh run at Nulkaba, and some of the regulars are starting to recognise me. Today, this was demonstrated by complementing my tutu choice. It’s strangely nice and I really like the group that’s involved with this parkrun – there’s a much more community feel here than several others in the region.
My daughter, whilst setting her Nulkaba PB, isn’t getting close to her actual PB today, but it’s a huge improvement on last week when she struggled in a couple of the intervals. Today, there’s no trepidation and she’s absolutely beaming at the end of it all.
And so am I. It’s great to see her comment, ‘That was really good’ whilst I catch my breath after finishing. It makes me confident we’ll see her improve a whole bunch this year. It’s going to be fun to watch, and provides another reason, not that I needed one, to keep turning up every week.