Back at Nulkaba on a cold, windy, a little wet, summer morning.
Parkrun 4: Nulkaba Parkrun
Location: Nulkaba, NSW
Position: 47
Time: 32:54
Given the rain around the region over the last 72 hours, this would have been an easy one to miss, but as usual, I’m glad I forced myself out the door.
Very small field of less than 80 braved a cold, windy and a little wet summer Saturday morning. The wind was really the worst of it with gusts of nearly 50 km/hr at times. As previously mentioned, this is a looped 2.5km course which this morning meant head winds on the way out, tail winds on the way back, only to turn around and do it all over again.
And the head winds were pretty insane, whilst the tail winds where they were needed most were virtually non-existant, in a cruel twist of irony.
This morning’s run was a go-slow affair, in part thanks to the bottle of wine from the night before (I really need to question my Friday night life choices), but also because for probably the first time, I felt no obligation to push, or try and get a PB.
As discussed before, I’m acutely aware of my drop in fitness in the latter part of last year and, despite doing parkrun every weekend so far in 2025 (and three parkruns in the last 10 days of 2024), I’m a long way off my best fitness. A very long way.
Today was simply about getting out, and getting it done. And strangely, I felt really great after completing the run. The smile I smiled to myself was the widest in a little while.
I felt almost like I had nothing to prove, no goal to aim for, other than the simple joy in running 5k at a fairly leisurely pace. To that end, whilst I wondered if the pace I was doing would get me a course PB, that thought was fleeting in nature.
In saying that, towards the end of the second loop and approaching the finish line, I could sense someone catching me from behind, and it wasn’t long before I could hear to footsteps getting steadily closer. So me being me, I naturally picked the pace up for the last 300 metres or so.
Indeed, once I crossed the line, I heard “Bastard” being cursed under the breath of the person attempting to catch me, followed by a “I was so dialled in to catching and overtaking you” to which I responded “I heard you coming.”
And that very friendly exchange defined what Parkrun means to me. There is competition, but overall it’s honest and friendly in nature – especially in the midpack. It’s part of the reason I was smiling on my way back to the car.
Next weekend is Australia Day weekend and I think I’m going to travel somewhere new for Parkrun. As for where, I have no idea.