Marshalling parkrun in the rain

As I am running my half marathon tomorrow I opted to volunteer at my local parkrun today. There was some light rain as I walked up there. It feels like a long time since I have done an event in the rain and some of the other marshals were saying this could be the first wet run there. It may not be enough to make it muddy though.

I was stationed at 'Poo Bin Corner', where i have been a couple of times before. It is good in that you can see people do their sprint for the finish, but then you also have to wait for everyone to finish their last lap, so you can be there a while.

Someone mentioned that I might get offered a coffee by the guy who lives in the house on that corner, but this had not happened before. However, he did come out and I had a nice cuppa whilst watching the race. The downside of that location is the noise from the main road, but I could also hear some birds singing and watch them flying over. A robin was perched above me singing for a while. I also saw geese, gulls and a red kite fly over, as well as a helicopter.

There was a fairly good turnout, despite the rain, which let up for most of the race, but came back for the last half hour. A guy who often runs there led the whole race with a lady getting a personal best for second. A young lady who obviously had some issues with her legs was at the back with a couple of friends, but just getting out there was an achievement for her. I was keeping an eye on the times to see where I might have finished.

I had a message from my daughter who is in Vienna this week. She did the parkrun there which had less people and a fair few Brits.

It was still raining a little as I walked home. I was not too wet and it was not cold. I hope to be running there again next week. The weather for tomorrow looks like it could be cool and dry. That suits me fine.

Run free and stay well.