A bit of a #throwbackthursday post today to a parkrun that we visited back in May, but for one reason or another, we never got around to writing up at the time: Exmouth parkrun.

Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside…

This was sort of unintentional parkrun tourism. Sort of. Exmouth parkrun was not our intended destination when we set out. Let me explain…

My in-laws were with us for the weekend, and so we decided to take the opportunity to get out and visit somewhere new. A look around, and we decided that Torbay Velopark took our fancy. It was a reasonable, but not silly, distance away, and it looked an interesting course.

We set off, a little bit late, but without too much concern. But, as we went, we noticed the traffic was a bit heavier than we’d accounted for (it was a bank holiday weekend). We kept going, though the sat nav estimated arrival time was starting to get a bit concerning. 8:55 might be an acceptable time to turn up to your home run, where you know what’s going on, but for touristing… it’s not ideal.

We passed Cullompton (and the turning for Killerton), and the traffic certainly didn’t seem to be easing. We had to make a decision soon: did we keep on going past Exeter to Torbay, or turn off early to either Exeter Riverside or Exmouth? We hadn’t really fancied Exmouth initially, as being a “road” course, it was one we could easily do with buggies. But, we were getting really touch-and-go for Torbay, and didn’t fancy repeating Exeter Riverside.

And so, we arrived in Exmouth with plenty of time. Which was handy, as we drove around the block a couple of times while I got confused about where we should park. In the end, we got it about right, parking on the prom, just metres from the start/finish. It’s paid parking, but I seem to recall that it was pretty reasonable, even taking into account the extra hour’s cost to fit in breakfast!

After popping to the toilets (very conveniently located) and faffing around for a while, I realised that I should probably head off for a warm-up jog. I headed off west along the Esplanade, knowing that the course mostly went the other direction. I knew I didn’t have too much time, but for some reason, I just kept on going, and ended up clocking up 1.1 miles. Which is perfectly reasonable, except when you get back to the start and find that everyone else is already gathered up ready to go!

Having missed the new runners briefing, and apparently the normal briefing too, I was initially slightly disorientated, and couldn’t work out which end of the pack I should integrate myself into. It soon became apparent when I paid attention, and I snuck myself into the side. Unfortunately, poor preparation meant that a few things weren’t quite ideal. Firstly, I was wearing my new inov-8 Parkclaws. These light trail shoes had seemed ideal for the mixed terrain of Torbay Velopark, but for the 100% pavement course of Exmouth, they were less ideal. Unfortunately, they were the only shoe I’d brought with me. Well, other than my Primark rip-off Vans, and well, no. Secondly, I was still in two layers from my warm-up, and couldn’t see anywhere obvious to leave the outer layer. Thankfully, it was just my ’50’ top over my apricot vest, so it wasn’t like I was in a thick hoodie, but still.

Anyway, without much further ado, we were off. And I had no idea where we were going. Normally, before any parkrun (or race, or training run) I intensely study the route, the elevation, any slow bits on Strava that might be because of mud etc. However, as I’d been expecting to go somewhere else, and had missed the run briefing to boot, I really had no idea. Sure, I knew it went along the seafront, and went mostly east, but a little bit west too. But I didn’t know how many laps it was, or whether it was the same lap each time, or, well, anything useful.

Actually, a very simple course!

On the other hand, it didn’t make a huge difference; I wasn’t going to finish first, so obviously I could just follow those ahead of me. That said, I was still caught a bit by surprise at the sharp hairpin bend we had to negotiate almost straight away! They had pacers when we were there, so I decided to tuck in behind the group that had formed around the 20 minute pacer, and just see how long I could settle in there before I lost them. Even holding back behind that pack, I was cracking along at a fair pace; around six minute miles for the first quarter of a mile; far quicker than the 6:25 needed.

About three quarters of a mile in, we were directed around to the right of the lifeboat station. I fully expected this to be a turnaround point, but no, we kept on going. It was quickly becoming apparent that this was in fact a single lap course. Out-and-back east, followed by a small out-and-back west. Which was a shame for my spare layer of clothing that I was now wearing wrapped around my hand – I’d hoped to throw it somewhere as we looped for a second lap. Damn this missing the briefing thing.

All the way to the end of the esplanade, about one and a quarter miles, and we turned around a nice large circle – none of this tight corner around a cone nonsense here! (That was later, at the other end.) Heading back, we were directed around the other side of the lifeboat station (right again, of course). Being near a pacer, there was still a nice little pack of us, which was helping me to keep with a pace I hadn’t really expected to maintain. In fact, Exmouth parkrun was a rarity for me – a fast paced run in which I ran perfect negative progression. After 2.4 miles, we re-passed the start/finish area, and I was  finally able to throw my spare layer of clothing at the RD (what else are they for, after all?) Unburdened, I headed off for the eastern spur of the run reinvigorated! Or something like that.

As I alluded to earlier, the turnaround point at this end was just a cone, but with the field spread out more than at the other end, it wasn’t an issue for me as a pinch point – had I been running with the buggy in the mid-field, it might have been a bit trickier. That turn comes at about 2.7 miles, so provides a nice mental point to start ramping things up a bit more for a quick finish. The course veers to the right to finish, but carries on a little further than the start line (this would have been nice to know in advance – if only I’d been around to hear any sort of briefing!!) I was chuffed with my time of 19:41, my second fastest parkrun ever!

Lolly did pretty well too, finishing in 29:27, her 10th different sub-30 parkrun course, also making it only the second course on which we had a sub-20/sub-30 pair. (Along with our home parkrun, Longrun Meadow.)

Not just a dull out and back… The wheel is more or less the start/finish area, which is a handy landmark on the run.

The course sounds a little dull; out and back along the prom. Similar to Seaton, but without the run on the pebble beach, and Minehead, but just one “lap”. In some ways, it is a bit dull. It’s flat, all pavement. But, of course, the views counteract that to an extent – Exmouth is a pretty bit of coast. It’s a much quicker course than Minehead, (Seaton is relatively slow because of the beach sections), but this might have a bit to do with the relative amount of wind at each. Despite having pretty big number when we were there (337), it didn’t feel too overcrowded, even with passing other runners on the prom.

After the run, the barcode scanning is (a little confusingly at first) in the cafe across the road from the finish. Although there were signs, I found them a bit unclear initially, and mostly worked it out by following other people! Of course, once we were in the cafe, it would have been rude not to stop for some breakfast too…