I began 2018 without a hangover, fortunately, but feeling somewhat lethargic after having enjoyed a few drinks the evening before with family, although I didn't get to bed until about 3 AM and I had set my alarm for 8 AM so that I had enough time to sort myself out before doing Parkrun that morning.
My girlfriend, Michelle, had long wanted to join in with the New Years Day swim in the sea at Barry Island, and she was determined that she was going to do it this year, however, she has had a niggling cough for weeks which didn't seem to want to go away, so she was persuaded not to do it, for health reasons. But we decided to go to Barry Island anyway as there was a Parkrun beginning at 10:30 with the swim at midday.
The drive to Barry was dark with heavy rain clouds, and in fact as we drove through the town the heavens opened up again with rain and hail thrown in for good measure. I didn't have my waterproof running jacket with me so it was beginning to look like I was going to be in for a good soaking.
We had a few minutes to kill once we had parked the car, and there was no point just standing about in the cold and rain, so we didn't begin the walk down to the sea front until ten minutes before the start.
Michelle went off to find some family members who she was planning to meet and I reached the shelter where the run was to begin and I was pleasantly surprised to find friends Andrew, Catherine and Cath there. Then, all of a sudden, the black sky changed to blue and the sun appeared, so maybe I wasn't going to get a soaking after all.
I went to the visitors briefing before making my way to the rear of the pack of 430 runners and off we went. The course begins on a wide area of pavement before making a hairpin right hand turn where the path is on an incline. Once at the top of that incline, the path narrows and the marshals were indicating us to keep to the right as the faster runners were heading back towards us, so there was little or no room to be able to get past the slower runners. The path then reaches the Coastguard watch tower, turns sharply left with a short but very steep incline of about 20 metres before turning sharply left again and heading back along the narrow path. Once onto the wider section again, which is now downhill, I was able to get a better pace on. A hairpin left hand turn sees runners heading back to the shelter where cones and a U Turn sign guide us back to run a second lap.
My official time was actually 28:08 which shows how much slower this course is compared to my local run at the Riverfront, although there were many more runners there than usual.
Andrew, Catherine & Cath were taking part in the swim, as was Michelle's Auntie, so I thought that I may as well partake, although I'm a complete woos when it comes to cold water, so I thought that if I got in up to my knees I'd be doing well.
We assembled with hundreds of others on the beach, with hundreds more there to watch. In fact I heard many people say that they hadn't seen that many people on the beach even in the height of the summer holidays. Then, with a loud air horn blast, everyone began to run into the freezing cold water. Man was that water cold as I ran into it, and by the time the water had just about reached my knees, my feet had become numb with the cold, so I turned around and headed back.
After I had been out of the water for a few minutes, and I was drying my feet, I had the weirdest sensation of my hands feeling numb and tingly, even though they hadn't been in the water.
Picture courtesy of Walesonline
What a hoot that was and a great was of spending the morning.
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