Softly, softly catchy the leader!

After 144 Edinburgh’s out of the 164 runs held there I finally bit the bullet and dipped my parkrun toe into the unknown waters of a sister event.  If the truth be known there were several reasons for this.  Perhaps not the best of reasons but I found myself somewhat driven nevertheless.

For a while now I found myself surrounded by the likeminded attenders.  Some of those I have come to know very well indeed through our mutual love of parkrun.  Some have moved on and some have just had less time to attend.  Feasible in every way however, others have persisted.  I and two others mirrored a shaky start in terms of turnout but over the past couple of years have been neck and neck in our attendance, one leading with myself and another just two from him.  Others have been up there to or there around but my focus was on the leader!

We both have the great fortune to find ourselves to be in good health so attend every week.  We also both find ourselves preferring short breaks and avoid Saturdays away.  When one of us does take the odd Saturday off it’s usually then replicated by the other and so the jostling for attendance top spot continues but oddly, and this is where the intrigue and manoeuvring exists, neither of us really talk to each other about it.  Yes, but we both know it goes on.  Believe me; it’s not all as childish as I’m making it out to be rather that I’m just not a great story teller.

The leader went to Aberdeen for a bash and was due to participate in the parkrun event there next day but unfortunately found it to be cancelled due to ice on the course.  That led to me creeping up to just one away from matching his lead.  My immediate adversary succumbed to family arrangements at Christmas and so I pulled one place higher than her.  Edinburgh was not to hold a New Years Day event having already done so on Christmas day so I looked around to see where else I could go.  Local Edinburgh annual run or off toward west of Glasgow for Strathclyde parkrun.  The leader had plans to attend a local jogscotland gig and so a parkrun wasn’t for him.  Me, I attended both my gigs with a breakneck drive between both and lo, the match was affirmed.  He and I are neck and neck with two places between us and next closest.

The gain, well several as previously indicated.  A New Year Day run, well two.  Done!  Attend a different event to that which I know, thank you for having me Strathclyde.  Done!  Joint top attender, done too.  Thing is, he’ll not have noticed until this Saturday’s results are published and then it’ll be game on.  Not really, but there will be questions asked I guess and knives sharpened for the race to 250.  Sorry, run, for indeed, parkrun is not a race.