Bushy parkrun is 8!

And what better excuse to go for a run in the chilly autumn sun :o)

MOOOO! (yes, I know they're cervine, not bovine,
but they do moo!)

I got the train to Teddington as I'm still not cycling yet.  It's really very close to Bushy Park parkrun start and only 17 minutes from Wimbledon station - very handy for lots of London and Surrey people to get there.

It's Autumn and rutting season for the deer, so there are lots of warnings in the park that there are rather possessive stags parading about, bellowing and being a bit aggressive about their harems of does.  As long as you don't get too close, they're fine and won't charge, but oh boy are they vocal!

I just made it to the start area at around 08:50 to catch the end of the pre-run speeches and awards for the year at Bushy parkrun.  As it is the 8th anniversary, Nell McAndrew (OMG, she's only a year younger than me!) was there to start the run off and pose for photos with finishers.  She's so supportive of parkrun, running and sport in general - a great role model for women and girls in terms of healthiness.

There were -loads- of 50 and 100 shirts, not obvious from this picture

Nell prepares to take the megaphone to start the run

A reasonably pretty run ensued, with a field that must have broken the 1,000 runners mark for sure.  And for each 100th finisher, there were very pretty cupcakes and fizzy (prosecco for grownups, cola for the kiddies and teetotallers) to welcome them in...

Mmmcake!

 I caught sight of my lap splits from the 3rd km onwards and was quite pleased.  Thought I might even beat last week's time by quite a margin, but had a basic arithmetic fail (as well as Garmin saying the course was 5.13km).  Still... I managed to wind up the pace by 7-13s per km, km on km all the way through, with a good high cadence, even though I was wearing a t-shirt, long sleeved running top, long sleeved merino base/mid layer and a long sleeved cycling top on top!  Nice.  Beautiful day, lovely parkrun, good performance on the road of recovery and I'm a happy bunny!