Goolwa is a small country town located on the Fleurieu Penninsula in South Australia.
It’s a special coastal town because Goolwa is the end of the line for the Murray River. It’s where the river meets the sea.
It was also the locality of this year’s much-needed summer mid-break.
While cruising the maps and looking around for things to do and see, I noticed that Goolwa has a parkrun!
South Australia hasn’t had such tight restrictions like Victoria so parkrun has been running for a few months.
Needless to say, I was super excited that there was a park run, and more so that I would actually be able to attend.
Located only a 1km from our Air BnB, it made sense to run there for a warm-up. I checked in via their QR code and had my barcode on hand.
As I hadn’t run a parkrun, let alone an event with people, in nearly a year, I wasn’t too sure how I was going to go. My intention was to run steady, but not race. It’s easy to race at parkrun, but I didn’t want to do too much too soon, after recovery from a mild back (work-related) injury.
Soon enough it was time to run, with the horn sounded, we were off. I fell into a rhythm of comfortable but pushing to hard.
At the turn around point I noticed that I was starting to overtake people. Picking up the pace, but not pushing it, soon enough I started to pass runners.
Crossing the line in 24 minutes, I was happy. The speed is there, she just needs to be awoken.
Surprisingly I was the fastest female and the 16th to cross the line. I wonder how much better I could have done if I was in the racing mindset?
Not every parkrun has to be a race or a PB, I was just happy to be able to go to a parkrun and to be one that I’ve never been before.
Thanks Goolwa!
