It’s hilly, but it’s not in a field! Hilly Fields parkrun (near Lewisham) has been bothering my to-do list for some time, and an opportunity to visit finally presented itself this freezing Saturday. With many parkruns cancelled due to Weather (of the slippery ice variety) I was very lucky that other than suffering from Loss of Scenic View, Hilly Fields was unafflicted.
They’re on the winter course at the moment which means the lap is slightly shorter and misses the worst grassy section. It is, however, still a multiterrain course with a killer grassy hill. The start and finish are in roughly the same place, on tarmac, then it sinks to the bottom of the hill. At this point one is supposed to run along a boggy path parallel with Hilly Fields Crescent but if one is prepared to add a few metres to one’s parkrun one can actually run along the pavement and avoid the squelch, although this route does take in two bus stops, which can be a bit perilous if a 484 should arrive. Please note actually getting on the bus to the top of the hill is considered cheating.
I was supposed to be taking it easy because I had a 10 mile race the next day, but in fact it was so bloody cold that I might have run a little bit faster than my target time of 38:30, though the diversion on to the pavement and walking up Squelch Hill replaced a few of the seconds I had sliced off speeding on the downhills. I finished in 37:43. Oh, and I got lapped by a man in a banana costume.
7:07 
We don’t have park runs in the US. I guess the closest thing would be trail runs in local and state parks.
It seems that in the UK you run them in city parks, is that correct? If so, your average city/town park must be much larger than in the US.
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There are a few in the US, but not as many as there are here. They’re in all sorts of places – sea fronts, the countryside, dockside, woodlands, farms, cycle paths… but yes, most of them are city parks. A lot of them are several laps.
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