The beautiful thing about having all these wonderful parkrun events in Victoria is having so much choice. I’m now fortunate enough to have a handful locally and the options widen the further I’m willing to drive.
This morning, we opted for an alarm starting with a 5 and headed off at 6am towards Lillydale Lake. I’d heard good things about this one so was looking forward to the adventure, despite not having had much sleep and a full on week.
We arrived and found the spot easily with plentiful parking and clean toilets to greet us. The surroundings instantly made me smile – a gorgeous lake and tranquil setting with the odd duck wandering across the path was exactly what I had in mind.
We gathered for the briefing which was all the more impressive as it was rhyming and included multiple milestone celebrations. And then it was time to start. Lillydale Lake parkrun attracts pretty big numbers so the start line was predictably a bit squishy. I kept to the back and it didn’t take long after the start before we were able to spread out a bit and find our own spots. The course takes you for 2 laps around the lake, starting by heading up towards and along the dam wall before coming back down to follow the water. The path is gravel but not thick enough to be annoying – it was the perfect surface for my still slightly grumpy achilles and was lots of fun to run on. I sometimes get grumpy on 2 lap courses but not this one – too pretty and with fellow runners and volunteers who were too friendly for me to have any grumps at all.
In fact, this morning’s run felt great. I wasn’t pushing it hard but managed my fastest time for the year and loved the welcoming and inclusive finish line vibe at the end.
This is a definite treasure of a parkrun. While I can’t say I’m likely to regularly get up at 6am to travel to it, I’ll certainly be back if I’m in the area and, if this is your local, you’re very, very lucky.
macgirl running 