PARKRUN PROFILES - PLEAN

Resident parkrun expert Michael shares his parkrun adventures in Parkrun Profiles, a regular column detailing the amazing variety of parkruns across Scotland (and perhaps beyond!)

As nice as the parkrun’s in and around Edinburgh it is good to try some different parkruns a bit further afield.  I’m going to share my experience of running Plean parkrun.

Plean parkrun is in Plean Country Park.  It is just off the M876 and was relatively easily to reach by car.  I usually like to travel by public transport where possible, but this was not going to be possible for this event. 

It is quite a low-key parkrun which usually has fewer than 100 people running each week. 

The course is tougher than it looks.  It is a mixture of trail and tarmac but I would definitely advise wearing trail shoes for this event.  It was particularly muddy when I ran it. 

In the brief we were warned not to go off too fast as there is a climb at around 3km.  They were not wrong!  The run starts off with a small climb before levelling off and much of the second km is downhill.  It is all to easy to forget what is coming up.  The third km has a long drag of a climb but as you are in woodland it is not especially obvious.  It is definitely the toughest part of the course. Once it levels off there is a small loop and a downhill and you return to a small part of the original course before returning to the finish area.

My top tip for this course is to stay alert.  You need to be watching for the arrows and the marshals.  There are a couple of places where you go either left or right if it is your first or second time reaching that point.  The marshals are great and very encouraging. 

Don’t expect to be hitting your 5km PB on this course, it is a tough one and I have one of my slowest ever parkrun times here.  It is good to test your fitness and is in nice surroundings.  It is a fun course – don’t be put off by the climbing as there are some nice descents too.