When setting my parkrun schedule 10 months ago I had no idea that Hilly Fields, Lewisham was the closest parkrun (2.5 miles away) from the start of the London Marathon and I set myself to run this specific event a day before the greatest marathon on earth, what a coincidence!

For me it is amazing each week how London parkrun events test me with the variety of courses with Hilly Fields being one of the toughest I have encountered on this challenge!

The summit of this park is 175 ft above sea level with excellent views of Lewisham and beyond. I have to agree with this the thought of having a picnic on that hillside in the middle of summer would be a lovely way to pass the time away!

It was my pleasure again today in meeting fellow Cow Cowl parkrun tourists in Jonathan Dobson (running in the marathon) and Heather Rainsbury 🙂

Course

The course is just over 3 undulating clockwise laps of Hilly Fields park that is run on a mixture of grass and tarmac surfaces! Today we were on their summer course that I have been told is easier than its winter counterpart!

The run starts by Pistachios cafe, you then proceed across the ridge of the hill until you get to Montague Avenue where you proceed to complete 3 laps, at the end of the final lap you turn right to run back along the ridge to the finishing tunnel!

Main points

• The start and the finish are on top of the ridge of the hill
• The pronounced climbs are at Vicars Hill coming up to the cafe and the short steep grass climb at Montague Ave at the end of each lap
• Interesting how this course would behave after a long period of wet weather especially on Montague Ave, wonder if they would revert back to the winter course?

Personal Stats

There are times ideally you should not run because you are not feeling your best and that was today for me, but I have set this challenge every week to run all 47 London parkruns and that is what I did today! I cannot overstate it though how much I hate walking anytime on a 5k, time 37:18 

Important Info

As stated street parking is available around the parameter of the park, I chose Hilly Fields Crescent Sat Nav SE4 1QA

There is a public toilet block behind the cafe available before the start of the parkrun Pistachios Café is the place to go for that lovely post run coffee!

Final Verdict

I would like to thank Sally the run director and his team of volunteers for making me feel extremely welcome today, top work guys!!!

So Hilly Fields is a true test of your climbing and descending abilities on multi terrain   surfaces, a must for any parkrunner up for a challenge!

Finally I would like to wish everybody good luck running the London marathon tomorrow especially all my friends at Stopsley Striders!

Best

Mark aka Silent Runner

Run on 22/04/2017