This week was a real pleasure to revisit St Albans parkrun, Hertfordshire located at Verulamium Park that looked beautiful bathed in early summer sunshine.
Verulamium park
This park consists of 100 acres of beautiful parkland that was originally purchased from land owned by the Earl of Venulam in 1929 by the then city corporation.




The parks name Verulamium takes it from the roman city where the park now stands on and today a small section of the city’s roman wall from AD 265 still exists for visitors of the park to marvel over. Link
Remembering your first
For me you always remember your first ever parkrun, and for me it was St Albans back on 21st February 2015 and run about two months before my home parkrun of Luton, Wardown had their inaugural event.
I’ve been back multiple times since with my last visit I volunteered as a marshal in December 2016 and here is my blog report at the time link
On the day it was a treat seeing people you know, firstly Paul a good friend from my running club Stopsley Striders who I come to see on the day.
Also, great to bump into Claire and her friends from Dunstable Road Runners who were doing some local touring and last but definitely not least Adrian good parkrun and Luton Town buddy 😊


Course

The course starts with a 500m run on grass between playing fields, you the turn left and proceed to complete three anticlockwise laps that includes running along one side of the park’s lake.
On the end of the final lap this time you turn right and right again with a short run back to where the finish funnel awaits.



The course terrain is mainly made up for well-maintained footpaths with a couple of sections of grass, first at the beginning and then a gentle rise across a small field at the end of each lap. Overall, there is very little elevation to talk about on this course.
Points to Note
- This is a new course that replaces the old 3 laps one around the parameter of the lake itself as it was prone to burst its banks in a couple of places.
- Great idea having a wide grass start to allow the runners to find their natural position in the field.
- All couple of pinch points in trying to overtake at both ends of the lake.
- Lovely running along the footpath between the lake and the river Ver
Overall, this a very good course to get a fast time on if you wish and on the day, I would like to thank the 36 minutes pacer volunteer for doing an excellent job 🙂 My time was 35:49
Facilities
Travel
I decided to travel by car and used the Verulamium car park next to the start of the parkrun with a flat minimum charge of £2.50 for three hours Sat Nav AL3 4SW. If you want to pay in advance, you can use the Pay by Phone app station number 802745.
They also recommend Westminster Lodge car park that is at the other end of the park and charges start from £1.00 for up to two hours Sat Nav AL1 2DJ
Toilets
Always a bonus there are toilets available before the start of this event and are situated next to Verulamium car park.
Post run coffee

For the post run coffee, I retired the Inn on the Park Cafe for a well-earned refreshment and a lovely chat with the local parkrunners 🙂
Other facilities
- Verulamium museum
- Splash park
- Sports complex
Conclusion
I would like to thank this week run director Linda and team of volunteers for making it a enjoyable experience for everybody on the day, well done guys 🙂


So, if you are looking to running at a beautiful historic park and has a lovely community feel to their event, please add St Albans parkrun to your tourist list 🙂
Best
Mark aka Silent Runner