Author: Lee Stephenson
As with many runners, the running stuff goes on holiday just in case. Prior to heading to Cyprus I googled whether there was a park run in Paphos where I was staying. Paphos does not have an official park run affiliated to our parkrun and others around the world but it does have an equivalent run put on by the Paphos Running Club. I had to register for the park run by sending an email to the running club which I did a couple of weeks before heading out and got email acknowledgement back saying I was registered so I was excited to be running a park run abroad. I had run one before in Cape Town and it’s always good to try a race or park run when away if it fits in. The park runs over in Paphos are on the first Sunday of every month and start at 08:00am. So on the day I left my hotel early and walked to the park run which starts at Paphos Castle at the Harbour. It was already feeling hot at 23oC but very beautiful. The park run was quite busy and there was a stand at the beginning selling Paphos Running Club merchandise. I was tempted but didn’t succumb. I couldn’t wait to get started as it was getting hotter and just wanted to get going. So at 8am the Park run began. The route was 2.5k downhill then a turn and 2.5k uphill back to the finish. Although it was an out and back course which can sometimes be a little boring, this was great. The scenery was lovely. Starting off to my left was a steep cliff and then the sea. The views over the sea and the coastline made the run a pleasure to do. There was plenty to look at. Running back up to the start was quite hard but enjoyable. I purposefully didn’t run my hardest because of the heat but managed it in a time of 27:37 mins which I was pleased with. After the park run I hung around a bit then walked back to the hotel. Thankfully the holiday was all inclusive so I could tuck into a big breakfast then have a lay in the sun. What better way to finish a run. I would definitely recommend this park run or any run abroad. Being only once a month you have to make sure it is on when you go.
