One of the things I’ve come to enjoy most about attending data conferences is the opportunity to catch up with old friends, make new ones and have conversations away from the conference floor; and Data Decoded Manchester was no exception!
After a day at Data Decoded, it was time for the official afterparty. A chance to relax, catch up with familiar faces and continue some of the conversations that hadn’t quite finished during the day.
From there, a group of us headed out for something to eat. Good food, plenty of conversation and some excellent company. One of those evenings where the time rather gets away from you and, of course, there was the after-after party!
By the time we returned to the hotel, it was approaching midnight. What amused me was that, as we slipped through the hotel doors just before they were locked for the night, other people were only just heading out to the nightclub!
Clearly, some people were planning a rather later night than us; although, with a 6:30am run planned for the following morning, perhaps we should have called it a night a little earlier ourselves.
Back in the hotel, there was one final job before bed: reminding myself where we were actually going to run.
I’d planned a route taking in some of Manchester’s canals, Castlefield, the River Irwell, Salford and Manchester Cathedral, returning to our starting point outside Manchester Central Library.
Unfortunately, my phone had been playing up all evening, so what should have been a quick check of the route turned into rather more of a battle than expected. Eventually, reasonably confident that I knew where we were going, I set the alarms and headed to bed.
A few hours later, it was time to get up, rehydrate and head outside and on the way to the meeting point we checked out where the turning off the road down on to the canal was.
One of the things that struck me as we headed towards our meeting point was just how busy Manchester already was. I’ve organised similar early morning runs at Big Data London, where the streets around Hyde Park can feel almost deserted before sunrise. Manchester was different.
The trams already had passengers, people were making their way to work and although the sun hadn’t yet appeared, the working day was clearly getting underway.
Soon our fellow runners started arriving outside Central Library. After allowing a little extra time for any stragglers, five of us set off into the morning darkness.
Our route took us down towards the canal network, following the towpaths beneath railway bridges and through some wonderfully atmospheric stretches of industrial Manchester.
There is something rather special about exploring a city on foot at this time of day. You get to see places you might otherwise miss, without the usual crowds and traffic.
We made our way towards Castlefield Basin, where we encountered something I really hadn’t expected. An enormous group of early morning runners!
It must have been one of the biggest groups of runners I’ve ever seen out together at that hour. We subsequently discovered it was an organised group associated with Lauren Knott.
Clearly, Manchester has a thriving early morning running community and we weren’t the only ones who thought getting out for a run was a good way to start the day.
From Castlefield, we crossed one of the rather interesting bridges and continued alongside the River Irwell, crossing into Salford.
The sky was slowly beginning to brighten, with the lights along the river reflecting on the water. It was a lovely contrast to the busy conference venues we’d spent much of the previous day inside.
We continued around Manchester Cathedral before winding our way through the city streets and back to Central Library and, once again, we’d been lucky with the weather!
As with our Big Data London sunrise runs, the real pleasure wasn’t the distance covered or the pace; it was the company.
An opportunity to get outside, explore somewhere different and spend time chatting with people who share an interest in data but who also have plenty of other interests and experiences to talk about.
I increasingly find that some of the most memorable parts of conferences happen away from the presentations and exhibition stands. Over dinner, during an evening gathering, or while running along a canal towpath before most people have started their working day and that’s one of the reasons I keep organising these little runs.
Thanks to everyone who joined us, particularly after the previous evening’s socialising. It was a lovely way to start the day. Another conference, another early morning run in the bag!
Now, perhaps next time I’ll remember to get a little more sleep first.