My first parkrun walk

[Bazza1234]

I have been having a severe case of the "can't be bothered" syndrome lately. I think it is mostly a side effect of the dreaded " why does this seem harder /slower when it should be getting easier/faster" primary syndrome.

I was surprised to see yesterday that my nemesis at parkrun ( a man 4 years younger than me who ran my HM non-stop 10 minutes faster than me and went on to a 26 minute PB at parkrun on the next weekend , when I could hardly walk!! ) -- was wearing rubber thongs. When I told him that he shouldn't really run in thongs, he revealed to me that he wasn't running at all - and was in fact a fellow sufferer of the "can't be bothered" syndrome.

Well - it looks like I do have one up on him - because i had previously decided that I could at least be bothered to WALK this parkrun ( which was number 48 for me). I had enough energy to walk as fast as I possibly could - and I did it in 47 minutes!! It was quite warmish with a hot sun ( it subsequently got to 36C later in the day). And I was a bit surprised to discover how difficult it was- in some respects more so than running. I was also surprised to see how high my average HR was over the 5K - 10 BPM higher than I have ever seen it before when walking by myself at a good pace. Maybe that is why I have been struggling with the runs a little bit lately - and caused by the sudden arrival of summer heat? . I also got stiff calf muscles and one foot went to sleep (as it has been doing lately when running) - so I am thinking I am going to have to have a real good look at leg stretching/exercising which I normally don't do.

As we here have all mostly done LOTS of running over the past years, I am wondering what you think about the idea of doing some ( brisk) walking as a part of our running "training" . I think that it can't do any harm??? - but can it actually do some good???

[ancientrunner Graduate10]

Bazza - you know they are not called thongs in the UK but flip flops . Thongs are something altogether different and as for rubber ones that has conjured up wild visions of your nemesis for lots of us!!!

I have been thinking of you and I know we are all different in our approach but have you thought of just going out for a run/walk and not bothering about what your HR, speed etc are .

Linda

[davelinks Graduate10 in reply to ancientrunner]

Ha Ha yes! I had visions of a guy running in a thong as we know them AR, BUT, in rubber?! lol glad you cleared that up!

[poppypug Graduate10]

Rubber thongs ???? Ha ha !

Ah flip flops

After 48 parkruns I think youre perfectly entitled to walk , walk/run or get round the course any way you want !

Well done Bazz xxx

[Zev1963]

rubber thong héhéhéhéhéhé doesnt sound very comfy for running

[Bazza1234 Graduate10]

Actually we have two things that are called "thongs" - one we wear on our feet - the other we wear elsewhere. Only one of these is made out of rubber - and we are generally smart enough to understand which is which , even though not explicitly referenced , by the context in which the word is used !

So really - my nemesis could not/should not run in either!!