As many of you know I very rarely run parkrun at my "race pace" as I enjoy getting my son Daniel round it more than constantly chasing PBs. I thought it was about time to see what improvements I'd made so, for the first time in 7 weeks, yesterday I ran on my own. So Daniel didn't miss out his Dad and stepmum very kindly said they would come to run as well.
I actually felt quite nervous but had lots of good advice from people at my running club on how to approach the PB attempt - basically warm up properly and don't go out too fast!
My first km was strong and I got faster to the halfway point. I hate coming back - particularly kms 3-4. I'm going to ask one of the coaches why but I suspect it is psychological. Into the last km and I felt quite strong again. With about 400m to go two people came running towards me. I thought they were front runners on their cool down but as the lady said to me "you're doing really well - keep going!" I realised who it was:
Unbeknown to me someone very special had also decided it was a good day to attempt a PB - Dame Kelly Holmes!! Hastings is known for being a very fast course and she had arrived unannounced for her attempt. Suddenly my legs found a bit more - not quite enough for a full sprint in the final 150m but I was moving. Clocked in at 26:54 just over 9 mins slower than Dame Kelly's 17:48 PB but I'll take it 😂
Daniel's stepmum came in about a minute behind me and we waited for Daniel and his Dad who we knew would be about 8-10 mins behind us. Daniel finished with his usual fast sprint with his Dad 30 secs behind him. Dame Kelly had run part of the way in with them and told Daniel he had to beat his Dad. When he started to sprint she said "that's how you do it!". He had no idea who she was and thought she was just a really nice front runner encouraging everyone. I've shown him the videos of her Gold medal wins in Athens and he is absolutely chuffed to bits 😁
As if that wasn't enough for one weekend this morning I also took part in the Eastbourne junior parkrun running with my 7 year old nephew Ollie. He loves running and told me last week he wants to be a sprinter. It was absolutely fantastic! It's a 2km run for 4-14 year olds and the way they all sprinted off the start line was brilliant - no care for how far it was or whether they would be able to make it just the pure joy of running!
We went off quick and I was a bit worried I might not keep up with him but our pace settled and the questions started "Is running good for you?...Is it good for your legs?....What other bits is it good for"....to halfway where the marshal was high-fiving all the kids. He didn't realise we were turning (think he was just going to carry on running up to Beachy Head!) and tripped over my foot and fell, got straight back up and carried on running....."How far's left?....Is it good to have a stitch?😂 He started to get tired but then the finish line came in sight and off he sprinted. Finished in a time of 10.28.
Daniel ran by himself for the first time a fair bit faster than he manages with me and without the need for an inhaler. My eleven year old nephew also made it round. It's not on next week unfortunately but they all want to go back and do it again
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pianoteacher
Graduate10
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Thanks Jay! She was so amazing - she ran alongside loads of people giving them encouragement. Just wish I'd had chance to speak to her. She was in the army and I'd love to have asked her what time she did for the 1.5 mile run 😀
Thanks ju-ju I've been conscientiously working on speed by attending the sessions running club do to improve it. Don't want to run parkrun fast every week like some people do though - it's too knackering! x
That's a brilliant post pianoteacher. It encompasses everything that's great about parkrun. An excellent time for you too.
How wonderful that the young ones are showing an interest in running with you What a privilege to have Dame Kelly there cheering you on too. I think she still gives a lot back to sport and is so inspirational.
I was really impressed with junior parkrun too. I thought there might be a lot of very fast kids but there was a really good mix just like at adult parkrun. Some of them were tiny and so sweet 😍
Yes I checked out our local junior parkrun and there was one today. Sadly, it looked like only 13 children took part. I think we have more than that at the 5k parkrun. Maybe school holidays have reduced it or not enough know about it.
How amazing! Wow! Kelly is so inspirational, I’d love to have shared a parkrun with her, what a buzz for you and the family! And your time is pretty brilliant, did you see Kelly’s age grade 91%.....blimey, the girls still got it! 👏👍🏃♀️
She's absolutely amazing! She's gone to the top of the Hastings age grading surpassing even Adam Clarke who ran the 4th fastest parkrun in history (14:14!!) here at the end of last year x
Thank you Sadie! Very pleased with my time made even more special by having her there. I'll always remember the first time I went sub27 as the parkrun with Dame Kelly 😊
Wow!!! What excellent fun and a super time too! Congratulations! 🏃🏻♀️🏃🏻♀️🏃🏻♀️👏🏻🎉 Pleased to say that I ran my very first Parkrun yesterday and am still buzzing about it!
Excellent! So glad you enjoyed it 😁 I love it and know loads of people there now.
Volunteering is really good too - will run with Daniel a few more times to see if we can get his time down then we'll put ourselves up for tailwalking again x
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