Blame it on the tech. Or on my fumbling with the tech. In my vision, I would be reaching 5k by Xmas... and maybe on the 25th itself. Today was meant to be a stepping stone, similar to CR9, more like 4.6k or 4.7k. But the audio-stat function was playing up, and I accidentally paused Runkeeper - not once, but twice - in the first 10 minutes. All in all, a bit of a mess on the measuring front.
I was again running solo; again heading to the second park; and even earlier than on Monday to catch the beautiful dawn light. I set out at 7.30 after a decent set of preparatory exercises and some foam-rollering. A further 5-minute warm-up walk - with some photos to help with my festive-bingo effort - took me to the start of the tech-mishap episode(s).
It took a while to realise, of course, and led to more fumbling at a point I’d have preferred not to be distracted by such things. Retrieving the phone from my makeshift ‘running’ belt (an ancient travel accessory); adjusting eyes to read that it was paused; ensuring that it was actually on; then trying to get the whole thing back into the tiny key pocket instead of the one designed for cash notes: all while moving. Not a good look and not a great set-up for a run. It had an adverse impact on my mood - amazing what can throw one off. I’d rather have been thinking about being patient with my run’s early stages and with my body at this point (thanks to advice I really like from Andy Puddicome), but I was feeling impatient with this darned belt, the phone, and the app! That took a bit of a while to overcome despite everything else being perfect.
There were water fowl aplenty, flocks of gulls on the grass. Still no dabchicks (are they late risers?) Some ducks I still can’t identify after consulting my pocket guide; they’re probably the female version of some ‘ornamental’ birds. As I circled the ponds, the moorhens would scurry across the path in front of me. There were gorgeous colours in the sky, to be admired in places through the dark lacing of tree silhouettes. The huge puddles of Monday had now gone even though there was rain overnight.
After rounding the water a few times, I headed back up the central incline and ran around the network of paths on the higher ground, past the deer enclosure (they were just visible at the far end). I thought about my breathing. However, today I was more successful focusing on my footfall - aiming for short strides, slightly faster cadence, and on quick-lifting feet. Not sure I was skimming the ground exactly, but, as we will see, it did improve my handling of the rises.
I took a different exit gate so that I could avoid the busier streets around the schools, and looped homewards. I was on a new route here, a residential road, and then found my way to some ancient lanes that survived the 19c urbanisation, a mix of garages, workshops and a growing number of experimental architect houses. Parcels were being unloaded into the most dramatic of these homes from a hired Luton van. I wove my way to the back-snicket orchard, the mini-park (taking a different undulating path), arriving the street orchard that marks the transition to the cool-down walk. I took the photo above here.
Anyway, all this without audio-updates to alert me to time, distance and pace. Just guesswork. This was the result:
41:27, 5.37km, 7:44.
7:50, 7:55, 7:36, 7:30, 7:23, (8:43).
Caveat: As far as I can tell, the app continued to record progress despite being ‘paused’. (Times on my photos before and after the run suggest this.)
Of note (to myself primarily) is that I almost achieved negative splits for the main part of this run; that the incline in the park did not hinder my increasing pace; that I ran further than I’d planned, and further than I’d planned for Xmas; that this was the best average pace of the three runs I’ve taken to this park; that the mess at the start didn’t do much damage. A lot of surprises!
Enjoy your outings, fellow runners! 🏃🏻♀️🏃🏻🏃🏿♀️🏃🏽♂️🏃🏼♀️
week3run1 ✅. 3 x 17 mins with 1 min walks. 
How did your parkrun or (not)parkrun go?
