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The top line is the contribution from our brand new kitten. As she keeps trying to pounce my hands when I'm typing I'll have to keep this short. I was worried I was going to be late for the parkrun, but despite a wee stop in the supermarket next to the run I still made it. As it turned out, I needn't have worried because unfortunately somebody was taken ill before the run began , so we had to wait for the paramedics to do their thing. It kicked off at 9.15 in the end, just as I was wondering if i should abandon it because we were going to view the kitten at 11. It's a big run; 420 people yesterday with lots of fit, young student types from the nearby university. I decided to listen to Laura as I could see plenty of other people with headphones in, although I started it from the walking section, and there was a slight delay in getting going so my timings were a bit out. I kept my pace very steady at the start but even so was surprised to find i was still overtaking people.
Kitten free now so it's a bit easier to write this. I had thought the route reached a certain point then looped around and back, so I was slightly alarmed when I realised it was a bit further to the looping point than I was counting on! However I was still overtaking the odd person at this point - of course we'd already run into all the quick people heading back as the less quick were on the way out. When Laura said it was 5 minutes to go I thought it was time to see if I could make it to the end by the end of the podcast, which would see me in at 35ish minutes. I did power up a bit and overtook a group of women who I'd been pacing behind for quite a while - it was a good feeling, I have to say. suddenly Laura said that's it, and I felt quite disappointed I hadn't done it - until I heard her say "That's a whole 28 minutes you've run," and realised I was listening to week 8 by accident. So I thought I've got two extra minutes here, kept it up and I made it to the end. When I got my time later that evening, it was 34m 03s, which I was delighted with. I was ahead of about 40 people, which was nice. I was surprised how many people I saw walking small sections, and there's nothing wrong with that at all, but I felt quite proud (thank you Laura!!) that I could keep going even if not very quickly.
I think I'll be back another time. I don't know if I'm a massive fan of running in a group, just because I get twitchy about getting tripped or tripping someone else, but I supposed once it spreads itself out that's not too likely to happen. And practice will help I'm sure. Race for Life next Sunday then.
A loud 'excuse me please' should probably do the trick.
First 5k
First post graduation run
First post-graduate run
First parkrun
First Park Run
