Its 2 years since I was first able to run 5k, since then there has been highs and lows, fitness and injuries. This year I purchased a garmin watch but it was only recently that I discovered that it held a record of your personal best time over a number of set distances. I decided to try to beat these times knowing that it should be quite easy to improve times that you didn’t know that you had initially set. I don’t usually run distances shorter than 3k so beating the mile and 1k times should be was easy - just run a mile as fast as you can.
Result new PB’s of I mile in 6.20 and a new kilometre time of 3.43 in the process. The 5k time of 21.55 would be more difficult as it’s a distance I often run, fortunately that week I had a good run at my local parkrun wearing my garmin recording a time of 21.30.
Three down, three to go. The longest distance I have run is around 8 miles so the half marathon and marathon showed no record which meant I just needed to complete the distance. The marathon distance is way outside my capability but I managed to up my mileage and ran the half marathon in 1.43. Pleased with the time but the challenge was always running the distance. The last record was the 10k which showed 48.57. I thought this must be doable as previously I’d rarely run this distance.
I set out well the first 2k which are always my slowest were both below 5 minutes each. The third k was straighter and flatter. I saw another jogger in the distance and quickly made up the ground and passed her. My garmin immediately sounded, I noticed I’d run 4.22 for the third k which was scary, it was too fast as I still had another 7k to go. The fifth k was a struggle as it is a continuous climb with the top being particularly steep. I managed to complete it in sub 5 minutes but was totally spent by now and went into auto pilot running. Fortunately the incoming 5k terrain is far more forgiving with the hills being in my favour and I recorded a final time of 47.04, a PB by nearly 2 minutes with each k being below 5 minutes.
What gave me satisfaction apart from the PB was that 2 years ago I struggled to pass even a parked car let alone another runner. However when I was passed the runner at 3K for some reason my sub-conscious recalled a memory from 2 years previous which was so trivial I never gave it any thought at the time so why should I recollect it now ? On that occasion I was struggling to complete a 30 minute run. A group of teenagers from the local college made a few light hearted heckling remarks aimed at myself and my running. I heard one supportive girl say 'his an old man don’t be so mean' (I was almost 60 at the time). Two years on, the girl that I passed running on my 10k could well have been her. As Bob Dylan said ‘the times they are a changin’ not only times and distances but also attitudes.
For all the runners embarking on this journey there will be the despair of the lows but the rewards of the achievements are well worth overcoming them.
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