Today was my first Parkrun. Thank you for your replies to my post yesterday and support wishing me luck. It made a big difference to how I felt on the run as I imagined you there cheering me on! You really are a fab bunch of people. Ok, so here's how it went.
I drove through storming rain, arrived early and headed straight to a group of marshals, at which point I said "hello. I'm a first timer". They all cheered and that was it! I was hooked! They were so friendly and told me what to do, how the course was run, asked me questions and generally made me feel very welcome. " just run as fast as you can" they said! Oh er, I thought. If I did that I'd only manage 1K! But what a lovely start.
Then, a quick loo break and I started the warm up walk and various exercises. The rain had stopped by this time which was great news. Lots of cars arrived and various shapes, sizes, ages of runners emerged. I started to feel a bit excited/nervous etc etc but I was so immersed in my warm up I missed the introduction! Anyway, we all made our way to the start, I kept to the back and we were off.
The advice from you good folks on here is not to go too fast at the start so I heeded that advice and ignored everyone else, trying to get my own pace. The run was 3 loops of the playing fields, flat apart from a little incline at the end of each lap. I did run the course a few weeks ago but realised that I had run the other way! Oops.
So I was feeling great, passing some people , others passing me, running a spritely rhythm. First lap done, passed some marshals who said "great time". Oh maybe I'm going too fast and need to slow down I thought. Slowed a little, out of breath but do'able so carried on. A nice marshal called me a girl, so that put a smile on my face! It's been a long time since I was a girl! Second lap done, getting tired, felt a bit sick but upped the pace. When I ran this in practice I did it in 33.34 but I wasn't really pushing it then so I thought if I could do it under 33 minutes today I'd be very happy.
A few yards from the finish I noticed a young girl in front of me whose laces had come undone. I know it was bad of me but I thought " I hope she doesn't trip on those because I'd have to stop and help her". I'm a bad person. But she didn't and I gave it my all to the finish where lots of marshals were cheering and clapping. Fabulous!
I got my chip, my bar code didn't work (moment of panic) but a nice marshal sorted it out. It's a good job because in all the excitement at the finish I forgot to stop my Garmin! Bu**er!
I must say the marshals were brilliant. They clapped and encouraged every runner at various points in the race. They were friendly, helpful and just lovely and I'll definitely go back.
I got my time. 32.28! So chuffed with that. I was 88th out of 119 and third in my age category! I'm a very happy runner.
Hubby is making dinner. Gammon slow cooked in coca cola with treacle and cloves (Nigella recipe), mashed potatoes and fried leeks! Yum. Can't wait. A few glasses of red wine, Strictly, oh and Ireland (was) winning the rugby!
A perfect day really!
sounds like a wonderful experience 
Parkrun new pb
First Parkrun...Done!
First Parkrun Done & Dusted
Parkrun success!
