Hello my lovely FF ( Forum Friends as coined by Nellyharte). I hope you are having a great day so far and your runs have gone well.
I know lots of you did great Parkruns over the Christmas and New Year holidays and I was jealous as I couldn't escape. So I made up my mind to do one today. This was only the second time I've done Parkrun, the last one being in November.
The weather was cold and wet and I really wanted to turn over and go back to sleep but remembered about the unearthly times some of you get up (Miles) and I thought " just do it".
It was a good turnout considering the weather and a Marshall asked me if I was looking for a PB? I said "no I was just going to do my best and see where it took me" but then I thought that's daft as it is a race! But I also thought about the wise words of FitFor60 who said we shouldn't expect a PB at every Parkrun as it's not going to happen otherwise we'd be on TV wouldn't we?
So I set off with these thoughts in my head and before I knew it I was running a tad faster than normal but you know what? It felt OK. The first K's pace bleeped at 6.20 and the second K was 6.07. I still felt OK so I carried on. The third K came up at 5.46 and I did a double take but it was right as I was starting to feel a bit sickish. But on I went. The fourth K was 6.02 and at that point I thought if I could speed up a bit I could have a better time than the last Parkrun (32.28). I was feeling green and wondered if I could run and vomit at the same time ( sorry) but then told myself that would be a small price to pay for a PB! The things us runners consider! What are we like?
At that point I checked my time and had the wild idea that I could, possibly, ever so possibly, get this done in the holy grail of 30 minutes! How did that happen I thought! How did that really happen? So, I gave it my all ( very nearly did) for the rest of the last and speeded up over the finish line. I felt like throwing up but my GARMIN said I'd done the race in 30.03! I needed the official time as I faffed around a bit at the start and knew that would cost me. But I was so chuffed whatever it was because I knew it was an improvement on the last one.
I was right. I did lose a few seconds at the start but bl**dy hell I am so happy as my official time is 30.07 which I am over the moon about. I didn't set out to run really fast, I hadn't trained for it and have been training to up my distance so have been doing long slow runs but hey ho it seems to make a difference so I'll keep doing it! I didn't make the mystical 30 minutes this time but I now know that I will!
Funny moment afterwards as I had to nip into the supermarket to get a few bits. I did feel a bit conspicuous with my red face, wet clothes and muddy shoes but Lo and behold down one of the aisles I spied other runners just fresh from the Parkrun and looking like me! It was funny in a " we're in this mad club" kind of funny.
Anyway, got home, showered, stretched, ate and had a bout of energy so I made Curried Parsnip soup and a sausage and bean casserole! Batteries have slowed down a tad now and I'm sitting by the fire, drinking tea and eating cake and catching up with my running FF.
Have a great weekend everyone and I hope you all had/ will have fab runs today/tomorrow.
New PB at this mornings Parkrun.
Parkrun PB in the rain! 💦🏃♀️🐕💦
Yeehaa New ParkRun PB and First in my age group!
Another Parkrun another PB
