got up early. Pottered around looking for the right running gear. Realised it was raining and changed tops. This will be my first run in the rain. Glass of water, pee, put on my trainers and i'm ready. Out the door and off to my 13th parkrun.
Oh no the car park is empty. surely they can't have put it off because of the rain? oh well I'll do a couple of laps anyway. Off I go. Two laps later I realise the car park has more cars but don't think much of it. On the way back I look at the time and realise it's 8:40. Damn I was an hour early!
I go home, down an energy gel, another glass of water, then back out the door and walk back to the car park. Normal routine of waiting for the organisers get everything in order. Then we are off. My aim is to finish around 30 minutes.
After about half a km I see a girl at the side of the path in some distress. I stop but try not to interfere. It's asthma and her BF is with her. She's trying to get her asthma medicine sorted and panicking. Eventually it's sorted and she calms down. She says she going to be OK. The marshals have come over by this time, so I carry on. Up the little hill, down to the waters edge and I catch sight of the tail runner disappearing in the distance. Takes me another km to catch up. All the marshals are encouraging me. Then it's a long hard slog to get round. No ten year olds to overtake, but I sprint the final hundred yards or so anyway. it's exhilarating. I finish 33:12 ish which I thought was pretty good.
This is the first time I've used an energy gel, and I was impressed. I certainly feel fine after about a 9k run despite all the drama. I could definitely have run further albeit slowly. The gels taste awful, but then so does protein powder and I have that every day for breakfast.
Parkrun, the kindness of strangers and IC
Parkrun no 8, cowgirl style!!
First Parkrun - yikes it was cold
Another Parkrun another PB
First Parkrun Done & Dusted
