2nd parkrun - 2nd last

[Davoda]

Delighted that my "home" town has a parkrun, so decided to be brave and join it. Brave because it's a small run & very brave coz I'd seen the results from before & the slowest person was nearly 5 mins faster than I'd done.

My word they started fast! I quickly decided just to hold back & run at the speed I was comfortable with.

Right through it I repeated AnneDroid 's phrase "your legs are fine, your lungs are fine" and then told my brain to catch up!

My strava hadn't worked properly, so I had no clue what my time was - it felt fast, as it was a much flatter route than my local parkrun.

The results are in and I can hardly believe it - I'd hoped I'd done sub 30m, just wasn't sure how much - 27:42! So being 2nd last really didn't bother me!!

Maybe I need to stay here & keep doing them on the flat!

[Doone Graduate]

Wow that's fantastic. Well done you. I've just completed my first ever park run in 36:39.

[CarolStr Graduate in reply to Doone]

Wow that's great. Congratulations! It's worrying when it's a 'fast' PR (my local one is fairly fast too). What a fab time that's awesome - what were you on and can I have some please! I've just done my second PR and come in at 35.48, shaving 25s off my first one. Isn't it just a wonderful feeling. Enjoy and very well done !

[Davoda Graduate in reply to CarolStr]

Trying to run in the wind! Running up hills during the week & then a flat parkrun. Oh and 1/2 a bowl of porridge 90 mins before hand. 😉

(The times were mixed up & I see my actual time was 27:42, which is a bit more realistic!)

[Davoda Graduate in reply to CarolStr]

And yes it's a great feeling, once you've finished!

[Davoda Graduate in reply to CarolStr]

35:48 is very respectable indeed

[AnneDroid Graduate]

Wow!! That's an awesome time. Well done you.

Glad the self-talk idea helped.

[CookieM Graduate]

Well done! What a fab time!

[runswithdogs Graduate]

Holy smokes. Fast Parkrun then. Well done.

[rammsteinqueen Graduate]

Chuffin Nora! That's an ace time, well done you

[Hidden]

Super good time. Well done !

[AlbertRoss Graduate]

As someone that has done precisely one parkrun, and did just under 40 minutes..... going at your own pace regardless of what everyone else is doing is definitely the way to go. I found that for sections of it there were people of around my pace that I could sort of hang on to, but i was keeping an eye on my tracker to make sure I was at what for me was a realistic pace. I suspect like most if not all of us, I'm never going to be a serious racer, and ultimately the only thing to do this for is yourself - I'm hoping to improve my time, maybe even by 2-3 minutes over the next few months, but it's more important to keep going and keep thinking of myself as a runner than getting worried about not being able to finish ahead of the 10 year old girl and her Mum that were just ahead of me.....

[Davoda Graduate in reply to AlbertRoss]

That's true, it's also much easier to do when there's lots of runners, but when there's less than 20, it's not easy.

However! I like speed, perhaps more than distance, so I'm def aiming for sub 30m runs - but I do suspect that will be harder to do on my local hilly parkrun.

Enjoy your running!