Warning: This is going to be a long post as I didn’t have enough time to write the short version.
So I have just completed W7R3. Under severe encouragement/emotional blackmail from my middle son and orders from afar from the eldest, who likes to run up and down the Rocky Mountains for hours on end by way of fun, I was persuaded to do it whilst taking part in my first ever parkrun.
I have to admit to some trepidation in doing this. Firstly I have been running all on my own up until now, well apart from the odd lovestruck Labrador, sociopathic German Shepherd and deranged, divebombing seagull that is. The idea of starting off with hundreds of people was a little off putting. Don’t get me wrong I like people it’s just that I’m a little clumsy. If I was famous I would be at the back of the queue for Strictly. I am about as rhythmic and coordinated as an inebriated elephant on an ice rink. Therefore my biggest fear was getting the stride pattern wrong and sending half of the elite runners into the nearest ditch.
My other major concern was knowing how to approach the run. Did I do my five-minute warm up walk at the start of the race and risk running out of distance to actually run for 25 minutes (just kidding) or did I warm up before the start and then walk the end of the race to cool down (well apart from the last 200 metres).
After careful consideration I decided to risk it, warm up first and start right at the back. I also decided to abandon Laura and my music and leave the mobile at home as I wanted to hear everybody whizzing past me. It was time to bring out the Garmin. No not an all singing and dancing running Garmin but my trusty Approach 2 golf watch which just happens to have a distance and time measuring capability. It worked well apart from one occasion where I pressed the wrong button and discovered I was only 7k away from the pin on the first hole at my golf club.
So the run itself went well. The people at the parkrun were uber friendly and helpful and not one of them ended up in a ditch through any action by me. The warm up was a little strange. Most people were doing some advanced stretching exercises which I considered, with my untrained eye, to be inappropriate and ill-considered for anybody over the age of sixteen. I, on the other hand, stuck to my training and walked briskly around in circles for five minutes or so. I can only liken it to the moment the referee (Confucius) blows the whistle in The Monty Python Germany versus Greece philosophers football match which if you don’t know about is freely available on Youtube and other video sharing sites.
Nevertheless, I was up and running and it became just another run on this wonderful programme. The demons from W7R2 never emerged and I manged to keep up a steady pace once the crowds had thinned out a little bit. It was the first time I had run on tarmac for any great distance but the knees were fine. It was hugely enjoyable to be a part of the run, even though I found it difficult at the start to believe that I should have been there. This was an event for runners after all. By the end though I was a parkrunner.
This run was also the first time I had any idea of the pace that I have run at. I ran for my 25 minutes, then walked to warm down and threw in a cheeky dash for the last stretch. Just received my time which was a surprising 32:23.
As enjoyable as it was I am going to finish the C25K programme and have some consolidation runs before my next parkrun. In fact I am saving it as my graduation present because it was so much fun.
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I love Laura...AND her music!
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Oh Laura How I have missed you...
