Well, after a week of silence from me, I have to tell you that I did my first Parkrun on Saturday, spurred on by my buddies and I watching the tv programme on Monday.
Firstly, never go to a Parkrun with a cider hangover. It is not good. This was due to being in the pub the night before, celebrating our newest recruit completing W5r3. I had kept her company, as there was nobody else to run with her, and it would have been churlish not to have gone to the pub afterwards, to celebrate her victory. Anyway, 2 1/2 pints of Aspall’s later, I wove my way home, with my dad, who had also over-indulged, but on the local bitter.
Fast forward to Saturday morning. I awoke with a raging thirst, irritatingly, despite my good intentions to be well-hydrated the day before. I guess cider doesn’t count. I downed a couple of pints of water and had a banana, after taking my medication, wisely omitting the diuretic. My buddy arrived, and after a couple of last-minute wees, we set off.
After about fifteen minutes, we were parked close to the start, and popped into the bus station loos for a final nervous wee. We met with other members of our running club, who were SO lovely and supportive.
After the newbie pep talk, we prepared to go. One of the senior members of our club had volunteered to babysit us on our first run. Such a sweetheart.
We set off. The Toxic Ten turned out to be the Deadly Decade, as the hangover made itself felt. S#*%! 🤬 My two buddies pulled away, and for the duration of the run, I brought up the rear. So many times, I wanted to walk. My babysitter, whom I had warned that I had trained using Japanese slow jogging, finally began to understand just how slowly I ran, despite me repeatedly telling him so. My poor body felt SO tired. I managed to perk up, each time I approached a group of volunteers, who clapped and called out encouragement. They are superheroes, the lot of them.
One third of the run was twice round a meadow with slightly long and springy grass. It had also rained the previous night, so I found it hard going. There was also an extremely long, but slight gradient, which nearly did for me. My babysitter was wonderful though, and kept me going.
Anyway, I managed to maintain a fairly consistent pace throughout, and actually did a very impressive sprint up to the finish. As I was sprinting, I did wonder if my legs might give way! 😂 I walked to the table to get scanned, and met my friend, who is always the fastest out of our little group. I started chatting to her, then burst into tears! She thought I was upset, but I wasn’t. I was just overwhelmed by what I’d just done.
I came 216 out of 226 (amazingly, I was faster than ten people! 🤣🤣🤣), with a time of 46:35. I’m pretty chuffed with that, as I never got anywhere NEAR 4K in 30 minutes before. Also, as I might have previously mentioned, I was hungover! Just think how much faster I’d have been if I’d been abstinent the night before!
The whole setup was brilliant, with such friendly volunteers and organisers, and it was efficiently run. If you haven’t tried Parkrun yet, do give it a go. People were walking as well as running, and it was so jolly. And the forecast storms stayed away, as a bonus! 😁
Watch out Thetford Parkrun, I’ll be back! 😃
Glad you enjoyed it through your hangover!
New PB at this mornings Parkrun.
46th parkrun + hayfever + allergic reaction = a decent parkrun :)
Parkrun
