1st ever Park Run - good and bad

[Mum2Runner]

Today my friend and I but the bullet and did out first ever park run. I had run 5k on Wednesday and clocked a time of 31.12. I only had to walk a short section where the road was flooded and frozen, so I was confident I could do the park run.

The course was quite tough, it was undulating gravel paths with a couple of nice hills thrown in (both up and down). I had had a rather rubbish evening the night before due to receiving some very sad news and so felt a bit drained this morning. But I was determined to do it.

I was rather disappointed though that I had to walk a few times - could have kicked myself. I reached the finish line and was utterly knackered. I was convince that I had done an awful time and was far slower than the 5k I ran on Wednesday.

I comforted myself very slightly with the thought that I'm not used to running that amount of hills and usually run on flat Tarmac. I was still cross with myself though. I found it far tougher than I imagined I would.

However, when I received my time it was 31.59 so not much slower than my previous 5k and considering I had walked more and struggled with the hills I was quite pleased.

Am going to have to try and find some hills to run now, not an easy thing to do with a pushchair mind. Lol.

So not a total write off, my goal for the next park run is not to walk at all. I think I should be able to do at least 30mins if I run it all.

I must say though that the Parkrun was really friendly and even though there were some sub 18min runners everyone was really friendly, chatty and I didn't feel intimidated or like I shouldn't be there. It's definitely worth signing up for.

[auranya Graduate]

I'm going to try a Parkrun as soon as I manage 5k, I've only got 3 weeks to go so should be after Christmas. I can't wait, just the early start I'm not looking forward to!

[Mum2Runner in reply to auranya]

Good luck with finishing the programme and with your park run. They are strangely enjoyable even though they are hard work.

[BigEd]

Hi mum, i like doing the Parkruns for that reason, everyone is really friendly and encouraging. I did my third one this morning in Cambridge and i managed to run the whole way around, albeit very slowly (35 mins!). I am only on W3 of the C25K however so i guess its not too bad. Good luck, Ed.

[Mum2Runner in reply to BigEd]

That's brilliant, bet you felt really pleased afterwards. Sometimes time doesn't matter a the achievement is muh better. I'm aiming to complete the whole thing next time without stopping.

[rolphie2 Graduate]

Wow what a fantastic time and you had to do hills that is amazing. Well done you should be really proud of yourself

[Mum2Runner in reply to rolphie2]

Thank you rolphie2. I was surprised as I thought I was going to be really slow with the walk breaks, and the fact that I had hills thrown in as well. Strangely I found the downhill worse than the uphill parts. Think it was because the gravel paths were quite loose and slippy on the way down.