Petts Wood Runners Graduates Winter 2014

Hello blog lovers.

Well this is the day that all the PWR beginners pass out, well, maybe wrong choice of word there, because we certainly do not want anyone to pass out!  But we do want to see them all achieve what they thought was not possible just a couple of months ago!

I arrived at the park and already the beginners had met up with Hels and ZippySherry, I was just a tad late.  So I made my way to the start.  One of the beginners noticed my shirt, I was wearing my club colours today, and so walked along with me to find the others.

We got to the start, noticing the rather huge deep puddle that we will all be having to cross, and Hels and ZippySherry was busy getting the graduates through the warm ups.  After that we just walking along to the back of the pack in readiness to start the ParkRun. After the brief annoucements and acknowledgements to the volunteers we started the race.

Tracey was very pleased to see me, I knew that she will need tons of encouragement to get around this course.  Her goal was to just finish it, hopefully non stop jogging, even if it takes and hour and a half!  But I didn't think it would take her that long.

There was also another young lady, called Posy, who was doing her first ParkRun too.  She had dropped off her daughter at athletics and decided, rather than just sit and watch, or go to a cafe or anything else, she would use this time to get her self fit.  She decided that she would do the 5k!  She was hoping to run with some nice people!  Well, Bromley ParkRun is one of the friendliest runs about!  What with the huge number of PWR's that attends, and the cakes baked by the regulars, I don't know of any friendlier place!

As per usual all the speedies ran off in hot pursuit of smashing their PB's.  I stuck close to Tracey to keep her focused, along with Hilary as well.  I was running with out my Garmin today, I would love to say it was because I thought it would be ideal to run completely at liberty, without worrying about the time, without worrying about the pace or how far we had done before.  Without being pressurised by that infernal bleep as each mile is acknowledge.  But I can't, I actually just forgot to bring it!  But it was kismet, the watch was not needed today.  Today was all about how the graduates pace themselves, and how much and how far they can run by themselves.

It was good to see Tracy just get into her zone, and with Posy running along with us for encouragement for herself and also giving tons of encouragement to Tracy as well, it was just magical.  This is what I just love about the nationwide ParkRuns, the friendly welcome, the totally encouragement you get from all runners, no matter whether you're at the back or striding out in front!

As we were running all the first of the long straight the speedies were already on their second lap catching us up.  Did they say "Get out of the way"? No, what they said is "Well done Petts Wood, keep going Petts Wood, you're doing well"  The smile on Tracy's face was good to see.  We passed our first person just about 100 meters from the start point, it was a young lady that Hilary knew, so she decided to run along with her to get her all the way round.

We were on our second lap now, still non stop running, still with thoughts of "I can do this"  The ladies breathing was quite steady, no one sounded as they were struggling at all.  The training had gone really well.  I am not sure how much training Posy had done, but she was certainly keeping up with Tracy and me.  As we approached the '2nd lap' sign there were more and more people running down the straight towards the finish funnel.  "Would they notice if I went straight down there" Tracey joked, and I said "No, but you will know!"  And she laughed as we made our way across the grass beside the river on our second lap.

At the opposite end of park I started to get tired myself!  I guess my 3 pints of lager and a  rather tasty curry the night before was probably not the way to prepared for running non stop for 3 miles.  Not only that, I hadn't even had a cuppa (as suggested at the top, I got up late!)  I did start to feel a bit nauseous.  I was going to suggest to Tracey, after she said that she is beginning to flag a bit, that if she wanted to walk then she should do.  But I thought that was me being totally selfish, and so I kept quite, and the feeling of nausea passed.

The long straight to do and this really did seem to give the two ladies an extra little push as they knew that the end was not far off now.  They even picked up the pace!  We came up to another one of the beginners along this stretch, who was having some problems,  she was in a little bit of discomfort.  Peter was also along this bit of the route and went to see how she was doing, and maybe even walk her to the pavilion if necessary.

Running is all about fun and fitness, it is not about hurting and pain, and working so hard to achieve your running goals that it no longer has that fun feel any more.  If something is fun you will want to do it, all the time, you will never get bored of it.  If it becomes a chore then you are more likely to give it up!

That is how I have kept up with my running, being part of a running club has also helped keep me motivated and inspired!  That is what I am hoping all the new graduates will find as they come along on Tuesday evening to find out what it's like!

Anyway, back to the run.  With just the last bit of straight to go, and the funnel just out of sight the two ladies got a tad faster.  They could sense the finish was just a few short strides away.  When it came into sight, Posy decided to put on a bit of sprint to get there.  Tracey just kept her pace steady, running towards the funnel.  There were the leaders of the group there to cheer in Tracy as the timing marshal clicked the timing devise.

A great, great run.  And this is only the second time I have actually jogged the whole way round this route too!  And just like the first time, it took a graduate to keep me paced so that I didn't take off like the wind (as if!) but just to steadily plod around to get around the course non stop!