Saturday 7 May 2016

Parkrun - The Hunting For The Illusive PB

Hello blog lovers.

All beginners are no longer beginners.  Some have already joined PWR and some will find it difficult to get to club runs on a Tuesday.  But what we have done is steered them into parkrun junkies!  I met up with Naggy Neighbour and then I picked up Tracy and headed for the park.

There were quite a few cars already parked up, I managed to find a space.  Tracy met up with Tracey and then we all made our way over to the start, which is right over the other side of the park!  We are back to the summertime route.  I love this route so much better than the winter one!

We had about 3 minutes to get to the start.  We had to run for just a short bit, a bit of a warm up!  Once there among the other 600+ runners we had a couple of minutes left.  I met up with Carole and Michael!  They were back for some more parkrun life!  Maybe with their eyes firmly set on getting a teeshirt with no.50 on the back!

But before we could have a proper chat we were off.  With no-one to mentor I decided that I would try and get a pb!  Ridiculous idea really, the temperature must the the highest morning record so far this year!  Although there were clouds about, the sun still shone in the bright blue sky! As usual I took of way to fast!  And in the heat of the morning I soon started to flag....big time.

So I told myself all the things I tell beginners to do, I used all the visual landmarks to run to, I tried the nagging, the shouting at, the motivational speaking to keep myself running at all costs.  But I failed!  Tut.  And so the disappointment creeps in!  And I shouldn't feel disappointed!  The fact is, I am out here, running 5k on a gorgeous sunny morning!

I chatted with pals along the way, Becky, saw me and we ran together, keeping each other going.  They Carole and Michael passed me by!  They actually overtook me!  See what I mean about me going off to fast!  It really is all about the pacing!  When I am running by myself I do seem to push myself too fast and I burn out, and in this weather it was pretty soon!  I ran up to Carole and Michael and ran with them for a while, but my legs......or at least my mind telling my legs that they can go on!  So I walked, I walked along till Becky caught up with me.  We both watched as Carole started to get further ahead of us.  I was feeling bloody proud as punch watching her and Michael.  And of course I felt bloody annoyed that I was not doing what I set out to do!  While we were running down the long straight I could hear behind me, "On your right" I stepped to the left a bit and waited for the inevitable overtaking "On your right!" the voice said again "ON YOUR RIGHT!" he shouted loudly.

How very rude I thought, "Ok, calm down!" I heard someone say behind me.  I thought 'Good for you." I wished I had said something to you.  Now parkrun, it's an all inclusive FREE timed 5k run.  All are welcome, from the elites to the hip replacement patients, to the mums to be and the wooden legged men!  Not only that, but Normans park is exactly that, a park, with kids playing, people walking their dogs, or just walking!  We all know the protocol really, we all know that we will be passed by and we usually, of course, let them get by.  Being shouted out because he was on for a new shiny PB is no excuse for his rudeness!  That there is enough to stop new runners for continuing with parkrun, that little bit of intimidation right there!

Anyway, rant over, back to my blog.  Its understandable of course, you can't drink beer and burn the candle at  both ends if you're trying or I should say, when I am trying to get a PB.  I need to have a nice, totally relaxed Friday night and then go chase my PB. Any other times should be just for fun!  So after I decided that I wasn't going to get what I wanted I concentrated on just getting around, just having fun, chatting along with Becky.  It was tough, I didn't stop trying to keep a good pace going, but the heat was just taking it out of me.  There was to be no PB, not today.

Running down the long straight for the last time I said to Becky that we should aim to run this last bit non stop......we tried, I think I stopped just once, and only for a few seconds and then I was back to it.  I even found a 'race'  someone who was walking in front of me.  I decided that I was going to run and overtake her before we get to the funnel!  I did it.  I felt a little better about myself after that.

Anyway, here's my geeky stats, not a fast run today, but still a good run!





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