Saturday, 24 January 2015

Osterley parkrun with M

Saturday 24th January
Run #24
Osterley parkrun


Another blue and chilly day and M decided a bit of parkrun tourism was back on the cards. He had a few K more to tack on it was decided we'd drive together to Osterley Park and he'd run back while I'd take the car back.

This was a bit of a novelty parkrun for me as M and I rarely run parkruns together: he usually finishes a good 6 or 7 minutes ahead of me so lines up near the front. I try and seed myself behind all those that look like the kinds of runners I'd get in the way off, trip up or otherwise cause an obstruction to; it usually takes me a good 10 or 20 seconds to cross the start of an average parkrun.

Osterley has a wide - and today treacherously icy tarmac! - start so we lined up should to shoulder and I left the line at the go for a change. I'd love to be able to chat away as we run together but, only a few k in I'm too breathless to do much than dig in and the convo becomes decidedly one-sided. I'll put my hands up and admit I'm not usually great at running with M. But I am making a concerted effort recently to rein in my frustration with  how exhausted and slow I feel running with him, even at my pace. Probably the feeling joggers get taking their champion greyhounds out for geriatric paced jog on a short leash. Can't imagine the greyhound enjoys it much either, but M usually tolerates me fairly well if I can keep the f-bombs in check.


It was a good run. M pushed me as much as he could, within the limits of the fact I felt knackered, both in myself and in my quads. The week in general, and probably the bouncing around the hills of the Park yesterday, may have taken more out of me than I thought. I tried to pull something more out of the bag as M encouraged me to pick it up going into the last k but, as he told me after, I did not really pick my knees up, or pump my arms harder despite his encouraging suggestions. In the end it was a course PB but a way off my parkrun PB, so I drove home happy enough.

And M loped off, back at his pace and probably just happy to be off the leash again.




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