Saturday 3rd January
Run #3
Richmond parkrun 5k
OK, so I missed a day writing my
runs up. Let's hope the commitment to running daily is better than my
commitment to daily writing up...
Run 3: the fact that the sound of
pouring rain woke us in advance of the alarm didn't bode well in all honesty.
Yup, it was pouring. M suggested staying in bed. Cosy, warm bed. And running
later in the day "because the rain might have stopped by then". Oh
man was I tempted. But only for a fleeting moment. One of the best things about
committing to running every day is the removal of the temptation - if you've
got to run anyway, might as well be now. And if it's a parkrun, at least it
counts towards a T-shirt (34 and counting for me).
But the weather put paid to ideas
of parkrun tourism today. For us, heading off-piste to try out a new parkrun
tends to involve arriving super early (to be sure of parking) and a lot
of hanging around. Needless to say, neither of us fancied standing around in
the downpour for the best part of an hour somewhere we didn't know the nearest
shelter / loo/ coffee shop. So the decision was quickly made to keep it local
once more.
M asked during the 20min jog/walk beforehand
(mostly to keep from freezing) if I was aiming for a PB. I gave the same answer
I usually do: "see how I feel when I get going" So how did I feel?
Honestly, pretty good actually. Decided to start my Garmin as I crossed the
line rather than at the gun but as it took a good 10sec to cross the line I
knew I needed to keep that in mind for the timing. Once I did get moving it
felt like I hit the first corner at a quicker clip than usual (it's uphill:
from cold that usually sucks). And the Garmin suggested, I thought, a PB speed
for the down on Sawyer's Hill. So I tried to get my head in the game for a
potential PB, and started trying to do the maths. I do this: try and work out
my splits as I go. Truth is my maths is so appalling I very rarely (read: never)
manage to gauge my run times correctly. More than one PB has been missed this
way, so I've learned to not pay too much attention to my inability to add
numbers or multiply by 5. But this was looking fairly good.
Lost it a little between 3k and 4k -
as I always do: the insidious gradual uphill always saps my energy and murders
my mental fortitude. As per usual, several people overtook me on the hill
before the 4k mark (every time! How do they do it?!) so, as per usual, I made a
point of picking them all off on the next downhill, including a girl I'd been
tailing since 1k. But, as much as I was pretty pleased with my pace up the
final hill, I was keenly aware of my Garmin numbers creeping up.
In the end I finished 27:14, 7
seconds over my course best. Which, considering I'd been feeling a sub-27 all
the way round, sucked a bit but wasn't too bad at all, all things considered.
And at least it'd stopped raining.
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