On 15th June I crossed the line and picked up my finishers token at Pocket parkrun. It had been the events first birthday celebration that day and was the 5th consecutive week I’d been down. Therefore, if you’d told me it would be almost 4 months until I did my home parkrun again, I probably wouldn’t have believed it.
However, a combination of holidays, family events and more recently my son joining a football team meant that this was the case. I had managed several tourist visits in the period so I wasn’t in a complete parkrun drought. Bakewell, Wakefield, The Pastures, Temple Newsam and Barnsley had all been visited on my travels. Fortunately for me, this week he had a late kick off so I took the opportunity to return home. It was good to be back on a course I know well.
It had been a strange week leading up to the run. On Monday I had been told the following day would be my last at Thomas Cook following their collapse. On Tuesday, I got confirmation after 10+ failed attempts (I had lost count), I was finally going to be running the London Marathon. This all followed on from sore legs after running the St Aidan’s Trail Half Marathon last Sunday.
The day started a little earlier as I had answered the call to take on car park marshal duties. This was a new volunteer slot for me but has the advantage of still allowing you to run as well as help out. I was also able to keep a half eye on the sub 2hr attempt by Kipchoge!
At about five to, I then jogged down to join the rest of the runners. I found my spot on the line and we were off. My race last week was definitely helping me. The course was very slippery in places but after doing this for a half marathon last week, 5km this week was much easier.
My time was a little slower than I’d have liked but probably due to the slipping. At just under 22mins, only about 8min per 5km slower than Kipchoge averaged!!
It was nice to be back, especially as I’m unsure when next I’ll be back at Pocket.
Some random stats:
- 21st Pocket parkrun (31st in total)
- 59 knocked off of parkrun Bingo (23/60)
Congratulations on getting into the London Marathon – definitely something to celebrate!
Thanks for the congrats!