After years of trying to find some positives in another defeat, this season my son’s football team have been on a really good run. They are currently sat unbeaten at the top of their league and have had a great run in the cup. The downside of this change in fortunes has been we haven’t had a Saturday off for what seems like forever and the cheeky parkruns I usually get to sneak in have not been forthcoming.
However, this week we finally saw a week off so the chance to head to Pocket parkrun for the first time since June was front of mind. In fact it was going to be my first parkrun anywhere since I had returned to The Pastures parkrun while on holiday in the summer
Last week’s event was called off following the rain from Storm Claudia which meant today was eventful number 300. An arbitrary number but one that seems so big as the inaugural doesn’t feel that long ago. It had been a cold week and whilst I started out with gloves and a tech top on, it was milder than I thought and I could have got away with a t-shirt.
Since being successful in the ballot for the Great North Run I have been trying to raise my speed and mileage again. I am nowhere near where I was but had a target of sub 24mins in my mind as somewhere I’d be happy today. The biggest issue would always be pacing.
Fortunately for me, I quickly fell in a group with two guys I know and we were able to run along at a nice pace, having a good chat as we went. This was perfect for me as at no point was I actually thinking about times while running and the 5km flew by. Often I find on the Pocket winter course the 3rd lap can be a killer but not today. I do still prefer to run solo but times like this do make me realise the benefits of a group run!
As it was, when I crossed the line my watch was at 23:56 (official time gave me an extra second for 23:57) so pretty much bang on my aim. The thing was I felt fresh and could have gone faster which felt great. In fact, according to the VO2 max calculator on my Garmin, my target 5km has dropped all the way down to 22:49. I don’t hold too much sway by the specific number but the big change in direction fills me with confidence.
However, at this point there was the realisation I had done something for the first time (and this was my 85th in total). I had forgotten my barcode! What’s more, as I am on call this week I had my works phone so didn’t even have it here. Fortunately my wife was able to snap a picture and send to me else it would have been a run home to collect and back again!
I think we now have fixtures in the diary through to Christmas so there will be a pause again but it was nice to stretch my legs on a Saturday again!
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