I blame parkruns for the addiction I’ve developed for running. As I’ve written elsewhere, my first taste of these Saturday morning events had me totally converted. So much so that I jumped out of bed this morning looking forward to a bit of parkrun tourism, never mind the fact that it is/was freezing and threatening to rain or even snow. They’re just a fantastic start to the weekend.
They also give you a reason to visit somewhere that would possibly not feature on a weekend adventure. This week I did my forth parkrun location, Walsall Arboretum. Thanks to an invite from Rob, another Kings Heath runner, I had the pleasure of a lovely run and got to meet some of his running friends.
For those unfamiliar with this parkrun, it’s a 3 lap course, very flat and with nice wide paths all the way round, which means everyone has plenty of space to run without interfering with other runners or park users.
I’ve become a little cautious about trying for pbs after my minor niggles so didn’t set out with any ambitions other than to run well. I don’t track my pace during a run so could only guestimate what my time was likely to be. I was quite pleased with 24.06. That’s only about 30 seconds slower than my pb and I didn’t really push myself too hard. I finished niggle-free (but once again forgot to stretch!).
I noticed this morning that running unfamiliar parkruns can be a little more challenging for me psychologically. At Cannon Hill I know exactly where I am at any given time and how I should be feeling. In hindsight I now realise I was going at quite a pace this morning, which was no doubt why I started to feel a little tired around half way. Being unfamiliar with the course and how far there was to go, I started to question whether I had the legs to continue at the pace I was running.
Minor concerns really, nothing serious, but an interesting observation on how my mind works!
The marathon programme has today down as a 40 minute steady run, so I’m in debt to the tune of 15 minutes! Never mind. I have a run planned for tomorrow so it’ll be a chance for pay back then.
My First Marathon 