I decided this week to head to Strathclyde parkrun, as it's been a while. My course best time, from July 2013, was 35:05, and the last time I ran there was on New Year's Day this year, with a time of 42:08. So I knew I could get a year's best time, at any rate! And - barring disaster - a course PB was on, as well. Other than that, no pressure. My 5km PB was 32:20 from Perth a month ago.
On the day, I felt good, but a wee bit nervous! I did a short warm-up run (about 7 or 8 minutes) and then caught up with Sharon, Fiona and Karen at the start area, for a blether. Nice to see some other familiar faces there too, including many of the core Strathy parkrun team, and John S. who pointed out there was a big racewalking gang there today, but he would be running. I'm normally beaten by the race walkers at parkrun, lol, so I looked around for familiar faces so I could start ahead of them, haha. Anyway, couple of words from Ally, and we were off. I'd started in the middle of the crowd, so settled into a fast-ish pace as we ran. After a few minutes, I noticed something a wee bit strange: everyone wasn't running away from me! I mean, yeah, sure, loads of runners were stretched out ahead of me, but I was still surrounded by other runners, it felt a wee bit unreal!
I had in my head that if I was going for a PB, I wanted to average 10:20 per mile... but I wasn't sure if I could manage that, so I figured I would just see what I could do. I actually hit the first mile in 9:58 - what??! I'm pretty sure that aside from an entirely downhill mile I once ran, this flat mile was my fastest ever!! It made me a wee bit panicky, but I figured I was maintaining a decent pace, and as long as I just tried to keep going, I could afford to lose a few more seconds later. My second mile, early into it, was averaging around 10:10 pace for a while, but I was tucked behind 3 friends running together, and I realised they were slowing slightly, and so was I... My average pace was dropping to 10:20+, and I considered passing them. Then I thought that I was more likely to last the whole 5km if I slowed a wee bit, so I stayed put. Moments later, as my average speed dropped to around 10:25, I realised my logic had been a bit daft; why am I letting strangers dictate my running pace?! - I was halfway through, and this was now a time trial, so I overtook the runners, and started to pick up a wee bit more. I finished the second mile in 10:10.
Into the third mile, and it was feeling hard now, but I knew there was no letting up. I was counting out loud in 4s, to try and regulate my breathing a bit, and just focusing on the path ahead, as by now I'm back on the straight down to the finish. Halfway through that third mile, I was desperate to stop - my average lap pace was showing at around 10:20, so I knew I just had to maintain this pace, or even a tiny bit slower, to get a PB, as I'd built a nice wee cushion - but equally I knew that if I tried to pick up the pace a little, this would all be over soon!!! So I tried hard, and felt my breathing getting more laboured. It was getting really, really hard. The third mile beeped 10:08, so I knew I'd done it, but how big a PB I'd got would depend on my (ha) "sprint finish", and now I could hear Sharon yelling my name, and I just pushed on to the finish line. I stopped looking at my wrist, and focussed my eyes entirely on the finish - mainly because I was really struggling with my breathing and figured keeping my head high would help my lungs, lol!! So crossing the line, slamming stop on my Garmin, I didn't know which to do first; collapse, or look at my time. I stopped and bent over, to catch my breath, as I looked at my time: 31:27.
It's a cardinal sin to stop in the funnel at a parkrun once you've crossed the finish line, which of course I know, but I was stood stock still, bent over with my hands on my thighs, and my eyes on my wrist, when a runner behind me barrelled through and past me!! Ally shouted out, and I tried to stagger forwards, but he flew straight past! Thankfully Pauline was on tokens, so she spotted what happened, and made sure the right token went to the right runner, but it was a wee bit embarrassing for someone who's just completed her 89th parkrun to breach etiquette like that!!! Haha.
Getting out of the funnel, I slowly collapsed to the floor (checked for goose poo first, lol! It's everywhere on those paths at Strathy Park!) - I did some hasty calculations. Almost a whole minute off my PB from 4 weeks ago (53 seconds), and over 3:30 off my course best. More importantly, given the journey I'm on in 2015, it was over 10:30 faster than my time here on New Years Day, 27 weeks ago.
Ally and Jon were congratulating me, as I sat on the floor trying to catch my breath and calm my heart rate. A girl told me that it's better if I stand up, and I replied that I absolutely knew that, but wasn't actually capable of standing up!! Haha, I was absolutely done in. Eventually, though, I realised I wouldn't get my new PB recorded unless I went to scan my barcode and finish token, so getting to my feet I meandered over. :-)
When I got back, I was surprised to see James chatting to Ally - he was in the middle of a Clyde Stride training run, and he'd known I was running today, so he wanted to know how I got on. He threw out a guess, which was bizarrely close to the result! I worked out that I'd almost averaged 10 minute miles, and if he'd told me before that he thought I could manage 10 minute miles, i'd have laughed lots, and then freaked out during the run itself, haha.
I'm so thrilled with my run this weekend - especially when I found out that I came 150th out of 198 runners, and I've never been that far up a field, ever!!! - and even more thrilled when today (Sunday) I went out for my long run, and managed comfortably to cover 6 miles at an average pace of just under 11:30 mins/mile!! Just generally finding this all pretty overwhelming, though I am working hard, and trying to get my training more consistent now, running around 4 times a week. I found my running really motivating this weekend - which is great, because my food has continued to be pretty out of control ever since my weigh-in on Wednesday, sigh. Today, however, I found it much easier to be a little more mindful about what I was eating, and am using my running motivation to also push on that other stuff too. Hoping this will roll over into the coming week, and beyond, and the second half of the year can be just as successful and gratifying as the first has been. x
PS - I wasn't beaten by the race walkers. ;-)
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