Considering that I didn’t feel well yesterday afternoon (to the extent that at one point I was considering walking parkrun instead of running it), I had a really good parkrunday!
I felt much better this morning (Geth not so much – we’ve now identified that he needs a bit more rest this weekend), though the weather was not on our side. Yesterday’s beautiful sunshine had given way to wind and drizzle. Nevertheless, we drove to Blyth as planned, did a warmup and both decided to see what we could do.
It’s a crowded start so I focused on overtaking the people I needed to overtake and settled in. There was a strong headwind on the beach side of the loop so it was just about staying strong during that section and trying to make up for it in the tailwind on the way back. I had quite a few similarly-paced runners to chase, so I was able to keep a steady hard effort the whole way, though I never looked at my watch during the run.
I didn’t have much of a sprint in me at the end (was outsprinted by quite a few people and it absolutely could not be helped) but I was delighted with my result. Course PB, 3rd fastest ever parkrun time (only six seconds slower than my overall PB), highest ever age grade and 1st in my age category (7th lady overall). Not bad given that I was still talking about taking it easy first thing this morning!
I know it’s just one parkrun but it has made me feel much better about my running as I’ve been a tiny bit disappointed with my race results recently. Still no distance PBs this year, but it definitely feels like it’s within reach now.
Staying local again for an event milestone next week.
