Tag: parkrun

Town Moor for the fourth week running! I am never normally at the same parkrun so many weeks in a row. There have been lots of reasons to go there recently though.

Today’s reason was pacer week, as I like pacing. I paced 27 again, just like three weeks ago. I was a tiny bit anxious about it after last week, when I couldn’t even get under 27 at full effort, but I suspected that was a fatigue-induced aberration and I was right – 27 felt nice and steady today and I had to keep myself from going too fast in the last mile. Helped my friend Beth to a PB too!

Definitely somewhere different next week – I’m booked to volunteer at Jesmond Dene for the pre-GNR parkrun.

Another week, another Town Moor. But I really struggled this week – I put the same effort in as my recent fast runs, but was nowhere near pace. I’ve had a very intense few days of game-making for a community challenge, and I think the lack of sleep and long hours have resulted in a lot of fatigue. I’ll try again in a few weeks after the GNR.

Not 100% decided on next week yet but it won’t be a super fast effort.

It was our friend Marie’s 100th parkrun today so we went to the Moor again. It was also a good test to see where my fitness was after a few weeks of building back the mileage.

Answer: surprisingly good! Took 23 seconds off the season’s best for a 25:03. Hoping to dip under 25 next time (which will likely be next week as both Geth and I are appreciating the opportunity to run a bit harder on the flat at the moment).

Still a long way from my 23:2x PB zone, but really happy to be whittling it down again.

It was pacer week at Town Moor today and I hadn’t paced all year, I don’t think. I paced 27 minutes last time I did it (about a year ago?) and I’m currently a teensy bit slower because an injury threw a spanner in the works at the start of the year. Nevertheless I’m currently running Town Moor in 25:xx whenever I properly go for it so I thought 27 would be just about doable.

(And also it was the only slot left in the high 20s.)

(And also 27 used to be Ed’s pacer slot, and he always used to tell me I shouldn’t be pacing 30-odd like I was doing back then because I could do a lot better than that.)

So I signed up for 27 and hoped that the forecast would be right about it cooling down after a hot few days. Thankfully, it was. 8:40 min miles felt genuinely comfortable (why is that only ever the case at parkrun?) and I had to stay focused in order to keep it slow enough in the last half mile or so to hit the time goal. 26:59 and in total control the whole way. Delighted with that.

No idea about next week yet but it’ll be local.

Geth and I first visited Keswick last summer, just as a nice stop between family visits in Lancashire and Dumfries and Galloway. We planned a similar ‘family rounds’ trip this year and this time made sure our Keswick stop was a Friday night so that we could try the parkrun out.

Due to the locality, I expected it to be very tourist-heavy (which it was) and very hilly (which it was not). It’s a lovely fast course and Geth (currently nursing a slight injury) is really excited to come back again next year and give it a proper go.

Back to the local ones from next week.

TMBR turned out and walked at the back of parkrun in memory of Ed today. I hope we did him proud 🧡

We were honoured by the presence of his family today at parkrun too. A wonderful tribute this morning 🧡

No photo today as they’re all slightly awful (moreso than usual haha).

I gave it a good go today, tried to keep up with a few people I knew, and made it round the Moor a minute faster than I did a fortnight ago. No post-parkrun lung ache this time either! I hope this means a couple of weeks of actually having time to run more than a mile most days has improved my fitness a bit. We’ll keep going and see how I get on over the next few weeks.

Not fully decided on next week yet but leaning towards Jesmond Dene.

Volunteering this morning to save legs before a race tomorrow. A busy event at Jesmond Dene (384 finishers, on the high side) but the timekeeping itself went well!

Next week I’ll be on my new training plan, which I haven’t actually drawn up yet, so no idea whether I’ll be attempting a fast one or not. High likelihood I’ll be back in the Dene though.

I’ve been too busy with work this week to fit in much running, so salvaged things to an extent this morning with a parkrun sandwich. Zero energy but I got it done!

Planning to be back in the same place next week…