I was a bit nervous pre-parkrun this week as I was pacing for the first time. I’d wanted to give it a go for years but I’d never been confident enough that my back issues wouldn’t play up on the day. Now that my spondylitis treatment has been stable and reliable for a few months, I finally feel ready to do things like this.
I was pacing 34 minutes. I knew that the course always measures long on watches, largely due to the crowded start, so aimed for roughly 10:52 min mile pace (rather than the 10:57 needed for an exact 5k). The first few minutes were tricky but I soon settled into a nice steady pace, looking at my watch probably once every ten seconds or so!
I kept as close to target pace as I could all the way round and came in at 34:03. I’d like to be a few seconds under rather than over, but that’s not bad for a first attempt. I’ll try again next month if they’ll have me.
A more sedate kind of volunteering next week as it’s Great North Weekend!
With a race the next day I wanted the easiest possible parkrun morning, so I walked to Jesmond Dene and ambled round in a nice slow 38ish minutes. Nice morning for it too, which hasn’t always been the case this bank holiday weekend!
BRAND NEW ALL-TIME PB 27:01 ON SATURDAY AT AGNEW :O :O :O
Combination of a summer of very hard training, a pancake-flat course, and Nike Vaporflys.
Things that are so overwhelming I can’t even begin to understand them at the moment: previous inability to get under 30 minutes post-hiatus, previous inability to hold this pace for more than 400m during interval sessions, assorted others.
A very wet one this last weekend. I went to Leazes as Geth was parkrunning for once (as part of his long run) and had settled on Leazes for a bit of pace work as Town Moor was still off (for a festival that ended up getting cancelled… but let’s not go there).
I wasn’t expecting much pace in the rain, especially as I’d had to powerwalk most of the three and a half miles there after getting to the metro and realising I’d forgotten my bank card. It turned out to be a good warmup though and I was able to bomb it round for a good course PB, finishing in 30:32. Still hunting that post-pandemic sub-30! Didn’t have speed shoes on though so maybe next time.
Lots of TMBR folks also got course PBs so maybe the rain was doing a good job.
Lots of very wet parkrunners! Leazes was busy. Photo from Nick at TMBR.
Further afield next time, and hopefully even faster…
I keep meaning to try out Denton Dene, the new parkrun on the west side of Newcastle, but it might have to wait for a few more weeks. I decided on Rising Sun on Saturday morning, as I find it quite a peaceful place to run once you’re past the congested start.
Steady run with some progression towards the end got me round in 32:35, which I didn’t realise was a course PB until later that day! I had it in my head that I’d previously done 32:00 dead on, but it was actually 33:00. Nice to see more improvement.
Sunniest day for weeks!
Leazes next week as Geth is doing a rare parkrun again!
Bit of a parkrun catchup post as I’ve not had much time for blogging recently!
A few weeks ago I went to Rising Sun for the first time in about five years. It used to be my go-to alternative parkrun when Town Moor wasn’t on, but then Leazes and Jesmond Dene started up in 2019 and I’d sort of forgotten about Rising Sun in the intervening time. It was really nice to try it again (I think I’ve now run it three times on three slightly different courses).
Long time no see Rising Sun!
The week after that, I was parkwalking for the first time at Town Moor, as I had a race the following day. I understand the parkwalking role is different from the tailwalking role, but I found that there weren’t really any other walkers to encourage – there was (I think) one very fast walker and a few slow runners, but they were all quite a lot faster than my brisk walking pace and so I ended up hanging back with the tailwalkers and other parkwalker after all (all fellow Benchies so it was nice). We finished in just over 50 minutes so quite a fast field.
A week later, it was NHS celebration day, so I headed down to Jesmond Dene in one of my many blue race t-shirts. It was a lovely day for a run so I took it easy en route and enjoyed the cake afterwards!
Then last week, Geth and I were visiting the in-laws so I was back at Pendle parkrun. Incredibly, after trying and failing to break 35 minutes at Pendle for years, I somehow ran 32:46 without really pushing it! No idea where that came from! Really pleased though.
Nice to be parkrunning with Geth, which is rare due to his training block schedule!
Finally, this last weekend, I was volunteering at Jesmond Dene – finish tokens in the torrential rain for an hour. What a difference a fortnight makes weather-wise… No photo as it was far too wet for a selfie.
I’m really enjoying a variety of parkruns at the moment and expect that to continue for the rest of the summer and beyond!
A slight change of scenery this last weekend. Geth wanted a fast parkrun and believes Leazes to be the fastest in the local area (I’m not convinced. That hill at the end of the lap really slows you down!), so off we headed.
I decided not to attempt sub-30 as it was still very warm, but still managed a good pace and ended up getting a course PB of 32:36. Not bad and hopefully I can improve on that on a cooler day.
Another late parkrunday blog post but I wanted to get my Blaydon Race post up first!
I was timekeeping at Jesmond Dene again (my favourite role these days) as I wanted an easy morning after the previous night’s race. It was a gorgeous morning for standing around volunteering (perhaps a bit warm for running, as has been the case for a good week or so now) and also a busy one for Jesmond Dene with nearly 300 finishers! This was due to (a) Town Moor being off for the Hoppings fair, (b) people wanting an event #111 for their Nelson challenge* and (c) post-Blaydon Race tourism.
I tried for sub-30 – it was pacer week at Town Moor and I knew my friend Jack from TMBR was pacing 30 – but I could only hang on for less than a mile. 31:41 in the end. I’ll keep trying this summer.
