Steps Challenge Week 13

Day 85,86,87: Another few days in the office - all walking - 12,555 steps, 12,708 steps, 13,137 steps

Day 88:  Parkrun day today and I have to say even though I didn't have the best warm up, I was feeling well up for giving it a good go, despite having not run a parkrun in 4 weeks.  I tried to position myself a bit further forward this week and think I was in about the right position in the pack. The start was still a bit stuttered as always, as everyone crams into the narrow road. But after that its ok.  There were quite a few puddles today but as usual I just plough straight through them so no time lost. Just before the km mark I got a shout from one of my old clubmates Gordon and we breifly chatted before he pressed on.  He is normally a lot faster but he has got the Paisley 10k tomorrow. Just before the second km mark I caught Pamela.  On my last outing at Pollok it took me till the final sprint to catch her and she is usually pretty consistent in terms of times so I knew I was running well. I just tried to remain focused and take each section at a time. I was running strong up the hills and using the downhills to take my foot off the gas a bit to recharge for the uphills.  I did have thoughts of walking parts but today I won those mental battles and kept going all the way to the end.

I was well and truly rewarded as I crossed the line in 26.38.  A seasons best time at Pollok. 4th fastest 5k this year and achieved one of my goals for the year of going sub 27 minutes at Pollok. So a very satisfying performance.  When I got home I went out for a 4 1/2 mile walk to up the steps a bit. 17,700 steps.

Day 89:  Recovery walk today - my legs were actually feeling alright after yesterday. 10,815 steps.

Day 90,91: Back in the office - 13,268 steps, then 13,216 steps

Here are the stats for the week:

My average steps for week 13: 13,343
My overall average: 13,013

My team's average steps overall: 13,554
My team's ranking in our department mini league after week 13: 4th out of 8 - same as last week
My team's ranking across all companies competing in GCC after week 13: 8,424 out of 48,444 -  Up 824 places on last week.

A week and 2 days left!  My overall average is dangling just above the 13k mark so I'm going to try and keep it that way. It will be a bit more challenging as I'm not in the office as much over the next week so I'm going to have to do some big walks and longer runs to ensure I do stay ahead.