It's not been the best of months running wise but I have still managed 4 out of 5 parkruns this month meaning I have only missed 4 so far this year.
2nd June I headed to Drumchapel parkrun with Rouken glen pal Stuart. It was my 150th parkrun and also Drumchapel's 2nd birthday. It was busy for Drumchapel with about 80 folk there and as always as social, friendly as ever. The run itself was tougher than usual due to the heat so I was mainly walking the hills. But I was trying to go faster down them which made things more fun. Afterwards we went to the cafe to the awards where it was nice to see both runners and volunteers getting rewarded for their contributions to this magic wee parkrun.
9th June I went to Pollok and it was another landmark run as I completed the 10 for 10 challenge and got the gold medal. I completed 8 parkruns in consecutive weeks and also volunteered at Rouken Glen junior parkrun and Victoria junior parkrun to make it up to 10. To be honest going into the run my head wasn't really in the right place. And I mean specifically to the Pollok course. It was the first time in 3 months I have been at Pollok and I haven't really had the best of times at Pollok this year. It seems to be a challenge of how far I can get without walking. What made it easier today is that I started chatting to Chris right from the start and we ran together. After about a mile we bumped into Rob and the 3 of us chatted just until about halfway. This was where we heard someone coming from behind to keep left meaning the leaders were coming through. Chris and Rob didnt want to be lapped so upped the pace and that was the last I saw of them. I made it to about 2 miles without walking then ran walked the rest.
The next week I didn't do parkrun as I had a sore throat, not enough to be off work but enough to know I should be taking it easy.
23rd June I was back at Pollok. This time because a few of my uni friends Viv and Stu decided to give it a go. Stu has done it before a few years back but for Viv it was her first time. Today there seemed to be loads of people there I knew which was great. I settled into a very easy pace and again got to about 2 miles and ran/walked in from there. Viv and Stu seemed to enjoy it so hopefully they'll be back.
30th June back at Pollok again as thought Stu might be back today but texted this morning to cancel as his wife is immienent so didn't want to risk it. It was absolutley boiling today and I ran with water for the first time ever during a parkrun. The heat and the hills meant I was walking a lot sooner than usual.
Times this month were 34 mins, 31 mins, 32 mins then 35 mins. So a bit disappointing after such a good May but 2 of these I put down to the heat. But I do really need to work on my mental approach to Pollok as its almost like there are certain mental trigger points where I feel the urge to walk. Which I don't generally get when doing other parkruns.
In saying that I have started a 10k plan this week so I'm hoping I can build up my fitness a bit in the next few months so hopefully I will be ready for the Paisley 10k in August.
