02/03 - Back at Pollok for the first time in 3 weeks. Did something a bit different today and started my watch when I crossed the start line rather than when they shout go and their timers started. I wanted to see how long it took to cross the start line which was 30 seconds today. As usual the first k was a bit slow as pace is very much dictated. But I got into my running after that and ended up just under 30 minutes watch time and 30.22 official parkrun time. The official time was actually my second fastest time on the new route at Pollok. I'm slowly getting used to it!
09/03 - Out for another adventure today as I was up to Dunfermline for their parkrun in Pittencrief park. I stayed in Holiday Inn Express the night before near Dunfermline Queen Margaret station. It was about 2 and half miles from the start so decided that was a bit too long a warm up so took the train from queen margaret to Dunfermline town and had a 0.7 mile jog warm up from the station to the start via the abbey to arrive with 10 minutes to spare to the start of the run. At the first timers briefing the guy made it clear it was a hilly course and it was 3 laps so it was good to be mentally prepared in that respect.
At the start, I posistioned myself about half way down the pack. And got into my running straight away, absoultely no problems during in the entire run of getting stuck behind people or anything like that. The paths are nice and wide and there was 138 runners today. There is one main hill you go up on each lap which I adjusted my pace for and made it up pretty comfortably each time. To be honest I couldn't tell you how bad it was as I make a habit of looking at the ground when going up hills rather than looking up as I tend to find it mentally easier not seeing how far I have to go up it. But to give you an idea of difficulty there were people around me that were walking up it on the first lap. There are many undulations dotted around the loop but apart from the main loop the rest does feel quite flat and downhill.
I was delighted with my time as I dipped below 29 minutes with a 28.51. Its my best time on a hilly course for quite sometime and as my Dad says considering I didn't know the course before hand its harder to know what pace to set out at so a good run.
16/03 - I wasn't sure what parkrun I was going to do today. The weather was dodgy so it was a case of waiting till 8.30am and seeing who was going to cancel and who was going to be on. Drumchapel, Pollok, Ruchill and Linwood all cancelled but noone else had declared they were actually on so I gambled on the least likely to be off and headed for Tollcross. I thought it might be the alt course due to ice but it turned out the grass was actually slippier than the paths. So it was normal course. Although the run director in the briefing did say to take care as it was a bit slipply in places.
I took this on board and set off pretty conservatively. The weather was pretty wild with sleety rain pouring for the majority. But after the first lap I realised the underfoot conditions weren't really that bad and I could pick things up in the second lap. I finished just over 30 minutes which I'll take on that course but I know if I was I bit more free flowing on the downhills on the first lap I would have been under 30.
23/03 - Today's adventure was back up to Aberdeen for Hazlehead parkrun. My hotel was about a mile and half away from the start but I decided just to walk rather than have a jog warm up to save myself for the actual run. It was a glorius day. Its an out and back course up a wide trail path which runs along beside a golf course. The first mile is a gradual uphill and I was a bit surprised when I looked at my watch to see I had done it in 10 minutes. I know I wasn't going all out but I did think I was going a wee bit quicker than that. At the same time I was running well within myself but I did think it might be a slow one today. The next mile which included the turn around I picked up the pace a bit and ran 8.50. Then I really got into my stride when running down the hill to the finish and ended up finishing in 27 minutes and 11 seconds. 30 seconds quicker than my time up in Aberdeen the previous month and my fastest time in any parkrun since June 2017. My last mile was 8 minutes. Delighted with it.
30/03 - Today was a last minute decision to do Linwood parkrun as I hadn't done it for a while and its one of my favourites. Met Finola from junior parkrun at the start and after half a mile we realised we were going the same pace so chatted for a bit. After the first mile I started to pull away. She could have gone a lot faster I think but she was saving herself for Tom Scott 10 miler the next day. I felt pretty good all the way round and gradually increased the pace in the second and third miles. I ended up with a time of 26.41. 30 seconds quicker than the previous week. A great way to end what has been my best month of running in some time.
In my challenge to get my parkruns below 30 minutes on average this year. Overall I am now 29.49, thanks to some quick times this month.
