04/05 - First off was Newbury parkrun. There was no special reason for doing this parkrun. It was a case of discussing with my Dad which parkruns were on the way to Southampton as we drove down from Glasgow. Newbury parkrun had a Premier Inn nearby so ticked the box. The parkrun is situated in a disused air field which means it has a very large space to use and they maximise it, as the course is a single lap. The route doesnt go on the old runway but around it on reasonably widened paths. When I looked around at the start it didnt actually feel like there were many people there, maybe a few hundred. Where in fact there was just over 600! Which is the second highest attendence for a parkrun I have ever participated in behind Edinburgh. Its such a wide space at the start that you feel that this parkruns capacity is not even nearly reached and there are plenty of car parks too to meet the needs.
I decided to start conservatively placing myself in the middle of the pack and never really had any problems. I gradually picked up the pace going round and ended up finishing in 28.23.
11/05 - This was probably the most planned/unplanned parkrun day I have ever had. The ship I was on was due to get in about 4am but disembarkation was due to start till 7.30am. But we didnt really know how long it would take to get off the ship and then get the car. So the plan was to go to Southampton parkrun. I would just head straight there, getting the bus and mum and dad would take the stuff and get the car and meet me there. The parkrun was only 2 miles from the dock.
But we ended up getting off the ship and got the car by 7.45am. So I suggested we could find a parkrun further up the road as we driving all the way up to Glasgow today. Also Southampton parkrun is the second busiest parkrun behind Bushy most weeks. Today for example 1,200 runners so it may have taken a while to get out of Southampton. So anyway, my Dad started reeling off towns nearby asking if they had parkruns. After a few no, nos we settled on Winchester. Which wasn't too far from Southampton but gave us a wee head start for the day.
We got to Winchester in plenty of time. The course is a bit mentally challenging with the all the loops and trying to work out the route. Although you run round cricket pitches a lot there is some extremely nice sections running along beside the river. I would say the course is about 80% grass/trail. 20% tarmac. I had a good run today, again starting off conservatively and gradually increasing the pace. Finishing in 27.09. I did have one gym session duing the cruise, no running but a lot of walking which must have done the trick.
18/05 - No running of a parkrun today due to running a Millport 10 mile fun run on the Sunday. But I did volunteer down at Drumchapel parkrun for the first time. I know the event/run director there from Rouken Glen and as he was run director at Drumchapel that I said I would help out. I was number checker which is a very easy job at Drumchapel due to the low numbers they get. 34 today. But it does mean more time to chat and they have a really good bunch at Drumchapel.
The Milport 10 miler the next day went better than expected. I had a restless night the night before and felt rubbish when I woke up. I actually phoned my brother to say I won't bother today but he talked me into going. I hadn't done a long run since the start of April where training had been going really well up until that point. But I still got round with a lot of thanks to my brother for running with me even though he could have gone a lot faster. It was a good catch up more than anything. I managed to run 10k distance fine and took 3, 60 second walkbreaks to the end. But a great day out with my brother and his family. Glad I went.
25/05 - Back to running parkruns. Today I went to Pollok for the first time since the start of March. I was half thinking I should be in line for my fastest Pollok time in while since my times have come down a fair bit this year. On the other hand I haven't been doing many hilly parkruns recently so it was interesting to see how I would fair today. The answer though was positive. I paced it well and my legs felt good pretty much all the way round and the hills didn't seem that difficult. Finished in 29.33 which is my first sub 30 at Pollok this year.
Overall a pretty good month for parkruns. I would say my training hasn't been as good during the week due to holiday and recovering from the Milport 10 miler. So hoping I can get into more of a routine again.
In terms of my challenge to average under 30 minutes over the course of the year things are going good and current average is 29 minutes 32 seconds and thats me up to 20 parkruns, run so far this year.
18/05 - No running of a parkrun today due to running a Millport 10 mile fun run on the Sunday. But I did volunteer down at Drumchapel parkrun for the first time. I know the event/run director there from Rouken Glen and as he was run director at Drumchapel that I said I would help out. I was number checker which is a very easy job at Drumchapel due to the low numbers they get. 34 today. But it does mean more time to chat and they have a really good bunch at Drumchapel.
The Milport 10 miler the next day went better than expected. I had a restless night the night before and felt rubbish when I woke up. I actually phoned my brother to say I won't bother today but he talked me into going. I hadn't done a long run since the start of April where training had been going really well up until that point. But I still got round with a lot of thanks to my brother for running with me even though he could have gone a lot faster. It was a good catch up more than anything. I managed to run 10k distance fine and took 3, 60 second walkbreaks to the end. But a great day out with my brother and his family. Glad I went.
25/05 - Back to running parkruns. Today I went to Pollok for the first time since the start of March. I was half thinking I should be in line for my fastest Pollok time in while since my times have come down a fair bit this year. On the other hand I haven't been doing many hilly parkruns recently so it was interesting to see how I would fair today. The answer though was positive. I paced it well and my legs felt good pretty much all the way round and the hills didn't seem that difficult. Finished in 29.33 which is my first sub 30 at Pollok this year.
Overall a pretty good month for parkruns. I would say my training hasn't been as good during the week due to holiday and recovering from the Milport 10 miler. So hoping I can get into more of a routine again.
In terms of my challenge to average under 30 minutes over the course of the year things are going good and current average is 29 minutes 32 seconds and thats me up to 20 parkruns, run so far this year.
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