August parkruns

Better late than never! Hopefully I remembered right what actually happened in August but I'll just start rambling as usual and see if it comes back to me

03/08 - Starting off the month at Pollok parkrun since it was Craig's 250th and he invited me to come along.  You might recognise him from the You tube videos his friend Douglas makes of their journey round all the parkruns in Scotland.  It was good chatting to him and Jo in the first mile of the run. For the second mile I caught up with Stuart and Pauline, also from Rouken Glen juniors and we ran together. For the 3rd mile Stuart speeded off, while Pauline fell behind. Despite all the good chat I was still giving a good effort really all the way round and managed to come in just over 30 minutes which I was pleased with.

10/08 - Back at Pollok again but this run was to be very different to the previous week.  I had been a bit ill during the week so no running and I clearly wasnt firing on all cylinders today.  I was yo, yoing a bit with Doug who I know from Rouken glen juniors and found myself walk/running after the first mile.  It was easy to walk so cant really say it was a tough run.  And when you do parkrun as much as myself, I have had many off days. So it no longer frustrates me to have a slower run. I just kind of accept it. So today I came in just over 37 minutes.

17/08 - This adventure actually started the day before on the Friday as I headed up to Orkney for Kirkwall parkrun.  As I took the train up to Inverness. Then it was bus to John O'Groats, ferry to Orkney, then bus to Kirkwall.   My hotel was just a short walk to the start.  Its a really nice area they have for the parkrun which is really right in the heart of Kirkwall.  During the pre-run briefing the run director asked if there was any tourists. I was reallly surprised when about maybe 40% people put there hand up.  And when they went round where everyone was from, a lot of folk were from England.  As I say it is a really nice place to have a parkrun but I couldnt help but thinking the course was a bit of an accident waiting to happen for the first 500 metres.  Its a narrow path and within the first 500 metres there is an out and back. During this time people are still sorting out there position in the pack, weaving in and out. Meanwhile you have the front runners coming the other way in no time at all.  Maybe they looked at all the options and this was the only one which is viable though.  But positively after the first out and back people are spread out enough that it isn't an issue for the rest of the run. I was pleased to just dip below 30 minutes on what was a reasonably flat course. 

I had the rest of the day in Kirkwall as I decided to make it a 2 nighter and head back on the Sunday.  In the afternoon I had a really nice time walking round Kirkwall, going to museums and the historic Scotland site, as well as the cathedral.  I wish I had another day so I could have gone to some of the sites outwith Kirkwall as there were plenty of bus tours. But for me thats a lesson learned for when I do Bressay.

24/08 - Another adventure up north, this time it was to Stonehaven parkrun which is just south of Aberdeen.  I actually stayed in Aberdeen just because I was into the routine of booking the same hotel for the last few Aberdeen parkruns.  Although when I went past Stonehaven on the train on Friday night I was thinking maybe I should have just stayed in Stonehaven.  The train was fine in the morning though and it was only a 10 minute walk to the park in Stonehaven from the train station. I actually arrived at 8.55 to the park and there was no-one there so I found a bench and just chilled out for 20 minutes.  Gradually more and more people congregated right in the middle of the park. Then someone put all the signs out.  It did remind me of Drumchapel parkrun a bit. Quite a small parkrun in terms of numbers, 3 laps and some tough hillls.  I did get chatting to one of the women there too who I later found out was one of the run directors there.  Which is quite reminicent of Drumchapel as I always find myself chatting more at the smaller parkruns than the larger parkruns.  In terms of the parkrun itself, I enjoyed it.  I managed to run up the big hill twice, albeit slowly.  The third time I had to walk up but once I was up to the top I managed to increase the pace quite a bit and finished strongly.  So for this one I came in about 31 minutes.

31/08 - Today I was back at Pollok and it was for a wee parkrun landmark as this was my 100th Pollok parkrun.  For the first mile or so I was running with Craig, Jo and Pauline.  As we reached the main hill by the glade though they all started to pull away.  I did have to take some walk breaks but it wasnt as bad as the run I had at Pollok earlier in the month.  So came in about 33 minutes.

So getting an average time of 30 minutes or less is suddenly getting a lot tougher especially as I seem to be doing a lot of hill runs at the moment. But I did complete 50 miles for the month which is what I set out to do. So hopefully I can continue to build on that and that in turn will get my times down a bit.