March parkrun

Well this was to be a month unlike any other.  I can't remember the last time I went a whole month without running a parkrun but it must have been at least a few years ago.  But I feel the need to document for future why exactly I didn't run a parkrun this month.  

07/03 - I did go to Queen's parkrun as a volunteer where I marshalled.  Corona virus was starting to gather pace in the UK but the only advice at this stage was to wash your hands.  So token sorting meant bringing hand sanitizer and using it before and after sorting.  This was to be my last time attending a 5k parkrun and the last time volunteering at juniors the following day for the foreseeable future.  Looking back I am glad I spent the last 5 weeks at Queen's.  I have travelled a lot last year with parkrun but its nice to get into a routine of going to your home one.

14/03 - Parkrun was still on this weekend but corona virus was gathering even more pace and as well as washing your hands the advice was to basically not go near people or social distancing as its called now. This meant widened funnels.  Holding your barcodes and tokens when getting them scanned instead of giving them to the barcode scanners.  Or in my case the advice was if you feel unwell at all to stay away from parkrun. I didn't have corona virus symptoms but I wasn't feeling great so parkruns were advising just to stay away so that is what I did.

21/03 - This was expected.  But this was the first week where parkruns closed across the UK for 2 weeks which is now extended to the end of April.  They did a big quiz on Saturday morning to replace it. Which to be fair to the parkrun team was good.

28/03 - Then on the Monday after the last meant to be parkrun lockdown was announced. Only allowed out for one piece of exercise a day which is from where you are staying and one food trip a day.

All in the space of a month. Crazy times.  

February parkruns

2/2/20 - First up this month was Fort William parkrun.  To me this is the hardest parkrun in Scotland to get to since you can't get public transport to it in the morning and its 6 miles from Fort William town centre.  So, when my Mum and Dad agreed to doing our winter break there, we did it over the weekend so I could get the parkrun in too. To be honest I was preparing for it to be cancelled due to the time of year and really saw this as a holiday and if parkrun was on it would be a bonus.

We got to the Nevis range car park at 9am and it was chucking it down.  So, we stayed in the car till about 9.20 then headed over to the start.  Got chatting to a few folks and then we were off down the forest track.  It's a 1 loop course. With the first half on forest track and then coming back on mainly trails.   The first half is mainly downhill with the second half mainly uphill.  The field did spread out very quickly and although especially in the second half there wasn’t much space to overtake. Because the field was smallish this wasn’t a problem.  On a small section of the forest track on the way back someone overtook me, and they absolutely flew past. He was wearing a ben Nevis race t-shirt and I was half thinking it could be Findlay Wild who has won the Ben Nevis race for the last 10 years and lives up there.  I thought he must be on his own run rather than parkrun being where I was in the field.  So I checked Strava when I got home and checked flybys and sure enough it was him. He started 15 minutes late and still finished before me! He took just over 17 minutes whereas I was just over 33.  I thought at the end of it that this was one of the toughest parkruns I have done. Just because all the hard work is done in the second half.  But it is a very good course and I did enjoy it.

9/2/20 - Number checker at Queens

15/02 - For my final 3 runs of the month I went to Queen's each time.  And for each one I had three different approaches where I ended up getting faster each time.  For the 15th I ran there and back on top of the parkrun, adding up to 6 miles. On the way there I actually started walking after a mile, then I met Joe and we ran the rest of the way to the park.  When the run started, I was walking after the second hill on the first lap and was run/walking the rest of the way.  So that run I was 36 minutes.

22/02 - Next up I decided for the first time just to drive to Queen's to save my energy for the run.  This time I started a bit faster as for the first part I was running with Stuart and Kirsty. I think I pushed the pace a bit on the first lap, then Stuart went ahead, and I pulled away from Kirsty about half way through the first lap.  Then the second lap I had to start my run/walk for the hills and Kirsty overtook me.  But I ended up finishing 2 minutes faster than the previous week finishing in 34 minutes.

29/02 - Then yesterday I drove to the park again and decided to start slower.  This worked wonders and I managed to run the whole way round and finished this one in 33 minutes.

This year so far, I have only managed one sub 30 minute run and that was at Linwood.  I think it does reflect that apart from Linwood I have been doing hilly courses.  Also, my times for these hilly courses were getting worse up until the 22nd. But I don’t think that is a reflection on my fitness. It’s more like a learning curve as to learning what I can do to achieve better times at the moment.  

My challenge of running an average of sub 30 average parkrun throughout the year seems impossible right now unless I really get my act together but at the same time, I'm not going to run flatter parkruns deliberately just to achieve it.  Hopefully though I'll get under 30 at Queen's this year. That is my big aim which I feel is doable with a few months of good training.