Mid year review and going forward

 Time for me to take time to look back over the last 6 months and reflect on how I've been getting on and see how I'm doing compared to what I set out to do at the start of the year.  I wasn't sure if I was going to try and start upping the distances and it turned out that was a decision I subconsiously made not not.  Instead of going out running during the week I turned to the gym and have been going pretty regularly about twice a week.  For starter I was doing the treadmill but never really took to it like I used to. So I ended up using cycling machine, eliptical and rower more as well as some weights.

I have kept up the parkruns but in terms of my performances, they did take quite a dip when I started going to the gym. Although my times have started going in a better direction since in April, I haven't managed to get that elusive sub 30 like last year.  The nearest being at Cunningar Loop where I did 32.05.

But I have been going regularly to parkrun which is the most important thing.  I wanted to do 40 this year, and due to being assigned tailwalk duties a couple of times when volunteering at Pollok I have done 24 parkruns this year out of a possible 28. So I would only have to do 18 runs to reach the last couple of years totals of 42. And if I bettered 42 I wouldn't have done that since 2019.  Altogether I'm on 428 parkruns now, so on track to reach 440 which was my aim this year.

In terms of average time for the 22 parkruns I did not including the 2 tailwalking Im up at 35.59. Which shows how slow I've been this year as I've never been that slow.

But I have been about. At the start of the year I had 5 new parkruns in Scotland to tick off.  There have been quite a few new ones starting like Belladrum, Lady Mary's walk, Beecraigs, Wilton Lodge, Broughty Ferry, Drumlanrig.  But I have been ticking off quite a few of them and now just have 3 to do in the shape of Glenrothes, Wilton Lodge and Broughty ferry. But sounds like there are quite a few in the pipeline so should be fun having more adventures.

In terms of p-index, I have been ticking off more to count towards the next level so Im now just 2 away from 10, just need to do Ruchill and Victoria then need to decide where my 11th venue will be.

In terms of the next 6 months I have a decision to make, stick with the gym during the week or turn those gym sessions into outdoor runs.  To be honest the gym has become the easy option, I feel fitter when I do the cycling machine and eliptical and rower, probably because I've been doing them twice a week. But it's clear its not really been helping my running, and one run alone a week is not really enough.  So the other option is the harder option, ie running during the week but it would improve my parkruns.