Blue Runnings

http://www.parkrun.org.uk/

I’ve been telling myself for weeks that I should start going to Blackhill Parkrun or Great Run Local at Gibside – they’re both short 5k runs, but both are very hilly so they’re excellent endurance training for the longer distances. As usual, the elevation graph doesn’t do justice to how it feels to do. A combination of travel, other events, it’s too hot, and general bone idleness mean I haven’t done Blackhill Parkrun since April and it’s longer than that since I’ve popped my head up at Gibside! No wonder my running feels like it’s slacking off.

Saturday morning came around, I was awake in plenty of time and even got up and dressed for it in time, then had a moment of ‘I really don’t feel like running this morning’. The problem with event-type runs, is if you dawdle long enough suddenly it’s too late and you’ve missed it, what a shame. I knew I needed to do something today, and half an hour first thing would be a good way to get it ticked off early in the day. I could tell I was dawdling so hurried myself out the door without even doing my trainers up before the out-of-time excuse became valid. I got there with only a few minutes to spare!

It was overcast, and with it being a 9am start I’d decided this meant it should be cooler and had dressed in capris and t-shirt. You’d think I’d have learnt by now, I should just go for the shorts and vest by default until October I think. It was of course, very muggy. I concentrated on just keeping my pace steady and getting around all the hills without a walking break. I suspect this is how I looked for most of the route…

It’s been that long since I did it, I couldn’t actually remember if it was two laps around the park or three, with a sneaking suspicion it might be three. A glance at my watch at the top of the hill from the first longer lap showed only about 1.5km so I resigned myself to three and didn’t bother looking at my watch again until the finish!

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http://www.parkrun.org.uk/

I am a habitually early riser, my alarm on a weekday morning goes off at 05:40, so I’m normally awake by 07:00 on a weekend (no alarm set), often assisted by the cat who seems worried that I might miss something if she doesn’t start cleaning my face about 10 mins after my alarm would normally go off. This morning as I began to surface and wonder what the time was, there was no sign of Madam Pusskins – P had left the door to the conservatory open overnight and she’s recently discovered she can get on top of the bookcases and sprawl in the sunshine, which is far more interesting than seeing why I haven’t got up yet. Checked my phone, and the time was 08:15 – the mental conversation I had with myself went something like this:

“Agh! Parkrun!”

“But you haven’t had a lazy morning in weeks.”

“Yeah, but you’re awake now.”

“Yeah, I guess…”

“Parkrun?”

“Ok, parkrun.”

So, up I got!

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http://www.parkrun.org.uk

With P working days this weekend, and therefore my having to get up at 06:20 to take him in (on the Saturday of a bank holiday weekend no less – criminal!), I thought I’d try the Blackhill ParkRun this morning and see what all the fuss is about! By the time I was less than halfway round I was really wishing I’d gone back to bed instead! I’ve not done a lapped route before, I have a knack for picking there-and-back again, single direction or circular routes and races – I always think if I’m out by myself in particular it will be too tempting to bail out before doing the full number of laps and just head back to the car if it’s a horrible one – and if I hadn’t been there with many other people today I would have done exactly that by halfway through the first lap! I had one walk break per lap – at the top corner of the football field, which was a bit frustrating as I know I can run 5km, but I wasn’t sure I’d make it round if I didn’t! It was sapping!

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