I mean to run yesterday but I was sick. I decide to do Park Run despite the sickness which is preventing me eating properly. I feel that I am in form and so decide to push for a PB.
It is cold, bitingly so. Before the start I run around to warm up. It's a good sign that the warm up running is feeling effortless. Just before the start I decide to ditch the anorak. On the first lap I ditch the hat as well.
On the run I decide to target 4:30/km which would bring me in at a PB of 22:30. (Previous PB on the full course is 22:40) Except there's a problem. I don't hold the 4:30/km pace, I am running faster....at 4:25/km. A couple of times it slips to 4:26/km but then I recover it.
On the first lap I notice no one picked up my coat so I either pick it up myself on the final lap or get it at the end.
The other thing I notice is that this does not feel horrible. Sure, I am having to work but I'm not in the red zone.
After 4km all is still going peachy. I decide not to pick up the coat to really see how fast I can go. The last couple of hundred metre I sprint with my eyes closed looking to the sky.
I poke the Garmin on the finish line. I look at the time and I'm confused. It seems to say 21 on the minutes. I always imagined I would stretch to break the 22"30, then the 22"00 and so on.
In the end it's well into the 21's at 21"50. I then remember my barcode is in my coat. I have to jog and get my coat before I can check in. This is probably another 1.5km. But it's okay, I'm in a good mood. I then can't find my hat. I suspect a dog has run of with it.
When I get back to check-in the queue is massive. Today if I had checked in when I finished there would have been hardly any queue (finishing 26th), instead I am 120th in the queue of 121 people. Still I don't care.
I then have a sudden panic. I look at the distance. What if the course was short? I am suddenly dismayed to realise that the course was 400m short. Well, it would take me at least a minute to run that distance. Then I look again. The course is 4.96km (not 4.6km as I had misread it). My mistake, the Park Run organisation impeccable as ever.
In the queue I chat to Martin who runs Marathon's in around 3:15. He gives me a scary look when I tell him about the 32 mile Moonlight Challenge.
The two interesting things about this run was 1) I neither eaten or drunk before the race and felt great for it. 2) How easy it felt
On the fast jog back to the car I find my hat. I had been looking under the wrong tree and I had already given it up for lost!
Today the hat is on the side of my head, I am in shirt sleeves and all is good.
5km 21"50 (PB)
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