Poor Park Run 100

It's the 100th Park run today. I am still in bed at 8:40am. I decide to risk the wrath of Mrs Squirrel by getting up and doing it. It is the 100th after all.

I had been awake for a couple of hours during the night walking around with the baby.

Today there are pacers for every minute. I am feeling bullish and decide to follow the 22 minute pacer. I have been moderating my eating recently and have must have lost some weight. Should be interesting to see how this improves my running as it surely will.

At the start I am annoyed as surely the 22 minute pacer is going to fast. I hold him for a km and then start to slip. By the time Jenny from our club (the 23 minute pacer) came by I knew the game was up.

I then begin to really struggle. I see people I am usually faster than come streaming past. I struggle towards the end, and decide not even to put in a sprint finish.

But I can't resist and dispatch the runner behind me as he tries to sprint. I rapidly catch up with the runner in front and start to hunt him down. I think I would have had him on the line, but the runners funnel is too narrow and I have to relent.

And the time is poor, 23:45.

So I ponder as to what caused this terrible, sole destroying performance:

*Last night's cycle back from work over Crystal Palace Hill. I definitely had sore thighs
* Only just waking up, without having a coffee
* Not having enough food for energy
* My son has had a sore throat, and later in the day, I noticed a sore throat myself, so possibly some kind of virus
* Lack of sleep taking a bigger physical toll than I expected
* Not running with others, pushing me on enough (i.e. no club night and no park runs)

I'll monitor the next couple of runs to see if this continues. I try to keep reminding myself that the baby is going to lead to some loss of fitness. After my first child, I probably didn't do anything for 6 months!

After the run I couldn't even hang around after long for a chat, as I was needed for baby duties back home.

5km 23:45!