Park run news

On Saturday Grant and I took part in our third Parkrun. Although the holidays were over and the participants are only about a third in total, the turnout was still strong. 

 A friendly young dog and his master 

Quite a large dog and his young mistress

 A very young puppy. I think this little one was carried by her mistress after the first 500 meters! 

Everyone striding out (the serious runners had gone by the time I took this photo) 

You can walk, jog or run this distance. There were several serious runners who were clocking up kilometers for bigger races. The first one finished in 17 minutes on Saturday. 

I had seen my results from the previous week. (I finished the 5km walk in 54 minutes 11 seconds.) I decided I was going to put in an effort this week and improve my time by at least nine minutes. 

Mmm...

As it had rained - a lot - again on Thursday night, Friday and Friday night, the going was really muddy and very slippery. 

I'm quite a statistician. I like working with figures and I like working out distances versus fuel consumption (as when we do on a road trip by car).  

The starting volunteer set us off at 8.04

We set off from the start at 8.04 am. 

When I reached the 1km marker, I checked the time on my camera. It was 8.16.

OK. So a kilometer takes me 12 minutes. This stands to reason as any half-fit, enthusiastic walker can do the 5km in an hour. 

At 2km, I checked my camera and the time was 8.26. 

Yay! I'd cut 2 minutes off this last kilometer. 

Then the trouble started. The road next to the dam became a thick marsh and because I was fixated on walking faster, I stepped into the middle of it. I spent ever so long trying to lift each foot up and place them onto dryer ground. Eventually I stepped onto the grassy verge and managed to pick up my pace again.

I reached the 3km mark at 8.37. Uh - oh. 11 minutes.  Not bad after all that gloopy mud. 

Walking along the top of the second dam wall (we walk around two dams on this route - hence the mud!) I heard someone call to me "I've seen you somewhere before" I looked down my right and there was our 72-year-old-friend, Anthony, still approaching the dam wall but striding out strongly.

I asked him where Grant and Anthony's brother, John were but Anthony called back that he'd left them way back there. 

By the 4km mark I checked my camera (am I sad or what?) and the time said: 8.47.

Oh dear. No way was I cutting nine minutes off my previous time. 

By now, I'd turned onto the grass verge along the main road and Anthony was coming up on my left. I shouted back that I was trying to better my time - so he said: get into a sprint then.

Oh doh! I was still walking strongly but no way could I suddenly break into a jog!

I arrived at the end point with the timers clocking me in at 53 minutes. 

Phew! 😅😅😅

Hard work for that little improvement but on the chart it says this is my New Personal Best. 

Tadaah! 

Anthony arrived 15 seconds after me - a tough, wiry gentleman. 

Grant and John arrived at 1.21 minutes and were as happy as Larry with their Old Personal Best! 

This is one of the cleverest ways to get out there and get fit. Grant who couldn't walk 50 meters when we arrived here, is now completing 5km every week. John who has to watch a problematic knee, says his blood sugar count has dropped phenomenally since he started taking part in the Parkrun events every week. 

HERE'S WISHING YOU ALL A WONDERFUL MONDAY.