My fastest parkrun this year

On Saturday, Stu and I decided to go to Heartlands parkrun again as it’s the closest parkrun to my mum’s house. We considered going to Trelissick as that’s a Cornish parkrun that Stu hasn’t done, but he’s still struggling with an ankle injury and Trelissick involves some steep inclines. M was worn out after cycling the Camel Trail, so we left her at home (with Grandma).

We arrived quite early, so had plenty of time to park and wander over to the start. Whilst there, we got chatting to some other parkrun tourists, including a speedy chap from Winchester parkrun. There didn’t seem to be as many runners as the week before and it wasn’t as hot, so I hoped that I would be able to beat my time from the previous week.

I set off quite quickly and was amused to be told that I was the 25th lady by a chap who was marshalling. This motivated me to keep pushing, even though I knew I wouldn’t stay in that position.

Perhaps I was running a bit better because I wasn’t worried about my mum and M. I was aiming to keep my average pace below 6:30/km. The first couple of kilometres weren’t too bad, but as usual, I had the ‘difficult third kilometre’. My pace slipped a bit, but I was determined to claw it back.

So how did I do?

This week, I didn’t top the table for the runner who had completed the most parkruns. Overall, I was in the bronze medal position behind two other parkrun tourists.

However, the great news was that I beat my time from last week by nearly 2:30. I ran my fastest parkrun of 2021. Now I just need to work on bringing that time down more. For that to happen, I need to start eating more healthily and lose weight again.