New Year’s Day parkrun 2024

I started 2024 with a New Year’s Day parkrun. It was my 452nd parkrun (my 261st at Southampton). We didn’t have a late night last night, but we bought a new mattress in the sales and it has had the opposite effect to what I’d hoped for. Instead of improving my sleep, I’ve struggled to find a comfortable sleeping position and have slept terribly since we got it. I’m really hoping that my sleep improves this month, as that should help my running.

Anyway… I love New Year’s Day parkruns – I’ve managed to complete them in 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2020, 2022 and 2023. The years I missed, I was in Cornwall and there wasn’t a nearby run. It’s no longer possible to do a double run on New Year’s Day (the last one was in 2020), but it is possible to do a festive double (Christmas Day and New Year’s Day) if you’re interested in parkrun challenges.

I was pleased to see that the weather forecast showed sunshine and warmer temperatures than I expected, so I took the opportunity to wear my 2023 parkrun Adventurers ugly t-shirt and my festive Brooks trainers for one last run. (They’ll be tucked away until December, rather than being retired).

We had a lovely chat with Cary at the start. She was running with her grandson, William – it was his first parkrun. We also saw Sarah and I had a lovely long chat with Mike.

The run

I didn’t have high expectations of my run as I was feeling tired and sluggish. I chatted a bit with Caro on the first lap. As I got towards the end of the first lap, I was surprised to see the first finisher heading towards me. Normally if I’m on target for a 30-31 minute parkrun, I’m not passed by the fastest runners. It turns out that the first finisher, Zakariyah Mahamed, was on course to set a new Southampton record. He finished in 14:35, which is absolutely amazing.

My first kilometre had been quite slow as the course was congested, but I had managed to pick up the pace on the second kilometre. The third km is my nemesis and I slowed down to nearly 7 minutes/km. Towards the top of the hill, Gus passed me. It looked like he was running well.

I wasn’t able to manage much of a sprint as I headed towards the finish as I was feeling tired, so I was surprised that I finished in under 31 minutes.

Aspirations for 2024

I thought I’d have a look back at my previous best times at Southampton parkrun. I hoped I would better my 2018 time in 2023, but I didn’t quite manage it, so that will be a goal for 2024. With sensible healthy eating and consistent running, I think it should be possible.

If I manage to stay injury-free then I may reach my 500th parkrun this year… but that will also depend on how many times I volunteer at 5k events. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to get out of bed earlier on Sundays and will manage to do more volunteering at junior events.

Something to watch

I’ve not watched a lot of television programmes or videos during the Christmas holidays, but one short video that I enjoyed was Yuki Kawauchi’s six-star story. I first became aware of Yuki Kawauchi when I was a regular listener of Marathon Talk. He’s an amazing runner and also seems like a lovely person. He’s also holder of seven Guinness world records:

• Shortest period of time (2 weeks) between two sub-2:10 marathons – 2:09:05 (2013), 2:09:15 (2013)
• Shortest period of time (6 weeks) between two sub-2:09 marathons – 2:08:15, 2:08:14 (2013)
• Most sub-2:16 marathons in one calendar year: 12 times (2014), (2017)
• Most career sub-2:11 marathons: 23 times
• Most career sub-2:20 marathons: 101 times
• Most career sub-3:00 50 km ultra-marathons: 8 times
• Half marathon in a three-piece suit (uncertified course) – 1:06:42 (2016)

If you have 25 minutes to spare, I’d strongly recommend watching this video: