Go hard or go home!

Marathon girl on fire! (thanks for the subheading Helen)

Saturday mornings have become synonymous with parkrun in our house, and I love it!
So it was somewhat unusual to find myself feeling a little nervous this morning -
perhaps it was the thought of seeing everyone for the first time since starting this blog?

I talk too loudly, occasionally (?!) say odd things, and have the remnants of a Scottish accent, as a result of which I have never been exactly inconspicuous in a line of up mainly West Yorkshire runners (although to be fair I'm not sure where I would be inconspicuous!). But it was a peculiar feeling arriving this morning knowing that people had been keeping up with my week on line (and whilst I am chuffed to bits that so many of you are reading this, I do find it a little strange that I don't know exactly who you are!).

I needn't have worried.  Parkrun was what parkrun always is!

New runners welcomed, Maurice the Border Terrier congratulated on his 50th run, it was time for the off and away we went!

I have a sneaking suspicion that when I go for my assessment on Wednesday the advice is not going to be - run as fast as you can, really push yourself up those hills, and plough on ignoring any feedback to the contrary from your legs! So today was my last chance for a while to see what I could really do!

24 minutes and 12 seconds later I found out....
A new PB knocking 19 seconds off my previous best! Whoooo hoooo!!!

Al also had a good run, taking 29 seconds off his PB and making it onto the Fastest 500 Finishers at Dewsbury list! :)

We're fond of a statistic in our house (admittedly they are usually football related and of little interest to me) but running stats are a different matter! Fortunately I am clearly not alone as the parkrun results page is awash with them! 

I do however appreciate that they don't make for particularly interesting reading and I will refrain from sharing with you every Saturday (phew!) but allow me a little indulgence today!

In looking up the Fastest 500 Finishers, I stumbled across the Age Graded League - where age and gender are taken into account as well as finishing time.  So whilst C can run the course almost a minute faster than me, and Al is less than half a minute behind, when age and gender are factored in I am 186 places ahead of C, and 303 ahead of Al. Read it and weep boys! Read it and weep!

And if that isn't enough to entice my eldest out of his bed next Saturday and back into his trainers then nothing will!

M-745
Distance covered                3 miles
Total distance covered   21.6 miles