Bronze Medal Position

I may never see this day again!


Parkrun, as you may have gathered, is a big thing in my life at the moment.  It has been the single biggest motivator in keeping me running and making me want to run better.  It is free, run by volunteers, takes place every Saturday morning come rain or shine, and all you are required to do is turn up and run... oh and bring your barcode with you!

Each runner has their own individual barcode which is scanned at the end of the run and matched up with the times recorded as you cross the finish line to produce the results. Parkrun make it very clear  "No Barcode. No Time. No Exception."
Can you see where this is heading?

Al and I arrived at the park this morning about twenty minutes before the start (time for a quick warm up, a pre race catch up with friends, and the all important last wee) when I realised that I hadn't brought my barcode.  I had four options

1. Run without it and forgo my time
2. Volunteer but it was a bit too cold to stand around in my new birthday running skirt!
3. Beg Tom (the Run Director) to give me my time without my barcode (but the only leverage I have is sharing a birthday with him and somehow I don't think that would be enough to swing it)
4. Go home and get my barcode.

No contest really - go home and hope I can get back in time.

It was a close call but I made it! My warm up now a run from the car into the park, it was then either chat or wee, and the sad reality is that I have reached a certain age when going to the toilet takes precedence over talking - especially on what has become water week!

Race Time! Al and I have had a couple of good runs this week and today continued in the same vein. It was a glorious morning, beautiful sunshine but not too warm, perfect running weather and we felt like we had run the perfect race until our friend beat us on the last hill! But we managed to cross the finish line together having run PB's. Doesn't get much better than that...

Except it could. It is the curse of the runner to always wonder if you can go faster, and at 24.01 there was definitely thoughts of "if only I'd pushed myself just that little bit more I could have gone sub 24" swiftly followed by "next week!"  I have been trying to break that mentality, playing a longer game rather than chasing a second (or two) off my PB, but it doesn't come naturally! I want to run faster, I want to get below 24 minutes and I will - I just have to accept that it might not be next week (but I want it to be!).

Now I know I said I was going to refrain from a weekly stats analysis... but it did get better

I WAS THE THIRD WOMAN ACROSS THE FINISH!!

I know this is entirely due to the fact that the parkrun youth were almost all missing today and a fair few of the other regulars who run quicker than me were enjoying the Bank Holiday weekend elsewhere, but for today at least the Bronze Medal is mine!

And I'm VERY glad I went back to get my barcode!

M - 738
Distance covered            3.1 miles
Total distance covered  45.5 miles