Another Saturday, another parkrun. Not perfect but better than my first parkrun last week.

Result: 18:47 (4th/224 overall)
Date: Saturday 10 November 2012
Format: 5km run (2.5 laps of tarmac, grass, mud)
Event website: http://www.parkrun.org.uk/basingstoke/home
Full results: http://www.parkrun.org.uk/basingstoke/results/weeklyresults?runSeqNumber=235

Arrived later (didn’t leave home til after 8:40 and still then sat in my car to avoid a few minutes of cold/drizzle) but this time I managed to position myself on the “front row of the grid”! After last week’s traffic in the opening 500m I was surprised to find myself with clear space, just watching Mat Shaylor pull away. Had I gone off much too quick? First km was 3:31, so quick but not disastrously so. Second km was 3:53, also better than last week. (Second and fourth km have the wet grass and slight uphill section of the lap.) I could feel runners close behind, but not right on my shoulder. Third km… 3:51, hmm, not so good, no quicker than last week when I was really suffering, and here are two runners looking strong cruising by. Fourth km, 4:00, also as slow as last week, and I can hear more runners closing in. The 4 km marker spurs me on. I have something left and don’t have to sprint in to the finish to maintain fourth place. And that’s the fifth km done in 3:32, more like it!

All in all, a better showing, even though at half-past eight I wasn’t feeling like dragging myself out the house. I know I can go quicker, which is reassuring. It’s definitely great pacing practice. I can’t make next week but the next time I run I need to fix the soft third and fourth km.

Parkrun could get addictive. 🙂