Saturday 16 December 2017

From oxymoron to 32:21 on a frosty Saturday morning

On 9th September I tried my first Parkrun.  As part of celebrating my 51st year I was looking for new things to try and had seen various friends referring to Parkruns on social media.  So, I turned up at 9am at Winchester's North Walls Recreation ground and joined the first timers' briefing.   After that we had the welcome and notices from the event's run director and then we were off.   I made my way round the course, mainly at a brisk walk, and posted a time of 40:12.   I don't recall any occasion over the preceding 50 years when I've taken part in a timed event like this, and indeed was firmly in the camp that "fun run" definitely belonged on the list of oxymorons.

Well....that seems to have changed.  Here we are just over 3 months later and I've completed my 10th Parkrun.  Having started walking most of the course on that first go, things have gradually changed to the point where I can now complete the full distance without resorting to walking pace.  Time has come down steadily as well and last 3 times have been sub 33 mins.

I've been really taken by the friendly atmosphere of the Winchester event and the sense of being part of a wider movement.  I also love all the stats and how I can see the progress over the weeks.

I'm enjoying my weekly Saturday morning runs and even a few months back I'd not have imagined me saying that :-)

I  expect the rate of improvement in my times will slow down but have my sights firmly set on the 32 minute barrier in the coming weeks and would be great to get below 30 mins before next September - see, I told you I loved the stats!