Reluctant Racer at Victoria parkrun #20

I made my way along to the 20^th staging of Victoria parkrun on Saturday morning, I had a slow warm up and up until about 9:25, I wasn't sure if I would participate or not. I was tempted just to have a run on my own but, after chatting with a number of running buddies, I decided to give it a go. Recalling my old maxim of 'use the parkrun, don't let the parkrun use you', I lined up with some 181 other runners, including at least five other Bellahouston Harriers.

Amused?

I set off not too far from the front and soon found myself behind an Inverclyde runner. I was just thinking that surpringly there was no sign of my old nemeses Graeme Aitken and Clare Barr, who have both become semi regulars at the weekly, free, west end of Glasgow, 5k event, when I heard a voice and turned to see Mrs Barr on my shoulder. After a quick “hello”, I returned to focusing on the Inverclyde AC runner (John Smillie) in front. With Garmin beeping to inform me that I had completed the first mile in 6:49, my tactics seemed to be working. I stuck behind him for the first two laps of the three lap course and then overtook him, as I approached the pond for the third time. I was now lapping the tail runners and decided to ignore Garmin, when it beeped at the two mile point. With a mile to go, I was thinking that I was either on track for a good time, or my fast start would take its toll and I would look like a right plonker as fresher runners caught me in the final third. I upped my work rate and overtook someone (Barry Foye) on the final strait to cross the line in 38^th place, with a watch time of 21:10. Although my official time would be recorded as 21:14, it was still my best performance in 32 months and represented a pace of 4:15m/km or 6:50m/mile and a wava of 73%.

Myself and Clare made our way to Scotstoun Leisure Centre for a catch up over coffee, where we were joined by the other Bellahouston Harriers, who had all done well, particularly Suzanne Boyle and Angela Campbell who had both earned PBs.

I had chalked up my 134^th parkrun and my 3^rd at Victoria park and I had turned the clock back to July 2011. If parkrun can get its issues with runbritain sorted, I should see my handicap returning to single figures. As usual, huge thanks to all the volunteers.