Saturday, 14 July 2012

Every Second Counts


Sad to say that I’m still struggling with health and injury but at least I’m still able to run, albeit slowly.  Decided to give running a miss last Sunday and go for a cycle instead. I joined a Southside running group for a six miler on Monday and ran 5miles with the other crocked Bella Harriers on Tuesday, Wednesday was my rest day and I took Thursday as a half day annual leave.  After a trip to Rouken Glen Park to take some photos, I struggled around 4miles of Glasgow’s south side in the late afternoon sunshine.  That said, my pace was actually a lot quicker on Thursday than it had been on Monday and Tuesday. 

After a few drinks on Thursday night, I struggled through Friday and decided to have another rest and run on Saturday.  Of course, despite feeling well below par, I couldn’t resist the lure of the parkrun and my new target of completing 100 at the Glasgow event.

As I warmed up, I felt my hamstring twinge and my initial goal of running a little faster than last week was replaced with a ‘just get round’ target.  Even that was hard enough as, once again my body kept telling me to give it a rest.  At one point, I actually slowed my pace to get away from a couple of runners who were on my shoulders.  

In the final 200metres I noticed that Ewart Gray was encouraging Sarah Fraser towards the final line and decided to try to out sprint them.  I’m glad that I did, not because we were racing against each other, but because Garmin revealed that I had completed my 93rd Glasgow parkrun (my 108th parkrun) in a time of 23:28.  One second faster than last week! 

It’s amazing the difference that a second or two can make to your spirits.  I’m glad that I had run it and enjoyed my warm down before heading to the Burrell for coffee and conversation.

Mucho thanks to all the volunteers and my fellow racers, including those that were running their first parkrun, for making the event as special as ever, a great start to the Glasgow Holiday weekend.



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