Park Running in the Rain

My hamstring problem had meant that I hadn't run since Tuesday but I had set myself a new target of reaching 100 Glasgow parkruns.  I reached my 100 parkruns a while ago but these were spread across four different events in Scotland.  I was tempted to travel to Strathclyde park where a number of friends were reaching their 50th parkrun but I decided to stick to my new target and go to the Glasgow event..

The heavy rain had woke me at 6am and it was a wet and puddle strewn Pollok Park that greeted me, another 228 runners and a band of volunteers on Saturday morning.  

My targets were simple: to keep any negative thoughts to a minimum and enjoy my run; to finish a little bit faster than last week's time of 24:05; and not too aggravate my hamstring too much.

At 9:30am we were set on our way and I settled into my run.  I worked a little harder than last week and was happy enough to complete the undulating 5k, unscathed, in 81st place with a time of 23:29.  Thirty six seconds faster than last week, whilst I'm nowhere near where I would like to be in terms of performance, it still feels good to be making steady progress.

It's always good to see so many friends at races and today was no exception. Amongst those worth a  mention are: Suzanne McMahon and Ross Bark.  Suzanne recorded her 50th parkrun and was good enough to mark the occasion by sharing a home baked cake with her fellow runners in the Burrell, after we had dried off after the race; whilst Road Runner Children's Entertainer, Ross had travelled up from Stranraer to work at a children's party in the city and took the opportunity to notch up his 8th parkrun.

I clocked up my 107th parkrun and my 92nd at Glasgow, only eight to go to reach my new target.

Bellahouston Harriers' young star Tom McDonald placed first with a new PB of 16:28, whilst, far travelled, Clayton-le Moors' Super Vet, Susan Burns also earned a new PB in winning the women's race with a time of 19:20.

Full Results