Five Negatives Make a Huge Positive

Some readers may recall a post I made about the handicap system used by RunBritain, it's proved to be a very popular post and continues to attract numerous hits on a daily basis. In the post I explain how the lower one's vSSS is the better and how five recent results are used to calculate a runner's handicap.  I've been optimistic that my recent results would have an impact on my handicap and I'm pleased that this is indeed the case. 

parkrun	22:02	Glasgow parkrun 5K Event 254	3.6	-2.5	1 Jan 14	+
10K	44:42	Ayrodynamic Turkey Trot 10K	0.5	-1.3	26 Dec 13	+
parkrun	22:39	Glasgow parkrun 5K Event 252	2.6	-1.1	25 Dec 13	+
parkrun	23:14	Tollcross parkrun 5K Event 29	3.0	-0.4	16 Nov 13	+
parkrun	23:20	Tollcross parkrun 5K Event 34	3.0	-0.3	21 Dec 13	+

The Glasgow parkrun on New Year's Day gives me particular pleasure as I had a good run, worked hard and have been, not so, patiently waiting to see if I would get a negative vSSS.  The course was altered on the day and started up hill and on grass, it also included an extra opportunity to run up the hilly stage, doing it three times, rather than the usual two.  The difficulty of the course on the day was reflected by the race being graded at an exceptionally high 3.6 and my performance was graded at -2.5.  

 The result being that my handicap has been slashed from 13.2 in December 2013 to 11.4!  Of course, I'll need to keep training hard and getting decent race results to continue the downward trend but it's always good to see your hard work being recognised.