I finally made it to my first parkrun this weekend and really enjoyed it. My local one, Dishley Loughborough, is three weeks old and it was great to see nearly 300 runners from all over the area (and some from as far away as Southampton) taking part. The course is on fields, tracks and the canal towpath and was a great place to be on a sunny morning. Looking forward to going again!
Rest of the day was spent helping construct IKEA furniture, moving the kids’ furniture around, playing trolls, visiting my mother and cooking. What us mum runners laughingly call ‘active recovery’.
The following day I took part in a local 10k race. Usually I rock up at these things and take it as it comes, but decided this time I’d find out a bit about the course first. I looked at the course map – scenic. Spoke to a few people in the club – first half ‘undulating’, second half flat/downhill. They lied.
First half – all uphill with a few little downs. Second half – two more hills, a nice downhill stretch, two more small hills and a gentle incline towards the finish. At the top of each hill one of my fellow runners would cheerfully state that this was the ‘last hill’. I stopped believing them after the third one.
The final stretch was round a playing field. Two members of my club were cheering people on and shouted to me: “You can take ‘em” and “Pick ‘em off one by one”. Was a bit knackered at this point but attempted a sprint finish. Think I overtook one or two people, but the next was having none of it – and by this point I was fighting the urge to vomit – so I let her go.
Picked up water, spoke to other club members and then got the t-shirt and lentil crisps. Sufficiently recovered, I went back to the field to cheer on the last few members of the club to come in. In the middle of this I realised I hadn’t stopped my watch and had no idea of my time. Wasn’t too bothered – happy to finish and felt like I’d ran strong if not quick.
Got home, showered, helped finish off the IKEA furniture building, had lunch and took the kids on a play date next door. Mum-next-door is also a runner and completed a 10-mile training run that morning so spent a pleasant afternoon drinking coffee, adjudicating musical statues and comparing running notes. Made a massive cheesecake (by accident – the massive bit, not the cheesecake. I knew I was making cheesecake but didn’t notice the recipe fed 9-12 people until my eldest commented that I had made a lot of mixture). Survived hair washing night (my least favourite night of the week – the tears, the tantrums, the drama) and finally sat down around 8pm with a cold beer. And I wonder why I’m knackered Monday morning. Bring on a week in the office!