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Parkrun #66: Druridge Bay, run 3

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Groundhog Day! Last week, at Druridge Bay, I came 78th out of 161 finishers. This week, at Druridge Bay, I came 78th out of 161 finishers. Head asplode! 🤯 As for my time, it was 28:31, which was very similar to last week’s lateness-corrected time, but not identical. A little slower, in fact, but I’ll let myself off, as I did zero exercise midweek this time. The beach at Druridge Bay, but last week. Forgot to take any photos today. 🤷 I also had my running buddy back with me today, which was great and her positivity probably helped keep away the thoughts of “Why am I doing this to myself?” that I’ve been getting midway through the run. She even got me a coffee at the end, which was very welcome after the chilly wind outside had started to cool me down a bit. So anyway, I’ve run around the 28:30 mark 3 times now since returning to parkrun and it’s starting to feel like that’s my new plateau. Either I need to up my midweek game or I have to get comfortable with this level of achievement...
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Parkrun #65: Druridge Bay, run 2

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LATE! 😱 For the first ever time, I actually missed the start of a parkrun. I came close at Denton Dene once, but this time, I was actually about 45 seconds late getting to the start line. Things that didn't help: Having to do a U-turn just after I set off, as the barriers came down on the level crossing I was approaching Google Maps giving me the time it would take to reach the entrance to Druridge Bay Country Park rather than the car park that's a few minutes inside Me foolishly trying to find a space in the main car park, which was inevitably full Me casually taking photos for the blog instead of getting to the start line Me forgetting where the actual start line was and heading to the briefing area instead All in all, #FAIL. Yes, nice illustration of the wet conditions, but... GET TO THE START LINE, YOU IDIOT! Putting all of that to one side, remember I came back to Druridge Bay for a reason? The low-hanging fruit of a slow PB at a flat venue? Well... Previous best: 27:44 ...
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Parkrun #64: Whitley Bay, run 6

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A solo parkrun visit today, for the first time in a while. Certainly made getting out of bed a little harder than usual, but managed it nonetheless. Time: 30:34 (official parkrun time) Weather: 12°C and breezy Or, from my own timing as I crossed the start and finish lines, a much more satisfying 29:57. Yeah, I took quite a while to even reach the start line, but then there was a field of 603(!) runners and I was towards the back of that crowd. Oh, and a new record today: my worst ever finishing position of 380th. 😂 (That is, if you exclude the sole 5K I did with Daughter the First, when I came 530th). Heading North up the promenade offers a good view of the lighthouse on St Mary's Island It's still feeling like a bit of a slog, this parkrunning lark, but at least I'm in less doubt these days about whether I'll complete the 5K without walking. Pace was pretty consistently around the 5:40/km mark today, with a min of 5:36 and max of 5:45, but any thoughts of a sprint fi...
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Parkrun #63: Rising Sun, run 9

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NINE! Nine runs at one venue. Whatever happened to the tourism thing? Result: 31:08. At a flat venue too, but I'm gonna let myself off given how congested the start is here. I'd practically done 2km before I was able to run at my own pace. Sadly, "my own pace" wasn't even quite what I'd hoped for, with a best pace of 5:41/km. The day before, on a training run, I'd managed 5:30ish. And the week before, I'd managed some around 5:20/km. So, improvement's proving a bit slow in coming. 🤷‍♂️ Swallow Pond at Rising Sun Country Park. Not today.  Photo © Oliver Dixon ( cc-by-sa/2.0 ) Any positives from this weekend's run? I turned up and I did it. Keeping the momentum is as important as anything else. It was hard. If I'm not finding it hard, I'm probably not helping myself to improve. The first couple of kilometres genuinely felt comfortable; though maybe that's because they weren't fast 😂 Yes, I realise points 2 and 3 kinda contrad...
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Parkrun #62: Jesmond Dene, run 4

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It was all going so well... 😂 So, the chart I cheerily presented in the previous post , which showed the percentage gap to my venue PB coming down nicely, now looks like this: Seems like having a parkrun week off doesn't do much for your progress. Who knew?! Ooof. I guess it's a bit of a reality check, with yesterday's official time being 31:33, but there are still positives here: It makes me feel even better about the Chopwell Wood run in particular 😁 Jesmond Dene's not an easy run anyway, and this time's still closer to my venue PB than the 2 recent Morpeth runs I intentionally started slowly to avoid kerfuffle and barging in the tight early sections, so the time isn't exactly a shock I'd had to abandon a run after just 2K the previous day because I felt so bad, yet I managed the full 5K on a tough parkrun I had negative splits the whole way and even dipped below a 5:30/km pace for the final 2km Oh, and here's another positive: Sharing the run with s...
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Parkrun #61: Prudhoe Riverside, run 4

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Three weekends on the trot! Get in. 💪 This time, it was a return to Prudhoe Riverside, though it turned out the course had changed slightly. Instead of starting alongside The Spetchels , the course started about half a mile(?) upriver, just underneath the Bridge of Terror: Ovingham Bridge. The terror comes from driving through the stone pinch points at each end. It then looped back on itself just past the original start line —  seeing the elite runners pelt past me in the opposite direction at that point caught me somewhat off-guard — before heading off for a solitary lap around the Spetchells, but in the opposite direction to previously. That meant that steep downhill at the end of the loop became a steep uphill at its start instead. Mercifully, it's nowhere near as prolonged as the hills at Chopwell Wood. Or even at Morpeth, for that matter. On the whole, the course always was pretty flat and the extension of the riverside section has just made it even moreso. Which takes a...
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Parkrun #60: Chopwell Wood, run 2

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So, back to Chopwell Wood as a parkrunner for the first time since my 25th parkrun . My time? 31:11. I'll come back to that later. Anyway, I feel like a lot has changed in the 2 and a bit(!) years since that first time — giving up running, turning 50, leaving my job, and probably more — but it's lovely to see that this parkrun venue and its volunteers haven't changed; they're both still delightful. While the Morpeth parkrun has more than doubled in size (60ish to 130ish runners) and lost some of its intimacy, this run at Chopwell Wood was still a pleasingly small affair, with just 45 runners. Maybe it's the hills putting people off, maybe it was the weather (raining for once), but the event remains just how I like it. 🥰 Weather was 11°C and light rain throughout. Felt cold, but I warmed up plenty. So, yeah, my third parkrun back and I was still clocking well over 30 minutes. And I was nearly 4 minutes slower than my previous best time here. But... at Morpet...
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