Parkrun #10: Rising Sun

Double figures! That surely must be an officially recognised parkrun milestone, right? Nope, sadly not. No t-shirt for me.

Anyway, today was meant to be my first time at Prudhoe Riverside parkrun, but a vehicle blocking my drive meant I couldn't make the journey in time. Instead, I had to settle for my local run at Rising Sun Country Park. It's the 3rd time I've done this one — the only parkrun I've done more than once, in fact — and I was really hoping to get a PB. Alas, it wasn't to be.

Stats and course info:

• Today's time: 27m 23s
• Personal best: 26m 37s
• Age grade: 52.59%
• Terrain: gravel tracks, a bit of tarmac, a short bit of grass track, and a large puddle
• Conditions: wet but firm underfoot, about 10°C, overcast, but not raining
• Health: sore and limping on my left foot again afterwards, but generally not too bad

So yeah, I went into this hoping to get a good time and really felt like I pushed myself. I didn't carry the phone today, so didn't know what time I'd got until the SMS arrived later that morning. Up to that point, I was pretty confident that I must've at least got close to my best time. As it was, I was a full 46s slower. Gutted. 😞

Searching for positives, I was, at least, 5 seconds faster than last weekend's parkrun at Saltwell Park in Gateshead — and that's despite the current Rising Sun route being acknowledged as "slightly longer than 5K" thanks to a re-route imposed by damage from Storm Arwen.

I also made it into the top 50% of men for only the second time (I think). That said, I get the feeling that it was here that I managed it last time, so maybe Rising Sun has a higher proportion of older runners than most parkruns. For my age & gender group, I was only 10th out of 12, so hardly in the top 50% there.

One final positive was that despite pushing the whole way round, I still managed to up my pace after rounding the final corner and heading to the funnel. It perhaps wasn't as dramatic as last week's kick at Gateshead, but that experience had at least given me the belief that I could try it again.

Still, plenty to work on as I come back from the grief I've had with my foot since Whitley Bay. Maybe the next parkrun will continue the progression and be a bit more encouraging with its time. That said, I'm planning to do Morpeth (to bag my second Fibonacci number), which looks like a bit of a killer. Wish me luck! 😬