Parkrun #17: a return to Newbiggin

So, I did it! Made it to two parkruns on consecutive days! With the latter on New Year's Day. And do I get any achievements for it in the 5K parkrunner app? Do I hell. 😂 (There is an achievement for doing Christmas Day and one for doing both Christmas Day and New Year's Day, fwiw. But not New Year's Day by itself. Bah.)

Anyway, today it was back to Newbiggin by the Sea:

Had I arrived earlier, I'd have taken a better photo of the sun over the sea (rather than a car park)

Looking around at the options I had for non-muddy parkruns near me, it had looked like it was a toss-up between Blyth and Newbiggin, so I went with the latter for a couple of reasons:

1. I'd hate to do too many at the same venue too close together and I last did Blyth on Christmas Eve
2. My parkrun PB was achieved at Newbiggin, so where better to gauge how close I am to my ultimate pace?

Speaking of pace, my time today was 26:46, which is 39s slower than my best. So, that's quite a bit off the pace and, in all honesty, I was a bit deflated again. I'd hoped to get closer. There are some positives to note, however:

• It's a good chunk faster than yesterday's time at Jesmond Dene (which was 28:18, a difference of 1:32)
• It's my second 5K in two days (did I mention that already?)
• It's almost as fast as I managed at Blyth a week ago (26:44), and Blyth's a fair bit flatter
• My new shoes meant I could run over the broken tarmac without issues this time
• As mentioned, I'm comparing to my overall parkrun PB, so not beating or even matching that holds no great shame

Bit of industrial heritage for you: sea coal (probably just spoil) on the beach at Newbiggin

So how was the run, anyway? All right, I guess. I'm actually really starting to love the winter, coastal parkruns as you almost get to see the sun rise over the sea. In fact, if I could haul my carcass out of bed just a little earlier, I actually could watch the sunrise before doing a parkrun. That would be mint. Today, I made do with the 5–10 minutes during the run when the sun, still close to the horizon, found a gap in the clouds and shone its warm orange light across the promenade and glittered over the waters in the bay. That was lovely. 😍

As for my running, I never quite felt on it today. Whether that's down to having done a 5K yesterday, having been a bit under the weather lately, or just a consequence of not getting enough runs in, I don't know. Certainly, I had plenty of my customary "Should I just give up and walk for a bit?" moments, but I stuck in there. Approaching the turning point at the end of the first 'lap', I heard the race director calling out a time of "14:20" and strained to remember what he'd said on my PB run. I was pretty sure it was around 14 minutes; turns out it was "13:50", so I was already around 30 seconds down on my PB at just over halfway. Seeing that now makes me both pleased with the second half of today's run and annoyed at my PB run, as I probably could've done better! 😂

A wide shot of the Newbiggin course, taken from behind the Maritime Centre

That "14:20" was enough to flatten me a bit; I knew I was unlikely to threaten my PB. I also felt, at the time, like I'd pushed too hard in that first half, as my legs and lungs were struggling equally and I was dreading the next run up the slope off the prom. And when that rise finally came, I was at my lowest ebb, really fighting the urge to walk. The broken tarmac thereafter at least distracted me, as I made a point of not dodging it, so as to test my Brooks trainers... and they held up well. I may not be enamoured with them for the running bit, but in terms of cushioning to even out the bumps, they're doing great.

So, it was one last little loop around the bowling green and whatever else was behind the fences, dodging the dog poop on the grass 😠 and then it was all downhill or flat from there. Sadly, neither my legs nor lungs were really cooperating to put on a burst of pace. I think I upped the pace from a long way out last time, but not today. I barely raised my pace about 50 yards from home only to have to grind to a halt as I found myself trying to overtake a small group on the wrong side, just as they were reaching the turning point and moving across my path. I made my apologies, stepped through them and then sprinted as best I could for the last 10 or 15 yards.

Have to say, kudos again to the race director for calling out the times as you cross the finish line. What a legend. I mean, I felt a bit rubbish hearing what time I'd got and just skulked off as soon as my token was scanned, but it's lovely to have his encouragement throughout the run. And it was him who got me the PB (by just a second) the last time I was here.

Looking ahead, I guess I need to focus on just getting the runs in now. The pace will probably just return of its own accord if I'm doing that. And also I can focus on getting the parkruns in, if I'm to hit my target of 30 in 2023. At least I'm off to a good start with that. 1 day down, 1 parkrun down. 🙂