Parkrun #29: Town Moor, run 2

[10:35am] Oh deary me. This was my first run of any kind since the previous weekend's parkrun. I'm chalking that up to a combination of half term, work deadlines, and preparations for Daughter the Second's birthday. And, if I'm honest, a lack of dedication. Anyway, not the best way to prepare for a parkrun.

Very much an afterthought of a photo; the finish area as I walked away

This was the first time I'd been back to the Town Moor to test out the Brooks trainers on the awkward stones and baked, uneven overtaking fringes there. Verdict: they worked. I mean, I'm now walking around town feeling a small amount of discomfort, but nothing like I would get with the old trainers. And at the time, I felt confident to run on anything. I was actually more concerned that I'd turn my ankle on the uneven ground.

And my time, for an almost perfectly flat course? I've not got it yet, but I'm expecting about 26:20. There's a number of factors in play here:

• Hot sun, no clouds, and not much shade
• MASSIVE field of runners; 25 seconds elapsed before I even crossed the start line
• Not pushing hard enough because I knew my time was compromised
• The absence of midweek runs probably didn't help either

I take a bit of comfort from the fact Google Fit reckoned I did a couple of kilometres under the 5:00/km mark. And that my slowest kilometre by far was the first, with all of the attendant congestion.

[10:15pm] OK, I got my time ages ago now. It was 26:13. Let's come back to that when I wrap up. But for now...

Speaking of the first kilometre, it was all a bit weird. This was a paced event, so I'd joined the pack at the start about 5 yards behind the person wearing a "25" bib. However, a couple of hundred yards in, I found myself catching someone wearing the "35" bib! How on earth did they shoot past in that time? I then saw "34", "28", "31" and more. Mayhem.

I didn't, however, see the point in tiring myself out by trying to make up lost ground too quickly. Patience felt like the order of the day... with a smidge of occasional impatience on the side when I took to the lumpy grass to get past groups that were just blocking the path 5- or 6-wide. So, I ran the first kilometre and a half with a mix of patience, frustration and resignation. I was gradually getting past people, but really wasn't doing so very quickly. It was only around the 2km mark, when someone passed me — how dare they! — that it struck me that I just wasn't trying hard enough and that the field had spread out enough now that I had no excuse not to.

From there, I tried harder. There was a brief slowing as we jockeyed for position through the gate onto the moor proper but then I picked it up again. I still wasn't exactly flying, but I did feel I was more focused. The sun was getting punishing out on the moor, but seeing the "27" bib ahead of me helped keep me going. I think I passed him somewhere around the 3km mark, but I couldn't see another bib ahead.

Passing through another, tighter gate on the way off the moor, we actually had to walk a few yards. That mental disruption to your pace is never awesome, but worse was that the path for the next few hundred yards was really narrow and had awkwardly angled and overgrown grass verges to the side. Cue getting stuck and frustrated behind people for about 100yds, eventually making a desperate pass on the grass when it looked level enough and apologising to someone who got a bit of a shock.

From there, it just felt like a bit of a slog. While off the moor, we'd been running in the dappled shade of the trees on Grandstand Road, but back on the moor, the sun beat down relentlessly. As we passed the 4km marker, I passed a few more people, but more noticeable was the increase in people who were passing me as they upped the pace toward the end. I had pretty much nothing left in me; no sprint finish today. Which, I guess, is a good thing, as it means I'd pushed myself in the end.

So yeah, the 26:13 time. I have to confess, I'm not over the moon with it. If I take off those 25 seconds before I crossed the start line, it's down to 25:48, but considering this is an even flatter course than the Riverside (PB of 25:04), that's still not that impressive. And 26:13 is even 2 seconds slower than my previous time here. Yeah... not that chuffed. Maybe my first couple of kilometres made the time worse than it needed to be, but I also have to acknowledge that my pace just wasn't there today. Must get back to the 3-times-a-week routine this coming week. It's even more important, as I'll not be parkrunning next weekend. And the one after that, I expect to be guide-running (which will be slower than my own pace). Time to book some lunchtime runs in my work calendar...

Update: one other stat I forgot to note: there were 640 runners there today. 640! That must be the most I've ever run with. Crackers.