Parkrun #62: Jesmond Dene, run 4

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:
  1. It makes me feel even better about the Chopwell Wood run in particular 😁
  2. Jesmond Dene's not an easy run anyway, and this time's still closer to my venue PB than the 2 recent Morpeth runs
  3. I intentionally started slowly to avoid kerfuffle and barging in the tight early sections, so the time isn't exactly a shock
  4. 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
  5. 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 someone is a great, great thing — not least for motivation.

My self-proclaimed "last of the runners" running buddy is the perfect parkrunner, doing it for personal satisfaction and answerable to no-one, she's helping to keep me looking on the positive side of my own runs too. Like a free personal trainer. 😄

Anyway, about the run. So yeah, given the calamitous attempt at a run the previous day, I was keen to not overdo it and also wasn't in the mood for jostling on the narrow paths, so I set off at a relatively sedate pace for me: 7:18 for the first kilometre, according to Google Fit. That would make for a 5km time of nearly 37 minutes if I'd kept that up.

Next kilometre, which included the dene's 21 steps and killer hill up to Paddy Freeman Park, was a 6:31/km pace. Not that bad, really, given the terrain. On getting to the top, I dared to check the phone to see how far into the run I was. Answer: 1.85km. That was a bit gutting, realising that I'd not even reached the distance at which I gave up the previous day. But at least it was largely flat or downhill from here.


After emerging in Paddy Freeman Park, you get a good view of those ahead, at a distance

There's not really much to say about the next couple of kilometres. I'd stopped being passed by so many people and started to pass the odd person myself, which probably reflected my increased pace: 5:57/km and then 5:23/km. I never really felt able to push though. Rather than putting on a burst to get past anyone, I crept past them painfully slowly. So be it.

The final kilometre is like an extended sprint finish, albeit with some downhills that are so steep you have to slow yourself down. On this occasion, I overtook a few people on the steepest bits, only to be passed by them when it levelled out a bit. Honestly not sure whether I made overall gains or losses, but the final kilometre was a 5:21 pace. (If you ignore the additional 0.25km that Google reckoned it took to reach the finish line. GPS, innit. Weak.)


Negative splits, baby, yeah! 💪

Overall, pretty pleased with the run. Sure, I wasn't really up to a better time and I'm still super keen to get back to close to my PB level, but I'm just glad I made it round this time. I'm clearly struggling a bit with hills at the moment, but that gives me something to focus on.

But... maybe not next time; there's a chance I'll be heading back to Druridge Bay for the first time since early 2023. It's the lowest hanging fruit on my PB list, as it's my slowest PB of all parkrun venues I've attended (27:44). And it's also practically flat. Could I really pull it off next weekend? Probably not, but it could be fun trying. 😄

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