Woohoo! Only 1 stone to go to target. It may take another 6 months, but I’m in no rush.
I also made my return to Park Run after a 10-year absence.
I did my first Park Run 10 years ago, almost to the day. It was a cold November day, long before Park Run became this phenomenon that attracts people of all abilities. 10 years ago, it was for runners.
I turned up and set off with the pack. A little voice in my head said ‘what are you doing? You can’t do this pace! You’re gonna kill yourself!’
So, I slowed a little and then my run turned into a walk, and then a stagger. For the rest of the route, I swayed between running and stagger, until the only person behind me was a young guy wandering slowly, picking up markers as he went.
Park Run is proud of the fact that, because they have a tail runner, you will never be last. But you can be 2nd to last, and that amounts to the same thing.
The reason I embarked on the run in the first place was because this was in the middle of my marathon training. I had a place in the London marathon in April 2016 and had always intended to power walk it. But, as my fitness increased, I suddenly had delusions that I might actually be able to run it after all. This run made it abundantly clear that was not going to happen, and that in fact, it wasn’t even a sensible goal for me. My running was barely any faster than my power walking, so I was better to commit to doing 26 miles of continual power walking, rather than the run/stagger approach.
The really ridiculous thing was that, at the end of the run, there was a raffle and the prize was a place in the London Marathon. So all of these really fit, ‘proper’ runners and me, standing there to see who would win this place in the London Marathon, and I’m thinking to myself, I’ve already got one of those. I’m doing the London marathon. I am the least capable, least able, least fit, person in this entire group, and the only person with no interest in whether they win the raffle, because I already have a place in the marathon, talk about hilarious.
Every single person that was involved in that Park Run on that cold November day was so supportive and lovely, and I was cheered as I passed the finishing line. People came up to me to chat and tell me how well I’d done and to make me feel good about myself, but as I staggered home, like a drunk girl returning after a night out at 3 am, I vowed never to return to Park Run again.
Last Saturday, 10 years almost exactly to the day, I set off for my second Park Run. I was quite excited. I was quite smug. I knew that I was at least three stone lighter than when I’ve done it 10 years before, and although I was 10 years older, surely those three stones were going to make a massive difference, and I was going to comfortably beat my previous time.
Well, I did beat my previous time, by a whole 27 seconds. Hmmm, I suppose it was consistent!