Basingstoke parkrun
Saturday morning saw an early start, so that I could get to Basingstoke in time for the parkrun 5k. Last time I had been down I had not eaten enough before going, so I started this morning with a good combination of cereal, a banana, and coffee. The trip to the park involved a 2 mile run, a quick train ride, and then a warm up mile to get to the start.
On arriving in the park I found my parents and had a discussion with my mother on her plans for the race. She is recovering from injury and is easing back into regular running. The decision we came to was that I would run my race and then follow after her to run with her for the last part.
I positioned myself well at the start and quickly settled into a good pace. For the first lap there were seven of us fairly close together. A recent addition to the course is km markers. I went through the first in 3:48, the second in 4:09, and halfway in 10:01.
From there it was a bit more of a struggle. The others in the group slowly pulled away. I was having to work ever harder to keep the pace. The third km was 4:08 and the fourth, where I made an attempt to keep a high pace, took 4:01.
The last km was tough. I had no speed left and it took 4:20. A finish time of 20:25 – a 22 second PB! It was a real surprise to take such a chunk off the PB when I have been concentrating on long runs for my upcoming marathon.
Having finished I had not overtaken my mother, on the two and a bit lap course, so I knew she was running well and that she was inside her target time of 35 minutes. I took a short cut across the park and met up with her at a little before the 4km mark. From there we ran into together, giving me a nice warm down. Pleasingly she finished in 32:28. (A tougher target has been set for the future!)
