I only live 5 miles from Walsall Arboretum. Yes, it's a bit blowy and it clearly has been raining here overnight, but surely it can't be that bad?! Fortunately, it still seemed to be dry by the time I got there and, having taken notice of my phone's reminder that I needed to do my shoelaces up, we were off.
The first lap felt a little funny - not in a bad way, but it seemed like I was being held up with no way past (actually, this can't have been the case as I think they still finished in front of me)! Still, I expected quite a slow first lap and so I was quite surprised when the 1 mile announcement came in my ear at 8 minutes and 07 seconds. Really?! So from thinking I was being held up, that time actually seemed faster than I was expecting. That then made me start to wonder whether I'd gone off too fast, however I felt comfortable with how I was running.
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| Just a short run in the park! |
Towards the end of the second lap, I let the incline about three quarters around the lap slow my pace slightly so I could try and run the final lap at a consisent pace and still have some energy left for a bit of a sprint finish. As I got an audio announcement in my headphones for reaching 2 miles, I realised my total time so far started with a 16... That meant as long as I could run that last lap at about a 9 minute pace, I would have cracked the 26 minute barrier.
The last lap felt as comfortable as the previous two and I realised I was actually passing people on the last lap and only one person passed me - which was both quite pleasing that it was that few and also quite surprising as it appeared to be a member of Blue Man Group - someone snapped a photo of him - see what I mean?
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| How do you see in those things? |
I tried to maintain my consistent pace up the incline and turning the corner, kicked on down the hill with an attempt at a sprint finish. I knew a PB was on but had I made it?
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| A 'sprint' finish |
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So in fact, my first kilometer, where I thought I was being held up, was actually run at a pace of 07:37 min/mile! Looking back through the splits Runkeeper recorded for my previous runs, I have never run a mile in 08:07 before. OK, so I'm no Roger Bannister, but whilst I have a new PB target to aim at, I'm adding the target of running a mile in under 8 minutes as well!
Park Run #16: 3.11 miles (5km) in 25m 40 (69th finisher). Not lapped!
All the photos on this blog are linked to the Walsall Park Run Flick page - no copyright infringement intended. Photos taken by Rocket Ron.
Juneathon totals:
Running:
Distance - 18.10 miles
Time - 2h 37m 02
Swimming:
Distance - 2.79 miles
Time - 1h 39m 13
Cycling:
Distance - 58.94 miles
Time - 2h 58m 42
Walking:
Distance - 9.19 miles
Time - 2h 28m 33
Cross Trainer:
Distance - 3.73 miles
Time - 31m 46
Rowing Machine:
Distance - 1.24 miles
Time - 09m 07
Total Distance - 93.99 miles
Total Time - 10h 24m 23
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