17th May - Beeston park run

Last Saturday 17^th May was going to be the hottest day of 2014 so far according Wincey Willis or whatever her name was and often on a weekend I might fit a run in during the middle of the day as a bit of a novelty. There was no chance I was doing that today, Boil in the bag springs to mind! I woke at 8am to find the bed had an extra person in it as usual. I never wake when Arlo our 2 year old arrives so I’m never sure what time he shows up. I get the impression it’s not that long after I nod off though. We were out at a party the night before so we were in late, I didn't drink, I’m not doing much of that just lately but I woke feeling as if I had. I hate that, I wish I had now. I’m getting old, I’d rather not drink and be able to drive home these days. As I’m a wake I might as well go and complete the Beeston parkrun. By the time I arrived I had to run from the car to join the starting herd of running folk. The car was miles back as I was one of the last of 220 that morning obviously the good weather had brought them out,

so I had to run to the start. It reminded me of the episode of the Simpsons where Homer sat in traffic for an eternity trying to get to work only to then be seen pulling in to a car parking space at the plant just the other side of his own garden fence. I hung around at the back of the group waiting for the starting horn with a couple of minutes to spare. During this time I should perhaps have set my watch hunting for satellites. I failed to do this until the we were off so it was a little way down the first straight before it registered and I could start the timer. It’s always a bit messy at the back of the pack at these events as there is such a diverse range of running abilities that it’s hard to find a gap to run in, not to mention the first straight being littered with pot holes and stones (a glass ankled runners nightmare). I usually know how I’m going to attempt each run I do, but because today was such a rush I was just happy to have made the start, I decided to get it done as quick as I could and get home. So as we turned the first tight corner after ‘sprained ankle straight’ I started to weave through each runner that wasn’t running at my pace, I chose to run somewhere between 4.30 and 5 minutes per Km because that should get me across the line in under 25 minutes. The course at Beeston is deceiving as it takes you on a rectangular journey around the weir field  and you can see the start/finish line from pretty much every part of the track and it never looks that far away.

It broaches a feeling that this is going to be a walk in the park, or ‘run’, that is until I reach the 3^rd kilometre and my false sense of security and ability come crashing down and instead of feeling like Mo Farah of distance running fame, I’m transformed in to Mo Harris or EastEnders fame! The first time I ever ran this route was the very first Beeston parkrun ever held and because I didn’t look at the route before I started and the fact that I could see the finish nearly all way round, I pushed on until the I crossed the finish line only to discover that the course continued on beyond the finish line! I thought last Km looked short. I arrived at the true finish as if id free-fallen from space. I completed this particular run in 24 mins 34 seconds. The course here is actually slightly longer than 5km so even though my watch started after a short delay i didn't have to run on to complete my distance.