How odd...

Saturday is parkrun day, and having not pulled on my running shoes since Monday after a slight mishap during my trail run (I went over on my poorly ankle/foot) there really was nothing for it but to dig out the running gear and head on over to Basingstoke.  The weather was grim, I got drenched as I dashed out of the car to drop off my youngest boy at a friend's house for a birthday trip to Chessington, and with three non running children left in the car I did begin to question my sanity.  The children were hardly going to enjoy playing on the swings in a monsoon!

I don't mind running in the rain, but I do hate standing around waiting in the rain!  Still, stand around in the rain is exactly what we did.  I wasn't sure how I would approach this run.  As I said earlier, I've lost my confidence in my ability to run.  I've done the distances I've wanted to in my training run, but I've often stopped to walk, answer my phone or adjust headphones etc.  Last week's parkrun saw me stop and walk on the downhill bit of the Crabtree course!

Approaching the start I was so busy chatting that I nearly missed the starting whistle! I started fairly near the back as a consequence, and spent the first couple of hundred metres weaving through the crowds.  This meant that I didn't do my usual trick of trying to keep up with the fast boys!  After a while I caught up with a couple of people I knew and settled into a nice rhythm where we could run and chat, and chat and run.  The infamous 'Tennis Court Hill' (a long slope rather than a hill really) was much easier taken at a nice steady pace rather that approached too fast at a speed impossible for me to maintain!

We weren't going to break any records, but two of us were recovering from injury and one hadn't run for a couple of months.  My goal was to run the whole way without slowing down to a walk, and I am pleased to say I did it!  My time was slow, 27:21, which is just under 9 minute mile pace, and a post-injury parkrun PB.

The 'How odd...' of the title to this blog refers to the change since I was at school.  I would beg for a note to get me 'off games!'  I'd almost have been glad of a foot injury like the one I've had to give me the best part of a term, because you know I'd have strung it out for as long as possible, off the dreaded PE lessons!  Now I am chomping at the bit to get out and get training seriously again.  Angry with myself for falling over in the first place and reading up on specialist support bandages for runners with dodgy feet and ankles!