What a difference a year makes!

I started this blog just over a year ago with a clear plan for what I was going to achieve - which was to beat my parkrun PB within 12 months.  At that time, I was frustrated with how my running was going and felt I needed a goal and some accountability (that's you lovely people who are reading this) to help me improve.

I could never have imagined that one year on not only is parkrun not happening but that I am so grateful every day just to be able to run.  Worrying about times and personal bests has become completely irrelevant.  Instead I worry about tighter restrictions being imposed on our daily exercise and, of course, about getting sick.

One of the reasons that I wanted to get better at running was so that I could enjoy the social side of it - after all, most of my friends are runners - and again this is something that has gone out the window, if only temporarily.  The technological wonder of Zoom may allow me to take part in my weekly Pilates class and post "not parkrun" coffee but I have not yet seen anyone successfully leading a club run over Zoom.  Although both my running clubs are being very creative and setting challenges for people so that we all still feel part of a community.

For Fitstuff this has included a timed mile (to help keep track of the effect of lockdown eating maybe?), sprint intervals and a hills session.  Waverley Harriers has set up a virtual chain relay.  This is a competition between two teams and is now into its 6th day with teams running consistently from 6.30am to 8pm each day.  I am in the Blue Team and, aside from the impressive running, there have been some very creative virtual baton hand overs.

An added and new challenge to running is having to stay at least 2 metres away from anyone that you pass.  There has been a bit of criticism of inconsiderate runners on social media and I am determined not to be thought one of them, even if this means scaling banks and running in the road - a kind of extreme interval training!

About that PB ...

So how did I get on with my 12 month goal?  Not bad, actually!  I have lost over 10kg and brought my parkrun time down from 35:39 to 29:11, just 58 seconds slower than my all time PB of 28:13.  I also managed a parkrun pace which would have been a sub 29 minute 5km so all was looking promising.  However, as the last two parkruns of March were cancelled due to the COVID-19 crisis, we will never know if I would have hit my target ...

After my fastest parkrun in three years!

Being brutally honest, it wasn't likely, and would have required a downhill course, a strong tailwind and a lot of luck, but I am still very pleased with my progress.  I am hoping to beat 28:13 later this year although right now we have no idea when parkrun will be back.  On the one hand, that means I have a lot of time to get lighter and faster.  However, without my weekly parkrun time to keep me focused, I may well get slower!

That said, pretty much all of my Spring and Summer races have been rescheduled to September so this is no time to slack off.  I shall have to think of all the bling that is to come!

The medal for my "virtual" London Winter Run - this one cancelled by Storm Ciara!

Stay safe everyone and keep running!