I did it!

When I started this blog two years ago I said I would lose weight and beat my parkrun PB of 28:13 within a year. COVID-19 may have put actual parkruns on pause but last week I completed a (not)parkrun at Littlehampton in 28:01! Strava even kindly recorded a 5k time of 27:57, thank you Strava!

A windy morning at Littlehampton

I admit, Littlehampton is a flat course, but a PB is a PB! And there was quite a headwind!

As I have previously admitted, although I had made good progress, it was not looking likely that I would beat my PB at the end of the first year, even if parkrun had still been happening. And whilst I have loved running throughout the pandemic, for the first 7 months or so I mostly got slower.

The reason? The usual one of eating all the food and drinking all the wine! Like so many, I used the stress of the situation to justify the indulgence. After all, what harm could come from a few weeks of pigging out? Probably not much, but by October it was clear that the pandemic was here for some time yet. It was time to take back control and get into shape! So back to MyFitnessPal - after trying many different approaches, I find that counting calories is the easiest way to lose weight. It might not be new or trendy or exciting, but it works!

As a runner, there are many benefits to losing weight. The first, of course, is that running gets easier! And you get faster without even trying. The second is that when you see people you know out running they say lovely things to you! Then there is the reduced risk of injury, I am certain that my joints appreciate the lighter load. The final benefit is that some of my running clothes are now too large, so I shall have to buy new ones! Luckily, the shops are about to re-open - quite serendipitous!

As I write, it is hoped that parkrun will return on 5 June, just 8 weeks away. It would be awesome to manage a good time in that first post-pause parkrun, although as I hope to be in the Lake District (not very flat) I doubt it will be sub 28 minutes!

That first parkrun is going to be emotional, when it paused I don't think anyone expected it to be over a year before we could return. The current (not)parkrun count is 58, so we will have missed 65 by the time it returns, assuming the 5 June return goes to plan.

Before that I have an actual race coming up in four weeks - the much postponed Jigsaw Run - a flat 10k round an airfield. I ran this race at about the same time as my parkrun PB, so it will be a good test of how I am doing. I think I shall be so over-excited at running in a real race with real people that anything could happen!  Hopefully that excitement will result in a good time rather than in starting off too fast and running out of puff!

So, two years into my blog and things are looking good. I would like to lose some more weight - I call my excess weight my "super power" - until it runs out I can just keep getting faster by getting lighter. To my slim running friends, who do not have this "super power", you may need to watch out! I could be about to catch you ...