Wednesday 20 May 2015

My 100 Races - Blog 1 of 5 - The 5k's

I ran the Great Baddow 10 the Sunday just gone, and this marked my 100th race/event in the 6 years since I started running. I have decided that this deserves 5 blogs and they will be as follows:

1 - The 5k's
2 - The 10k's
3 - The Half Marathons
4 - The Marathons
5 - The Rest

So on to today's blog, the 5k's. They make up 46 of the 100 races (I know they are 'time trials') All of them parkruns. I have run parkruns in 6 different locations.

Middlesbrough - Albert Park - 15 Runs
The venue of my first parkrun and also the place where I have run my PB of 19:21. I have run under 20 minutes 4 times and 3 of them occurred here. A fast and very slick parkrun venue.

Southend - 26 Runs
I ran the first Southend parkrun and 6 of the first 7. I haven't been able to run it quite that regularly since, but still get there when I can. Am yet to break 20 minutes, with my fitness not quite being there and also with the seaside location, wind plays a big factor in slowing me down.

I have reached the dizzy heights of 5th place before the quickies found the parkrun. Other highlights are my brother Luke and friend Pete both winning the event, and my 29th Bday when I managed to get myself and 8 friends and family down to run it. This was also the location of my defeat by my other brother Joe as we went toe to toe.

Have also paced my friend Amy and my Dad to PB's at Southend.

Brighton - 2 Runs
A friend lives in Brighton and I have enjoyed a good couple of weekends down there. Both included a parkrun on a Saturday morning before the drinking really began in earnest. I finished behind Ross and Matt but managed to beat Graeme and Jane.

Bromley - 1 Run
Travelled a crazy amount of miles to this parkrun, before Southend had been created. Managed to pace my brother Luke round to his sub 20 target. He got 19:59 and I got 19:58. A tough course with much of it on grass.

Cambridge - 1 Run
Took my wife away for a nice romantic weekend but still managed to fit in a parkrun at a very muddy off road Cambridge parkrun. One of my slower runs and was also beaten by a guy pushing a buggie.

Paramatta - Australia - 1 Run
My first and as yet only overseas parkrun. Run in bucketing rain on a waterlogged course. The worst conditions of my 46 parkruns and we were in sunny Australia! My brother is more used to warm Aussie conditions and so the British style weather suited me. I levelled the series at 1-1 with victory here.

So there you have it. 46 very enjoyable parkruns. I hope to grab myself a 50 t-shirt before 2015 is over and will also look to tick off a few new parkrun venues. Come back tomorrow to find out how I faired in the 10k's.

1 comment:

  1. I have only just seen this blog! Glad I get a mention and we will have to have a decider... not sure there is a neutral venue, but maybe next time I am in the UK we can make time for a Parkrun:-)

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