Best Intentions
It was always my intention to indulge in parkrun again, but those good intentions always slip past and the excuses mount up.
It ended up needing a pact between my longest duration running client and myself to actually make it happen. I ask every week whether she has managed to get to parkrun. There is always some excuse as to why not. So I said “I will if you will”.
I imagined we’d go to our closest venues and then compare notes afterwards.
I imagined wrong. She (for the sake of pleasant writing and politeness, let’s call her Sarah… …because that’s her name) turned up at my local parkrun, which ended up possibly being for the best as I could pace her and stop her going too fast (I’m slow).
Now, before you judge the next bit, remember I don’t really do any exercise, I don’t run often and my cardiovascular system leaves a lot to be desired. All I normally do is an hour of chasing a football on a Monday and cycle four 10-12 minute commutes during the rest of the week.
What Transpired
1/2 way round the first lap, Sarah had to stop and walk, but told me to go on.
So being the chivalrous chap I am, I went on ahead and tabled a 27:12, which, albeit quite slow was actually a sustained all-the-way run, something I look upon as an achievement considering my last outing, despite the extra two and a bit minutes.
Sarah steamed into the stadium only about 3:30 behind me, showcasing some of the best running technique across the whole field, which was part of the problem.
Fine, fine, beautiful technique but in an over-exaggerated style which meant her cardiovascular system couldn’t keep up. Too much effort meant Sarah had to stop and walk and then pick it up again.
So this week we went back to work on fine-tuning and toning things down a bit. The process of which can be seen here.
Sarah is a much more elegant and overall better runner than me and when she does more cardio, she’ll be much quicker than me too.
But then, I’d rather be a king-maker than a king. Or in this case, a queen-maker!
Sarah will win parkrun one day I’m sure of it. In fact she’ll probably win her next one – she’ll be desperate to beat her first parkrun time and we all know, that’s the only win that really counts.
If you want to become a better runner than me and get somewhere close to Sarah, why not pop in to see us at FixMyRun in the Manchester running technique coaching centre in Castlefield. We’re inside YClub and we have loads of fun teaching people how to run.
