One Year On...

It seemed only right to mark one year since I was able to start running again with a celebratory outing to the Mallards Pike Parkrun. In my training notes for the session on this day last year, I noted it as being "the first 'run' for a very long time that was faster than walking pace"... Although looking at the stats, it wasn't faster by much...

Back then, I covered some 3km in just under 28 minutes. Roll it on one year and I can cover that same 3km in under half the time! And I've clocked up over 400 training sessions. That's averaging more than one a day. What a difference a year makes - and some vitamin D3. I have not felt so energised, so well for a decade....

Bringing things forward to today and I nearly decided not to run. My legs are still a bit achy here and there from that night out at Skirrid. I've put in a couple of decent training sessions, but everything aches a little. In the end, I gave myself a quick slap and got on with it. You can't run fast every time.

Turned out not to be as slow as I was expecting though. I ran hard but knowing I couldn't pb this time, I didn't really push. Turns out that was a schoolboy error as I was actually a few seconds up on pb pace to halfway, but it felt slow. Now I didn't exactly jog the downhill, but I didn't push into the hurt zone, like I have the previous times. In the end I was only 7s back. Now I'm not saying I could have made all that up, because 7s is more than it sounds in a 5k, but if I'd realised there was any chance, I'd have absolutely pushed into the hurt...

So, it's one year complete for Running Reboot 2.0 and I'm pleased with how far I've come. I've exceeded my expectations so now it's onwards into year two... Oh yeah, and while I remember, I've now handed in my entry for my first actual, real fell race. It's in July.