So I finished 1st at parkrun!

So an update on me and where I am at. On 10th September I ran my 212th parkrun, yey go me, but this one was different to all those that came before as I somehow came 1st. parkrun is a run not a race but there is still something awesome about coming in 1st and something that has never happened to me before. Honestly, I got lucky, out of the 496 Eastbourne parkruns that have taken place only 10-15 have had slower “winning” times. 

On reflection do I really care? It was the slower summer route and hot, and I had run 55 miles this week so was on tired legs. I did get a PB on the route and you can only beat who is there. Still I am chuffed and just have to remind myself that 10 years ago I was using a walking stick because of Ledderhose disease and 8 years ago I was basically twice the size I am now.

So there you go, a former 20 stone, Ledderhose patient that was fasted with no carb managed to be the first finisher at a parkrun. Wonder what the longest number of runs it is to take someone to get the 1st place token, or who else with Ledderhose has ever managed it? 

In case anyone is interested in what happened: 

It was basically a solo time trial. I started at the front with several others that are normally around my time and got to the first corner, 100m or so in, I am normally at least 10th by this point but was in the lead and there was one guy close behind. The guy behind commented that at least someone knew where they were going so guessing it was the tourist who ended up 3rd. I held back through the first k and according to my watch I wasn’t even on for sub-20, often the case on this route as the start is grassy with lots of turns. Around 2km we reached the dip into an underpass, and I decided to pick up my pace and see if I dropped those behind me, up to now I could still hear them close. 

It worked and I dropped him/ them and from that point was just running scared that someone would catch me, was quite surreal being at the front, only ever happened once before in 2016, only for about 500m and I finished 3rd. With around 800m to go you loop back past the start / finish line and I shrugged to the volunteers as if to say, “how is this happening?” the response was “Go on Gary you Legend”. I kept my lead and took a sneaky look back when I reached the last corner (same as the first one) and knew I had a big enough advantage that it was in the bad, I tried by hardest to sprint to the end and got finish token 0001. Was nice as all the volunteers and other faster runners know my background and were all so thrilled for me.

Not going to lie, I really enjoyed it and was a little emotional when thinking back to everything I have been through. 

A new running achievement

I don't want to post on here too much about my running but this does go to further show that my foot is still ok. 

Park run went really well. I set off right at the front and took at steady whilst everything settled down and let the 21 minute pacer go past me (I was aiming for the 22 minute pacer) but to my surprise I found myself keeping up with the 21 minute pacer. Well I was stuck about 10 meters behind the group with the pacer. Ideal place for me as (having not run in groups for the past 2 years) I am used to running by myself.

I pretty much forgot to look at my watch but knew I was well under 7 minutes and it turns out it was 6:53. I actually remember being a bit surprised as I knew that sub 21 was faster than this. Sure enough it felt like the pacer picked up the pace a bit and several runners that were near me were dropped as we did the next mile in around 6:30. 

I then felt that the pace slowed a little and as we went into the last 800m I kicked past the 21 minute pacer and tried to stick with a couple of others who were pushing for home. I personally think that I went off a little bit too early as my pace dropped and then I kicked again heading into the finished. I looked down and I was past 3.1 miles before 21 minutes ticked over but didn't cross the finish line until 21:10. 

Sure enough my official park run time is 21:10 but according to my watch I ran 3.16 miles and ran 5k in 20:49. A huge boost to my confidence and shows what you can do on a low carb diet. I actually felt quite good at the end and feel I can go faster given another month of training and the correct tapering. 

Overall I am very happy with that result. To think 3 years ago I couldn't walk without being in extreme pain because of my Ledderhose disease and a year ago I weighed nearly 19 stone and couldn't run sub-30 minutes for 5k. In fact I have only run park run under 30 minutes once before.

My next goal is to make it so that the first digit is a 1. A 19 minute something 5k will be a huge achievement and I am very happy that I can do that this year. 

https://www.endomondo.com/users/6203917/workouts/572420047