I’m a bit late in posting this as it’s been a hectic few weeks with work, trying to get my latest OU assignment done and general laziness but a couple of weekend’s ago I had a mad Saturday of running. I’m not sure what was going on in my mind when I suggested that in addition to doing the Glow in the Park 10km race in the evening, we also do our usual 5km parkrun in the morning. Anyway The Boyf thought it was a great idea and so we headed off to Wimpole Estate first thing, it was a bit nippy but after a quick warm-up we were ready to run (parkrunners don’t race – well we do but only ourselves). I had decided that I was going to aim for a new PB on the course, so had set myself up with Zombies to escape from and had also pre-programmed my Garmin with split times to aim for (making sure I factored in the hill of doom in kilometre 2). The run went well, I walked the hill but managed to maintain my planned ace for most of the course, with only a couple of sneaky walk breaks, The Boyf was waiting for me at the last bend and paced me to a fast finish . I think I surprised him actually as I kept gaining on him but not quite enough to pick off the guy in front of me. I had a feeling that I had snuck in a new PB but it wasn’t until I received my text a couple of hours later that I knew just how well I had done having finished in 30:36. I had shaved 23 seconds off my best time at Wimpole, and even beaten the time I had set at Ashford parkrun (a fairly flat, tarmac course) by 2 seconds. To say I was pleased would be an understatement!
I spent the afternoon in recovery mode (napping), and then we kitted up again before heading over to Box End in Bedford where they were running their first Glow in the Park race. This was to be a 5km or 10km race in the pitch black armed only with LED leg bands, glow sticks and head torches. A couple of snowboarding friends had joined us and it was a really fun idea to bring us together in a slightly different setting for a catch-up.
The race started and we were off. I have to admit my legs were feeling pretty heavy and once we reached the undulating section I did put in a few walk breaks on the ups. It was a really strange feeling running in the dark, especially once the field had spread out and I was running on my own in a little bubble of light. Thankfully I had splurged a bit when I bought the head torches and as The Boyf put it, “it was like running with a lighthouse on my head”. If you are in the market for a head-torch with a strong, adjustable beam (and rechargeable battery) then I can highly recommend the LED Lenser SEO7R. It was so bright even other runners commented on how good it was. The race was two loops, and coming to the end of the first I was seriously considering quitting, I was tired, grumpy and if I am honest a bit scared (it really is eery running in the pitch black). Luckily for me they looped the 10km runners round before they passed near the actual finish so I dug deep and ploughed onwards. In the end I kept up a mix of running and walking and came through to finish in 93rd position in 69:27, not my best time but not bad for my second run on the day in tricky conditions. It was a really good day of running, hardwork but it left me with a feeling of achievement. Now I just need to set a new flat-course parkrun PB so I have something to aim for when I am next back at Wimpole.