Marple Parkrun 5k

1 week before Snowdonia. If I can’t run 5k flat out in just over 20 mins, what hope do I have in running a marathon for 3.5 hours plus? Me and mrs theoptimisticrunner brought the kids down to Brabyns Park in Marple for the grandparents to look after whilst we had a final fling training run.

There’s nothing like having kids to bring you down to earth – forget about preparing for a sub-4 hour marathon target time, there’s coats to put on, dummies to find and screaming to deal with. You’re 14^th out of 104 runners in the parkrun? I don’t care, I’m knee deep in a puddle and I’m having a great time!

After a brief warm up we were away. I felt close to the front of the pack but the pace was painful. Managed to hang on for the first lap; the second lap was a skin of the teeth job. One runner (Frank Fielding, fellow Pennine fell runner and track athlete extraordinaire [now 50+]) overtook me, I managed to claw him back but couldn’t get any nearer the next man. 21:22 I think I did it in, a new PB. Like I say, it’s all relative. Didn’t mean anything on the day, I had bigger fish to fry in a week’s time.

Windgather fell race 13.5miles ~2,500’

 

The first taste of winter? Weak showers and a mild breeze played with our thoughts of kit selection as we lined up at the start.

At just over 13 miles and around 2,500’ of ascent – but on trail & fell terrain – this race would be a reasonably accurate barometer of my overall fitness in preparation for Snowdonia.

It was all pretty runnable and navigation was easy apart from one bit where instinct should have kicked in – but I gave in and followed someone else. This only continued for a few yards as a spectator saw us back on the correct route.

I was glad of the Snickers bar (remember they used to be called Marathon?) I’d brought with me; I had half on the climb out of the reservoir valley bottom and the second half on the top just after Windgather rocks. This shows the logic of running your own race; some runners overtook me as I slowed down to eat the second half of my Snickers, but then I finished it off and soon overtook them, never to be seen again. Know the route and know what you’re looking to achieve – unless you’re just out for a fun run, in which case just enjoy it. Personally I’ve been disappointed too many times in races that have fallen in the middle of a training schedule and I’ve been too tired to compete. Don’t get distracted by the detail if you’ve got your eyes on something bigger.

I think I finished around 2h25, not a brilliant time but something to take to Snowdonia in a couple of weeks time and a nice reminder of the beauty of the Peak District in which we live.