However, an opportunity to run the pilot event of a brand new parkrun came my way and as it was for the forthcoming new parkrun in my home town of Redditch, it would have been rude to have not gone along. So a Wednesday evening parkrun took place at Arrow Valley Park and to make the most of the miles I decided to run to the park as well. It's a great park and the route is essentially 2 laps around the lake. I enjoyed the run and managed to finish in 4th place, by far my highest ever parkrun finishing position! But when there are only 13 runners, the numbers are in my favour!
I finished the week with a 12 mile run inside my target marathon pace of 11 mins/mile. A great confidence booster ahead of the half marathon and took my mileage total for June to a massive 122 miles!
And so the half marathon day came - this is a run with a difference; it is a point to point run from Wolverhampton to Birmingham and being down a canal path the runners go off in small groups in a time trial format rather than a mass start. I started in the final group of the day with Larry and I had the intention to run a consistent pace of 10 mins/mile to achieve a new half marathon PB. The wet weather in the weeks before the race meant that the canal path was covered with puddles and had in many parts turned to mud. The conditions did make it tricky to keep momentum steady and whilst I was able to maintain my pace, I did begin to think early on that my higher energy expenditure to keep to the pace would mean that I would fade later in the race. In the end I kept inside the target pace throughout the whole run, meaning that a fabulous new PB of 2:10 was achieved. Brilliant!
The following week required a shift in my running because Sunday was dedicated to volunteering at the Tough Guy event, where people wade through mud and run through fields on fire in the name of fun! Knowing this event was on the calendar, I decided to make the most of Saturday and run back home to Redditch after parkrun!
After starting on pavements, I ended up running through 2 swampy fields, climbing gates, avoiding a sheep blocking the way on a narrow path and managed to get lost too! By the time I had arrived home after over 3.5hrs of running, my Garmin said that I had covered 18.4 miles for my longest ever run. And when this is added to the Brueton parkrun Junior Olympic Park torch relay that I did that morning (see picture below - yes, I am the runner 'in character' as a torch security officer!), it meant that my total mileage for the day was just over 20!
