Parkrun 10: 31.34. Age-graded 48.73%

This one was a real surprise. I didn't think I was going to be able to match last week's time, let alone better it.

It was a field of 320 runners, so fewer than normal. Must have been the cold. It was fairly chilly.

I took off comfortably, but not particularly fast. But I also flagged a little on the far side of the Rye, which tells me I took off faster than I thought.

I kept going, but not really pushing myself. I noted I was running in a gap, behind the faster runners, and that the leaders passed me further along the course once again.

I was able to stride up the steps, though people did get in the way. I noticed that I was pacing behind slower runners, and when I felt like I was able to overtake them, I actually had more in the tank than I thought.

I notched my speed up on the last loop, and made a bit of a sprint to the finish, though it felt very scrappy, and I was well out of breath by then.

Still, very pleased. My tag number was one out (my email said 242, but I'm sure the tag I had was 243), so maybe there was some kind of mix-up, or maybe it was adjusted for. Never mind. Pleased.

Parkrun 9: 32.26. Age-graded 47.43%

After last week, I knew it was time to start pushing myself again. I drove myself down this week, as Christian was feeling poorly.

It was a cool, but clear and mostly still morning - good conditions. I took off fairly quickly, and only had to slacken pace a couple of times to recover.

Above the weir on the first pass, I started pacing with another girl, and we stayed together pretty much until the finish. I was feeling strong and comfortable pretty much throughout.

At the stairs, I power walked up, but had to retie my shoelaces at the top. I took off running again immediately. I mostly kept up the pace, and was able to push in the final half km, though I began feeling a bit ill from the effort. I pulled ahead of my pacer here.

I was very pleased with my time, but I felt like I worked hard enough to deserve it. I'm happy that I can now start working hard when I want to, without fear of feeling ill, or getting a stitch.

Parkrun 8 (Congleton): 33.11. Age-graded: 46.36%

I was staying with Jill this weekend, and I didn't want to lose fitness, so I thought I'd do even more Parkrun tourism.

The Congleton course is around Astbury Mere, which is beautiful, and thankfully quite flat, but the course consists of three laps. This is psychologically difficult, because you can see an option for dropping out before the finish. As it was, I was lapped by the leader just before I got to the finish line the first time. The second time, I was lapped by a 22 min pacer a little before the line, and watched a lot of other people finish. The third time was a great relief.

There were 254 runners, so it's not exactly a small one. The start was rather annoying, as it was stretched along the path, and so only the people at the front could actually move for the first ten or so seconds. It spread out after about a third of a lap.

I didn't think I took off very fast, but I felt it later in the course. I didn't have anything left to push on the last lap and was overtaken quite a few times.

I was very surprised to have got such a good time. I guess I'm still not great at pacing myself. Time to keep pushing myself on the Wycombe course.

Parkrun 7: 34.55. Age-graded: 44.06%

This was definitely designed as a consolidation run, as I'd had such a bad week the week before. I was intending to do another guest run in Huntingdon, but we didn't end up going to Kirsty and Derek's the night before as planned.

It was foggy and cold this morning. so I experimented with taking my layer off before we set off, but decided it was too cold, and that I'd tie it around me as I warmed up.

It seemed like the start line was further back than normal, and another woman commented on that, but the course wasn't different in any other way.

I set off fairly sedately, and never felt uncomfortable, so I was happy. But my time really wasn't good, so again, it's time to push myself next week.