Parkrun 31: 35.57. Age-graded: 43.12%

Ugh. This was so hard.

I walked down the hill because Christian was out. But I don't think it was just that that broke me.

They'd changed the course to try and take the pressure off the grass, and so cut out the first sweep around the end football field, having the start facing the other way, and going straight to the path. Then at the end, they put in an extra out-and-back going away from the finish.

The problems with the new course were as follows:

• The runners were still too tightly packed when they reached the paved paths (both immediately after the start, and behind the weir). It was too difficult to go your own pace and overtake people, and the leaders didn't have enough room to pass on the two-way weir section.
• The last grassy out-and-back section was much too soft and slow to run on.

I felt like I took off as strongly as I could have, and was OK until going past the finish line. But that new out-and-back killed me. I had to stop and walk there. I also found the abundance of mud on the course, and the attempt not to slip on it, sapped my legs way too much.

So I had a terrible time. At the finish, there was a rumour that the course was actually longer than 5k, and I'd believe it, frankly.

Anyway, still glad I ran. I was hoping to improve my time, but the conditions were against me.

Parkrun 30: 35.23. Age-graded: 43.81%

Just call me Ploddy.

I knew this was going to be really slow, but I had to get back to it and start somewhere.

It was cold, but not wet, and not particularly icy (though the puddles on the paths were all frozen). Christian dropped me down the hill, and I walked to the meeting point. On the way, I heard my name, tentatively, and turned to see Yuki from Chiltern band walking alongside me. She lives nearby, and was on her way to a zumba class at the Lido gym. It was nice to see her.

It was time to get to the start, so I joined a fairly large group, did the usual back-patting, and set off. I just plodded. We'd been directed up onto the path shortly after the start, to help save the surface of the football pitch, so we were dodging ice nearly from the beginning. I was going as fast as I dared as we headed up the long edge of the Rye. My knee gave me a couple of pangs early on, which warned me to take it easy.

I didn't struggle too much behind the weir, and by the time I came down onto the far field, my heart and lungs weren't giving me too much grief at all. I was able to keep up whatever pace I had to the end.

It wasn't a good time, but I'm glad I did it. I saw Jamie at the end (he'd passed me behind the weir), and we had a chat.

I'm determined to keep this up. I must keep moving because my weight and girth are becoming an issue.