Parkrun 34: 38.12. Age-graded: 40.88%

Here's a new nadir - my slowest time yet. Even slower than my first ever parkrun.

I gave blood on Thursday, and I don't think I've tried to run so soon after it. It was also hot, I was full of hayfever, and I'm probably dehydrated.

I started off at the back of pack, at what I thought was a reasonable pace, but which turned out to be quite fast for my condition. I slowed down, and really plodded. For some reason, my legs were giving me lots of grief - it's the first time in a while that my legs have slowed me down.

I had to stop and walk just before the path went up the weir, then again on the far field, and again after the steps. I made myself keep going after this, but I was going incredibly slowly.

The walk up the hill was horrible. Strangely, I felt much better after taking an antihistamine after getting home. Maybe it was just the hayfever that was affecting me.

My time was a bit disappointing, as I didn't think I'd gone quite that slowly. Anyway, I'm still glad I did it, because otherwise I would have hated myself for the rest of the weekend.

Parkrun 33: 34:44. Age graded: 44.96%

So, it's been a while again. Some Saturdays busy, some under the weather, and yes, some plain lazy. But I got down there again, and I'm glad I did.

Christian dropped me near the Easton St car park, and it's actually a really easy walk across the Rye to the start line. I took my place at the back with the sole aim of getting through it and not stopping.

I took off very slowly, and never tired. In fact, I started to overtake people after about 2km. And I even had some left in the tank to accelerate to the finish. It felt good.

The time was a bit of a surprise. I thought it would be much slower than what I've been doing, but I'm actually pretty pleased with it.