Frosty 33

So this morning I woke up after not enough sleep and too much wine, cursing my alarm clock for having the temerity to actually go off to wake me for Parkrun. In my groggyish state I decided breakfast would be a couple of shortbread biscuits and so with that I went outside to start running.

And it was cold. Oh so cold. Especially as I left my running gloves at my parents over Christmas and so could almost feel the coldness seeping into my bones, trying to chill me inside out. I started running to the Country Park, more as punishment for enjoying wine too much than out of enjoyment.

I arrived for Parkrun a few minutes early and so took a couple of potential blips whilst weighing up in my mind whether I wanted to try and go fast to get it over with or to run slowly to make it slightly easier on myself. I stuck myself in the middle of the pack on the start line and thought 'You know what? I may as well go for it a little bit - see when I collapse!'

So I started running. I was feeling comfortable, the sweat felt like it was actually the wine trickling out of me and the longer my strides I warmer I feeling. Of course I had to slow at points - there is no point in going faster if you slip and slide around the corners and fall on your butt! But as I was going well and, noting the almost constant sub-7 minute mile pace, figured I would keep going and put in the effort to blast through the cold. And what did I get for my efforts?

A new PB! And a new best finishing place! Yeah it took it out of me, especially the sprint at the end, but a time of 20:53 was not to be sniffed at. My aim for Parkrun in 2013 is to do below 20 minutes - considering we are at the start of the year and I was only 54 seconds off after the worst preparation I could have wished for and in the cold and semi-slippy conditions I think I am in with a chance. But still a lot of hard work to go in before that aim is fulfilled though.

So to the blip. I wanted to celebrate my position and so include the Parkrun barcode tag. But I also wanted to show the frost. I took a few photos but liked this one the best. A hard mornings effort most certainly paid off I think.