It was time to man-up, it was time to get out there and run in a situation I knew I wouldn't give up, flake out or make excuses to stop. It was time to go to a race.
I opted for ParkRun, no pressure, other runners to keep me moving and local. I decided to try out Orpington ParkRun as despite being my closest and having recently hit the two year anniversary I still hadn't managed to run here.
Much smaller turnout than Bromley but still a decent sized field I arrived feeling a little nervous. Having dusted off my Garmin, grabbed my barcode I made my way to the start. I saw the familiar face of Simon (my former run buddy for many races) and felt a wave of reel if as I could have a chat to him rather than worrying about the run ahead. We chatted and eventually set off together.
It pleased me after a while to hear Simon's voice, offering words of encouragement, to himself, others, who knew, but this is one of the comforting things about running with Simon and put me in a good headspace of remembered events run with him in the past.
After two laps I started to lag behind him but was still running and happy enough that I could keep it up and get round eh course without walking. Entering the final lap two young lads of about age 8, both called Thomas overtook me.... Gosh darn those speedy little legs of youth!! There was a little competition hotting up between them as they neared the end. It was interesting to hear their parents differing techniques..... Thomas 1 who ran with his dad was being told to use this and beT the other little boy, Thomas 2 who ran with his mum was being told it was not a race and to not worry about the other little boy. In the end as they raced for the lead they crossed the line at the same time - both ahead of me!!!
I came in shortly after, under 30 minutes and not having had to walk. I was happy with that, it was a good start, it was progress.
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