Saturday 26 April 2014

First Naas Parkrun - Race report

Today I finally got around to running the Naas Parkrun and what a day I picked!  Considering that the weather has been glorious the last while it was just typical that it was cold, really windy and a bit showery this morning when I arrived at Naas racecourse.  Personally I'd much rather run in these conditions than the heat but I don't like to stand around in it so that bit was a bit miserable.

Physically I have been feeling much better the last couple of days so was ready to give the legs a bit of a test drive at speed (relatively speaking) so a timed 5k was perfect.  Just a few minutes after 9:30 and after a brief warm-up we were off.  I started fairly conservatively and let most of the field sprint off in front of me......if there is one running flaw I rarely suffer from it's the fast start!  

Had settled in nicely just before the 1k mark when misfortune struck slightly.  I spotted my untied (previously double knotted) left shoelace flapping about in the breeze.  Noooo!  I gave serious though to just leaving it but within a few steps the shoe was starting to loosen noticeably on my foot.  This was not good!  So what's a girl to do?  Well what I did was swear a bit and complain to a nearby fellow runner, jump off the edge of the path onto the grass and fumble with the laces until my sweaty paws managed to tie and then double knot (again!) the bloody things and then sprint like an eejit to try to make up for lost time.  Newsflash and spoiler alert...this was a terrible idea! 

So the next bit up to the halfway point was okay as adrenaline got me over it mostly but the last couple of kilometers were painful and I'd be lying if I didn't consider walking/having a lie down/crying for my mammy at least once.  In retrospect I'm very thankful that I knew a few people due to volunteering previously so the others shouting for me shamed me into not doing any of those things.  There may have been some foaming at the mouth and an attractively runny nose though!  
Finished in 24:01 which isn't a PB but I'll take that with the wind and my little shoe debacle.  Better to come I hope!
Me looking suspiciously happy.  Must have been the first lap!

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