Having stayed away from running for a while (due to the shin splints) I decided to take part in the Southsea Park Run.  There are Park Runs organised all over the country, they are 5k, happen every Saturday, are great fun and best of all they are free to take part in and have timing so you can track your progress.

My previous PB over 5k was over 30 minutes, and as I jogged down to the start on Southsea Parade thoughts of beating that were the furthest thing from my mind.  Mostly I was just hoping I could run 5k without any shin pain.

Arriving early I spotted a guy in a Pompey Triathletes top and struck up a conversation with him about joining them, the training they do etc.  I have decided to join after hearing how much he enjoys training with the group. More on this in another post.


So bang on the stroke of 9am we set off along Southsea Esplanade, and as usual with these Park Runs a lot of people went ahead of me.  There was a strong breeze blowing directly into our backs which definitely helped, and much to my surprise when we reached the half way point I felt good.  Turning around the cone and facing into the wind was a different matter.  It genuinely felt like I was travelling at half the speed I had been on the first half of the run.  

Pushing hard for the last 500m, and even breaking into a sprint (well as much of a sprint that I can manage) for the last 50m I crossed the line, ecstatic that I had absolutely no shin pain throughout the 5k.

With the Park Runs you get your results sent to you via text once they have calculated all the results, and at about 1pm today I was delighted to receive a text with my time of 27:34 finishing in 97th place, a full 3 minutes faster than my previous PB.

Perhaps this running business is not so bad after all…………….