Riddlesdown parkrun twenty-eight (NYE)

The twenty-eighth Riddlesdown parkrun was the last event of 2011. It also marked my six month parkrunning streak.
For this event team7t had increased to five people. We were joined by Mrs7t's brother and dad, who are both visiting us for a while.

team7t

The course had a good soaking during Friday afternoon and evening which meant that it was extra muddy for the event. The muddiness had progressed from previous weeks and was now very slippery. There were some sections where I could not gain any traction. This meant that I had to work extra hard just to maintain an easy pace.

My run followed pretty much the same pattern as the last few weeks. I started at the back and worked my way through the field until I found myself in a comfortable position. Today that position came just around the half-way point, from here I spent the next two kilometres in a small pack of runners, which I really enjoyed.

1.5km

Then two of us edged ahead by a few metres and managed to maintain it until the end. I was happy with my position and I wasn't entirely happy with how my hamstring was feeling so I didn't get involved in any sprinting at the end. In fact once on the final straight I let my pace drop, happy that I had achieved what I set out to do.

My finish time was 21.54 and my position was 10th overall (9th Male).

Mrs7t also ran. She ended up finishing twenty-nine seconds off her personal best. It was her second fastest time ever. She has now increased her parkrun count to eight. All done during the last two months.

Mrs7t (and Tim)

We then spent a few hours in the Good Companions pub after the run.

This is my last blog post of 2011. It has been a very good year for my running, I've done a few things that I never thought I would. The end of this year has been tainted by my dodgy left hamstring, but hopefully I have learned some lessons.

Now we can look towards the new year and maybe find some new challenges. The first challenge for me is Janathon - A month of daily exercising and blogging. To keep with the spirit of the new year celebrations, I'm going to start with a bang. I say a bang, it's just something a tiny bit different to celebrate New Years Day.

7t.