First up, why do I do parkrun? My former coach Paul Brown believed in doing 2 hard runs a week, and the rest of the runs easy. These tactics which cost me nothing (along with some generic marathon training plans from runners world and a couple of books), got me to 2:44 for Marathon, 1:16 for half marathon and 35 for 10k, times I am immensely proud of. I have never run over 2000 miles in a year, I am usually well below this (I simply can not do the miles other runners do without my body breaking down, I would like to).

The 2 hard sessions are track work on Tuesdays (I have run around the Doncaster AC several thousand times doing interval training) and a weekend race, if I have no race then I do a parkrun. This is a tempo / threshold run (the name is not important, just run hard). Sometimes I incorporate it into a long run, or I might do a run before or after doing hills or whatever.

Parkrun is a great event and people can treat it how ever the want, I usually race it but it is great to see people enjoying the event be it running or walking. I have volunteered more times than I have run it although I am catching up with 109 runs now. The other excellent thing about parkruns is the amazing variety of courses, if I want to smash out a fast time then Scunthorpe, tough hill session then Gainsborough. Doncaster is a tough course (and that is good).

Penistone parkrun 31 August 2019, we went with a car full from Donny on a dry and slightly windy morning. Plenty of car parking, toilets in a Tesco near the start. Did not warm up (that is what the first mile is for lol), the other Donny runners did warm up and did some drills, good for them. I wanted to save my energy.

The start is on a grass field, small climb and a lap of the cross country field we use, then out and back on the Trans Pennine Trail. I have a lot of memories of running on the TPT from just over 2 years ago when we went coast to coast with the GB Ultras team. The finish is on the same field as the start but at the opposite corner.

I was not feeling great so started steady, when I got on to the TPT about half a mile in passed a few and kept it going. The out bit was a steady climb. Mile splits were 6:51, 6:12 and 6:02 which got me a time of 19:41 and 4th place. On a different day I would hope to be a bit quicker, fairly fast course. Nice to see some friends from other clubs including Rob, Claire and Craig.

An amazing cafe on site, had a massive sausage sandwich and coffee and ran back to Doncaster, exactly 19 miles from the parkrun to Pastures Lodge.

Beverley parkrun 7 September 2019, me and Rose arrived on a pasture full of cows, visited the pub which is where the toilets and post parkrun refreshments are to be found. Did 0.5 mile warm up and again, not looking to kill myself today.

I liked the look of this course as soon as I arrived, cross country running and undulating. 100% off road. I will run a fast time on this course on the right day.

Started steady (got a bit boxed in but I don’t mind this, suits my tactics 🙂 ) but soon picked up the pace, after 400m in about 8th place and after 800m in 4th place. Loved the gentle undulations, would make a great cross country course. Had to steady it down a bit to avoid a cow. This was a 2 lap course, I used road shoes which were fine on the dry grass.

Finished in 4th place, splits were 6:20, 6:02 and 6:08 with time of 18:55.

Nice bacon sandwich after in the pub.

I have competed in 43 events so far this year (not including 2 duathlons). Racing is not just about training your body, training the mind plays a bigger part thank many people realise, and doing a lot of races means I am completely at ease and free of stress on the start line because I am use to it. It is however a different story at London Marathon, that will never be stress free lol.