Pants in the Park

Since my triumph at the Festival of Running a couple of weekends ago training has been a bit patchy. The week after was pretty full on at work and coincided with the London Underground going on strike. I managed a late evening run around Battersea Park on the Tuesday and on the Thursday I walked the 4.5 miles from the office to my front door. I had a really bad outing last Sunday where it all just ground to a halt and I decided to call it quits after only 2 miles. I'm not sure what was wrong but I began to worry that I was going backwards rather than getting better.

This last week has restored some of my initial confidence although more long hours in the office has meant fitting in runs late at night. I did a quick circuit on Tuesday evening over Battersea Bridge, down to Chelsea Bridge and back along the edge of the park. On Thursday I covered off my longest run yet, 3.5 miles, it felt comfortable but then again I was going pretty slow. Work got in the way of a planned weekend at home for Fathers Day so instead I woke up this morning, threw on my running gear and popped over to the park to sign up for my second 5k charity fun run, Pants in the Park, this time in aid of prostate cancer.


Although I think I do prefer it, one of the down sides about training on your own is that it can get a bit lonely and when you slack off the pace you don't always notice straight away. Signing up for a charity run gives you the experience of running in a large group, the fellow runners motivate you to keep going and the supporters and marshalls give you some much needed encouragement along the way. By the time I reached the registration desk there was a real carnival atmosphere with a steel band, face painting and lots of balloons. The majority of people were in fancy dress, wearing decorated pants over their running gear. Some people had gone to a huge amount of effort and looked great.

After a short group warm up we lined up at the start line and counted down to go. Knowing I could cover the distance I wanted to focus on running a bit harder than my usual mid week outings. The route was the same as before and so I knew what to expect. With a couple more weeks under my belt I definitely felt more comfortable and this was confirmed when I crossed the finish line in 26 minutes and 8 seconds. Considering where I was less than two months ago I can't be anything other than pleased, but with only 3 weeks left until my official 16 week training programme kicks in now is the time to start upping the miles.

Distance: 5k or 3.1miles
Time: 26mins and 08seconds
Pace: 8mins and 25 seconds/mile
Speed: 7.1mph