Shoes!

First I was like, 'These trainers don't look that bad. They're 18 months old and have done hundreds of miles but the soles are still good and they still give loads of support.'

Then I thought, 'Well this isn't good, especially with winter coming...'

Owie

I tweaked my calf muscles while I did the Davina Body Buff DVD on Wednesday. On Thursday I forced myself to do a fartlek session at my running club which was difficult due to my painful and stiff calves. I really felt the DOMS this morning and have been hobbling around all day. I was resolving to get a foam roller ASAP when I remembered the advice I received from Every Day's A Picnic blogger Sarah that she's used a rolling pin in the past. I used my rolling pin and it was painful but I've loosened my left calf and it's a lot less painful. My right calf is still painful and a little stiff so I'm going to have another go later on.

I'm helping out with my local parkrun as a tail runner tomorrow. I'm going to be running behind the last person to make sure no-one gets lost or left behind, so I hope I don't bugger my calves up all over again. Hopefully it'll be an easy run.

Parklife

And and it's not about you joggers who go round and round and round...

On Saturday I popped down to my local Parkrun. It was a glorious late August day - you know the ones where the sky is blue, the cornfields are ripe, and the trees look a glossy green. Absolutely beautiful.

Parkrun is a volunteer-run network of timed 5k races that take place every Saturday in certain locations around the world. They started in London but have branched out across the UK and into Denmark and Australia. You register on the website and are given a barcode which you print off and take to the event so you can get it scanned at the finish line. Laminate your barcode. I didn't and had to borrow a safety pin from a marshal so I could pin it to the bottom of my running shirt so it didn't get sweaty.

The parkrun was friendly and welcoming with an informal atmosphere. About halfway round I got a painful stitch and I had to keep bending forward to ease it. I was worried at mile 2 that I was going to have to stop and walk but I kept going. I managed a bit of a sprint to the finish but forgot to turn my garmin off as I crossed the line. When I did stop the timer and looked at my watch I saw it was 24:21, which was a new PB! When I got home I opened the parkrun email and saw that my actual time was 24:01, an even better PB! I'd knocked 23 seconds off my previous PB. :)

Splits:
1 07:50
2 07:49
3 07:46
4 (.8 of a mile - and I forgot to turn my garmin off) 00:00:55