Curly - I shouldn't seem as though I'm claiming to have been running with the really fast ones, like those PP mentions; they're another group altogether! I have an odd view of 'those ahead', I think, because I only came to running in my late 20s, was just pleased to be able to do it and have seen personally how improvement may come but still leave some goals way out of reach. But I spent bits of my youth accompanying statto dad to meetings, running results to him and so on, so I was finally, sort of, doing what I'd been watching. Having him around is good for perspective, though - he has an encyclopaedic memory of athletics performances, I suspect there are hundreds of names in there just for, say, 10k. Just the men under 30mins. None of that prevents him being encouraging (though only through slight scorn at my first ever 10k in 49mins), even occasionally impressed. It also made him an unusual parent to talk to. Took my ex, fresh from her 3:21 at London (yes, that was quicker than my marathon pb at the time, no I may never have lived it down) and rather than "so how did it go, what's a marathon like?" she got "well done on your marathon time, very respectable that, and a good improvement on the last" without me having mentioned anything about it.
So, the Perch on Sunday. I wasn't entirely on for this, realising I was only just recovered from the midweek voms, but borrowed some trail shoes (sorry housemate) and hit nonsuch park. Even warming up on the flat grass was heavy going, but it starts on tarmac so I could ease into it. I started reasonably and settled into what I learned from marshals was 12th place, ahead of a couple of runners I know to be quicker. Sadly one was nursing a knee injury and raced off in the second half, and the other was taking it very easy with a broken elbow, so I wasn't running especially well. It's not a hilly course, but very muddy and slippery, with a really gruelling muddy section towards the end of the lap. I ended up running most of it on my own, which was bad in the windy conditions, but sadly the group of 5-6 up ahead were just too far away, and I don't think realistically I could have got there, much as running behind them would have been substantially easier, and there was no one close behind for most of it. The triathlon clubs seem to target the race, and one of the East Grinstead lot got close enough to keep me honest at the end and I finished 14th; behind a few people I've beaten recently, but probably reasonable after this week. We even picked up the male team prize, thanks to new member "Mr parkrun show", though some of the triathletes were registered under their running clubs name and might otherwise have taken it. Certainly they'd have equalled our score from the one that I spotted who finished right behind me.
Decent run, and those with garmins had it at more like 11k than just over 10, which made me feel better about the time. I've now got a refurbished garmin and I've missed it, having broken the old one sliding over the line at the Saltwell 10k before Christmas, but I'd hate to see my splits from yesterday, reckon they'd epitomise "decreasing returns".
