A parkrun is always the best way to start the year, so logically two parkruns would be twice as good. When I heard that Richmond was on at 10am, an idea was born. NYD double. But then I discovered the Henty Relay was also on the same day. I really like the Henty. Ah well, a NYD triple then! Clearly not a stupid idea at all!
I ran slowly at Bushy, chatting with Mike all the way. He let me beat him. We then jumped in the car with Michelle and headed for Richmond. (David and Danny ran there. Crazy fools, I mean hardcore athletes that they are.) We arrived in plenty of time due to the lack of traffic. There were several other ‘doublers’ in attendance. At the start I remembered something – I’m really not that keen on Richmond parkrun. I don’t know why, I love Richmond P ark and running in it, but there’s just something about the course that depresses me. It’s just me, loads of people love it and would name it as their favourite.
I ran slowly again. About ten seconds slower than Bushy. This time I let Mike beat me. The we headed to Pembroke Lodge where Sharon bought me tea and cake. It dawned on me that we were going to have to walk down the hill to register for the relay, only to walk straight back up it again. Boo! So off we went and signed in. I was hopeful, and fairly confident of getting one lap in the relay. But no! Not enough fast people had turned up and I had to do two laps! Potential disaster! I confessed to my team mates (Peter and Anne-Marie) about my extreme warm up, they didn’t seem too perturbed. It was a bit scary being in a team with Peter, he is the fastest runner out of everyone who turned up. We decided to stick to the traditional format of fast, medium, slow, fast, medium, fast. Some other teams mixed it up a bit.
The leg one runners set off and about 3 and a half seconds later Peter was back, sprinting up the hill in the lead just as I knew he would be. I got a lot of teasing from my clubmates about the pressure I was now under, and set off. The adrenaline kicked in and I actually didn’t feel too bad. I was trying to go reasonably hard, whilst holding something back for my other leg. I was hoping for around 10.30 and finished in 10.44, not too bad. Crispy and Jar overtook me. I handed over to Anne – Marie and it wasn’t that long until my turn came round again. This time it was really hard work! I was pushing as hard as I could the whole way. I set off in second place behind Crispy and I knew that in the final stage Peter wanted to get ahead of Crispy’s team mate Marc and win. I couldn’t get closer to him though. That pesky Jar overtook me again but no one else. I finished this one in 10.29, really pleased. As expected, Marc’s team won and we came second. Really pleased with that, the team with the fastest runner is not designed to do well! Sadly there were no tea and cakes back at the clubhouse, so after the results were announced I took my concrete legs home for a bath and food.
