It is always good to start the weekend with a parkrun, my opportunities have been few and far between with the girls dance commitments curtailing those. This weekend was the Easter shutdown and so I took advantage and got myself along to Clare Country Park . This was my second appearance at Clare, my previous one coming last Easter, On that occasion I ran 24:31, and now much better trained I was hoping for 21:00-21:30.
It was a family affair, being the Easter weekend. Lauren and the girls were there as my support crew, along with my Mum and Dad. My brother Luke also ran with his son Thomas who is a regular at junior parkrun, and this was his second full parkrun, Thomas ran brilliantly, and comfortably came home in under half an hour. Luke's wife Amber also ran strong and got under 35 minutes, far exceeding her expectations.
As for my race I had done some research and it looked like if I achieved my target time I would be finishing in the top 15 or so and so I positioned myself at the front on the right hand side ready for the go signal. When it came, I hared off far too quickly. I always like to go out hard, but even I knew this was excessive. A glance at my watch and seeing 3:30 min/km confirmed it and I tried to ease back after that.
Looking at my 1/8th of a mile splits they have me going through the opening half mile as follows:
- 0.13 miles - 42 seconds (5:33 min/mile)
- 0.25 miles - 44 seconds (5:48 min/mile)
- 0.38 miles - 49 seconds (6:31 min/mile)
- 0.5 miles - 49 seconds (6:36 min/mile)
I managed to ease up sufficiently that I went through the first km in 3:53, stupid, but not as stupid as it might have been given the fast start. It had me in 5th place, behind a young boy in an orange t-shirt. The leader was off and out of sight, so it was clear my maiden parkrun victory would have to wait. I ran 4:08 for km two, and a group of four runners went past me. The race is three laps and so you get a look at those in front and behind you, I could see a steady stream of runners nipping at my heels and was concerned another wave would come past me. In the event that didn't happen.
I saw Luke and Thomas running well as I headed back towards the start on the first lap, and waved and grunted at my supporters on completing the lap. It was very much just trying to keep at it, I knew the time was good it was just a case of keep on, keeping on. The third km was completed in 4:15. I saw Amber on my second lap, and I was told after the race that she heard me before she saw me. When I am at max effort I do make some horrible heavy breathing as I search for any available oxygen. Thankfully I had my headphones on, playing my carefully curated Spotify playlist and so didn't hear myself.
Two laps completed is always nice, knowing that you are heading out on your final lap and you are seeing each spot for the last time. I went through the fourth km in 4:13. Clare is a narrow course and with it being three laps it can be a little awkward passing people, particularly near the end of the lap and the loop section. You are then trying to fit in four lanes of traffic into what is a comfortable two lanes, and three at a squeeze. Everyone was very accommodating and it didn't slow my progress.
I was relieved to make it out of the woods and onto the finishing straight. I worked hard all the way through the line and was very pleased to receive a 9th position finishing token. My official time was 20:58 just five seconds short of my time at Middlesbrough that I ran just after Christmas. Middlesbrough is a much faster course, no sharp 180 degree turns, it is entirely on tarmac and is ever so slightly net downhill. I was also 41 when I ran that and now aged 42 my WAVA is actually better for this weekend's effort.
In fact, based on WAVA the only one of my 68 parkruns to beat this weekend's effort was my PB of 19:21 ran back in March 2011, that gave a WAVA of 66.67% compared to Clare's 66.06%. Some other positive numbers from this weekend's effort, it was the first time I have run a sub 4 minute opening km since 2015, a more concerning stat is that my 5th km was 4:16 and the slowest of the day. I normally start fast and finish fast, holding it together in the middle, with my third of fourth km being the slowest. Today is only the second time ever that my slowest km has come in the final km. It was only by a second, and the extra bit of distance at the end I ran in 15 seconds at 5:17min/mile pace so I did still leave a little something in the tank.
Overall I was really pleased with my performance, a comfortable course record and very close to my recent best. I am hoping to run Southend parkrun next weekend and perhaps I can get sub 20:50 if the wind plays ball. I won't fret too much, the plan is to take some big chunks off my 5k time during the course of 2026, for now Clare Castle parkrun was a very pleasing start to my Easter weekend.
