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Ran my first race today; it was an Oxford parkrun. The UK has these nifty parkrun groups set up all over; they do weekly races in a -- you guessed it -- local park. Very mellow and a rather positive atmosphere. Just about right for a first race.
The Oxford parkrun takes place in Cutteslowe & Sunnymead Park, just North of the Oxford ring road. You follow a set course around the park three times; said course is well marked at each kilometer, making it easy to pace one's self and know how much time/distance one has left.
Having looked at the run times from last week, I expected there to be about 50 - 100 people and I expected that I would be one of the slowest runners, coming in close to the end but not quite last. This is exactly what happened. Even so, the volunteers running the event this week were cheerful and supportive. One guy even clapped each time I passed his checkpoint... and his demeanor was perfectly sincere (i.e., not mock applause).
Although I don't exactly excel in the running department, this is another milestone on my quest to complete an Olympic triathlon. I will need to double the distance to 10km for that; however, at the moment, I want to focus on increasing my running speed. I neither need nor expect to win these races -- one of the runners had on a jumper from an event he had attended; it read: "10 Marathons in 10 Days" -- but it would be nice to come in around the middle of the pack, rather than all the way out on the tail end. In any case, it wasn't too long ago that I was starting the Couch-to-5K plan and finding the one minute runs of Week One to be challenging! So there is a long way still to go... but I've also come pretty far!
To celebrate, I went on a little shopping trip. Having completed my first race, I thought the time had come to buy a proper pair of running shoes, rather than running in the same worn-out sneakers that I use on a daily basis for getting around.[*] Across the street from Chiron Beta Prime, there happens to be a shop called Up & Running. I dropped in on them, had my feet filmed whilst running on a treadmill, and tried on several pairs before making a final selection. Looking forward to trying them out in their inaugural run on Monday!
[*] Come to think of it, that same pair of worn out sneakers will soon need to be replaces with some better shoes that I can use on a daily basis for getting around. They served me well, but really are rather gone by now.
The Oxford parkrun takes place in Cutteslowe & Sunnymead Park, just North of the Oxford ring road. You follow a set course around the park three times; said course is well marked at each kilometer, making it easy to pace one's self and know how much time/distance one has left.
Having looked at the run times from last week, I expected there to be about 50 - 100 people and I expected that I would be one of the slowest runners, coming in close to the end but not quite last. This is exactly what happened. Even so, the volunteers running the event this week were cheerful and supportive. One guy even clapped each time I passed his checkpoint... and his demeanor was perfectly sincere (i.e., not mock applause).
Although I don't exactly excel in the running department, this is another milestone on my quest to complete an Olympic triathlon. I will need to double the distance to 10km for that; however, at the moment, I want to focus on increasing my running speed. I neither need nor expect to win these races -- one of the runners had on a jumper from an event he had attended; it read: "10 Marathons in 10 Days" -- but it would be nice to come in around the middle of the pack, rather than all the way out on the tail end. In any case, it wasn't too long ago that I was starting the Couch-to-5K plan and finding the one minute runs of Week One to be challenging! So there is a long way still to go... but I've also come pretty far!
To celebrate, I went on a little shopping trip. Having completed my first race, I thought the time had come to buy a proper pair of running shoes, rather than running in the same worn-out sneakers that I use on a daily basis for getting around.[*] Across the street from Chiron Beta Prime, there happens to be a shop called Up & Running. I dropped in on them, had my feet filmed whilst running on a treadmill, and tried on several pairs before making a final selection. Looking forward to trying them out in their inaugural run on Monday!
[*] Come to think of it, that same pair of worn out sneakers will soon need to be replaces with some better shoes that I can use on a daily basis for getting around. They served me well, but really are rather gone by now.
