So down to the animal farm we went, me and my best friend now ‘Mrs Crosley’ to visit the animals and say moo to the highland cows, and of course to run the first ever Graves Park parkrun in Sheffield.
Mr MacParkRun had an idea e-i-e-i-o
With that idea he had a run e-i-e-i-o
With a run run here and a run run there
Here a run there a run
everywhere a run run
Mr MacParkRun had an idea e-i-e-i-o
I found out via twitter the first run was today so it made sense to give it ago after a great effort at concord parkrun last weekend. Graves Park is renound for it’s hills; its where many cross country races take place, so a tough one yes.
My legs were still heavy from the fantastic 1 hour spinning session at Hillsborough Leisure Centre on Friday evening, so to do a parkrun only 12 hours later is perhaps a mistake as I really felt my legs were on fire and could not push up the hills properly, however all good practice, all good fun, all good.
Armed with Mrs Crosely’s old Garmin 405 I pressed start as the whistle went and strided down to the Cafe with the other runners, a couple of girls infront of me at this stage, one I will call the pink girl as she was dressed in all pink – easy to spot, easy to overtake later. My target my friend, my target and I won’t miss you in that.
The first km was done in under 4 minutes – fast for me, then I began to feel those spinning legs as I took the slight incline at the far end of the park. I was ready to give in only after a mile. Had someone put some lead in my back pocket? I was not flying at all. However I managed to overtake my pink target and I think I put myself in 1st lady position, wasn’t too sure but kept on plodding anyway.
Running well is a matter of having the patience to persevere when we are tired and not expecting instant results. – Robert de Castella
The highland cows at the top of the park were a welcome sight as I strode past them and said moo.If a cow laughs does milk come out of its nose? Just moo along runners, just moo along. Then through the cowpat – Cowabunga baby just don’t slip! Round the boating lake and through the farm. Not being a chicken today I overtook a couple of the guys on the hill through the farm, grunting louder than the pigs, this was painful very painful.
Round two: A little girl was joyfully playing her triangle at the half way mark, what a fantastic addition to the event. Love it. Ding ding.
And back down the hill, ok I am not flying like a bird today but I will moo my best.
Back round to say hi to the highland cow again, watching out for the ewe turn at the top and off I went again down the path towards the farm again. This was tough and my legs weren’t going anywhere, they were still spinning from last night spinning but going nowwhere.
Experience has taught me how important it is to just keep going, focusing on running fast and relaxed. Eventually [pain] passes and the flow returns. It’s part of racing. – Frank Shorter
Two of us were playing overtake’ies throughout the last 2km, however I got a bit of a focus at the top of the animal farm and pounded through the grass and round to the slight decline of a finish to hit 27th position. I watched Mrs Crosley come in a few minutes later, putting in a fantastic sprint at the end, very rewarding to see, very rewarding.
Holey cow I was first female! No gloat’ing though as my time was a good 1 minute 30 off my PB as I clicked on the garmin about 5 seconds after I had finished, forgetting I was wearing a watch. However I am happy with the time as speaking to Mrs Crosley afterwards I wasn’t the only one with a time minutes slower than last week. It wasn’t just my spinning legs then? I spin you right round baby right round like a rooster baby.
I will be doing this parkrun again despite the time? Why? Because I am a tough Sheffield lass and I love the hills, love hills and they will love you back. For some reason PB’s kind of don’t really mean as much to me as they did last year, I just love to run.
Results
Time: 22.05
Position: 27th out of 140 (TBC)
Gender Position: 1st Female
