A wins a win or a first finisher is a first finisher.

   I was spot on with my prediction from my last post saying that I would need to cancel my 7 mile run to work the morning after over doing it on Wednesday. My leg muscles felt like they had taken a right old beating so really I had no option but to rest them, with operation parkrunner coming up on the Saturday the race was on firstly to get my legs back to full health. There really should of been no doubts as I have been in this situation many a time over the years and come race day they have always rallied round. That little devil that lives on my shoulder that trys to ruin my races by demanding that I run at full speed at the start of races also thinks he his an expert on medical matters too, " you won't be fit for Saturday as you are getting old and take longer to recover " is just one of his negative quotes.
   Anyway as usual my legs turned out to be just fine as I got up this morning and made my way to Ripon for the parkrun 5k at Fountains Abbey. My guesstimation was that I should be capable of getting under 17 minutes and that I should be in fact aiming for 16 minutes 50 seconds. The 16 minutes 50 seconds target was very interesting indeed  as it meant that I had a chance of beating Ben Pease of Ripon Runners who has well and truly thrashed me everywhere so far this year. Pease ran 16 minutes 54 seconds and was the first finisher the week before so I knew it was going to be close but he had also ran 16 minutes 45 seconds earlier in June so I had to give him the benefit of doubt in that he would more than likely beat me but if I could get within 5 seconds of him then that would be awesome.
  The weather was sunny and dry which once again meant perfect running conditions, unfortunately that was what it was like when I left Thirsk but when I arrived at Ripon it was raining with a slight breeze. I did my usual warm up routine and just as I was making my way to the start line I bumped into an old running friend Chris Brown of Ripon Runners, after a quick chat he said that he prefared the light rain and breeze because once you get going you don't notice it and it helps cool you down anyway which I totally agree with. So I went to the start yet again with perfect weather conditions for running.
   3,2,1 Go.  Launch control was activated yet again and into the lead I went but this time I was managing to work with the fast start and I actually felt ok for the first time this year and that was with over a kilometre covered. On the first first lap the climb past through the finishing line and just beyond is now getting flatter and shorter which prooves my training must be working. Finishing the first lap I was still in the lead but I could hear Pease closing in on me, a switch of tactics was required forget the time and concentrate on winning. Not really going with the parkrun ethos but I can't help it and even more so with what I'm about to say. I decided to push myself into the red zone to prevent Pease from catching me, my plan was to try and force him to try too hard in catching me as quickly as possible and therefore ruin both our finishing times but it might just help me beat him. Just before we turned to make our way back to the finish I sensed he was closing in on me even more and was almost within latching on distance. Another red zone effort and another section of trying to hold it all together but as I approached the area to sprint finish I suddenly felt that I had done enough and the win was mine. I put in a good effort up the short climb to the finish non the less and it felt better than ever before but still there is more to gain there in the future I think. So first it was in 16 minutes 56 seconds, 6 seconds slower than my guesstimation which is quite a loss compared to all my other guesstimations this year but I'm sure  I can easily forget about the 6 seconds seeing as a win was involved.
   My next venture into the parkrun world should be interesting as not only do I expect myself to improve but I also want those 6 seconds that I lost as well. So that means I should be looking for  16 minutes 34 seconds next time if all goes well and according to plan. A sub sixteen thirty would be too close to ignore if I can get in that sort of shape. Ambition, it can only lead to more lost seconds I think. I will stick with the 16 minute 34 and the steady constant improvement program.
  I have a steady nineteen mile run pencilled in for tomorrow morning, with it being an hilly route the hardest part will be trying to keep it steady going up the hills. The easiest part will be to enjoy it and in fact I'm already on it.

 SUNDAY

 Blue skies and white clouds, sunny but with a slight cool breeze.  This mornings  run was already looking good and I had only stepped out of the door and looked up to see what the  weather had to offer. My plan was to run six miles to Kilburn then run round the Kilburn 7 mile race route that is on next Sunday and finally run the six miles back home. I have plenty of data relating to this training route known to me as the 6-7-6 that I have done many a time over the years.  In 2007 I used to do it nice and steady in 2 hours 10 minutes which probably was my best year of running, I then got faster and faster and ended up doing it as fast as I could in 1 hour 55 minutes. Totally of no use as I was supposed to be clocking up loads of miles at a steady pace and not flogging myself to bits and missing training runs  due to having to recover. So todays long steady run went according to plan in that I never went above a steady pace and completed the route in 2 hours 17 minutes. A bit slower than what I would of liked but that can only improve by itself and not by me increasing my effort. My legs know they have had a good long work out but they will be ready for another eight mile run tomorrow.