Tralee parkrun April 30th

This morning I ran the Tralee parkrun as a 30 minute pacer. I usually pace at a slightly quicker time, but given my exertions in the London Marathon last weekend, I was looking forward to a slightly more relaxed pace.

The morning was bright and sunny, and I brought sunglasses as I was sure I’d need them. As it turned out, I didn’t.

I got to Tralee Town Park in plenty of time, and met with a few other runners and pacers. I got my pacer sign attached, and soon race director Pauline was giving her briefing. As she was going through the race briefing, the skies opened and we had a heavy downpour – just what you need at the start of a run! Pauline presented certificates to runners who had reached milestones, and welcomed some parkrun tourists, who today included a couple from Finland.

We lined up, and off we went. It took me about half a lap or so to get my pace right, but once I got it, it felt nice and relaxed. I had 2 or 3 runners with me going for 30 mins, and we chatted away. The rain has stopped by now, and the sun came out again (typical Irish weather), and it turned into a really nice morning for a run.

I had only done one training run since London, a 4 miler on Wednesday (when the leg that had cramped during the marathon gave me some pain), and I had some stiffness in my legs, especially my ankles, that caused some discomfort, but didn’t affect my running too much.

Interesting contrast of running styles *Pic courtesy of Tralee parkrun*

I discovered at the start of the last lap that I was a little ahead of my pace, so I dropped it off a little for the last mile. At this stage I had only one runner left with me (a reader of this blog – yay!), and she stayed with me until near the end, when she took off to go for a PB – hope she did it.

I crossed the line, according to my Garmin, at 29:58 – another pretty accurate pacing job. For once, I managed to remember my barcode, so I’ll get an official time too!

Well done to first-time race director Pauline, who did a great job, and to all the volunteers who make parkrun possible – and of course, all the runners who braved the changeable weather – another great turnout this morning.