I refrained from running for 6 days after Abingdon Marathon and then took another 3 days off. Meanwhile I got out on my road bike for a couple of 25 milers which made a nice change though not quite as satisfying as a decent trail run. I kept my running distances short and was pleasantly surprised to find some of my speed coming back. 8:21 min/mile pace on the Saturday, 8:07 on Tuesday then 7:45 for a 3 miler on Thursday – the fastest I’ve run for ages. My foot still hurt a bit and I had a bit of a sore upper left leg muscle, probably what was behind my knee pain at Abingdon, for the 1st couple of runs,  but I don’t think these short, flat runs are making things any worse. In fact today, 24 hours after the parkrun, nothing really seems to hurt.

So it was with a sense of optimism that I cycled to Oxford parkrun’s 1st anniversary event yesterday. To celebrate there was to be cake (well it wouldn’t be vegan so I took something to munch but it was the spirit of the thing that mattered). The Council had been persuaded to open the drinks booth for the first time, from the length of the queue at the finish this was profitable for them and will hopeful become the norm.

And there were to be time pacers: sub 21 minute, 25 min, 30 min, and 35 min I think it was. I’d already spoken to Chris who thought he was the 25 min pacer and said I intended to follow for the first couple of miles and then, if I was feeling good, I might take off for a faster finish. Somewhere along the line Alun became the 25 min pacer instead so after 10 mins of prizes and announcements what turned out to be a record field of 118 parkrunners set out – Alun rather worrying me by flying off nearer 7 min miles than 8 but as he pointed out the start is downhill.

We settled into perfect pace though one young lady in the group seemed to think we were going a bit slow. I chatted away with Alun who had run marathons both the previous weekends with a 3hr 2min PB at one. He’d noticed I’d been taking a few Conquercise zones back off him in the Fetcheveryone website game and I told him how I had been getting back on the bike (which means more zones won) since Abingdon and how the move away from long runs back to regular cycling seemed to be improving my running speed.

Many of our bunch seemed to fall behind but Alun was still keeping correct pace by both our watches. Another Fetchie caught us and turned out to be iPlod who used to be another big zone owner in our area, he (John in the real world) was racing the next day and used Alun’s pace to slow himself down and save his legs. I was huffing and puffing a bit in the cold air and becoming aware that I should shut up and run, after all this was still fast for me.

23 minutes said Alun as we approached the last descent to the finish dead on schedule . I suddenly found myself hiccuping sicky burps in a manner that reminded me of Lala with furballs. Just after our 3rd pass of the marshal it became evident that I had 3 choices: throw up down my front; choke and turn red or stop and recover. I stopped to the surprise of John and Alun who I waved on while I threw up a small amount of breakfast that hadn’t yet been digested despite having had 2 hours to go down. Slightly shocked I started walking, then running, and now feeling fine again I charged towards the finish at what later turned out to be 6:45 pace (alright it was downhill).

No chance of catching back up though and finished in 25:29 49th of 118 runners. Alun’s time was 24:55 – he couldn’t have got much closer. Oh well!

A cup of black tea from the booth (I forgot the planned soya milk); a munch on my Soreen banana loaf and a chat with runners new and old made for a proper parkrun anniversary celebration. We even had indoor space in the pavilion or whatever it is. A chap in a suit who I think may be a City Councillor was in attendance and hopefully got a chance to see what a fine thing Oxford parkrun is.