After last week’s remembrance run this Saturday was for me.
This was my 3rd trip to Mile End parkrun and nothing had changed since my visit on 10th June 2023 🙂 except for my finish time. On this occasion I walked and talked with Burgess Parkrun’s Event Director Chris Raveney. Parkrun can be a walk as well as a run. My vapourfly trainers were in my bag saved for the race to come.
After finishing we then walked along the canal to Victoria Park for the main event of the morning, participating in the Gay Pride 20th anniversary 10k race.
I didn’t make a decision to be hetrosexual so I’m happy to support, show up and run with people who can be marginalised, discriminated against and persecuted against by families, communities, societies and nation states.
With 13,000 steps recorded I hoped my body was warmed up but not already fatigued. My running buds were with me and we had some running ‘chat’ before taking our respective places in the 500 people field.
This year’s charity was the Micro Rainbow International Foundation (MRIF) promote social inclusion amongst LGBTI people by preventing them from becoming socially excluded; https://mrifoundation.global/#team The Director for MRIF said a few words, as part of the entry fees goes to them. They then did the count down and we were off.
In the surge from the starting horn and 100m in we came out of the sheltered canopy and became exposed to the midday sweltering sun. I remembered the advice I’d received from Mary and Ben at This Messy Happy; https://www.youtube.com/@ThisMessyHappy and actively tried to ‘slow down’ and settle my emotions and to find my race pace, this was not the day to try and ‘bank time’. 500m in I saw my wife and daughter, at 1k a friend and then at 1.5k completely unexpectedly, my sister up from Folkestone to cheer me on! On the second lap, 4k in, I took the water offered, missing my mouth but then pouring the rest over me in an attempt to cool myself down. The vapourflys were doing their thing and my legs weren’t hurting but my respiratory system was working overtime to keep me going. I hadn’t trained for these conditions, this was all new. I kept trying to run with people in front of me but I’d notice the pace start to slip and I’d have to go alone. There was going to be no race assistance, no pack to tuck into, I’d be doing this on my own.
This is the 20th anniversary of the event and I’ve done it many times before so I know the course well. It’s very well marshalled and with time markers, supporters and spectators all around. And on my 2nd lap the chap on the tannoy system shouted out ‘runner 57 is locked in’ and boy was I. I was fighting for my race pace, fighting to keep my running form. When I reached 8k I knew I only had a junior parkrun to go, however 8-9k was really exposed. With the sun beating down I became conscious that this was where the sub 40min goal would be won or lost.
Finally I reached the 9k marker and it was like entering a new room. Psychologically I knew what I needed to do. I went through a chicane section of the course coming out onto the final 400m straight. There was a chap in front of me and I zeroed in on him. I could see my wife, daughter and friends in the distance. I reached inside, past the pain and found some of the ‘good stuff’ still inside, I accelerated past carbon plated guy, dug deeper again now sprinting for the rainbow balloon line and the huge digital clock; for the end of the quest, for the sub 40min finish and a 10k personal best.
Official time - 39mins 41secs #Pride
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