Well, it has been quite a long time since my last Park Run – 123 days in fact – on New Years Day! Two days prior, on 30th December 2023, I ran a personal best but on the 1st January, despite going well for the first 4km and on the pace to better it, my knee decided that was enough and I limped across the finish line. A week later the diagnosis was patellar tendonitis. Anti inflamatories were prescribed and several sessions with Stuart the Physiotherapist treating it with electric muscle stimulation and ultrasound complimenting the on-going training in the…

After a four month break from ParkRun, due to a knee injury sustained on New Years Day, last week was an eagerly anticipated return. And what return it was slashing nearly seven minutes off my previous personal best. So, this week, expectations were high. The clock tower ahead as I walked from the car park. The sun shining as I joined the ever growing group of eager ParkRunners awaiting their starting orders – 266 of us starting today. And at 9.05am we were off! Once again, two laps of the circuit around Stanley Park. I positioned myself further forward than…

Having returned to ParkRun on 4th May with a stonking PB, followed by another PB a week later and, after a week off due to a Jaguar event down south, the pressure was on for a hatrick of personal bests. I had set myself an optimistic run goal of 30 minutes. Up and about at 7am, my Garmin Epix Pro (Gen 2) was alerting my Brooks running shoes to the fact they were to be called into action in less than two hours! The clock tower ahead as I walked from the car park. The sun shining as I joined…

When I first started ParkRunning in October last year, my time was 57mins 39secs. I was just walking back then. By the end of the year my time had improved to 41mins 25secs as I had managed to increase my pace and include some running, although still not running through full 5km. Then, on New Years Day, I was struck down with Patellar tendinitis during the final km of the run. I took time off from running to allow my knee to recover fully and returned at the beginning of May with a great personal best of 34mins 27secs. A…