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 usual and was able to avoid much of the starting line congestion, and able to overtake quite a few people in the opening 2-300m and get into some clear space. A bit of congestion through the woodland section which can hold you back a little bit. A glorious day for a run. And my second 5K where I ran the full distance. Preliminary timings from my Garmin had me smashing my PB yet again but I had to wait for the official times to come through on the website.

I finished 155th out of 266. Happy with that. Even happier with my time…

2 minutes and 47 seconds stripped from my previous PB last week

The heatmap gps trace shows my relative speed… this week v last week…