Run > parkrun

So back in June after doing a 28:23 5k at Parkrun I set the goal of running sub-27:30 for 5k by the end of August. The plan was to spend the two months before starting half marathon training working on my speed over short distances so at the time this seemed challenging but realistic. Things didn't quite go to plan as I spend the two months not doing a great deal of mileage and certainly not speedwork, so I felt the chance of meeting my goal were very small. Over the last few weeks I've struggled with the tempo runs so was not in the least bit confident on this. But not one to fail without even trying I decided I would run parkrun on the last day of August, go out hard at the pace required for 27:30 and hold on for as long as I could. I was slightly more confident after I did better than I expected on the magic mile last week, but having done an 8 mile long run yesterday this didn't seem ideal preparation especially when I still felt tired and achy this morning. Despite this I stuck with the plan this morning and went out hard, Garmin was set up to 1km laps so I knew I just had to keep the pace around 5:30/km. It was hard, my legs hurt and my brain really wanted me to stop, it was a mental battle as much as a physical one especially as I knew I was slowing from halfway, luckily I had a little time in reserve and managed to keep the pace close to 5:30/km. Found something at the end to increase the pace as I came into the finish...27:09 (rounded up on the Garmin to 27:10) - will have to wait for the official results and admittedly the course does measure slightly short on the Garmin but dead chuffed with the result. KM splits were 5:33, 5:27, 5:34, 5:37, 4:58 (0.91 km due to course measuring short). In 6 months I have knocked nearly 5 minutes off my 5k time, just goes to show what can be achieved with consistent running and believing in yourself and your goals.