99 Parkruns, not a stitch at one

(Probably an inaccurate title, given my earlier poor running style!)

Saturday was my 99th parkrun, and my 15th at my new home of Lancing Beach Green. I wanted to mark it in style! But what to do? Maybe get a red balloon for each run, and let them all go as I cross the finish line? Bad for the environment, and I might accidentally cause an international nuclear incident*. Run while eating an ice cream with a flake? Bit messy! Listen to Rammstein while running, as their keyboardist is nicknamed "Flake"? Somewhat tenuous, even by my standards!

I settled for breaking out the demon and getting not one but two Personal Bests instead.

(Sidebar: Fergal Devitt wrestles in the WWE under the name Finn Balor. Part of his character is that he can tap into his demon side; for those matches he enters the ring with face/body paint on, to a heavier version of his theme song and wrestles with a more vicious set of moves. "Demon Finn" is also undefeated. [And yes, I'm well aware that wrestling - like 95% of TV shows, from Game Of Thrones to Love Island - is scripted, however that doesn't stop it being entertaining.] I have my own version of this gimmick, in that whenever I've worn my Brighton Marathon 2018 shirt I've got some form of PB.)

The week before, at the same parkrun, I finished one second shy of equalling my PB time at that course - and this despite running into 40mph wind for the final 2.2km of the run. This time, with much nicer conditions - sunshine, a gentle breeze - I knew I could break my course PB. In fact, I'd be disappointed if I didn't. Part of the issue was the auto-pause feature on Strava - it didn't kick in until 3 seconds after I started the run last week, so what I thought was a new PB was just too slow. Bearing this in mind I mentally added five seconds to whatever my watch was showing this time round, to try and ensure that I didn't go through the same thing again.

I flew out of the traps, rather than taking it slow, and 300m in at the first hairpin I was surprised to see how many more people there were behind me than usual - albeit with a much greater attendance at this week's run than last week's! Back past the start line, up the slope and onto the beach side path, I found a suitable candidate for my holistic pacing (find someone who looks like they're going the pace you want to run at, and stick behind them) and slotted into a brisk pace. The first km ticked by at 5:21, a pace that would see me comfortably beating my course PB - I knew that if I slowed and dropped off my pacer I would probably have enough to get me over the line. I've never really been one for negative splits!

The next km was slightly slower, at 5:31, perhaps a better reflection of the speed I'd settled in at as I dashed off and covered the first few hundred metres somewhat faster. The second hairpin turn at 2.8km gave a boost - I'd turned away from the sun, and into the breeze, which was gentle enough not to hinder me but strong enough to cool my skin - a black short sleeved shirt wasn't comfortable in the heat! I kept an eye on my watch, steadily ticking down the distance while the clock ticked ever upwards.

At the 4km mark I rounded the tricky bend by the sailing club and had a more open view of the route ahead of me, so started to pass people and reel in the next one ahead, pass them and reel in the person that they were following. I passed a few people this way, alternating between glancing at my watch and the person ahead, until with 400m left I opened up my stride and went for it! The final 100m are a gentle slope, curving down to the right, and I firmly stuck to the inside of this bend before bursting over the line in a sweaty mess.

Last week I'd finished the run in 27:54. My course PB at Lancing was 27:53, and my 5k PB (set at Hove Prom) was 27:07. Adding an extra 5 seconds onto my time to account for watch foibles (which turned out to be the exact discrepancy between my watch time and the official Parkrun time) I finished the run in 26 minutes and 48 seconds, a new course PB and distance PB!

*For some reason in my head I'd conflated the false alarm incident linked, to the probably fictional incident in the song, and only realised that they were different while writing this up today. The more you learn, I guess!