It's been a long time since I rock and rolled
It's been a long time since I did the stroll
Ooh, let me get it back, let me get it back
Let me get it back, baby, where I come from
This is the first verse of Rock and Roll by Led Zeppelin where Robert Plant sings about the long, lonely time since he walked in the moonlight with his love. For me it's been a long time since I did the full effort stroll at a parkrun 5k. It was way back on February 22, 2020 at Tuggeranong where I placed 99th in 26:33.
On December 10 I decided to make amends for my inattention and see if 'having a crack' would carry me back to the days of fast times at parkrun. My confidence was high, having trained well with the Speedygeese and resuming racing on the track with the ACT Masters, recording a 14:50 3000m on the Thursday prior to parkrun.
I arrived early enough for a good warm-up with strides, then lined up next to Kenny, not too far from the front. Start was fast and after 500 metres I was happy to find myself behind Adam (a consistent 25-26 minute runner). Crossing the footbridge just before 1.5 km I eased ahead of Adam and followed a young lady, Rachel, towards 2 km. It was about here that David flew past (he would run 24:52).
My legs were still feeling good after the 2.5 km turn. Go legs! I knew I was running fast enough to run under 26 minutes as I was maintaining my position in the group of runners. The little down slope after the footbridge is perfectly placed before the 4 km mark. The effort was now hard and lonely, the finish a long time away! 5 minutes feels like a long time when everything hurts! Finally, the parkland finish was in sight and a final sprint to the line. 61st place in 25:47. Yeah-hey, ooh yeah!
The 1 km splits were: 5:27, 5:12, 5:06, 5:14 and 4:48 at an average heart-rate of 143, maximum at the finish was 152. Bring on 2023!
