I did one of the local parkruns this morning, a new one for me as it hasn't been going very long.
Fancied this one as its predominantly a cross-country course and i wouldn't feel so focused on hitting a time/pb, and with a much smaller field (about 60 or 70, compared to 6-700 at Cov) i'd be less likely to get drawn into a race.
All well and good... but there were only two of us capable of going under 20mins and we soon pulled away.... however neither of us had the foggiest where we were going.
Some frantic shouting and arm-waving from various marshalls and we made it round the first lap in one piece. This probably played into my hands as the the guy who eventually won is more than capable of putting 60-90secs into me over 5km, but because of the mishaps we went through halfway dead level.
Now he knew where he was going, he soon stretched away, and eventually finished in around 18:30, with me trailing in at 19:11
Seemed to pace it well... i looked at my watch after perhaps 1km and i was bang on 19min pace, so not much of a drop-off, even with the first lap orienteering. My calves however are still feeling the effects of last weekend and it was a pretty sorry trot back home afterwards... i'm glad i've decided against any uphill sessions this week.
9 miles for the morning.