KMs and PBs - it's all about the acronyms.

I'm trying desperately not to think about all those thousands of experienced runners preparing themselves mentally and physically for the London Marathon tomorrow. At the minute the thought of running 26.2 miles is attractive but an utter world away from my capabilities. Thinking of all those 'athletes' makes my own achievement today seem pathetic and unworthy of mention but I have to focus on my own progress and how if I concentrate hard enough on it, that could me me gearing up for the starting line next year.

All of those runners started somewhere. Many of them probably started at the same level as me and worked their way up. This is not going to be an easy thing to do but then if it WAS easy then it wouldn't be worth it. You have to earn health and fitness, no one hands them to you on a plate.

Today marked my second parkrun and my first opportunity for a new personal best. Last week, although I enjoyed the experience I didn't do particularly well. I didn't even make it to the first km marker before having to stop and walk. I tried to blame my pants - they kept slipping down so to remedy it I went to a sports shop straight after and bought some 3/4 lycra leggings (much against my inner conscious screaming at the prospect of me in lycra, but in fact no one gives a crap so why worry). Whether it really was the pants or not will forever remain a mystery but I did it - I beat last weeks time.

Not only did I beat my time, but I managed to jog it right the way past the 2km marker before I had to stop. Somehow I just kept going. When I set off I could see the first pale blue marker in the distance and I thought "I'll be chuffed if I can make it all the way there this time, just keep going 'til you get there Caz!" and when I made it there I still felt good so I thought "right, well, just keep going then". I remembered where the 2km marker was and remembered that there's a big puddle spanning the gate you have to go through so all I kept thinking was "I'll get a few seconds walk then anyway so just keep going for now".

I read about runners who say things like they just put their heads down and keep going but I didn't do that. I kept my head up, I soaked it all in. Despite being on the immediate outskirts of the city centre Exhibition Park is a vast and stunning open space and as I jogged along I soaked up deep clean lungfuls of air, gazed up at the beautiful bright sky, chuckled at the cows in the park trying to get out of the way of hundreds of runners and reminded myself why I'm doing this. It felt really good being part of this big crowd of people with a common purpose.

Unfortunately for me I got a stitch just beyond the 2km marker so I walked it off for about 20 seconds before picking up again, running past the 3km and halfway towards the 4km marker (4km marker? REALLY? ACE!). There's this one bit on the route which is ever-so-slightly uphill and into a headwind. It's just less than half a km long and I suspect it will be my nemesis. I walked most of it but was determined to jog the last km.

All the way along the route there are volunteers to make sure you're going in the right direction and whatnot and as I approached the last volunteer he said "only a few hundred yards to go!". "Sprint finish then eh?" said I jokingly. "Yeah, go for a sprint!". Strangely despite thinking I was really tired I did actually pick up my pace a bit when he said that and on hearing someone sprinting up behind me 20 yards before the finish line I sprinted it over the finish, much to the laughter of the people around at my cheekiness.

I knocked about 3 minutes off last weeks time which is good when you think that's about 10% quicker, but better than that was how much further I managed to run and how great it felt to do it.

Bring on my 3rd parkrun.