Race don't race

After retiring from the track after some humiliating sack and egg & spoon heats in about 1975, I thought my racing days were over. So, after a "walk-to-run" programme in 2008 persuaded me I could run for half an hour without stopping, I found myself lining up for my first race as a grown up. A 5K dash around Hyde Park proved to be a hideous way to spend just over 25 minutes of my life. However, lying flat on my back in the damp grass by the bandstand after the ordeal was over, realising that people were still finishing their race some 5 or 10 minutes later (while others were already changed and on their way home) was a bit of a revelation. That horrible 5k proved to be a kind of gateway drug to an increasing tendency to getting up at silly times at weekends to run around obscure parts of London and the Home Counties in the company of complete strangers. The draw of the finisher's medal and race t-shirt that usually becomes redundant in the short space of 24 hours has led to the following:

2009

• 24/04/09  Serpentine Last Friday 5K, Hyde Park, London - 25:09
• 02/08/09 Newham 10K Charity Fun Run, Newham Leisure Centre, London - 53:27
• 15/11/09  After Adoption 10K, Hyde Park, London - 51:28

2010

• 21/03/10 Hastings Half Marathon, Hastings - 01:59:53

2011

• 17/09/11 Valentines Park 5K Parkrun, Ilford, London - 25:05
• 09/10/11 Perkins Great Eastern Half Marathon, Peterborough - 01:54:51
• 20/11/11 Chelmsford Saucony 10K - 51:17

2012

• 18/03/12. Baldock Beast Half Marathon, Baldock, Herts - 01:53:33
• 31/03/12  National Lottery Olympic Park Run (5 miles) - 41:41
• 15/04/12. Worcester Half Marathon - 49:09
• 28/04/12. Valentines Park 5K Parkrun - 24:14
• 13/05/12. Halstead and Essex Marathon - 04:28:57
• 29/06/12 Serpentine Last Friday 5K, Hyde Park, London - 24:21
• 18/07/11 Newman Hilly 5 miles, Hainault Forest - 42:10
• 14/10/12 Givaudan Ashford 10K - Ashford Kent - 50:41
• 18/11/12. St Neots Riverside Half Marathon, St Neots Cambridgeshire - 01:52:22
• 29/12/12. Valentines Park 5K Parkrun - 24:29

2013

• 05/01/13. Valentines Park 5K Parkrun - 33:03*

* escorting my son to make sure he completed his first Parkrun, honest!