No longer a tourist?

This post originally started life on Saturday. I'd given it a full update earlier in the week only for the Blogger android app to bin it! Better late than never......

Today brought an unexpected visit to parkrun. Our house is in the midst of building work at the moment & we made a last minute decision to stay at Paula's folks for the night & get away from the dust & disruption. To show just how last minute, I was texting through the running kit & overnight stuff I needed on my train home whilst Paula was putting a bag together before coming to collect me!
The only forgotten items were a toothbrush & a fresh pair of socks for after the run. This meant a parkrun debut for my Garmin. We didn't want to overstay our welcome so an early start & a trip to parkrun made sense. We were only 25 minutes away from Chelmsford but I still consulted the map to see if any other events were worth a visit. Basildon looked interesting, it doesn't start until April 5th though so that would have led to a bemused & lonely run around a park on my own! I was surprised to see Sudbury now has an event, but with the travel time close to an hour we decided to park that idea for another week.
With other events ruled out we headed to Chelmsford with plenty of time to make the start. Mrs H couldn't be persuaded to run, but was willing to stand in the cold & take photos of me as I trudged round. Before starting the run I even took part in the organised warm up, whether it was beneficial for today I have no idea, but hopefully it will assist tomorrow.

The Run

The start at Chelmsford can be a bit chaotic, you walk to the front, so then everyone has to turn round & gauge where should line up. Of course some are better than others at this & thankfully a wide course at the start allows space for everyone & a natural order starts to be established after a kilometre.
I had no idea what to expect this morning, this was an unplanned run. 24 hours before a half marathon & here I was lining up for a parkrun. I decided to see how it went, settle into a comfortable pace, ideally be under 26:00 & not do any damage ahead of the Brentwood Half. I found myself going through the first & second kilometre markers at 5:00/km pace, pushing, but not feeling like this was a bad idea!
I was still strong through three kilometres as the course features it's only (and really rather modest) climb. A slightly slower fourth kilometre led me to having words with myself! The bollocking worked as I was soon back on track, pushing the 25:00 mark through the final km. Rather than a great sprint finish, I moved through the gears instead and increased my pace throughout the end of the race.

The Conclusion

24:47

Was this a good idea? The result is great, under 25 for the first time since November, confirmation that everything is starting to click again. Should I have been more conservative though? Would a mid 26 have left me with less recovery needed in the 24 hours before the Brentwood Half?
I couldn't really dwell on this until I'd faced the half marathon so I stretched out and went on with the day. The eat isn't even worth discussing in length, a disappointing chocolate milkshake (thickshake machine not working) from Starburger in Chelmo.
Perhaps it is also time to recognise that I seem to have found a regular parkrun. As much as I like being a tourist, I no longer feel like one at Chelmsford. Four appearances this year suggest I'm becoming a regular. The event is now joint with Pymmes as my most attended. It might be time to change my home run, it might even be time to do some volunteering.