A frustrating weekend

How about a nice 5k PB to go into the Christmas period on a high? Would be great wouldn't it? No concern about that extra three turkey legs, the entire pack of After Eights or the gluttonous amounts of Mulled Cider.
Well, that happened this weekend. Just not for me though.
Instead the weekend presented me with a mixed bag of crap running, good running, silly fines and some unexpected comedy.

The Run #1

Saturday morning meant a trip to parkrun & a return to Oak Hill. Our friend Joel was aiming to take on the 30:00 barrier for the first time, whilst Fergie was pacing him & seeing if an luminous orange Christmas jumper would be sufficient to divert planes from their course to Heathrow. I fancied taking on my PB, the course at Oak Hill is gentle, no major surprises.
I felt my start was reasonable, a 4:55 first kilometre, just outside of where I'd want my pace to be.
I then appeared to hit a wall. The remaining 4k were just a shambles. I was sluggish, heavy, felt like I was running through treacle. Even berating myself on the 2nd lap did nothing. It appeared the more effort I put in, the less I got in return.
The result was a 25:32. My worst parkrun since June. It would be easy to blame the weather, the take away the night before, a crap night's sleep, a combination of the three. But ultimately I was just crap.
Luckily there was some good fortune amongst us. Joel not only broke the 30:00 barrier, he emphatically smashed it with an awesome 29:22 effort. New years day in Chelmsford is next on the agenda for both of us.
To compound the misery we then received a parking ticket on the way home! Turns out 15 mins of free parking is not something Enfield offers!!!!

Some Comedy....

After heading into work to clear some paperwork I was reunited with Mrs H for a trip to celebrate New Year's Eve.
Yes, New Year's Eve. At the BBC no less. We were attending The Horne Section NYE show for Radio 4. Somehow we ended up in the front row. We then seemed to attract the attention of our host, Alex Horne. For a listen of our awkward, yet bizarrely funny experience on the radio, tune into Radio 4 on NYE at 2330, or NYD at 1500 for an extended version. I suspect my mother will be asking for a CD to send to all of the family!!

The Eat

We finished the evening by bracing Oxford Circus and some crazy rain & diving into Ping Pong. Over some dim sum we had a giggle at the silliness of the evening. Mrs H is still convinced I played a part in us being in the front row!

The Run #2

Could Sunday rescue the weekend? This was the forth consecutive day of running and it nearly didn't happen. I got myself into my kit, opened the curtains to see rainmaggedon. After a quick scan of the forecast I went back to bed for an hour and headed out in near perfect conditions at 9am.
The plan was 70 minutes of easy pacing. What a difference 24 hours makes! Today I had no issues with rhythm, breaking in a shiny new pair of Adidas Supernova Sequence 5's as I went. The time required allowed me to merge two of my favourite routes, the loop & a trip to Elsenham.
Time & distance wise it was my longest outing since Copenhagen. I felt reasonable throughout, a good way to put the parkrun debacle to bed and look forward rather than backward.

I might even head out for a run tomorrow to make it 5 in a row......