On Saturday, 26th August, I mustered my courage again to run instead of to volunteer in the Barnet Oak Hill Park Parkrun event. I also bumped into our fellow Comets RRC member Jayne Jones who also lives in Barnet. I finished in 33 minutes 2 seconds. I was only 3 seconds away from being sub-33. I hope to push a little harder to go under 33 minutes next time. I’m taking things on a week-by-week basis but I hope to keep chipping away at my time over the coming weeks. Sub 33 minutes is my next target. Before my knee injury, I used to finish the 5k races in under 28 minutes and I didn’t think much about it. Nowadays, with a post-injured knee and the age is catching up, I would be ecstatic to finish sub 33 minutes. Certainly, I hope to go sub 33 minutes. To be honest, even if I don’t, I’ll just be chuffed to be out there, running, socialising with other like-minded runners, and of course, keeping a steady stride to avoid injury.
It’s been a long, at times frustrating journey, but I’ve learnt so much along the way. Patience, commitment to recover, having faith in myself and never giving up have helped me overcome this setback. I’m proud of the progress I’ve made – both physical and mental. I have made a fairly good recovery of my knee by just resting without having to go under the knife (or under a trocar for keyhole surgery). The old me would have rushed back too quickly and risked re-injury. But the new me knows that slow and steady are the key to avoid repeated injury. Life is so unpredictable. There were times I was celebrating my London Marathon PB in 4 hours 31 minutes and my Milton Keynes PB in 4 hours 28 minutes and my all-time favour Stroud Half Marathon PB in 1 hour 54 minutes, the next thing I knew I slipped on the snow and twisted my knee and had to stop running for 7 months. However, during these 7 months, I’ve learnt that even when things go south (or twist left and right, in my case), there’s always hope if I have faith in life.
A twisted knee taught me patience, hiking in the Camino Santiago de Compostela in Spain for 36 consecutive days covering over 800 kms and the Nijmegen Marches in the Netherlands for 4 consecutive days covering 160 kms gave me resilience and distraction by not missing running too much. Volunteering in the Parkrun for a total of 35 times have kept me connected with the running circle in particular my local Barnet running community. It has also inspired me by watching the elite runners how they master their running techniques. The spirit of Parkrun in which there are no gold, silver or bronze medals for the top 3 winners nor any finisher’s t-shirts to those who have completed the distance has reminded me that it’s the steps that count, not necessarily how fast I take them.
Cheers to the next running events ! 🏃♂️🌍🎉