I finally headed into Aberdeen yesterday for the 5km Parkrun event, having originally registered in the autumn. The main reason that I had not got around to running this previously was that the drive to Aberdeen and back takes 4 times as long as the run, but as Vickie was heading in to the gym it made sense to tag along and run this for the first time.

My knees were still a little sore from a very wet 15.5 mile run on the Deeside Way on Thursday, more about that in a bit, but I was pretty confident of setting a PB given that I had never run a 5K before. Although I hadn’t run 5k previously I felt from experience of running 10k and 1/2 marathon races that I should be able to stay under 8 minute miles, coming in under 24 minutes.

The event itself starts on the lower esplanade, running along the shore towards the leisure centre in Aberdeen, before rounding onto the upper level and running North along the shoreline for around a mile or so. Then the course drops back onto the lower esplanade, running back past the start, around the corner again onto the upper esplanade, finishing roughly level with the start point.

Pushing out hard the starting pace was well into the 6 minute miles, slowing down to around 7 and a half minute miles by the end of the first mile. I wasn’t feeling particularly fit and well which I am putting down to my training being too specific to ultras, but pushed on to hold a similar pace in the second mile, and slowing a little in the final mile to around 8 minute mile pace, averaging 7:45 miles and completing the race in 24:05, which I was very happy with, but also think is very beatable next week.

Having thoroughly enjoyed the race, and the pace of it, I reflected upon my recent ultra training, and in particular some of the lateral pain in the right knee. Despite having a very poor winter following a bout of bronchitis after the Glen Ogle 33, I managed to somehow put in sufficient miles to complete the D33 in March. However the Cateran Trail Race is looking a step too far at the moment. It has been in the balance for a wee while, but as the race gets closer it is becoming abundantly clear that I do not have the underpinning fitness that I need. For that reason I am going to defer my entry until next year to enable me to concentrate on developing speed and CV fitness to enable me to run more competitively at the Clyde Stride in July, and hopefully to be in less pain afterwards.

I have been putting a lot of work into rebuilding this site over the weekend. All of the posts and texts have been uploaded, and I have uploaded most of the photographs into picasa. I have started embedding photo slide shows into the earlier posts, but it is going to take me a wee while to complete that task. I have also recoded all of the links in the hill lists, so they should link through to relevant articles about bumps I have walked up.

Plans for the coming week include training with Deeside Runners on Tuesday evening, a longer run on Thursday for around two hours, hopefully up at Glen Tanar if the weather is good, followed by a crack at 23 minutes on Saturday at the next Aberdeen Parkrun.