It's been a couple of months since my last parkrun and I'd thought earlier in the week that if the planets were in the 'right' configuration I'd pop over to Oldham to see if I've recovered from Snod. I had actually kept a beady eye on the weather forecasts most of the week, but I think either way I would have have got out there if it had been gales and rain;-) This was my only my second run there, but after the first I had no doubt at that I would return and now I'm falling headlong into this course of 3 laps of wide paths with up's and downs and a nice little twist towards the end of the last lap. It's not very well supported currently ( with only 32 finishers today) but I'll be very surprised not to see it grow come next spring. I had a very pleasant and polite young man approach me enquiring after my f-lite 230's ( he was the eventual winner) Today I had a few targets, the first being to improve on my time from September. I wasn't too sure at all what would happen and when we started off I was left behind biting the dust ( although being damp it was only figurative). So there I am lying in 15th or so, despite my Garmin on post analysis showing an uphill start speed best of 5:16mm By the end of the 1st lap I'd worked my way up to 2nd and there I stayed feeling very very pleased with myself but not being complacent. I'd checked behind me at the start of the 3rd lap and didn't see any threat to my position,however, with half a k I was being passed and wondered where the hell he had come from! At first I thought he was on his 2nd lap, but quickly realised it couldn't be so. I held on behind him and stayed within a distance should he falter that I could attack. The last hill up and diverting to the wooded section told me that my legs were gone and I'd have to settle for 3rd . Very happy with my performance today:-) I especially enjoyed the warm down with 1st and 2nd down another lap and thanking the marshals on the way. Splits : 3:57 4:17 4:09 4:16 4:18 Obviously from that data I'm not running at my optimum, which bodes well if I can put a string of parkruns together:-) | 