As good as it gets

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This Saturday my running buddy John was wanting to achieve his first sub 20 minute parkrun. Last week he PB’d by 9 seconds coming home in 20:13. I agreed to help pace him and try and get us across the line with the clock still on 19 something.

After a shorter warm up than usual we were fresh and ready to go at 9am. It was a cold morning, but dry and with only a gentle breeze coming down the hill towards us.

We lined up at the front and set off at a good pace. After the first 200m we were sitting around 10th place and keeping to our target pace of 6:20 miles. We managed to maintain this up the hill and focused on keeping a good cadence as we descended along the twisty path back towards the start/finish line.

A mile in now and we were pushing hard but keeping a steady rhythm. I kept glancing at my watch to check our pace which continued to be consistently under 6:30.

At the half way turn we had begun to close in on the people in front as they tired. It was tempting to try and surge past, but we maintained our speed and slowly reeled them in, eventually moving ahead.

The big test was ahead as we reached the end of the second mile and the beginning of the second climb. I encouraged John to push hard and he responded by digging in and drawing on our hill training from the week before.

We were well inside PB pace, but I kept on berating him as we descended on the narrow trail, winding first left then right through the Vinery and finally into the last 0.1. John was breathing hard but I could see the determination on his face and I knew he had it in the bag. It was just a case of seeing how much he could take off the 20 minutes.

As we reached the bandstand, I gave him a final barrage of encouragement/abuse and watched him sprint ahead of me to cross the line at speed and grab his finishing token. I followed just behind and punched the air with joy. I felt like I had run a PB myself. I was so proud of the effort he had put in and the way he had just kept going despite the pain and exhaustion.

John was spent, but as I watched him recover all I could think was how great he would feel about what he had just achieved. Sure enough a few minutes later, having scanned his barcode and taken a drink, he was breathing normally and smiling. Job done. Now for a sub 19:30!

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