Relentless forward progress (ish)
At the time I only included my parkrun events and so it gives me a good indication of my progress at the 5k distance over seven years.
This is best illustrated by the handicap graph above. A handicap ranking is assigned, like in golf, based on your performance. These range from 1 to 36. Mine currently stands at 4.1. These are then plotted to reveal a trend.
You can see from the picture above where I started back in 2012 and the rapid improvement that occurred in the first few months. Most people will find a similar sharp increase at the beginning when there are rapid gains and many PBs before you find your limit.
There was a period of consolidation followed by another steep rise when I joined a running group. After the start of 2014 there was a gradual advance into 2015 and then a small but significant leap above the 5.0 mark.
Up until 2019 that had been my peak year with PBs at every distance. The longer races also helped my faster times and I achieved my fastest ever parkrun time. It was up and down yet consistent through 2016 and 2017 but dropped off in 2018.
My focus at that point was on distance and most Saturday mornings I would run for 20+ miles therefore I was treating parkrun as part of that training run. Subsequently my handicap fell back to 2014 levels.
In 2019 I stepped it up again. I continued with the longer marathon distances but applied myself again to fast 5k runs in search of a new PB. So far I have come within six seconds but not achieved it, however my handicap is as good as it has ever been which is reassuring considering I am technically past my prime having started when I was 36 and now approaching 44.
