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Parkrun debut

Abstract Large Chair Sculptures In Vogrie Country Park
So, having signed up for the Edinburgh Race for Life on 23 June, today I did my first ever parkrun at Vogrie in Midlothian.

I was a little apprehensive as all of my running to date has been done on my own, out of sight of the general public. Having looked at the results page for the event, if I got round in anything like the 39 minutes of my two 5k runs so far, I'd be comfortably somewhere in the middle of the field.

As tends to happen to me, while waiting for the first-timer's briefing, I bump into someone I knew at university (which means we hadn't seen each other in over 25 years).

The hardest thing, was not getting caught up in the crowd and going too fast, but I found my comfortable pace eventually.

Towards the end of the first circuit, I did get lapped by a couple of the fastest runners on the day, but I didn't worry about that.

The second circuit was slightly slower than the first, but I had no complaints and I was definitely happy when I received my email with the official finishing time of 36:45

I'm not sure where I managed to misplace 300m but even allowing for that, I'd run faster than my runs earlier in the week and I'm feeling pretty pleased to have met one of my first running goals.
Run Graph

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Location: Vogrie Country Park, Gorebridge EH23, UK

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