A Bonus 5K at Linwood

I did week 7, day 1 of Couch to 5K last night. Twenty five minutes of running, and it felt good, better than it had any right to feeling that late in the week. So when I woke up early this morning, still buzzing a bit from that, I thought I’d see what would happen if I turned up at Linwood parkrun.

It’s been a while since I’ve been. I wasn’t there to race anyone or chase a number, just curious whether the treadmill sessions and the plan were actually going anywhere.

Turns out they are.

I finished in 29:15. My 40th parkrun overall, my 6th at Linwood, and a new personal best there. I came 100th out of a field of 189, 62nd among the men, and 8th in my age category (VM45-49). Age-graded, that works out to 48.83%.

None of those numbers matter as much as this one: I’m not even finished Couch to 5K yet, and I’m already inside my target of running a 5K in under 30 minutes by the end of the programme. I ran it at what felt like moderate effort too, not flat out. It went quickly. I remember being genuinely surprised when the finish line came into view, like the run had got away from me in a good way. It didn’t feel like a chore.

That’s the bit I want to hold onto. I’m still deep in the middle of a year-long plan to get to a 10K in Paisley, and this morning was never part of the plan, just a bonus outing on a day off from it. But it told me something the plan alone couldn’t: that the work is translating. Whatever’s happening on the treadmill during the week is showing up on grass and gravel on a Saturday morning, sweaty and out of breath and pleasantly surprised.

Here’s the evidence, crossing the line looking exactly as done in as I felt:

Six down at Linwood, forty parkruns total, and still a fair few weeks of Couch to 5K left to run. On we go.