Dad-daughter 10K challenge 2024-2025…Post VIII 7th April 34 Days until Bristol 10K, 11th May, 2025
Yikes, Bristol 10K is closing in fast.
Since the last post, I have moved house, and this has seriously set back my plans to reach peak performance as we head into the closing stages. Or…maybe this is good. the peak, re-set for the day of the 10K?
If you’re sensing one of those ‘Oh! I seem to be getting slower not faster’ posts, you’d not be wrong.
This morning, just before sunrise, I set off for a swift 5K along the Strawberry Line from Winscombe north towards Yatton, the sun rising to my right. In the pre-dawn light, an illusion of speed took hold. I thought I was going well, especially after a lay-off to grapple with endless cardboard boxes and awkward furniture.
But Strava doesn’t lie.
5K in 29’56”
Meanwhile, daughter Rachel not only is averaging a faster pace, she is restricting herself to running 10Ks which, to me, feels like a marathon at the moment.
Her recent distances/times include:
April 5th 9.42 km 5:29 min/km
March 29th 10.03km 5.34 min/km
In other words, a projected time of 55’ for 10K…with Dad lagging behind, maybe breaking 60’
Of course, this NOT a competition.
Time is not everything. The weather for the past fortnight has been unbelievably sunny, cool, and still – ideal running conditions. And for walks. Yesterday’s hike was a 10K up Shute Hill and back to Winscombe via (posh) Sidcot. The Mendips at its best.
Back to this morning’s run, accompanied by Desert Island Discs with Cindi Lauper of ‘Girls Only Want To Have Fun-damental rights’ and how ‘True Colours’ became the LGBTQ+ anthem and the origin of the 6-coloured rainbow Pride flag first waved at a concert to honour a friend, Gregory who died from AIDS way back when.
For those that know me, you’d fall off your horse if I was to wave a Pride Flag…but…what is important in all these matters is compassion, and True Colours hits the target and some.
Those of a certain vintage, like me, will recall the tragedy of AIDS that ripped through LA initially before devastating the homosexual and heterosexual world. I remember a friend who spent time in Uganda asking why, in the bush villages, there were only children and grandparents. The lady guide pointed at the mounds of earth between the mud-huts. Graves for the parents. AIDS.
It was a great life story and interview interlaced by a great variety of musical choices from Sachmo to Maria Callas, and a great rendition of Hound Dog by Big Mama Thornton.
To conclude.
34 days to go. The ‘no-bread, no booze’ diet is more or less still in place. I suppose I ought to do some running now.
As for Rachel…calm down!