A Christmas Day free from The Son (enjoying himself in Japan), my grandparents (visiting family in Wales), and my mum (enjoying a cruise on the Amazon) so our first festive period together with no commitments. Mrs Dan announced that she would go with me to Northala Fields parkrun on Christmas morning. This would be her third parkrun at her third different parkrun location.
I put Mrs Dan under strict instructions to follow a walk-run strategy and to keep pace with me rather than sprinting off for the first 200 metres. Her first parkrun experience at Bushy Park saw her excitedly run the first 500 metres as quickly as possible and then walk most of the remaining 4500 metres in a worn out sulk. I tried to curb her natural enthusiasm on her second parkrun experience at Gunnersbury Park but of course she knew best…. and did exactly the same as before.
This time we jogged together for 500 metres, walked for a few minutes, and repeated until we finished. She still moaned her way around though, Mrs Dan clearly doesn’t like long distance running. I kept telling her that 5km isn’t a log distance but she gave me *the look* and that was the end of that conversation. The finish funnel appeared, finally, and Mrs Dan suddenly sprang to life and sprinted the last section. She took my by surprise and that’s why she finished ahead of me. Nothing to do with her being able to sprint faster than me. Honest.
Many thanks to all the volunteers who helped the Running Dan household enjoy a Christmas Day run together.