I remember the first time I got a glimpse of a parkrun victory. About a year ago at Finsbury Park, I was astonished to find myself in the lead after about 60 yards.
Wahey, I'm winning! I thought. Ok, keep calm, there's a long way to go...
At this point, one of the other runners came past me as if I was standing still. I watched calmly - if a little resentfully - as he vanished into the distance, taking with him my hopes of a maiden parkrun win. I hung on for a stoical second place. The runner in question had never visited the Finsbury parkrun before and never has since; I'm not bitter - I'm just saying.
My second shot at a win came over Easter weekend at Hampstead Heath. The field was a fair bit smaller than the first time I ran there and, because of the Easter fair on the Heath, they were running the 'B' course, which I was informed, ended with a hill which was 'like climbing a flight of stairs'.
I quite liked the look of the field: there were no club vests on show (I had a briefly satisfying image of the entire Highgate Harriers cross country team milling around at the usual start point wondering where everybody was). On the other hand, I was feeling a bit leggy after a four-mile bike ride to the Heath.
My cautious optimism looked well founded as I hung on behind the leader through the start of the race and the first negotiation of the big hill, well clear of third place. Having determined that I was in with a decent shout of a win, it occurred to me that some sort of strategy might come in handy. I had a few considerations:
1. Legs feeling a bit wobbly. Not a good idea to go too early
2. Course very hilly. Uphill not too bad, but I tend to go downhill with all the grace and assurance of a tranquilised animal
3. Uphill finish (like going up a flight of stairs, apparently)
All of this added up to an infallible solution: sit tight until the bottom of the staircase, then run like stink and hope you're the one with more left.
Here's what my strategy looked like in my head:
In my imagination, you'll notice, my opponent looked a lot like the person out of Edvard Munch's The Scream.
Coming back to the real world, I realised that while I'd been hatching my direful plot, the guy in first place had hit a bit of a flat spot and I was suddenly a few yards clear. Oh well, I thought ruefully, tearing up my mental notes. Time for Plan B.
Plan B: You're in the lead. Make it stick.
Plan B had one pretty major flaw: I wasn't all that clear on the route. However, on the one occasion I nearly went wrong, a shouted word of warning from the runner behind me set me right. It also cost him a lungful of oxygen so I'll put it down as part of my masterplan.
The much-anticipated staircase was a great deal longer than I'd anticipated, but I came to the top with a healthy lead and romped through the line in 19:25, the fifth-slowest winning time in the history of Hampstead Heath. (Also, one of the slower winning times is from the occasion the entire field dead-heated on 59:59, which I presume was down to a timing problem rather than an excessively tactical race.)
So, I scratched my one-year itch and scored a maiden parkrun win. For anyone wondering how to emulate these debatable heroics, here's my breakdown of the important factors and how they relate:
A busy cross-country season, followed by three months of marathon training: 2%
Diamond-tipped tactical genius: 1%
Hot cross buns for breakfast instead of muesli: 2%
Who turns up on the day: 95%
In other words, put in the parkruns and the time will come. Of course, a touch of Machiavellianism doesn't hurt: I made sure to attend the offroad Scrubs parkrun on Saturday after a week of torrential rain and with quite a few of the regulars resting up for the London Marathon. Result: a PB and two wins from two parkruns this month! I think I'd have got shorter odds against being hit by lightning on the 32nd of July. It just goes to show, show up! You never can tell.
Links:
Hampstead Heath course description
Wormwood Scrubs course description
Competitive Running Strategy and Tactics on http://www.runningplanet.com/
The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli
How to Take Over the World on eHow.com
