Barefoot & course PB at parkrun!

This (hot!) morning we returned to Underwood Park parkrun in Logan City Council (south of Brisbane) for the first time in 2 1/2 years. Last time we walked; it was the day before the Gold Coast Marathon and I was helping Brad not overcook himself before his race. Today, however, we were free to run as fast as we wanted.

Because I knew it was going to be really hot (24'C feels like 27'C at 7am!) AND they had their 5th birthday that day and were encouraging "dress ups", I... dressed up! Haha! I picked my coolest (silk) dress and with my strong bare feet I ran their all concrete, two part, out and back, undulating, 5km course in 25:13 (by my watch, 25:14 official time).

Anything under 45 mins 18 secs was going to be a course PB, so I smashed that.

Anything under 28 mins 08 secs was going to be a running-barefoot-in-a-dress PB (yes, that's a thing!) and I smashed that too! Woooooooooo!

Now as long as my right calf recovers okay (I've had niggles in it for months now that come and go) I'd like to do more and more of the parkruns in SE Qld barefoot while the weather is this hot. We'll see what happens. Don't want to overdo it just for the sake of a challenge...

The Mister and I at parkrun, ready to go. He's sporting all the merch, while I'm turning heads with my lovely dress, or, more likely, my bare feet ;) (Photo by Brad/@new.things on his phone)

That was great fun. Started in the middle ish of the pack as I was unsure how fast the people around me would run. Overtook at least a third of them in the first 500 metres (because they were so bloody slow going down the hill! Jeez!!). And then had the fun game of reeling in one at a time, again and again, over the several kilometres home. Raced as hard as I could, without hurting my precious feet/calves/body, to see if I could beat the second woman home but she was strong to the end, finishing just seconds ahead of me. (Photo by Jude, the parkrun volunteer photographer)

It was good! I'd do it again. But next time I'll start closer to the front of the pack and probably pick a cooler day ;) (Screenshot photo, by me, of my Strava file, on my phone)

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