It was my 2nd time at Abngdon Parkrun today, and it was another gloriously sunny day for it, with a cloudless blue sky, and already warm by the time I set out. I had decided to run this one a bit more slowly today, as a training run; but I didn’t mean to take it quite as slowly as I did! I set my watch and tried to use that to stay on pace, and I was close, but a whole load of people shot off far too fast at the start, and clogged up the path just as we were coming to the lock, at the narrow section. In the end I finished about 20 s behind by target (which was to aim for the same time as last time, but with a steadier pace). Oh well - there’s next time!

However, the highlight this week probably wasn’t the run, but the swim afterwards. It’s a great setting for the parkrun, just next to the river, and I dived in pretty much straight after the run. It was certainly the weather for it! And, despite the somewhat murky water, I was pleased to find a gravel bottom, rather than the mud and weeds I was expecting. I think I’ll be doing that again!

My other swim this week was to try out the open-air pool in Abingdon, which is just on the opposite bank to the parkrun - so I could actually see the pool from my swim this morning in the river. It was ok, but I think in future I’ll be using the river rather than the pool. Why? Well, the main reason is that the pool is only open between 9am and 6pm, which isn’t much good for anyone with a 9-5 job! It’s also overly warm (it’s heated, apparently), and a bit short (23 m - who builds a 23 m pool?? Make it 25, at least…) I did enjoy my pool swim though, and I might use it for sprint or turn practice on occasion.

Edit: My watch has my time as 11 s faster than the parkrun time. I can understand the distance being off, or my watch being slower (that’s usually the case, because I start it a second or two before and stop it after I’ve crossed the line and got my finishing token)… But my watch being faster? Something doesn’t make sense there! (And yes, I definitely did my usual thing of starting it before we set off, and stopping it after.)