Bit late to the party...

[TailChaser]

Everyone has already beaten me to it! No surprise really!! But as you probably know, yesterday we had a HU VRB meet up at Southampton Common parkrun, and what a fabulous morning was had by all 👏👏 There isn’t too much else to say that hasn’t been said but maybe I can add a little more...

Katnap and my (& the kittens) 3rd meetup and they have all been terrific events, and Runningroni ’s badges are becoming the stuff of legends! (Thank you 🤗)

Katnap, Dexy5 , UpTheStanley , cheekychipmunks , Wimborne , Sandie1961 (& hubby & dog) - you were a pleasure to meet with and run with (although we all dashed off at different speeds!) and chat to (when we grouped back together at the cafe).

Southampton Parkrun is quite an experience - good if you’ve got an organised race coming up and you want to try running with a lot of people! 975 finishers is the biggest of the 8 different runs we’ve been to but it was so well organised. Glad I’m not one of the token sorters though, 450 tokens at our local is more than enough 🤔

My uncle (who we’d come down to see for his birthday) was quite taken aback by the numbers as he’d never seen it run before (although he doesn’t live that far away). At a couple of days off 88 he is contemplating walking it in the near future - I do hope he does.

Alongside meeting all the lovely VRBs, the best thing for me at Southampton Parkrun was a vindication of one of the reasons why I started running - to encourage my youngest kitten to carry on running and better himself at it (he’d been struggling with sever’s disease in his foot throughout his time as a member of the local running club and it had totally demotivated him). A couple of weeks ago both Katnap and I beat his 5k PB - this wound him up of course, being beaten by his old mum & dad, but at Southampton he crushed it by a good 2 minutes coming in at just over 25 minutes. I will have real trouble getting anywhere near that any time soon...but I’ll give it a go 😳😁

And then there is the worst thing about these meet-ups: having to say goodbye. Each time so far, around 11.30am seems the natural time to part ways. And I know we will all do it again, each of us who have all done these meet ups, maybe not as a whole group again but we’ll definitely meet up somehow, and as UTS says, this definitely feels like the start of something. A naturally evolving part of this wonderful forum together with that fantastic invention, Parkrun.

[Oldfloss Administrator Graduate10]

Great post...and a great run ..had by all! ... And I feel the same... the meet ups are a natural progression and add a new dimension to our running. When I run at Isabel trail now... I feel my friends there with me... as on the day we ran together

Such fun to put faces to names...and those kittens... gosh .. what a lovely pair they are!

i cannot wait for the next meet up xx

[TailChaser Graduate10 in reply to Oldfloss]

Thanks Floss, definitely right there. And I think plans may be already afoot (or apaw in our case 😸) xx

[Pianism Graduate10]

Oh, I'm tearing up as I read this. I do think there's something rather special about this forum and the people who make their home here. Perhaps because everyone has once self-identified as "couch" and then struggled through the same steps on the journey, though all in different ways and all facing different challenges and setbacks.

Hurrah for C25k, hurrah to parkrun and hurrah to all you lovely folk that make it mean something!

[TailChaser Graduate10 in reply to Pianism]

Well said Pianism, everyone on here is a running star 🤩x

[Fabulous450 Graduate10]

Aah TailChaser! What an absolutely amazing post!! I’m so pleased that you have all met up and had such a fantastic time together!! And what an amazing number of runners too! 😱 Brilliant! 😁😁😁❤️

[TailChaser Graduate10 in reply to Fabulous450]

Thanks Fab, they’re brilliant these meet ups 🤗😀x

[over61andstilltrying Graduate10]

Wonderful! Just great! 😊🎉

[SaskAlliecat Graduate10]

Another great meet up by another great group of runners. I really enjoy reading about your meet ups and seeing the pictures. Those badges of Runningroni 's are to be treasured, for sure 😻

[Dexy5 Graduate10]

I should be in bed 😴, asleep and I hope everyone else is, but totally agree that meeting people we have come to know so well on the forum is a pleasure. It just takes one post to say I am going to a certain parkrun and anyone can join them.

I have also met some lovely people through running and volunteering at parkrun. I met Coddfish before I knew she was once c25k, and other real RBs I see each weekend who I know will be doing the 10k with us in April. The running community do seem to be a nice bunch.

It was a shame it was so chilly yesterday so your uncle didn’t hang around in the cold but he is very lucky to live so close to such a lovey park.

[TailChaser Graduate10 in reply to Dexy5]

Hopefully 🤞🤞 Dexy he’ll join in one day, it would do him so much good.

[UpTheStanley Graduate10]

Wot Dexy said 😀🛌

[TailChaser Graduate10 in reply to UpTheStanley]

🤣

[grumpyoldgirl]

I just love reading these parts after a forum meetup, long may they continue. And runningroni's badges are wondrous! 😍

[TailChaser Graduate10 in reply to grumpyoldgirl]

They are aren’t they! Hopefully we’ll have the next meetup arranged soon.

[BaddieThePirate Graduate10]

Well done youngest kitten! Glad you all had a good time. I was dying to see the latest badge by Runningroni so thanks for the photo. The meet ups are good fun!

[TailChaser Graduate10 in reply to BaddieThePirate]

Thought you’d like it 😁

[Deals1 Graduate10]

lovely post X

[TailChaser Graduate10 in reply to Deals1]

Thanks Deals 🤗

[Flaraflarkin Graduate10]

Fab post TC 🤗 These VRB meet ups are evolving beautifully 💕 There will be many more 🤗🦋🦆

[TailChaser Graduate10 in reply to Flaraflarkin]

Should be Flara 🤞🤞🤞🦆🦋

[Granspeed Graduate10]

Another inspiring post. Thanks to all the lovely folks who are spearheading these meet-ups. 🎉👍

[TailChaser Graduate10 in reply to Granspeed]

Thanks Granspeed, there’s little groups of us dotted around and about. Pianism ’s list (or maybe that should be Liszt!) is particularly fab and will be getting people together for the next 18 months!

[Pianism Graduate10 in reply to TailChaser]

[Pianism Graduate10 in reply to Pianism]

We can always start it all over again after that.

[TailChaser Graduate10 in reply to Pianism]

Sounds good to me! 😀

[Sandie1961 Graduate10]

What a great post TailChaser It was indeed a lovely morning. It would be so cool if your uncle did parkrun - I bet he’d be one of the oldest ever!

[TailChaser Graduate10 in reply to Sandie1961]

Thanks Sandie 🤗 There was a young whipper snapper when we met up at Marple - he was in the VM80-84 category (just checked and he did it again this week - his 537th 😱, his stats are amazing!). It would be interesting to see who the oldest runner is but I suspect my uncle wouldn’t be far off.

[Sandie1961 Graduate10 in reply to TailChaser]

Did you see the chap in the 250 T-shirt at Southampton? Looking at the results, he was probably in the 70-74 bracket and on his 400 odd run. Amazing!

[TailChaser Graduate10 in reply to Sandie1961]

No, but I’m a bit blaze about 250 shirts tbh. But anyone in that age bracket needs a big shake of the hand. There’s hope for many more parkrun’s by all of us 😀

[JonathanP Graduate10]

Think you're the tailwalker for these posts TC!😀 But it just shows how inspirational these VRB meet-ups are that everybody wants to have their say and there is such enthusiasm for more of the same! Lovely to hear that your youngest kitten took his revenge😀 - another target to aim at!🎯

[TailChaser Graduate10 in reply to JonathanP]

That’s a very good description JP! Yes, I am very proud of him for beating it. He says he can’t see himself going any faster than that but I think that is very unlikely indeed as he’s still got lots of growing to do. I see a sub-20 from him one day.

I’m quite astonished by how much love there is for these meet-ups! But they are a lot of fun and parkrun is such a perfect setting for them. Thank you Mr Sinton-Hewitt for your wonderful invention 😀

[Dexy5 Graduate10 in reply to TailChaser]

Hear hear