Parkrun perspective.

[Sybilw]

I marshaled my local parkrun today and walked the course with the tail walker for the second circuit I’ve learned 2 things today:

1. That HILL I dread every week is, in fact, really just a gentle (albeit long) incline. I’ll tackle it next week with an ‘I can’ attitude instead of ‘oh no!’ Should have remembered my advice to many on here - if you think you can’t - you won’t.

2. No one, and I mean NO ONE looked as bad as I feel when I run it (and I’m sure several did). You are all out there doing your best and looking amazing!!

Well done to everyone who did a parkrun today.

Bad news though. At the end of the year I go up an age category and thought - great I might look better (for a while at least). Sadly no! The fastest in that group today came in at 23.13 with an age grading of nearly 93%! Hey ho 😆

[Dexy5 Graduate10]

Well done Sybil, I came in at 1 hr 3 mins as a Tail walker. We followed mum pushing her toddler in a pushchair and daughter who had only done junior Parkrun before. They walked all the way, but they were getting out there.

Enjoy parkrun next week with your new found knowledge.

[Sybilw Graduate10 in reply to Dexy5]

I’m sure it will feel better. I’ll let you know! So far I’ve only managed to keep running once for both laps so 🤞🏻

[cheekychipmunks Graduate10]

Haha I could have written that post Sybil! Same with the age grading too. I went up in January and thought I’d be better placed. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[Sybilw Graduate10 in reply to cheekychipmunks]

To make matters worse she’s not a tourist but a club runner from a nearby town! 😆

[cheekychipmunks Graduate10 in reply to Sybilw]

Ohhhh! 😩😩😅 😅

[ArthurJG Graduate10 in reply to Sybilw]

Local or not parkrun define an age grading of 90% as word class. That’s not just words: someone I know has attained that grade a number of times and he is, in fact, a former age group world champion. An age grade of 93% means the world record is approximately 93% of your time so that 23:13 would be well within two minutes of the world record for the age group and gender of the person concerned (and that’s not even taking account of the fact that the world record might have been set on an easier course!) I’m simplifying because they do apply various statistical corrections but in broad terms that’s what 93% means. It is a world class performance so don’t beat yourself up that you can’t match it!

(If you think about it, an age grade of 50% means someone of your own age and gender would not lap you in a two lap race unless they broke the world record to do it.)

[AlMorr Ambassador Graduate10]

Nice that you were a marshall volunteer at this mornings Parkrun, I ran one today, the volunteers were all so happy and friendly cheering all us runners, even on the last lap one of them gave me a high five when I still had to run about the last 100 metres, by the way I got a PB OF 32.01 this morning. 😊 🏃

[Sybilw Graduate10 in reply to AlMorr]

Impressive!! Well done.

[AlMorr Ambassador Graduate10 in reply to Sybilw]

👍

[Debston Graduate10]

Well done, the volunteers are so encouraging and supportive, they really make Parkrun a brilliant atmosphere, especially for slow coaches like me! I was following a mum and her daughter at Parkrun for a while yesterday and I felt so sorry for the daughter (age 12ish) as the mum kept nagging her to run not walk. I felt a bit stressed by it, and just wanted to get away from them, the poor girl looked so miserable. Not sure if she will want to go again. I go with my son of similar age but he goes tearing off miles ahead and has a long wait at the finish line for me. I would really hate it if he kept nagging me to speed up!

[Sybilw Graduate10 in reply to Debston]

That’s a shame. I did a local run today (that’s why I didn’t run yesterday) and passed (yah!!) a mum and her daughter but the mum was just full of praise. I was tempted to run alongside them for a while to let it rub off!! I had fun but the rat beat me (it was called a 🐀 run). Weather was perfect.