I’m not on Social Media other than this forum and following parkrun on Twitter in case of cancellations etc.
but last night I was on my home PC entering a 5K Christmas road race on the 27th of December when I decided to look up my local parkrun on the Facebook page. I’m not on Facebook but I can still look at the photo’s etc. I just can’t post which suits me fine. Anyway I decided to look at the photos from last Saturday’s parkrun. The photos were really well taken and I kept scrolling through them. I was running a comfortable slower pace for me and felt really comfortable and at ease all the way through the 5K. But when I came across a couple of photos of me mid stride I looked like I was taking a fit and 10 years older than 45. 😂🙈
I had this perception that I was an athlete. But it turns out I look like a middle aged man who is about to blow a gasket. Glad I’m not on Facebook now.😀
Damien
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Me to Damien, I don't do any social media apart from this forum. Someone on here had mentioned parkrun photos on Facebook so I looked them up and have got into the habit after I attend parkrun and NO they are not flattering at all 😂😂
Top athletes in action don't look chilled out either. You see strain everywhere, from muscles to facial expressions. What makes their photos look more 'appealing' however , is their phenomenal fitness and, erm, youth. Things that in my case would require top level photoshop master with wild imagination.
I now use Facebook for two things only. The Ukulele group/page (because I am one of the admins!)
And parkrun. A week or so before we visit a tourist parkrun I follow it just to get a heads up if any changes occur, eg when Yeovil was cancelled due to stormy weather, to save a wasted journey. We also use the visitor posts to ask about height restrictions on the carpark so that we know in advance whether we will get our Romahome under or if we have to find an alternative place to park.
I used to have a Facebook account until about 5 years ago. I don’t miss it and I can still look in on parkrun Facebook pages if I need to.
I was staying over at my mum and dads last night. I ran a parkrun this morning with my wife Nicola. We never get to do a parkrun together. It was lovely and we had a post parkrun breakfast too.
Well done for volunteering. My sister is a music teacher and bought my son a ukulele last year. I was busy watching YouTube and learning a couple of songs with him. But I’m not very musically gifted. Must pull it out and have another go at it.
Yes, have another go. I had never played anything before I was given my first ukulele for Christmas 8 years ago. I taught myself a handful of chords from Ukulele for Dummies, then within a month saw an article in the paper about a new ukulele club so went along. It was really good for helping me learn - the club is still going strong although only two of us from the first meeting are still there.
I don't really learn well from watching YouTube but playing in a group is very helpful.
I can now also play guitar and, after a workshop at a folk festival, learning to play tin whistle, which has the added bonus of beginning to read music.
Anyway if you want some songs to play, feel free to download our songbook. All songs have chord diagrams, choose ones with just 2 or 3 chords to start with.
I’m certainly not musically gifted. I am tone deaf. I have 2 brothers and two sisters. Of 5 siblings, 1 has music in her blood. She teaches choir and competes at school level. She also is a voice coach and teaches piano. She can just pick up an instrument and play it, guitar, ukulele, recorder, tin whistle. She is also my running buddy for 10K events.
Oh Damien, I’m sure you’re being hard on yourself! 😅 You’re a lovely runner. 👍🏃♂️
If you want to see really unflattering photos, find ones of me mid-run. I look like I’m a shuffling old biddy, whereas in reality I feel like I’m striding out nicely. One was taken at PR a couple of weeks ago and I even gave the photographer a friendly wave and a cheery smile. I found it on FB. Excuse me, how many chins? 😳 I don’t even have a double chin in real life. How unfair is that? 🤣
Ha ha. I know, same for me. I look like I have a double chin which is welded onto my chest, no neck, 😀 and my face is red and looks like I’m about to explode. Plus it looks like I didn’t sleep for a month with the bags under my eyes. And all along I was saying to myself that I was going along at a lovely comfortable pace. Definitely would not be a pic for a dating website. Thank goodness I’m married.😂😂
I don’t ‘do’ social media either apart from here, I haven’t got time and I don’t trust Facebook! But I know what you mean about the photos. From all the races I’ve done over the years I’ve only ever bought one photo simply because I look half way alive. In some of the others I don’t even recognise myself at all 🤔 I feel your shock 🙀😂
Haha. During the summer when I was at my best fitness wise I looked at a few pics on Facebook on the parkrun page and I looked ok, not great but ok. Wow how the camera has a way of ruining self belief in how you feel against how the world actually sees you. 😂
On the plus side, there could only be worse. As a hot weather aficionado l would be seen around beaches and you know what look is preferred there...My son finds my middle aged presence hilarious but l always tend to stick around him as he, as a swimmer, is in possession of a proper torso, so nobody, NOBODY, pays attention to a slim, bespectacled, greying marathon runner. I perfected my cunning positioning.
Don’t be put off by the photos. I adore parkrun. I love everything about it. Photographer is one of the volunteer roles. They only post them up on the local parkrun Facebook page. I don’t care who sees them. Photos are posted every week so no one cares. I don’t look at them very often.
I just got a shock as I thought I was having a lovely relaxed easy run which I was. But my photo looked like I was about to explode a gasket.😀😀
I expect your "relaxed" run would be nearer my record run for 5K which caused me to take 2 weeks off after straining my achilles! So not slow at all, and I can't say I looked good during or after that run! Also I noted that just doing a few minutes faster time for a 5k nearly doubled my calorie useage according to Garmin. Anyhow you definately ARE an athelete... if you can do 5K in 30 mins or under - and your 'under' objectives and acheivements are pretty amazing.
Ah thank you. I’ve gone from a back field runner to a 1/3 field position. But lately have really enjoyed slowing back down and just easing into the run. It’s lovely to do 5K and feel like you could do another one. I’m planning on doing a New Years Day Double.
I’m doing my first one on Saturday. Delamere Forest, Cheshire. I don’t live near there any more but my Dad is about 5 miles away and we are going back for a funeral tomorrow. Might as well do SOMETHING fun this weekend, and dear, departed Auntie Val would approve.
I recently ran in the Glasgow 10k and really enjoyed it, but when I looked at the post-event photos captured at points along the route, I looked like I was being tortured in every single one! I prefer to think that we’re just so focused on the run that we don’t spare a thought for unimportant things like mugging for cameras 😃
Ha ha. Yeah, I sometimes smile and wave to the camera. If anything that makes it worse. I look like I’m in the middle of some kind of medical emergency episode.🤣
Absolutely. I adore parkrun. I just have a deranged fantasy that I must look like an Olympic athlete in mid stride. In actual fact I look like I’m in the middle of a life threatening situation 😂. Damn cameras.
You’re out there doing it! Those that mind what you look like don’t matter and those that matter, don’t mind! That’s the extent of my running wisdom by the way!
I don’t care either who sees the pics. Just as long as I don’t.😃 I just look so uncomfortable when in fact I was the 31 minute pacer running an easy 5K a few minutes slower than normal.
I am the same I think I am running like Paula Radcliffe" but the reality is far from it! I crawl along like a snail - I've had lots of people laugh at me, but I am beyond caring. 😁
So I read this first thing and immediately empathised - I hate my race and parkrun photos with a vengeance. You'd have to go a long way to find someone who looks more 'special' (and not in a good way!). But mulling it over on the dog walk this morning it struck me that how you feel is worth a gazillion times more than any photo! The value of feeling good when you're running? That's priceless. Go you!
Thanks Linda. A year ago my Parkrun PB was 31:04. And it had been a year or more since I’d reached that type of finish time. Now it’s 25:36 and a 31 minute 5K for me now is an easy run. I was doing 31 minute pacer that day and running with ease, I just looked awful in the photos, you’d think I was in the middle of a medical emergency.😃
I don’t give a hoot who sees the pics. I’m proud to have done 57 parkruns so far. All of them have been very rewarding and special.
Ahhh don't worry about it Damien, i'm the same! I've been told by my friends I have good running form but on the parkrun photos I look like a dumpy elephant! Parkrun photos are not flattering at all! If you are bothered by the pics then I know that at parkrun when you come in front of the photographer, if you cross your arms they will not take your photo or they will simply delete it. I'm sure you are not that bothered by it though are you
I don’t care one little bit. I just incorrectly believed I looked like an elite athlete when in fact I look like I’m in agony. And not very pretty either😂.
Oh Damienair I know just how you feel😂. On the plus side I look slimmer but somehow redder and oh so sweaty, or is that a glow😂😂. But I do so love that feeling at the finish line, even if I’m only chasing my PB 🏃♀️
I too love that finish line feeling. I went to a different parkrun this morning. The last kilometre was a straight. You could see the finish line volunteers in their high biz vest off in the distance. I thought the end would never come. But I paced nicely and was delighted with my 28:25 finish time. I enjoyed the post parkrun glow and breakfast.
Yep totally know how u feel! I must admit I'm on social media as handy for some stuff, and I don't post personal stuff. Anyways I sometimes scour the weekly parkrun pics (unless I've taken them! 😂) to see if anyone of me.. That might give a clue to my running style etc.... BUT If I find one.... I actually look NOTHING like I think I do in my little head 😂😂🤔. I look in pain, not happy and as if I'm about to collapse! So don't worry u aren't the only one.
😂😂😂 good to know I’m not alone. I don’t remember seeing a photographer at parkrun this morning. I think I dodged another awful pic. But I loved the run and was happy with my 28:25 finish, plus parkrun breakfast and got to spend the morning with my wife.
Thank you. I was closer in August and September. I got down to 25:36 at parkrun. That’s my PB. I have slowed down since but still have a good base. I’ll work on speed again in the new year.
My 2020 goals are, sub 25 Min parkrun time, 25 Volunteer, 100 parkrun t-shirt and silver level obsession badge, (40 x parkruns in a year).
Haha, I believe it’s quite normal to look awful in running photos. I remember feeling so good about a particular run and feeling almost gazelle like. Saw a photo, look like a toad waiting for it’s lunch. I reckon it’s best to stick with the feeling!
exactly. I got a bit obsessed with the topic after that and looked at loads of photos online and felt better. If you look at my link below you'll see that even elite athletes dont look good in running photos. Coincidentally, my mum took photos of me running today and they are ok, I even have one with flying feet!
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