Happy Virtual parkrun day everyone. Not as nice here this morning. It is dry but very very windy. Not looking forward to having to run into that headwind. But the tailwind will be great. And the post virtual parkrun coffee will be even better.
Looking forward to seeing your lovely virtual parkrun run reports. Happy running everyone.
Damien
Morning everyone.
Still windy and it has just started raining.
Gosh I am looking forward to my bacon butty 
Oh wow. Your definitely going to earn it this morning. Good luck. 👍
Damien
Good morning Damien, this morning I will be running my 10th virtual parkrun at 9.30, the weather where I am in Central Scotland is wet and windy, so it will be a first for me to actually go out in the rain on a run, I will certainly look forward when I get home after the run to have a cake and coffee.
Really???
First time in the rain!
You don't know what you have been missing
I will be honest with you RunaroundSue, when I typed that first post to you around 8.30 it was ☔ raining, however. around 9 o'clock the rain went off and didn't start again until 11 o'clock by which time I had finished my run, so I will have to wait until another time to run in the ☔ rain, nevertheless it was very windy to run in, I wouldn't have gone a bike ride today as that would have been a bit dangerous.
It started raining while we were eating 1st breakfast, then it stopped and the sun came out. It was also less windy. We came home, had our 2nd breakfast (we are hobbits ) and now it is raining quite hard and the wind is stronger again.
But our garden and the water butts badly need the rain, so now that I am warm and dry inside I am glad to see it.
I looked at the amount of rain that has fallen since midnight where I live at my local weather station which up to 1pm was 6.2mm, that's nothing compared to the amount of rain that has fallen and still is falling in the Western Highlands, over 100mm of rain has fallen there, 5 inches in old money.
Lovely run today, really enjoyed it, one of those where you feel like you have loads of energy 👍🏻😄not bad time for me too in 32-11 have a good day everyone 😇👋🏻
All I can do is laugh today damienair ! I hated every single moment of my run. It was my worst ever!
I started off feeling chipper, but immediately hit the headwind and logged a rather slow first split. But rather than have that spur me on, it broke me. I wanted to give up. What was the point? My friendly Common was out to get me - it’s very exposed and there was no reprieve from the discomfort - it was either a full on headwind, a sidewind, or in the rare parts where the wind dropped, the sun was beating down. 🥵
I slogged on, not enjoying it one iota. The only thing which kept me going was this post and my VRBs! I almost deleted the run from my Garmin and Strava, but I thought it would be fun to look back on for a good laugh one day! 🤣
Anyway, thank you for keeping me accountable. It’s one for the bin, that’s for sure, but it’s 5 more kms in my running legs. They were screaming “we don’t need any more kms woman, you run all the time!”, but I dragged them along. 🐌
Hope everyone else had more fun than me this morning! ❤️
Onwards ........ 🏃♀️🏃♀️
Well done Cheeky for persevering through those awful conditions. I’m just about to go out into it now. I’m dreading it too.
Damien
Go Damien! You’ll nail your run. 👍👊👏 🏃
Thanks Cheeky. It was very windy and tough going at times but I did a reasonable 29:06. I’m happy with that.
Damien
Awesome! 🎉🎉🎉
Wow cheeky that was brave well done for going out and keeping up the tradition of parkrun
Couldn’t possibly give up W&S, tempting though it was! I wouldn’t have on a real PR, and I wasn’t about to stop on this virtual one! 😀
That’s very true
We all have them from time to time and at least you persevered, well done. I bet Flossie had a lovely time with a bit more time to bimble. Have a lovely weekend xx
Fantastic way to think of it Sandie1961 . Flossie got a longer walk! 👍🐕 🐾 😀
Well done cheekychipmunks.
You persevered, you finished it and you reported back to us. Next time will be better
Thanks Sue. Without damienair ’s post I’d most definitely have given up today. What a fantastic thing this forum is. 👏👏
It certainly is.
I was on it all the time during C25K then B10K until I settled into my running 3 times a week, nothing to report phase. Then I was an occasional visitor just when I had a particularly interesting run or holiday run to report.
Then after I introduced Pianism to the Joy's of running I came back more often to keep an eye on his progress (even though he was coming to our house once a week to give Geoff his piano lesson)
That lead to the VRB meetups.
And this lockdown is more bearable by being able to run and chat about our runs with others.
Then Damienair set up the Virtual non-parkruns so now we definitely have no excuse for staying away.
As you say, how fantastic is that?
❤️❤️❤️
These not a parkrun runs are keeping me going. And nice to have something during the week to look forward to.
Damien
You win some, you lose some Cheeky! Next time is a win!👍
Happy virtual Parkrun everyone who runs, it’s my working weekend so no run for me today, maybe by tomorrow afternoon that wind will have blown itself out
I was in two minds whether to wimp out today as I had the worst night’s sleep for weeks - tossed and turned until about 4.30, dropped off then was woken with a start by OH leaping out of bed, ripping open the curtains and shouting at the window at 5.45 🤔 Anyway, it’s a bright sunny morning even if there is a 40km/h wind so I forced myself to go. How on earth do you get a headwind both out and back? It really was energy sapping so I am happy with my 31.11 time. Happy Bank Holiday weekend for those who even know what day it is any more 😂😂
Well done Sandie. Yes it was brave running today. Luckily I had mainly cross winds and semi-tailwinds so was saved from a heavy headwind.
I’d looked at the weather forecast last night, decided to postpone Parkrun until tomorrow so didn’t even set the alarm clock.
But I woke up anyway, raring to go and was up and out early for a change. The wind and the threatened rain seem to put off all the fair weather exercisers, far fewer pedestrians and dog walkers to dodge today.
The wind wasn’t as bad as I thought, and I only caught a few spots of rain. Managed to run the whole way including the big hill, so happy with today’s time of 33:30.
Can now feel smug for the rest of the weekend.😊
Enjoy your parkrun damienair ...and your post run coffee! It’s blowing a hooley here this morning, if I go out today I’ll be making the most of the tailwind! Have a good weekend 😉
Morning all! Just contemplating getting up. We PB’d the quiz this morning - 10/15 - don’t know how as we only knew one answer!!
Got my new top already so I’ll have to show it off later. Don’t think I’ll be PBing out there today though... see you soon x
Well done on the quiz. Enjoy your run later.
Thanks Damien! Katnap and I have just had our post run bacon rolls 😋
Like everyone, it was a very windy run so wasn’t expecting much. I didn’t hate it as much as cheeky though 🤣
Windy and sunny with some threatening clouds in front of us, the traffic was much heavier today too. I wore my lovely new Apricot with ‘Damien’s HealthUnlocked Weekly VRB 5k’ emblazoned on it. I will wear it with pride each week until Lockdown is lifted.
Usual route but one particular section (which included my 1k speed section) was head wind all the way. Thankfully we caught up with a fellow runner who unwittingly acted as a very handy pacer and distraction until we turned the corner.
The wind was behind us down the next section so I actually got a Strava bronze for it which was quite a surprise, then the home straight, where we saw our neighbours practicing for their virtual Vitality 10k too (although they don’t know we are also doing it!). Coming in at slightly over 30 minutes, I didn’t think that was too bad all things considered.
Thank you as ever Damien, still loving this new routine but hoping that parkrun may be coming to an Antipodean park very soon, then maybe it can spread northwards 🤞🤞🤞
Oh wow TailChaser , I feel so honoured.😀 Love your new not a parkrun name on your Apricot T-Shirt. Well done on your run today. I’m loving this on a Saturday morning, something to look forward to during the week. But I’m with you, I’m so looking forward to returning to the real thing.
Damien
It’s an honour to join you Damien, you’ve made many of us very happy by bringing us some structure back to Saturday mornings. 😃
I doubt if there’s a single runner anywhere who hated their run as much as I did today TailChaser ! On the plus side, I can’t wait to run on Monday. 🏃♀️🏃♀️🏃♀️
I would say it was the calm before the storm but hopefully it’s the other way round cheeky! ‘See’ you Monday 😀💪👍
I’ll be out there bright and early on Monday morning. The weather looks great - hoping it’ll stay that way for all of us! ‘See’ you then! 😘
Well just after my earlier post the rain stopped so we headed out. Still a bit windy but not as bad as during the night although the evidence was there with fallen branches and leaves everywhere.
By the time we had walked to the village the sun was out.
Amazingly both of our Garmins connect to GPS promptly so off we went down the hill for 1km to the "Start"
Nothing notable to report , except that it was fairly quiet possibly because we were earlier this week.
We ran further along the track today, which was very pleasant past the fields and horses.
On the return when I reached the 5K point I stopped my watch and paused for a moment because it was now quite warm. Then restarted and set off to what used to be the non-parkrun Finish until I kept extending my run along the track. Partway back I met Geoff talking to some people from Stockport Hydro (community hydro electric scheme of which we are volunteers). So a pause to Garmin before setting off for a slow jog to the end.
Home again for a shower and our usual breakfast.
A very nice run.
Excellent. Very well done. Yes loads of leaves and small branches down on my route today too.
Damien
Really windy here on the south coast today Damien but it’s quite sunny. Not many people out at 6.30 but loads of the runners I did see were wearing their Great South Run T-shirts from last year as though they were in some sort of memorial run! I did my Saturday 6k rather than 5 - I got blown along for the first half and had to beat my way into the gale for the second half! Happy weekend folks!
Very well done Oldgirlruns on your 6K, especially with the windy weather. Have a lovely Bank Holiday Weekend. I must get down to the South Coast some Day for a parkrun. I need a South for my compass challenge. We could arrange a meet up. I flew down along the South Coast and out to the Isle of Wight years ago in a Microlight before the Kids clipped my wings.
Damien.
I think it’s people who normally do parkrun but are wearing the great south run T-shirt to show that they are local and not draw attention to parkrun, so as not to give it a bad name.
It was blowing a gale. But at least it was dry. I headed out for my Virtual parkrun, half dreading it and half looking forward to it. I put on With me now parkrun podcast and got going. The wind was blowing across me as I ran the first 1.5K and then I turned to run down along a long stretch beside a river. I again had a cross wind. It was tough going but better than a head wind. I then turned over an old bridge at the 4K mark and ran up a hill turning left. I had a little bit of a tail wind now and was sheltered from a rain shower by high trees on my left as I finished the last kilometre in very welcomed shelter. I was happy with a 29:06 finish time.
I then walked about 400 meters to a local shopping centre. There is Gym beside the shopping center which is closed due to COVID-19 , but their Cafe opened up yesterday. Just for take away. I waited around doing my cool down stretches whilst I waited for my 2 parkrun friends to arrive. As I was waiting another guy from our local parkrun was running past and stopped to say hello. Then Ida and Petula turned up and the 4 of us went into the Cafe. We got our coffees and sat outside in a quite area sheltered from the wind. We chatted and caught up. I’m delighted I got out. Because it is very stormy out there now. It’s a day for TV and some cooking.
Happy Bank Holiday Weekend to you all. Next week is our Bank Holiday here in Ireland.
Damien
Oh how lovely Damien, almost like a normal day again!
A great run. Nice to be able to meet your parkrun pals
It is nice to meet up with fellow runners on a Saturday morning. But still missing parkrun and running along in a crowd, big or small.
Damien
Hi Damien, just to say that I completed my 10th virtual parkrun in the wind, luckily the rain went off a nine and came on again at eleven o'clock by which time I had finished my run, today's time was 35.14, the reason I was a little slower than sub 35 minutes was that I set my metromone app at 170 cadence rather than my normal 175 because if the wind.
Hi Damien, I wimped today on the pretext of tapering prior to our virtual Vitality 10k on Monday. But we did score 8 on Vassos’ great parkrun quiz 😏
I’m sure UTS that if you were running the 10K on Monday that you would have Volunteered today. So we will give you a Virtual Barcode Scanner volunteer credit. Thanks for supporting the Heathunlocked Virtual parkrun. 😀
Sunny spells down here in Portsmouth Damien, but no escape from the wind! Hence 28.53, which I was pleased with, given the conditions. Onwards and upwards!😀
In that case you’ll know exactly where we are Damien as you’ll have flown over our heads! I can fairly well guarantee at least 5 and probably double that who would love a meet up one day when such things become the norm again! In the meantime, happy local running!
I've never actually done a real parkrun o I thought I would join you virtually.
I ran 5k yesterday , started at 9am into the wind.
It was tough and I had to catch my breath quite a few times. Time 52mins, very slow.
Post run breakfast was a yummy banana and porridge.
