My 11 year old Son is my parkrun Buddy. However since COVID-19 messed everything up for everyone he has lost his mojo. He has not ran in months despite me buying him new running shoes. But this evening I managed to convince him to join me on my 5K run. And he did, breaking in his new running shoes. He did great. Just 2 little rest breaks with a total running time of 29:30. The boy did good and has not lost too much fitness. It felt great to be running along with my little parkrun buddy.
Damien
Yay 😊 That's good to hear damienair 😊 Happy for you both!
So glad that Osian is going running again with you Damien, he might even take part in the Saturday morning 5K Virtual parkruns, who knows, good run for both of you this evening.
Get him logging into the new non-parkrun page - it may rekindle his interest.
Happy running to both of you
Thanks, yes I was telling him about (not) parkrun earlier. He said it’s not parkrun. 😂
He is right, of course. But it is a boost for many people who are starting to flag a bit, I think
Agree. Me included. I definitely need a boost.
Glad to hear that Damien..
Hopefully the restart of Parkrun isn't too far away.. Me and the wife did a (not)
Parkrun today...
Well done. I’m planning on doing my (not) parkrun on Saturday morning. I’m going to log the run and then try to come back and beat my time each week. So naturally I’ll be taking it very easy this week.😀
Damien
The results table is already up. Geoff took a screenshot because at the moment he is in first place for time and Age Grade for our home parkrun.
I am, of course, the Tailwalker.
But so far there are only 4 names!
Ahhh fab to hear that Oisin is back! Hi Oisin! 👋 👋 👋
Oisin still talks about Flossy and the fun he had playing with Flossy in Eastville Park. We had to have our little 16 year old Pomeranian put to sleep on Monday. Even though all she did was sleep 90% of time over the last 2 years it feels so weird not having a dog. Give Flossy a big hug from Oisin.
Oh that is sad. But a very good age.
Oh Damien I’m so sorry about your little dog. 16 is an incredible age but it doesn’t make losing a beloved pet any easier. 💔
I’ll definitely give Flossie a hug from you guys. Tell Oisin she’d love to play with him again one day! 🐾🐕🐾🐕
Wow that’s a great time! For me, that post run high is what motivates me for the next run. Maybe he’ll get his mojo back now 😊
Well done both of you. Look at that time! My grandchildren did C25K as their not school PE so hope they’ll join me at parkrun in the future. I guess the 11 year old will be well ahead of me but I might stand a chance of keeping up with the newly 6 year old 🤣
When parkrun returns, I’m looking forward to it of course, but also looking forward to the fact that Oisin will now be able to run on his own without being within an arms reach of his Dad. Looking forward to some friendly rivalry, I won’t stand a chance😂. My PB is 25:36 and his is 26:32. He will soon pass my PB time once parkrun returns.
Damien
This running lark is sometimes about accepting your limitations! That first parkrun will be so good though.
You can do as many 5ks as you like as I understand it and they’ll just keep your best of the week. I did a slow one on Monday to leave room for improvement. 🤣
I’ll be doing the same on Saturday. Leaving loads of room for improvement. I’m just going to log the Saturday mornings run and treat it just like parkrun. And train during the week so as to try and improve my (not) parkrun time each week. Nice to have a goal to aim towards. I’ve been missing that.
Damien
I will probably just log the Saturday runs after this week. They are usually a bit faster than my weekday runs anyway.
Oh yes, of course. That is why I ran slow ones on Monday and today 
😆
That’s such a shame Damien, it’s very sad that so many children seem to have suffered in the same way during the last few months. But I’m glad he got out with you and hopefully he’ll get his mojo back soon. We’re all rooting for him (though I’m sure he wouldn’t want his mates to know that a bunch of ‘old people’ are cheering for him!).
He is a great little guy and very social. I think that is another reason why he misses parkrun. He is just as happy in the company of an 8 year old as he is in the company of an 80 year old. He is a true people person. He does most of his socializing these days on the PS4 with his School friends on FortNite. Not ideal but it seems to work.
Good to hear he’s back out there... are you logging them on (not) parkrun? Wondering if that will have him enthusiastic again. Sub 30 after months out is pretty impressive.
Thank you. He is not bothered about (not) parkrun as he said it’s not parkrun. He likes the crowd, the buzz, the nervous anticipation he gets when running a new parkrun course and also the post parkrun breakfast. But he did enjoy the run yesterday evening and hopefully he might run with me again tomorrow.
Damien
It’s certainly not parkrun. Although I was only getting to one every three weeks recently, I’m grumpy every Saturday morning now it’s paused.
Glad you managed to coax your son out the door Damien and what a 5k time for him 🏃♂️🏃♂️😊
Great you have managed to persuade him out Damien - hopefully it will continue. As you say, it obviously helped your mojo too!
I see that NZ are definitely restarting parkrun on 4 July and at today's government briefing there were references to 'community sport' here possibly from July onwards - fingers crossed !
I think it might be a bit longer for us here in UK and Ireland. But I’m really looking forward to that day. I’m going to Volunteer the first day back and then go on a run streak and get some tourism done too. I’d just officially become a parkrun tourist before lockdown.
Damien
Great to hear the little man got out with you today damienair. I’m sure he’ll be alright once things get back to normal again; kids are so resilient.
Parkrun volunteering and (not) parkrun
