Good morning everyone. Hope you are all well. Another week closer to the real thing. I completed an online parkrun survey this week which although not imminent, I feel is a good sign of a return at some stage in hopefully the not too distant future. When the time is right.
But until that time, it’s (not) parkrun time. Enjoy all your 5K runs and I look forward to hearing all about them here today. Please feel free to post your run reports below. Have a good one.
Damien
Morning Damien! Surprisingly warm today and it didn’t begin raining until my cool down walk. Boo - I absolutely love running in the summer rain. Oh well. 💦
My time was 20 seconds down on last week (36:40) which surprised me a bit because the run felt good. My theory is that I did my long run (14.5k) on Thursday, not Wednesday as usual, so only one rest day. Who knows? I’m still consistently quicker on the common than I used to be and that’s good in my book! 😀🏃♀️
Have a great weekend of running or otherwise everyone! 🏃♀️🏃♂️🏃♀️🏃♂️😀
Well done Cheeky. Your faster than you were 3 weeks ago and I wish I could run 14K at the moment. Great running as always.
Damien
Thanks Damien! Hope your run was good today too! 🏃♂️🏃♂️
Hello Damien, I will be cheering on the runners today, and taking a short running break, but I did get 9/15 in the parkrun quiz.
I was sent the survey too. Was it random do you think? I still find it hard to believe it could happen in the near future, unless we can submit our own times at the end. The finish Process is the riskiest part of it.
Enjoy your run
I got a survey email too I think Dexy, but I didn’t respond to it (aka I forgot). I wonder whether something similar to barcode wristbands would work for finish tokens and everyone have their own? There would need to be a finish pad kind of thing (like for chips in races) but it would avoid the need for finish tokens.
I’m not sure the Individual events could afford such things cheeky. Personally, I don’t think they will return until they can do it with the current system. Just like New Zealand. To be honest, when I did barcode scanning I always wore latex gloves. Have you seen the state of barcodes when they are extracted from Very strange places.??
That’s a very wise idea Dexy. Never done the barcodes but i think gloves are going to be mandatory.
No survey for me (unless I missed it which wouldn’t surprise me) so I’m guessing it’s random.
And yes, I can’t see it starting again any time soon, just had my September race cancelled.
Oh gosh yes, they emerge from all kinds of places. 😖
I know money will definitely be an issue, but I’m sure they’re working on a solution. I think finish tokens might need to be scrapped, as well as handling other people’s barcodes. It’s a dilemma that’s for sure. ☹️
Our last pre-lockdown parkrun was at Bramhall. The barcode scanners didn't touch any barcodes - runners had to hold them up to be scanned then drop the time token into a bucket. I assumed that they were washed before being sorted.
When I scanned I only had to touch the finishing token, to collect it from them, not their barcode, in future they could just drop it back in a bucket, so scanners would be ok, but the runners collecting their finish tokens may be a concern? I wondered if the runners could just stay in finish order and have their id scanned so no need for finish tokens at all. Not sure how it would work if they don’t have their barcode though. Could work with the smaller parkruns?
Great Run Local have wrist bands with chips (not that I have ever actually used mine, really must get to one sometime)
A friend told me that he was scanning once and had to keep running after people to make sure he didn't miss them. The numbers are much smaller than parkruns as far as I can tell, so it would be quite a task if it had to be done on a bigger scale
I was thinking that if all continued to go well, and if there were no spikes as children returned to School in a few weeks that perhaps sometime in October could be possible for parkrun to return. Here in Ireland our rates are low, but there has been a delay of 3 weeks for phase 4 which includes pubs opening and outdoor gatherings of 500 people. Hopefully by mid August those businesses can reopen and sporting events can resume some more. But also I can’t see a situation where Southern Ireland will start without Northern Ireland. Time will tell. I also agree that when it does get going again it will be different. Some things will have to change. The last event I did was in Belfast. There was no tokens being given to barcode scanners. When you came through the finish funnel you were handed the finish token. You the took that with the barcode to the person scanning. You then held up both barcodes, they were scanned without the barcode scanner touching them. Following this the finish token was put into a bucket with a disinfectant solution.
It worked well.
That does sound like a potential way to go with barcodes and tokens. The scanners never touched my barcode though - I just held it out and they scanned it while I held it. The bigger issue is the number of people allowed to gather, which I think will prevent a return for some time, especially as the decline in the infection rate seems to have stalled in England!
If they will only open one region at a time then we will be governed by the numbers at the biggest parkruns. Otherwise everyone will go to the next nearest one, thereby shifting the problem!
I think the parkrun policy of all or nothing will be the only way to go But I think numbers will be higher everywhere as so many have taken up running over the last 4 months.
Great for the health of the nation.
Yes, that's very likely
The problem with that as an ongoing method is the sorting of tokens after the event. Large UK events usually have several volunteers sitting in the local cafe sorting them - and it’s not fair to leave the run director with a bucket of over 1,000 tokens to take home to sort out. That said, the role I avoid is barcode scanning - got put off the very first time I did it when a sweating topless male pulled a soggy paper barcode out of his tiny Ronhill shorts. In my memory it was the groin area, but perhaps not.
Just realised haven’t said what we got...maybe that was for the best...6/15 😳
Top of the morning to you Damien, on Wednesday I ran 10 miles and now have the graduating badge for 10 miles next to my username on the Marathon forum, however, that run may have taken its toll on "my little legs" as I ran my slowest ever parkrun and (not) parkrun time this morning in a time of 36.50, I just couldn't go any faster, I submitted my time to the not parkrun website, my age grading just passed at 50.59%, nevertheless, despite the time, I enjoyed my run this morning. 😊 🏃🏾
Awesome Al! Congratulations on your 10 miles! 👍👍
Thanks TailChaser, the run on Wednesday was very good but I do think my first +35 minutes 5K for not parkrun or the other 5K parkruns I have ran took its toll on my legs today.
I think you can forgive your legs Al, they’ve done a fine job 👍
👍 🏃🏾
It definitely makes a difference AlMorr .
I too was a bit slower than last week and I’m convinced it was because I only had one rest day after my long run. I’m not surprised your legs felt it today! Well done even so! 🏃♂️🏃♂️🏃♂️
Thanks, don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed what was my 36th parkrun, official and not parkrun combined, it was the first time that I haven't ran sub 35 minutes.
Well done Almorr. When you run longer distances you do slow down a bit but your endurance increases. Some 5K interval training will sort that out. Very well done on your 10 mile run.
Damien
Thanks Damien, I still enjoyed my run this morning, it was my 19th virtual and 6th not parkrun, altogether I have ran 36/5Ks runs on a Saturday morning, its nice that you are again in charge here with the virtual and non parkruns after I deputised for you last week. 😊 🏃🏾
10 miles?! Crikey AM that’s a long way! Well done you, no wonder your legs were a bit slow - but they carried you to 36:50 which in my book is pretty fast, so I’m well impressed! Enjoy your weekend!
👍 🏃🏾 Thanks OGR👍🏃🏾
Morning Damien, morning all! We got up early this morning to do our run as we’re off to sunny (*cough*) Wales. I think we were quite lucky with this mornings weather by the sound of it as it was humid but cool and windy. Now on the M6 and it’s chucking it down 🙄
I’m not sure what happened this morning apart from swapping shoes. I’ve retired Randall & Hopkirk and was running in Jacob & Marley, who are now my parkrun shoes. Smashed my (not)parkrun pb even though the wind was against us a large chunk of the way: 27:33! Very, very happy with that as it’s my second fastest 5k this year. A good start for bouncier shoes 👍
Next few runs will be slower I think as we’ll have a few more hills to contend with (& more rain!).
Have a good week everyone and happy running. We’re going to do the quiz now as I think this is going to be a long, long drive...
What a stonking time TC, well done! 💥🏃♀️💥 Definitely those new shoes! 👏👏👏
Enjoy Wales. It’s still beautiful, even in the 💦💦💦🏴😀
Thanks cheeky 🤗 and you’re right, it is always beautiful whatever the weather.
Wow. Fantastic running and fantastic time. I’m a long way off that effort at the moment. Great running and very well done. Enjoy sunny Wales.😀
Damien
Thanks Damien 💪👍🌞
I love the way you name your shoes TC. I’m off to have a bio-mechanical assessment (Gait analysis to anyone else) on Monday as I think I need insoles in my trails, and Am not sure the shoes I bought in Feb are right for me. The GTS19s are definitely past it now. I can spend all the money I’ve saved over Lockdown and help my running shop.
I hope the insoles work Dexy 🤞🤞 A good idea to have a thorough analysis after what you’ve been through this year.
Jacob & Marley are my 7 month old Ghosts but they still have plenty of life. I have Rosencrantz & Guildenstern now for the other runs 😁 It was the nearest I could get to a pair Shakespearean ghosts 😁 I wanted to get them locally but they sold out just as I was going to phone up for them. I think sports shops have fared relatively well over lockdown if they’ve been canny.
I did my (not) parkrun today at 10 am. I just ran my usual local 5K loop. No park this morning. I took it easy, no PB, very slow, but I enjoyed the run. I ran 31:43 today. It remained dry. But felt very muggy and warm. Still trying to get used to my new running shoes. They feel a lot different to my old Brooks. My right foot felt a little uncomfortable on the second kilometre but after that all was OK. Happy running everyone.
Damien.
Nice run Damien, especially if you enjoyed it 👍 What Brooks have you got? I found the elasticated laces on mine took a lot of getting used to.
I had Brooks GTS17’ and GTS19’s before. This week I purchased a pair of Mizuno Wave Inspire 16’s. Very different. They’ll just take a little getting used to.
Damien
Yeah, I daren’t change as I don’t want anything to stop me running at the moment. I even got spooked by the Ghost 13s (excuse the pun!) because I suddenly got all superstitious. Mizuno Waves are highly regarded though so hope it doesn’t take too long.
Afternoon Damien and everyone! I did my 3rd french (not) Parkrun just after 9.00 this morning. A bit too late really, as it was 17c when I set off and the sun came out after 2k so up to 22 by the time I got back 🥵 Did my usual route, up the hill to the restaurant, towards Monbazillac, turning at the crossroads, then diverting through the vineyard and a final uphill back to home. Time of 31:47, a minute faster than last week, as slightly less hilly with 62m elevation instead of 78 as I went the opposite way round.
Have a great weekend 😃
Bonjour Sandie and very well done.
Hello runners! I set off early for what was supposed to be my first 8k run as plotted by Google maps. It's a river track that I wanted to scope out as a possible walk with my small people. I can't really claim it as a run as it was so bumpy in some places my pace was slower than my usual warm up walk, I had to stop a few times to check I was going in the right direction AND it turned out to be 9.5k!! But anyway it was beautiful and I "moved" for 1hr18 so still a lovely outing. Think I'll repeat the week on the plan though and try and find a flat 8k 🤣 happy weekend!
I ended up running 6km, plus 2km to walk back to our cafe. We couldn't manage a full breakfast today because we were still recovering from a Carvery lunch yesterday, so we settled for bacon, eggs and mushrooms on toast.
Ooh, very jealous Sue, we haven’t had our bacon rolls today 😋
Oh no! What is the world coming to?
No parkrun, no Garmin, no bacon rolls!
Ah, I have just seen why you didn't have time for bacon rolls. Have a good time in Wales
Thanks Sue 😁 we’ll definitely have bacon at some point - a hearty breakfast is usually had before going up a big hill/mountain 👍💪
We had the survey as well. Good to see that they are looking into what can be done
I’m feeling left out 😢
I am still choosing not to run on Saturdays, but with the gyms now open and the set days of my favourite classes, I will need to drop back to a Saturday running pattern soon. I did however celebrate today’s return of gyms in England by having a 30 minute swim booked in at 8:30. That felt good after a 4 month gap. So much so I have booked twice more in the coming week. Will be doing a (not) parkrun with the local group on Monday.
Evening everybody - here I am , late as usual!
My (not) parkrun started on Wednesday morning when I felt as though a fast run was possible. I was right and finished in 27.06, my second best ever 5k. Mind you , I think I may have overdone it slightly, as when I'd finished I noticed a twinge in my right upper thigh/bottom of the buttock - tmi?😜
So since then I've been doing my exercises and some gentle walks, and things were pretty much back to normal. However I decided that I needed to take it relatively easy this morning and hence an enjoyable and relaxing 31.16 - with perfect negative splits (6.29, 6.23, 6.16, 6.13, 5.56). I must try taking it easier more often !😀
