I’m back from a 2 week holiday in West Cork in Ireland and it felt too short. Just back home about 2 hours ago. Car is unpacked. Thank you so much @Almorr for covering for me for the past two weeks whilst I was away. I have not run in a month, so tomorrow I’ll be basically starting again from scratch.
To all my English friends, I am so excited for you all. Tomorrow morning parkrun returns for you. How amazing, I am genuinely really excited for you all. May you have a fantastic run and day. I think it will be exciting and a little emotional. I’d love to hear all about it here underneath. Same goes for anyone in Northern Ireland and any other countries where parkrun has returned. For everyone else please post your (not)parkrun reports underneath too.
Everyone is welcome to join in. Just run, jog or walk 5K and write a little run report afterwards so as to let everyone know how you got on. Have a wonderful run everyone.
Damien
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I am so glad that you enjoyed your holiday Damien, it was a pleasure hosting the Parkruns for you over the last two weeks, I will hand back the hosting for you tomorrow.
Thank you so much Alan. You did a wonderful job. You have been so consistent all through lockdown with your (not)parkruns, I know you’d be brilliant. Thanks again.
Thanks Damien, I ran my 58th not parkrun on Wednesday in a time of 34.30. This Saturday morning I ran a PB 8K in a time of 56.02, my 5K split time was 34.16 which is the exact same time as my very first official Parkrun exactly two years ago almost to the day, I have already submitted the 34.30 Wednesday time to my home parkrun website, its only 14 seconds slower than todays time, expect a lot of reports from our English friends on how they got on at their first official Parkrun since March last year.
Glad you had a nice break. My local parkrun isn’t back for another week (due to a music festival in the park), so I have decided to make tomorrow another notParkrun day, rather than overload other local park runs by touristing.
Looks like you’ve had a super holiday Damien, that photo is gorgeous! Al has done a brilliant job holding the fort.
We’re likely to be running in heavy rain and/or thunderstorms tomorrow but I think that may be a good thing as it will keep the other park users down to a minimum - it’s been heaving here during the tropical temperatures of the last couple of weeks.
Nothing will stop us running tomorrow though. Katnap is going to run then bar code scan so he has to go round super quick for that. He’ll definitely get a pb whatever the weather. I’ll see, I’m still recovering from Sunday’s HM.
I have to say though, it won’t really be the same until all other countries join us, but hopefully it will be soon 🤞🤞🤞
Have fun everyone and all the best to those who will be dipping their toes into proper parkrun for the first time, as the saying goes ‘Your Saturday mornings will never be the same again!’ 🥳😍🥳😍
Enjoy it. I’d happily run my first return parkrun in a storm. Have a wonderful run TC. Can’t wait to hear all about. Yes Alan of course did a super job.
Oh hi, welcome back damienair ! So glad you had a lovely holiday. That photo should be a postcard. 😍
Overly excited for tomorrow. It’s meant to lash with rain, and for me that’s even better. After all the heat we’ve had this week, it’ll be so refreshing. 🏃♀️🏃♂️💦🏃♀️🏃♂️💦 I’m not taking Flossie along. It’ll be too busy, plus she hasn’t run on a lead since February 2020. 🐕
Hopefully your PRs will be up and running again soon, as well as other countries who need to wait a little longer. 🤞🤞
Enjoy your run tomorrow Cheeky. I’m so looking forward to reading all about it. I’m so thrilled that parkrun is coming back. It will be a wonderful occasion.
Arghhh, Eastville have announced on their FB page that we’ll be doing the B course for a while, the one you did when you visited. 😩 It’s easier to keep up with covid regulations than our normal A course. It means running those 3 nasty hills! 😩😅
Oh I remember. Those hills are long. But the down hill sections are lovely. Enjoy it Cheeky, it will still be magical. The B course is still better than no course.
Lovely to hear you had a great time Damienair. Milestone shirt at the ready. I’m going to take it gently tomorrow and rejoice that we are back along the prom. It will be so nice to see old faces after all this time out. Fingers crossed that Eire, Scotland and Wales will be joining us soon. Back Together Again.
Welcome back Damien! We just love Cork…especially West Cork and can’t wait to get over there!
Thank you AlMorr for keeping tabs on us over the past 2 weeks 😊
Wales may possibly start back 14th August…eek!
…so this morning I ran my 50th (not) Park Run 🎉😊 Despite (for me) minimal faffing it was 8:35 before I started, and already 20*C. I chose the canal run as it was mostly shady, but despite that, a slowish pace and a nice breeze, I was still bathed in sweat when I finished!
Splits: 8:46, 8:44, 8:28, 8:38, 8:05…total 42:51 (8:32/km) and duly entered on my local Park Run page.
Fantastic running and very well done. Yes West Cork is amazing. The beautiful weather was very unlike traditional Irish weather we are used to. It was tropical and similar to being in Italy, France or Spain. Except the scenery was unparalleled. Irish wit and humour was evident on Dursey Island. A 100 Km/hr sign on a back road which would struggle to get a car beyond 20 km/hr. 😂
Stunning scenery you had on your holiday! Welcome back we missed you although you left us in safe hands with AlMorr , he did a great job. Thanks AlMorr!All the best to the real parkrunners tomorrow.
Thanks, Week7 for the compliments, a little word of warning, there will be no parkrun ran if there are thunderstorms in the area, this is for safety reasons.
I had a great run until half way. I knew I was doing ok when I made it onto our grass section before our elites were looping back. Second half was a struggle to be honest. Least I can say I was comfortably in Zone 5 🤣
45-49 is the busiest category here, so that’s really impressive. I’m 50-54, they are definitely far too fast. When I go elsewhere I’m often in the top 3, I don’t know what they feed them here 🤣
Welcome back Damien. Your holiday must have been quite cathartic. Al has done a splendid job in your absence. Sadly I won’t be running the Parkrun today as I’m on grandad baby sitting duties. I wish everyone taking part today an exciting, fun and safe run.On a good note I will be taking part in my first ever vets league athletics match on Monday. 😃 Take care all.
I would have love to have attended the official park run today in my local area but hubby had to work early so I had to get up at the crack of dawn to do my 5k before the little one woke up instead. Some of you may have read my other posts over the weeks to know I had a couple of running injuries and consequently had to have more recovery time and hold back on my runs a little. I had a gait analysis done earlier this week and got some snazzy new running shoes so today was the christening of them! 😁 They were so comfortable to run in! I managed 5k in 31 minutes which I didn't think was too bad considering my time off and the injury not being 100% recovered yet. ☺️ Also, I am super proud to say that my 8 year old has suddenly taken an interest in running and is training up for the junior 2k park run that he wants to go to. Currently he has progressed in only a week to comfortably running for 5 minutes straight. I may have a little runner in the making! ☺️ Enjoy park run everyone that's going. 🥳🏃♀️
Great running and well done on your 31 minute 5K finish time. I started running with my Son when he was 9. He was able for 5K parkrun then. He is 12 now. When he was 10 he was running 5K in 26 minutes. When parkrun returns for us I am sure he will be breaking PB’s again and finishing well ahead of me. It’s lovely running with your kids.
A (not)parkrun for me. I think our local one is back on but it's a hilly one and as this is only my second ever 5k, and on the flat, I don't think I'm ready for that yet! Still not particularly fast at 37:50, but 4 mins quicker than last week! I think that was due to it being much cooler weather this week - a nice misty drizzle this morning, perfect for running. Nice to be stretched, showered and cup of tea in hand, smug that I've already covered 4.6 miles today (including my walking sections) 😃
Well done on your run. You are ready for parkrun. That’s the beauty of parkrun. It’s not a race. You can walk it all. You can walk and jog your way around. It’s not just for elite athletes, it’s for everyone. No one claps for the first finisher, but everyone claps the person who just finishes ahead of the Tail Walker. And no one finishes last at parkrun. Go next Saturday, but be very careful, it’s highly addictive.
Welcome back Damien. Glad you had a lovely and well deserved holiday. Sadly no return to parkrun for me today, although I do have the consolation of being in the Dordogne until September, so shouldn’t really complain. Shake-and-run and I set out at 8.00 though to do our run round the lake (only 18c and quite overcast after 35c days this week). Rather than dashing off, I mostly stayed with her and I’ll probably do another 5k on my own tomorrow for this week’s official (not) parkrun time. Then popped into a different cafe in the village for our post run coffee. Last week, for our first visit since last year to our previous cafe, we were served our coffee in paper cups ☹️ Today, Lavazza in a proper cup 😁 Looking forward to reading all about the real parkruns, you lucky people 😃😃
Very well done Sandie. Real Coffee cups inside in Cafes is returning to Ireland on Monday for everyone whom has been fully vaccinated. Lovely to see indoor dining coming back. Hopefully parkrun is not too far away.
Hi, I did my 1st ever PR today. I went to a quieter one of two I could choose nearby and the route is more cross country than flat so not an easy start for me. However I had so much encouragement and did it in 46 mins. I was last but that was a good time for me almost a PB!!
Congratulations and very well done on your first parkrun and now that is your parkrun PB. Amazing and I am just a little bit jealous. You get to go back again next week and try to beat that time.
Hi All, I eventually made a decision - storm or no storm I didn’t want to miss the first PR. Torrential rain, strong wind, thunder and lightning ⚡️but I did it !!
Isn't it not a bit risky running in a thunderstorm, I am surprised that the organisers of that parkrun allowed it go ahead at all because of the weather.
Our park run was up and…. running, though with a slightly altered course, bushes had grown over part of it. Rain at start but it had stopped after about 15mins. I managed a new pb of 29:02, bother that 2 seconds!! We had a lot of first timers attending, which was good, as well as many returners, everyone was in good spirits despite the weather. It was great to be back.
Hello, me again! What a buzz to be back! Everyone was so happy, it was fantastic! So good to be able to catch up with people again too 😀
I thought we were all over cooking it at the start as everyone was going so fast, but they just carried on! Normally my first k is around 5:55 but it ticked over at 5:03 😱 I knew I couldn’t keep that up but I didn’t slip a huge amount.
I did keep a close eye on a lady who I suspected was my (not)parkrun nemesis. She is in my age category and regularly beats me. I didn’t think I’d catch her but just as we got near the finishing straight I saw she was struggling a little so I dug deep and found enough to pass her as we ran towards the funnel!
Official time has just come through at 26:03. I feel a sub 26 minute tattoo being planned (as long as my Achilles holds out) 😁
As for Katnap and youngest kitten: 21:19 and 24:26 respectively, both PBs!
Oh yes, we barely had a sprinkle of rain either. So much for the threatened thunderstorms!
Hope you’ve all had a great morning everyone! Happy running 🏃 🏃🏾♂️ 🏃🏼♀️🙌👏👏👏
Thanks JP 😀 Youngest kitten is really pleased and I’m hoping it will give him an incentive to really push it was he was with me for the first half so he can probably go at least as fast as Katnap without really trying. I think Katnap has really shocked who are used to seeing him run there but I knew he could do it!
Woohooooooooo!!! We’re back! 🎉🎉🎉 Brilliant times Kat Family - gosh is there a sub 20 looming? 👊😳🏃♂️ Are you really going to get a sub 25 tattoo TC? How exciting! Hope you’re booked in - it won’t be long in coming! 💥
Oh yes! 🙌 I reckon there is cheeky. I think they could both do it. We actually had a course record today - 14:29!!! He stormed past me, quite amazing run. It was really male heavy too, not sure why.
Sub 26, sub 25 would be a miracle! I got my other tattoo for sub 30 and I was going to do one for a HM but it drifted off during lockdown, so it’s due. A little incentive, just got to decide what 🤔😀
Oh Wow. TC I am so delighted and thrilled for you all on your great finish times and on your return to parkrun. What a great run. You’ll break that 26 minute barrier soon no doubt and find a new parkrun nemesis.
Thanks Damien, we’re all pretty chuffed here 😻 Also, I just checked out the fastest parkrun times for our first finisher and I reckon he’s in the top 20 fastest ever UK parkruns 😱
And......we're back!😀 Great to see so many familiar faces this morning. Our start had changed slightly to allow more room for social distancing - now between the main building and the lake, but you have to watch out for the goose poo on the grass!
Seemed strange to be running with others after 16 months running on my own, but I'm sure I will get used to it! Lots of smiling and waving marshals all the way round. Took it relatively easy - Garmin time from when I crossed the line 30.42, with a final km of 5.16, official time 30.49.
Brilliant piccie JP. We have the poo problem too - swans and geese, all over the paving! It’s always warned about in the briefing. They were in for a shock today but they were well behaved.Here’s to many more parkruns 👍👍👍
I’m still grinning! 😀😀 That was such amazing fun even though we ran our nemesis B course for covid safety reasons. No one likes it much! It involves 3 laps of our park, each with a long uphill drag.
But guess what? I felt awesome today! My 16 months of running on the gnarly common has definitely helped, and the hill felt fine all 3 times. Am I speedy yet? No of course not, but I’m definitely quicker and I shaved over 1:30 off the last time I ran the B course in October 2019 and earned a Strava PB. I’ll take any bling, virtual or not!
I ditched music and NRC in favour of the Olympics coverage on Fivelive. 🥰
So Garmin time 36:58, PR time 37:03. Very content with that. Bring on next week - I think I’ll do Ashton Court. 🏃♀️👊
Yes I’m curious to see how I fare there. I ran it a few times last summer in between lockdowns, and I was gradually getting quicker on the horrible 2nd km. 🥵🥵🥵
I'll go next week to Clapham if Tooting is still off. I didn't fancy the tube or the early start or the potential thunderstorms. I did 5K last night. First run since last Saturday. It was cool when I started but the sun came out for one last hurrah to heat me up. 46'46" is not lightening but not bad as I felt so stiff after doing very little exercise during the mini heatwave.
Good luck next week. My Sister did her Nurse Training in St. George’s Hospital and lived in Tooting Broadway for a few years. It was around 22-25 years ago. I had many good nights out in Clapham when I would pop over to meet her.
Small world! I spent my first 16 years living opposite Tooting Bec Common!! I’d love to do Tooting Common parkrun one day. Power for Tooting ✊#ShowingMyAge
What can I say? I felt so emotional as I walked down to parkrun and saw runners appearing from every side street. Parkrun is back and it was so lovely to see happy smiley running faces after all this time. I ran with Mr Coddfish at a happy chatty pace to take it all in. Lots of support from staff of local beach cafe, triathlon club and dog walkers. I just haven’t stopped grinning. Parkrun time 33:56 , Garmin time 33.:30. 330 runners. Breakfast at the Briny.
It was support all the way JP and I’m glad to hear that the council representative was impressed by the set up. I think the cloudy weather helped keep the number of pedestrians down and 300 runners was manageable for the first one.
We had similar numbers Dexy. It made it much more copeable with. We didn’t seem to have that many first timers but I suspect we may have more next week as they may have been spectating.
It really was cheeky. Just like coming home. We had one running chum who did his 100th run today. What a long time he had to wait to earn the black shirt.
Aw wonderful Dexy. Your back on your way to that 100 milestone T-Shirt again. Congratulations and very well done. I’m so delighted to see that parkrun is back. Amazing.
Yes number 73 done today so the the count is on again. I’ve done 23 volunteers too so the 25 shirt is more imminent. Fingers crossed you can return in Ireland 🇮🇪 soon. Do you have suggested dates?
We are equal on parkruns done. I’m at 73 too. You’ll get there before me for sure now. We are a good bit off yet. There is a limit here to 200 people at outdoor gatherings. But that should change soon. Indoor dining returns on Monday for fully vaccinated people. Hopefully in September.
Welcome back, glad you had a good holiday. We did our last (not) parkrun yesterday. Nothing remarkable except that it was our first one without a second breakfast!
But fear not - we had second breakfast today after scanning barcodes at Marple parkrun. It was so good to be back, a lot of overexcited people, especially the volunteers. Running next week.
Sky news were filming there, apparently it is repeated at 10 minutes past the hour. I haven't seen it yet but have been told we can be seen in the background
I still have a niggle on my right ankle after twisting it a few weeks ago. So today to ease myself back I walked my (not)parkrun in a time of 44:55. It’s been wonderful reading all about the return of parkrun in England. Hopefully I will be able to take part in one in a few weeks.
First time posting on the Parkrun (not) Parkrun thread and still very much a novice in the parkrun community. This was my 6th official parkrun and what a joy it was to be back.
It was a PB for me and I am quietly impressed at 32.20. Thanks to my husband for coaching me round and putting up with me shouting “I can’t possibly run any quicker !”
A huge improvement on my previous official Parkrun of 34.02 back in March 2020.
The hills where I live have paid off on the lovely flat seafront Parkrun.
Fantastic improvement and congratulations on your new PB and on your return to parkrun. Great news. Great to have you on board and please join in again next week. Great running.
Well done Beth, and don’t knock the 20 seconds - they all come in for parkrun bingo, where you cross off the seconds amount each week. If you have an Apple phone I can put a link on for the app which records all your runs and volunteers.
Similarly, I returned from a two week holiday staying near Aberdaron on the Llŷn Peninsula in NW Wales. Apart from a couple of days the weather was too sunny.
I was last in West Cork in September 2017, staying in Glengarriff. I love the area. However, you're not likely to find me driving the Priest's Leap pass ever again! The village of Eyeries on the Beara is rather "colourful".
I did my very first real parkrun this morning. My local venue would be Chadderton Hall park, but they had "unforeseen circumstances" this week, so my first one was a visit to Sale Water Park to the SW of Manchester.
Very well done on your first parkrun and on your 3rd best 5K time. We didn’t go over the priests leap. But did do a 5K trek not far from there. We were staying just outside Glengarriff. West Cork is so vast, I drove all around it for 10 days and still only seen and experienced less than 25% of what West Cork has to offer. I loved it.
Still no Parkruns for us in Scotland, so yesterday was another 14k lollop along the paths and trails through woods and fields around my particular corner of East Lothian instead. Three runs left for this month and hopefully I'll manage my third 200k month in a row.
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