Hello Everyone and happy weekend. Today is parkrun day, a free 5K event which takes place every Saturday morning all around the world. It is for everyone, slow, fast, able, disabled, big, small and everyone in between. Oh and don't forget about the super Mum's and Dad's who push their babies in buggies. You can walk, jog, run, run/walk, it's not a race, just a run in the park and loads of us here on Bridge to 10K do it religiously every Saturday morning.
parkrun is back thankfully in most Countries around the World. I am hoping for any Countries still struggling with COVID-19 that it returns to you soon.
Some of us may not be able to do a parkrun at the moment so until parkrun returns fully for everyone some of us will continue to take part on our own in a Virtual parkrun every Saturday morning called a (not)parkrun. Or if you are away on Holidays, prefer to run on your own, or do not have a parkrun close by you a (not)parkrun is perfect, please feel free to join in.
Please post a little run report after your parkrun or (not)parkrun and let everyone know how you got on. The little run report can be done over a post parkrun coffee and treat/cake. (parkrun is all about the after run coffee and cake, and meeting friends old and new).
If you are a new graduate and would like to start, all you have to do is run, walk or jog at a parkrun or a 5K run/jog/walk (not)parkrun anytime today or tomorrow and write a little run report under this post. It's like a little community and it is good fun, sets you up nicely for the weekend. If you want to you can register on the parkrun website and you can log your 5K (not)parkrun. In fact you can log any 5K done during the week as a (not)parkrun.
For anyone whom has not done a real parkrun yet and if it is available to you, give it a try. It is the most wonderful community event. Saturday mornings will never be the same again.
Looking forward to hearing from all of you who ran in real proper parkruns and (not)parkruns. Happy running and have a lovely weekend.
Written by
damienair
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Good morning from sunny Eastleigh in Hampshire. We’re sitting in a lovely park enjoying a post run cup of tea and a bacon roll.
Amazed we got here on time. We literally got to the start line as everyone headed off. It’s all trail with one fairly reasonable hill about 0.5k in. Unfortunately as it’s 3 laps you have to do the hill 3 times. Still, good training.
I had my time at 29:41 but I guess we were a bit late so officially it was 29:54. I’m just happy we got here. Next stop the Great South Run tomorrow morning 👍
Well done, cutting it fine!I am often passed at about 1.5km by a former Marple run director who seems to be running late each week and misses the start. He lives nearby so I imagine him leaping out of bed in his running gear and heading out to the parkrun.
I once went from Manchester to Bracknell (red-eye) for a meeting, which started late because we had to wait for some people coming from the other end of the corridor!
Sadly I’ve been sidelined to the IC which started mid September when hurting my lower back. After seeing the physio it was starting to get better but now have pulled a tendon in my ankle & have plantar fasciitis in same foot so equally painful. None of the injuries have been through running either! Just my own stupidity 😬
Feeling pretty miserable as barely able to walk let alone run 😩.
Physio has been great though and I will be all the more stronger when I make my comeback!
Hope your injuries and niggles heal up soon. If you want you could Volunteer at parkrun until your ready to run again. But then again the bed is hard to get out of when it is getting colder. 😀
Good morning Damien, I ran my 26th parkrun today at The University of Stirling Parkrun, an improved time of 30.57 compared to the first time I ran at Stirling 3 weeks ago when my time was 32.26, it was their 2nd birthday, not counting last year, 2019 was when that parkrun began, at the end of the run we were all treated to some cupcakes, very nice, it reminded me of my very first parkrun at Dunfermline 2 years ago when we also got a piece of cake.
Thanks Oldgirlruns, you will be looking forward to cheering on all the runners at tomorrow's Great South Run, have a special cheer from me to all the "Southsea Crew" from this forum who are taking part, especially Dexy 5.
To cap it all, this afternoon I got my annual flu jab AND the 3rd booster Covid 19 vaccination, flu jab on right upper arm, the Covid one on left upper arm, that was at quarter past four, now at nine o'clock I feel fine with no after effects whatsoever.
Absolute break through today. I am now 5 and a half weeks on from hip replacement surgery, and my last parkrun (as entrant rather than volunteer) was the week before parkrun stopped in March 2020. When it reopened in July this year, my hip had deteriorated too far for me to walk it, and I then had the surgery to recover from. After a good spell of volunteering, I managed to walk 3k of Southsea parkrun last week. With Southsea not on today because of the GSR weekend, we made our way to Portsmouth Lakeside, where I knew Dexy5 , UpTheStanley , Oldgirlruns and JonathanP were also going to be. The course is a sort of dog legged out and back so I thought, like Southsea, it would enable me to do part of the route and bail out. My plan was to attempt around 4K, using one crutch.
I introduced myself to the tail walkers to tell them I would be slow but would likely bail out. I started at the back and found a lovely young woman called Alex, also walking it fairly slowly. It transpired she had had both her knees replaced in August and was attempting to get back to parkrun for the first time. She had been worried about being a long way at the back and felt it was serendipity when she saw me with my crutch in the car park.
So of course we egged each other on to do the whole thing, obviously at a steady walking pace, whilst comparing notes on our respective surgeries. I hadn’t intended to go this far quite yet - my aim had been to complete it for the first time on the 30th October. It remains my hope I can walk it without a crutch on that day, walking with my friend Oldgirlruns.
Parkrun number 9 this morning at Chadderton Hall Park. Last week I was in rural Wales and did a (not) parkrun on the local back roads (but forgot to add it to the parkrun records).
A bit chilly there this morning with the thermometer at about 7°C. I decided not to wear gloves as the air didn't feel that cold when I was just standing round waiting, but as soon as I started moving properly my hands definitely felt cold. Plenty of wiggling of fingers and rubbing them was needed to keep the blood flow going.
The Garmin watch under recorded it by 400m, and Strava on the phone by 90m.
I held back the effort at the beginning again, making sure I got properly warmed up. My mistake after that was to speed up too early in the run, which meant that I inevitably slowed down as the run progressed.
I also couldn't resist the temptation to overtake people on the S-shaped steep climb up to the rose garden, something I did on three of the four laps. On the final lap there was nobody there to overtake.
I finished 32 out of 80, and took 22 seconds off my PB for that venue, with a time of 28'59".
Hi Damien and PR runners. Flossie (🐕) and I marshalled at Eastville this morning. No running planned due to the GSR tomorrow. Looking forward to that very much! ❤️
I picked a great marshalling spot, down by our pretty lake. I needed to stand a bit to the side as there were lots of birds sitting in the tree above … and they were dropping frequent bombs! 😂😳 It was fun encouraging everyone up the short steep hill back up into the main park, and understanding exactly what their expressions meant as they saw what was ahead! On the flip side - the front runners made mincemeat of it. 💥
Anyway, heading to Portsmouth shortly. I love running weekends. 🥰
Thanks for volunteering Cheeky. The pics of the lake look lovely, unfortunately we missed seeing it when we visited . Imagine, that was 2 years ago. Best of luck tomorrow and enjoy the day.
Hope to get to Eastville before too long. We haven't been down to see my brother since New Year 2020.Thought we were going to manage this half-term but it turned out impossible to find a window in the schedules of 2 teenage nephews and a brother going on some Territorial Army training.
I hope GSR went well for you. I met dexy5 for the first time on Saturday. You should come and do the curly wurly in Keynsham. It is a flat course unlike Eastville and Ashton court. I have just entered the Bath half in March, Dexy5 said you will be doing it too. Hope to see you there.
Hi Ginter, I’ve never done the Curly Wurly but have heard lots about it! I’m guessing it gets soggy in the winter? Maybe I should give it a go before then. 😀
Yes, the GSR was great wasn’t it? Nice that you got to meet Dexy5 too. There are several of us entered in the Bath Half next spring, and we should definitely arrange a meetup!
Hi @damienair. I did my local parkrun today and felt really sluggish. I found it a huge effort and was breathing really hard. There were a couple of moments when I almost stopped but didn't. It has been my hardest parkrun to date effort wise. Don't know why I was pushing so hard but managed to shave off almost a minute off my PB! I thought I was being really slow. As a newbie runner have managed to shave off 2 1/2 minutes in 3 months. I think running longer distances whilst training for a 10k has really helped my 5k time. I'm enjoying it whilst it lasts 😀
Hi Damien! No running today for me but I went up to Portsmouth Lakeside parkrun where Dexy5, UpTheStanley and I volunteered along with JohnathanP. It’s a lovely friendly PR with lots of thank yous from runners to the marshals. We’re looking forward to welcoming lots of ARBs to the Great South Run tomorrow-As cheerleader in chief, I have bells all ready to go! Happy running!
Hi Damien. Another (not) run today. Slightly quicker than last week at 32.31. Negative splits for the first 4K but then slowed off by 3 seconds on the last lap. Long sleeved shirt on top of my usual running T today; 9 degrees. 🥶 feels as though winter is coming.
Hi all, marshalling at Portsmouth Lakeside this morning due to the GSR tomorrow (first race 3+ years after c25k!) - had kept the joints moving with 2 easy 5ks earlier in the week. Several other volunteers, including my mates from Southsea, had the same idea.
Lots of 'thanks marshals' and a wide variety of runners, including 2 young women who seemed intent on skipping their way round! Great to catch up afterwards and swap plans for tomorrow - can't wait!
Couldn’t do parkrun today as we are up in the Highlands of Scotland for a holiday, however I did do a not-parkrun this evening. Running a different route through country lanes was great. 5K time 45mins.
I ran my 78th parkrun today at The Grand Canal Way parkrun in Tullamore for its second running. I was with my Wife Nicola, 2 boys, my 2 Sisters and one of my Sisters Husband and their 2 kids so it was very much a family affair. Oisin matched his parkrun PB to the second at 25:48. I finished in a time of 31:18 and felt comfortable all through my run. I was very happy even though my finish time was 10 seconds slower than last week. We went home to my parents house afterwards and had a lovely post parkrun breakfast. Busy day so only getting time to update now.
Hi all, I volunteered for the first time today, it was good and I enjoyed it and the other volunteers were very welcoming. I was responsible for giving out the tokens so it was good to see how the runners tackled the end of the race. Most were like me completely out of breath and could do no more, but some put on a good sprint to get over the line.
Well done and thank you for volunteering. It is a great way to get to know the core team and make parkrun friends. I’m going to Volunteer as timer in 2 weeks, it will be my 20th volunteer day. I like to volunteer usually for 1 in every 5-7 runs.
Hello Damien, I did a lovely slow tourist not parkrun around London today. It was far too busy to run quickly so I just ran when I could and took a few photos on the way. 8k in total.
Whoops, I thought I had posted. The others have said it all. A great time shaking tambourines with UpTheStanley at the marshal point just before and after the path under the motorway. When I run this it is quite a challenge when used to a dead flat course. Everyone seemed to like our musical accompaniment, and there were far more thank yous than we get at our own parkrun.
I also met a new VRB who is down for the GSR . @Ginter .
That photograph is not appalling, well done on volunteering and shaking tambourines under the motorway with UpTheStanley, not only the runners must have heard them as they passed you but the motorists on the motorway above.must have wondered what was going on below, enjoy your Great South Run today, good luck.
It was great to meet you and UpTheStanley after all our virtual chat. I completed Lakeside in 29.43 which I thought might be a bit risky the day before the GSR. It turned out alright though as I clocked 1:28:53 which I am delighted with. I was 33rd man 66-69. Onwards and upwards to the BathHalf in March.
Very well done Ginter, on both runs. You are a great c25k success story too. Thanks for running back to our marshal spot at parkrun to say hello. I’m sure you and your wife enjoyed coming back to southsea on such a nice weekend.
Completed my second park run yesterday at Ashton court. I can only make these once a month and couldn't make it last month, so was keen to see how I have improved after 2 months.
Time improved from just under 30 minutes to 27.04
May look at Eastville PR next time , haven't been around the lower part of the park for years. Thanks to CheekyChipMonks for the pictures
Took part in my 11th parkrun yesterday and achieved my third fastest time so far, coming in at 28:35. This week felt a bit more special on a personal level for me, as it marked two years to the day since having CABG x3 following my heart attack. I'm now running on a regular basis with my next target being to complete Ju-Ju's Magic Plan! 😀
Did the Uckfield one, my fifth there. I took three minutes off my PB. I was only one minute ahead of schedule at the top of the hill after the third km, but I have finally shaken off the knee trouble that meant I couldn’t run fast down hills, and yesterday for the first time I really let myself go on the final stretch.
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