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.
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damienair
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I’m staying away with work. Unfortunately no parkrun for me this morning. I’m in Warwick and my parkrun app tells me there are loads of parkrun courses around me in Coventry, Leamington and Warwick Racecourse. I’d love to have gone and done some parkrun tourism. Ah well. I’ll be home tomorrow afternoon and will try and get a run in then. Happy running everyone.
Shame you couldn’t get to a parkrun this morning. Stratford is also a great run as it is flat (and VRBs on hand!). Leamington’s nice but has quite a hill ⛰ Next time 😃
Yes absolutely. First time in an Airport since just before lockdown. So nice to be travelling again. I’d love to be able to explore properly this beautiful Shakespeare country. It looks gorgeous. But I’m stuck in a hotel. Must come back sometime.
Oh Damien! It would have been wonderful to host you at Stratford! What a shame, we have so many nice and varied Parkruns around here. Next time we can give you a tour maybe? 🤞
That’s a real shame Damien - next time, you’ll have to try and persuade your work colleagues to leave a gap of around an hour or two so that you can squeeze in your parkrun. After all, what better way to get in some parkrun tourism and a great work-life balance feature!
Absolutely. I actually could have got away with it this morning but my boss and my bosses bosses boss was here too. 😂 there was about 10 of us on the stand so I would not have been missed.
No PR for me this weekend., not even volunteering. Only one of a handful of Saturday mornings without taking part since I started running. 😢
Why? The cold hit me. 🤧 The one which my whole family had, and there was me thinking I’d be invincible. Nope, I feel rotten so I’m doing the right thing and staying home, all warm. (I did consider going, but Mr Cheeky said don’t be so daft!)
So I’ll be reading your reports to get my running fix! Hope everyone’s done well. 😀
I bet it does. You’re doing the right thing though. Shakes and I had all kind of things planned for this week but she’s come down with it as well so haven’t been able to do any of it. Her birthday tomorrow too - going for lunch at hers instead of the nice restaurant we had planned 🥲
Thanks TC! The first thing I thought when I woke up was noooooo - I’d have to miss PR! Colds take on whole new meaning when they affect our running don’t they? 😩
Yes I remember you saying you’d both had it Dexy. Shame mine made me miss my run, but hopefully me being good and staying home today will mean it goes quickly too. 🤞
Sorry about your cold CC, you are very wise on staying home, I hope it won't be long before you are back running, in the meantime read all those Parkrun reports here on the forum. 😊 🏃🏾
Oh cheeky, I’m so sorry to hear you’ve succumbed to the lurgy - it’s been rife down here but so far I’ve managed to escape it! Mr Cheeky was quite right to persuade you not to go- time to hunker down and make like a couch potato for the day! Hope you feel much better soon!
Bad luck cheeky; Sandie is right, it takes a lot to stop you running. TLC vibes are headed your way. I was pinged by Test and Trace last Sunday when I was out with my 95 year old mum. It was a close contact…..an open air dog walkers coffee meet up, but my PCR was fine as were the two lateral flows I did during the week. Near squeak though.
You will see it off!! It was my mum and the care home which concerned me (although I had done a lateral flow when I picked her up). I did two more lateral flows during the week before meet ups with other friends….can’t be too careful.
Good morning everyone! No parkrun for me today as we are back in France for a week to close the house up for winter. It is an absolutely beautiful but chilly day (had to scrape the windscreen 🥶) so I joined up with my new running buddies from the Eymet Social Running Group for a 8.5k run through the countryside. Gorgeous 😍
That sounds lovely Sandie, if a little on the cool side!
Hi Damien,
Had a great time at Wolverhampton West Park parkrun today. Today was the day I was going to run at a nice slow pace. What an epic fail. I realised at 2km I was knackered and then dragged myself through to the end.
On a positive note I ended up with a PB of 28:29 (on Garmin, still waiting for official timing)
Its so good when you have cheery marshalls - they kept me going to the end so a huge thank you to the volunteering teams today.
Did my local Parkrun, my second time. Husband came too Promised myself I wouldn't overdo it like I did last time, especially as my ankle felt a bit niggly....It was lovely and sunny here if a bit chilly and I felt like I was going quickly. Husband kept to my pace though we didn't talk too much. It's a two lap course and as we approached the halfway point (also the end) the volunteers shouted out they could see the first finishers. Not so encouraging but hey ho it's not a race is it?
Did the second lap and finally it was our turn to finish. I'd set NRC to do a 5k and it told me I'd only done 4.81 but I'll go with the official Parkrun distance thank you very much. Home for a well deserved breakfast - egg, bacon, avocado and hash browns plus toast and home made (not by me) strawberry jam. Checked the Parkrun results - 36:58 for me, a PB husband was 36:50. I was second in my age category, felt pretty good about that until I saw that the fastest was ten and a half minutes faster. Something tells me I'm not even remotely going to challenge her but I don't care, I had a great time.
Morning all. A combination of arthritic shoulder and the monsoon season meant I dodged last Saturday's Parkrun, so I was determined to get out this morning come what may! I dosed myself up with the painkillers my GP had given me before going out, and as I haven't run for 11 days due to the aforementioned shoulder, decided to take it steady today. I knew pretty early on that my PB was in no danger of falling today so I just settled into a steady pace and was content to get round in 28:30. A bit further down the field than previous efforts. But at least the coffee wagon was at the finish line so I treated myself to a cappuccino to help with rehydration...!
Hope those of you who have managed to get out today have had a successful run.
Back at park run for us this week! I’ve just started a new HM plan so the goal today was to try and not run crazy but still run comfortably hard 🤣I stayed ahead of the 30 minute pacer and tried not to catch the 25 minute one.
I almost missed it this morning. I slept through the alarm clock!
It was a mild morning today. No rain but there were wet leaves everywhere. The course was also set up for a cross-country run which was to be happening later in the morning.
I got chatting with a few people whilst waiting for the start. There weren't that many there today, just 52 not counting the tail walkers. As usual, I came in just ahead of half way up the table of finishers.
My third best time here, 16 seconds behind my PB.
Afterwards I spotted a guy wearing a Manchester NHS 10K tee shirt (the race I did on Sunday) and briefly exchanged a few words about how wet it had been last week.
Then went round the local Lidl for a few bits. On returning home had a mini panic as I couldn't find my gloves. I had visions of going back to the park and scouring the area round the finish line. Eventually I found them poking out the back of my top at the waist. I'd been all round the shop without remembering they were there!
Good afternoon Damien, sorry that you couldn't run today because of work commitments, enjoy your run tomorrow.The result of my parkrun this morning came a little later than usual, not as late as 3 pm when I run my 6th parkrun sometime in 2019, better late than never.
This morning I ran my 29th parkrun at the University of Stirling Parkrun (3rd run there) in a time of 31:54, the weather was a little wet but not too bad, I did not get soaked, the heavy rain only came when my friend Keith who now drives me to parkruns was driving me back home, we now seem to be in a rota of three weeks, Dunfermline, Stirling and Drumpellier, this has now been going on since parkruns returned in August, next week it's Drumpellier, so a nice run for me today.
Indeed Beachcomber66, my friend Keith who is also a member of the Thursday morning walking group I attend wanted to do C25K then after he graduated asked me to go with him to a few parkruns on a Saturday morning, so that's the way it's been since parkruns returned in August, Keith also has a part time job on a Monday, Tuesday Wednesday and Friday.
Could be Damien, the man who takes me to parkrun on a Saturday has a part time stressful job working in prisons, he interviews prisoners in their cells ascessing when they can be put on parole or released on a future date, he tells me that the run on a Saturday and the walk on a Thursday De-stresses him from his workload, he is a part time Parole Officer.
Funny you should ask! Today I did my first parkrun 😀 Down on Exmouth seafront. I was pleasantly surprised (shocked!!) to discover I did the whole thing with negative splits, ending with my fastest ever 1K.
I did an 8K along the Exmouth parkrun route (and a bit more) last month. It is lovely there. Sad because we moved Mrs R's mum to a home closer to us that week and probably won't be back for some time.
Oh definitely addictive, Lizcanrun ! Why else would anyone willingly queue up in the damp and cold on a Saturday morning when we could be having a lie-in?
No running this morning but I hope to pop out this afternoon. Katnap and I were shadowing our Event Director today learning the ropes as Run Directors. There is a lot to take in but thankfully it was a fairly uneventful event and I had the pleasure of uploading the results of exactly 300 runners and walkers this week. Earlier on in the week I had great fun playing around on the training system ensuring I beat Vassos Alexander by 20 minutes and putting in a time for myself that Andy Badesley (the current men’s record holder) would be proud of. I can dream… Its worth being an RD just for that experience!
We now have the BOP (Bag of Power) containing all the RD kit that we will hand over to next week’s Run Directors.
Hope you all had lots of fun today at dry Parkruns and that you have wonderful runny weeks! 👍💪👏👏👏
I was talking to myself a lot cheeky, trying to keep the nerves at bay. I think it will get easier but it will be a while before I do the briefing 😱 I bet you’d be fine once you got going, it’s the thinking about it that’s the worst.
Well done RDs-in-training, there’s a lot more involved than you realise isn’t there? You will both be great at it. Someone new volunteered to RD at Southsea this morning so our team is getting stronger now.
Excellent Dexy 👍 I think we’ll be ok. There is a lot to it. We were lucky this week as we had an almost full roster of volunteers and didn’t need to ask round. The DofE volunteers have been returning to bolster the numbers.
Hello damienair, I’m still recovering from a cold but not bad enough to stop me running. In fact it probably helps clear the tubes!
My time was 33:48 with positive splits due to the wind in our face on the 2nd half, and having to take a few walking breaks to blow my nose and catch my breath. I was 2nd in my age group so very happy with that, but hopefully when I’m fully fit I can start aiming for sub 33’ and sub 32 to get back to my PB set in 2019.
Breakfast in The Briny followed with volunteer UpTheStanley , IC recovery walkers Coddfish and Oldgirlruns . Token sorting followed at home so 2 ticks for me and Oldgirlruns today.
Only 19 mph westerly today, so not as strong as an Oldgirlruns wind. 🤣🤣 It would have helped my outward leg timings too of course, but I prefer to have the wind in my face on the outward leg and then get help on the way home. I think I’ll get back to some interval training now the GSR is out of the way.
Well done Dexy. We were supposed to be running at Clevedon today, also on the coast, and judging by the weather this morning I’m not sorry to have missed it!
No run for me today Damien as I’m back on the IC for a bit but I had a good parkwalk with Coddfish and we beat our walking time from last week! We noticed how warm it was in the first half (I nearly took off my buff and fingerless gloves!) but as we rounded the turning cone we went straight into the wind and things were suddenly much cooler! As ever, an excellent breakfast with Dexy5, UTS and Coddfish to finish off an excellent morning!
Hi Damien. Another (not) PR for me today. My achilles continued to make itself felt during the week, so only 1x3k run on Monday. My other foot also started to hurt as it hit the ground when running! 🙄 With time on my hands, I did a bit of revision and found some information about running form. I realised that I had been neglecting this topic for ages, so I set off on today’s run with posture, slight forward lean, tight shoulder blades and “leading with the knees” at the front of my mind. I threw in really low cut ankle socks to avoid irritating the achilles, and a bit of KT on the sore spots on my left achilles and my right foot. I was eventually ready for the off! The run went really well! An effortless 33:32 and my cadence was a little bit up on normal. My achilles tightened up post run but I have iced it, so hopefully it will settle again. Otherwise everything feels good. 🤞 for the coming week.
I was a Funnel Manager today. Stay in your finishing order please! I was going to go out this afternoon but am knackered as one of our neighbours had a noisy party til 3am. So getting to PR for 8.30 was fun. Another 3K tomorrow and maybe it will be me causing the Funnel managers grief next week. Or at least making them say, "hasn't the last one come through yet?"
Back to running at Portsmouth Lakeside parkrun today after a gap of 4 weeks - hooray!! It was a bit muddy around the lake, but otherwise perfect conditions- not too cold and not too windy. Couldn't resist wearing my Great South Run t-shirt, as did several other runners. Was rewarded with my best parkrun time of this year - 29.32. The only way is up!😀
Good morning, I did my 5th Parkrun yesterday and my first at Gorleston cliffs. A PB for me at 37.55. I enjoyed this new course. My usual course is Lowestoft which involves two steep cliff hills and Gorleston only has the one which was a nice relief! Weather was much kinder than last week but still very chilly. Looking forward to going back again next week!
Morning Damien and all. I did a not Park run Friday, although it was on the Parkrun course in the Park. I hadn't run for about 10 days and a friend ran with me who actually does marathons, so a very encouraging running buddy! All went well, the sun was shining and it felt good, although I almost took a tumble over a stray dog! Not a fast 5k at 44mins, but very enjoyable and I'm quite surprised that I don't seem to have any aches next day. I will try to get out more regularly, but am spreading my energy across various other things I take part in.
I did my first ever parkrun yesterday, local (15 minute walk from home, good warmup walk). It was harder work than usual (maybe I thought group running would be easier). I was slow (40,10) but not the slowest for my age group (I'm 55). I found the fact that our course (Bedford) is a 3-lap affair a bit difficult, as when I was half a lap in I was overtaken by the speedies. I know they weren't laughing at me but it felt demoralising. I kept going, pretty constant pace - I ran it all, and met some nice people who were encouraging, and I plan to continue!
Well done KT. I would love to get near 40 minutes. A few stone less off me and I might get closer!My PR is 30 minutes walk away so I jog about a third/half of it as it is a great way to warm up and partly get rid of those Toxic 10. Plus I am often late getting up! So glad you liked it. 99% of ALL parkrunners are very encouraging so I hope you go next week. Don't be upset if you don't beat this week's time as I expect your adrenaline levels were super high. If like me you set off a bit too fast - even though you knew it at the time! On the other hand, don't be surprised to get that important first sub 40 minute PR. If only....
Very well done on your run. Don’t compare yourself to anyone else. Your 40 minute effort is just as important and valid as one of the speedy runners getting an 18 minute finish time. My local parkrun is a 3 lap course too. I always get lapped. I don’t care, because it is not a race, just a run. And I love it. It’s a lovely way to kick off the weekend and make new friends.
Congratulations on doing your first parkrun. Reading your post has just made a light come on in my head following the 3 lap course I completed the weekend.
As I was running, every now and then a real speedster would zoom past me. I can recall thinking it quite bizarre that they would start at the rear of the field and then zoom to the front.
Youve just made the penny drop that they were in fact lapping me 🤣🤣🤣🤣
I hadn't even given it a thought. I just thought they had decided to up their pace a bit for the next part of the run 🤣🤣🤣🤣
I did my 10th parkrun. Managed to equal my personal best to the second , was disappointed not to be a few seconds under though! Turns out I did push my last 1k a bit too hard (trying to catch someone who overtook me). Finished the run and then stood retching by a tree 🤢
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Promised myself I wouldn't overdo it like I did last time, especially as my ankle felt a bit niggly....It was lovely and sunny here if a bit chilly and I felt like I was going quickly. Husband kept to my pace though we didn't talk too much. It's a two lap course and as we approached the halfway point (also the end) the volunteers shouted out they could see the first finishers. Not so encouraging but hey ho it's not a race is it?
week 2 begins! 
