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 not running at a parkrun today. But I will be volunteering as timer at my local parkrun and this will be my 21st volunteer day. I hope you all have a lovely parkrun day and weekend.
Oh it’s fine Dexy. You pair up with another timer and double check each other during the run. So if you have tapped the phone on the 70th finisher, your fellow timer should also be at 70 and the person handing out the finish tokens should be ready to hand out token number 71.So the 2 timers and finish token person work together and check each other. It’s a lovely volunteering job, nice to be saying well done to everyone crossing the line.
Yes I think the virtual volunteer has made it easier than the old clicker. I’ve done the number checker role running between the time keepers and the finish tokens to make sure they are in step. Our funnel is so long that they can’t talk to each other.
Give it a go Dexy5 nice easy role with the app, so long as you kill the display / lock up your phone as soon as the run starts (else you will find stray finishers on it when you come to finish runner 1), and put it in a plastic bag if it might rain.
Definitely. If we do it when UpTheStanley is RD there will be no embarrassment if it goes wrong (which it won’t). I will be chasing down my 200 not long after you have your 100 and hopefully running parkrun by then (successfully completed Garmin’s 3 x (1minute walk - 7 minute run) today by slowing down a bit. Next 3 runs in the programme are 1 mile, 1,5 miles, then a repeat of the interval run.
Hi damienair & park runners, and (not) park runners,
I love park run but we’re on our fifth consecutive day of temperatures over 40C 🥵 so we ran a (not) ParkRun early to beat the heat! Hubby and no. 2 son shot off at 4.56 pace which is far too fast for me. Here are my more sedate splits.
5.52, 5.48, 5.53, 5.45, 5.51
Garmin was happy and put me back up into superior which I’m sure will be gone by Monday 🤣
This was taken after our run at 7am. ParkRun was at 8am and it was already over 30C
Excellent run for you today RunWillie, especially in that 30C heat, in the UK the temperature has also been around the 30/40 range, but in Fahrenheit, not Centigrade, I would prefer to run in 30F, not 30C, this morning I ran my 34th parkrun in a temperature of 7C/45F.
When I first read your post RW, I read it that you personally had a temperature of 40C (😳) so I thought your going out and running those splits was amazing! Having now read it properly, I’m still impressed with them! Hope it cools down a bit for you!
Not sedate! Mine today were only a little faster: 5'58", 5'33", 5'44", 5'37", 5'34".
Because of the many corners and tree cover at my local parkrun, my watch always under-records the distance by about 500m, and drops my VO₂Max accordingly. (Strava using the phone's GPS receiver gets the distance right.)
Good morning everybody! Minus 3 and very frosty here but a glorious crisp winter morning so I headed off to Market Rasen with fingers crossed that it wouldn’t be cancelled again as this was my first parkrun for 6 weeks. In luck, 114 hardy runners! I am still struggling with post covid fitness, so a rather pedestrian 33.57, but I didn’t stop. Onward and upward 😃
Well done Sandie, great run! Just think of the summer heat. You’ll be happy about today’s temperature.🙏🏻 Your Covid unfitness Is only a shade slower than my all time 5k PB by the way! 😂😂
Haha! I always think that when Tailchaser says she had rather a slow run 😂 Definitely would rather run in the cold than the heat. Not looking forward to training for a September half 😬
Glad you are coming back to health Sandie1961 and hopefully there are no long term after effects. Awful disease. I met up with someone recently who had Covid in November and is still struggling with his sense of smell - apparently it smells as if there is cigarette smoke everywhere - which sounds awful to this never smoker.
That must be awful! Strangely, I had a runny nose and a tickly throat for 4 days, but otherwise felt fine. It just seems to have sapped my energy. I’m sure it will wear off and I’ll be back to normal soon. Mind you, this cold weather doesn’t help!
Stratford was cancelled again today due to path widening works along our route, so finally we did our NENDY at Warwick Racecourse. It was a bit of a HU meet-up in the end with both Shake-and-run and Windoze being there.
It’s an odd, crescent shaped out and back with a hill at the far end and a muddy off road bit at the start, the rest is on path. Shakes and I had done the Reindeer Run there early last month so we knew the hill already and it’s not so bad.
Always happy to get a sub 30 tourist run and this was a shade under 29 minutes, so I’m happy. I should have taken it slow as it’s the 4th Winter Series run tomorrow but I just can’t do it 🤣
Yes, our new NENDY is the one that had Vassos’s ‘Puddle of Doom’, but apparently it doesn’t have it any more 🤨Thank you - all ready to rumble, just need to get the trainers on 👍
Good conditions this morning at Portsmouth Lakeside - only a small amount of mud! Progress continues with my best parkrun time since the restart - sub 29 (28.54) and 95th out of 208. Onwards and upwards! 😀
Oh dear! I'd set the alarm for 7.30am but the snooze button gremlin attacked, I overslept and didn't get out of bed until 8.20am. (Not getting to bed until after 1.30am last night had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with that, of course...)
A mad scramble with minimal faffage, and I was out of the door at 8.40am, arriving at the park about 8.50am.
Good running conditions: cool and slightly damp.
It somehow seemed busier than usual, more than the tallied 76 finishers.
Several were running with dogs today. There was one very well behaved one who seemed to be used to the routine, and one chocolate lab who really didn't have his mind on it.
I did my usual trick of holding back at the start then after a couple of minutes gradually moving up the field. I passed several runners who were new to the course, had peaked early and had to walk parts of the later laps.
There was one guy who passed me at one point with a very high cadence, who sounded a bit like a steam train. We passed each other a few times during the run.
I finished half way down the table as usual, 36 out of 76, with a second best time of 28'50".
I hung around chatting for about twenty minutes afterwards before I started to get cold and made my goodbyes.
Thank you Dexy. Yes just 4 more to go. I feel guilty doing parkrun tourism sometimes and a stint of volunteering helps. I usually volunteer once every 5-6 runs. I’ll be back doing some tourism again next weekend.
Woohoo, back to Wales for Jenny and I. We love Severn Bridge PR and it’s our consistent favourite, especially seeing the pleading Eastville messages for more volunteers otherwise it would be the B course again. Didn’t want to risk that. Come on guys, step up and volunteer, please! (Think they had enough in the end, but another 11th hour scenario 🙄). I’m marshalling next week. 😇
Anyway, perfect conditions for Severn Bridge today. Next to no wind, and bright sunshine. I didn’t PB, but I was pleased with my 34:55 Garmin time (35:08 official). Jenny came in at 30:31 official time, and we’ve both decided to gun for PBs on this course some time in the next few weeks/months. It’s the best bet for one of all the PR choices we have.
How beautiful cheeky- I’m definitely coming to do that one with you in spring. We had to plead for volunteers too this week. Now that we have 3 parkruns in our area to cover, I hope that more runners will step up to help out. Even if people did it one or twice a year it would help.
I am now the keeper of the tokens so I replace the missing tokens and prepare them for the following week. It takes a job from the RD.
It’s wonderful Coddfish . Gentle incline up, gentle incline back again, usually with lovely views. Interesting in strong winds though, but you know all about those! 💨
Good afternoon Damien, this morning I completed my 34th parkrun, No. 20 at Dunfermline in a time of 32.55, always nice to get a sub 33 minutes time at my home parkrun as there are a few hills on the course, there was a man who will be 80 next week who ran his 100th Parkrun today, he of course got the loudest cheer at the end of his run, I am sure everyone on this forum will wish him a very happy 80th birthday.
I wish all the very best for your sub 33 mins next week.
Last week I told you about a YouTube video of Drumpellier Parkrun, today I ran at my home parkrun of Dunfermline, I noticed that there are two videos, the first video, taken in October this year, it is
"Dunfermline Parkrun " 7.35, there is a female commentary,
The other, taken in April 2018 by the same man as last week is
Well done Al, great running and your well on your way to that red 50 T-Shirt. Well done to that gentleman too, what a great way to celebrate your 80th Birthday.
Hello damienair and friends, it was cloudy, cold and still at Southsea today. Our 3rd Portsmouth parkrun (Great Salterns) also opened quietly today which meant our numbers were down to 427 which is much better than last week’s 532.
UpTheStanley was a floating volunteer to support our new RD, Mr Coddfish and I were running and Oldgirlruns and Coddfish were walking as they are running on non parkrun days as they increase time and distance.
This was a very enjoyable run which had me and another runner sprinting in together at the the finish line for my fastest parkrun of this year 33:16 (32:43 Garmin time). I also crossed 16 seconds off my stopwatch bingo leaving 10 numbers to go. 93 runs down now so I am looking forward to earning my black T-shirt by Easter.
No parkrun is complete without breakfast so We all headed off to the Southsea Beach Cafe and I tucked into French toast and cappuccino . Heaven.
Definitely a trail shoes run Jonathan, if the Billy trail was anything to go by this week. We should try it as a group one day when it’s drier and UpTheStanley isn’t committed to hockey/Southsea parkrun .
Definitely one to try when the ground is dry - trail, grass etc plus 280 parkrunners doesn’t make for a great experience for those of us unfortunate enough to be near the back.
Congratulations on completing your fastest parkrun of this year Dexy5, well done, I have posted another post here telling you how my parkrun went today.
My first parkrun today. What have I been missing! Splits of 5:12, 4:52, 4:50, 4:41 and 4:35 with an official finish time of 24:14. Well pleased that I finished, didn't fall over or get lost! I think this could become addictive.
Congratulations on your first parkrun and wow you did it in style. Brilliant running and brilliant finish time. It’s a great way to kick off the weekend and yes it gets very addictive.
Hi Damienair, a quick report from me today. I walked parkrun with Coddfish again and as our hips improve (hers new, mine just plain grumbly) we’re getting faster - 1hr 2 min on 1 Jan down to 51:50 today. Although I confess to a bit of a sprint as we got close to the finish and I decided I just had to get past the 2 walkers who’d just passed us and who we’d passed earlier on! Tut tut but it had to be done. We’re both getting back into running again, I’ve just redone Week 1 of C25K, so in a few weeks we’ll be incorporating our recovery runs into Parkrun - I’ll miss our walks and chats but I’m looking forward to actually running at Parkrun again!
It seemed pretty sprinty to me Oldgirlruns as you left me in the dust. Admittedly the walking shoes and walking poles I was using were a bit of an impediment to my attempt to follow you, but you managed it in a ski jacket!
Hi all, 9th Parkrun for me yesterday and 7th at Lowestoft. Beautiful day but very cold and the promenade was so slippery! The first 700m was pretty dicey! I knew after getting through that it wasn’t a PB day! 37.41 for me which was fine given the conditions and my dodgy calf muscle. After I got through the finishing funnel, the RD was calling for another scanner on his megaphone as the queue had got long so I jumped on scanning and earned a volunteer credit too! Bonus!
Well I did it my first park run!!! Danson Park Bexley. I walked to the park and at first thought there was nobody there and then I found the start and gradually crowds turned up.
There were a few newbies like me one of them had never even run before and just turned up to have a go brave or foolish? I blathered on to him about C25k so hopefully he might get better prepared. I past him after the first lap but never saw him at the finish.
I didn’t get my best time but it’s a narrow path round the park with an incline from the start, and was stuck behind people and their dogs so had to keep upping my pace to get round them and find a gap which completely set me off my usual pace. I also didn’t switch on mr Strava who kindly tells me my pace and stops me going too fast.
I know for next time to get more towards the middle of the pack, not sure if it’s for me at the moment but will give it another few goes.
Congratulations on your first parkrun. Don't worry about position or finish times. parkrun is not a race, but a lovely free community event. It can also be a great way though to work on improving your fitness and running. I've made some lovely friends through parkrun. You can just turn up and run or jog, or you can turn up and try to beat your previous best time. Give it a few more tries. I wasn't sure my first time either but 87 parkruns and 21 volunteer days later I'm hooked.
You will get to know the runners whom are similar to your pace and even a little faster. You can stick close to them and it will help. As you say, perhaps next time start in the middle of the pack. Also nice sometimes to pop along without putting yourself under any pressure and just enjoy a nice run in the park with others.
Was back home at lyme park for the 9th time. Decided to walk up the first ascent as I'm taking my steady runs super easy to prep for the stockport 10k next Sunday. Just about got round the rest of the course under 30 minutes. Next saturday I'll be plodding a nice flat one in manchester in an attempt to get mum (getfitordietrying) to participate in one at last.
I'm told Alexandra Park, Platt Fields (South Manchester), Fletcher Moss and Wythenshawe are flattish ones.
Sale Water Park has a few inclines but is generally flat. The big problem is that the route is very stony. Worsley is mostly on an old railway track (with a brief excursion into woods).
On the North side of Manchester, the courses tend to be hilly. Chadderton and Watergate are hard. Heaton Park's current route is not as hard as I'm told it used to be.
I had a really good ParkRun yesterday, was pleased with my results, 26.58, although not my quickest, it was pretty slippy, with various patches of ice in places where a couple of runners did actually fall. I read somewhere about trying to breath in via the mouth rather than the nose, as it said that it gets more oxygen into the lungs. I found it a bit difficult at first and can't swear that it made that much difference but worth a try. Don't know if anyone else has tried that method??
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