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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Almorr sent me a message a couple of days ago to let me know that his good friend Keith passed away. Keith and Alan did parkrun together and out of respect for his dear friend Alan will not be doing a parkrun today. I am going to dedicate my parkrun this morning on Alans behalf to the memory of Keith. Our sympathies and best wishes are with you Alan.
Thanks for your sympathy RunWillie and W&S, no, I wasn't at parkrun this morning, however, I did manage to run a short 3K around the park near to where I live, all negative splits which cheered me up a little after a rather sad week.
Thanks Newbierunner84, it was very sad and quite a shock to me and everyone else at the walking group when we all heard the news about Keith on Thursday.
He was a great friend to me and to the other members of the Thursday morning walking group, but Keith was the only person, apart from me who ran on a Saturday morning and walked on a Thursday.
I’m so sorry to hear about your friend Al, it must have been such a shock for you. You’ll miss him at Parkrun but I’m sure that one day you’ll also be able to smile and think fondly of the runs you did together. Thinking of you at this unhappy time.
Thanks for your sympathy Oldgirlruns, it was such a shock to me and everyone else at the walking group when a member of staff at the local leisure centre told us that Keith died upstairs in the gym, no one knows what workout he was doing at the time he collapsed, he told me about a month ago that he used weights and ran a lot on the treadmill in the gym.Certainly I will miss him at parkrun on Saturday as well as the walks on a Thursday morning,
Thanks CC, of course I will miss him on a Saturday morning at parkrun and everyone else will miss him at our Thursday morning walking group, I didn't go to parkrun today but hopefully I'll get to one next weekend.
Hi damienair & Park runners, & (not) park runners,
It was too hot to wait for park run as it was over 35 degrees by 8am.
I didn’t know how I would go on our (not) park run as I’ve been wiped out since having my booster on Monday. I was happy with 29:33 today. Hubby got 25:44. Couldn’t get any of the boys out of bed to run with us.
It was cool (5°) but sunny at Portsmouth Lakeside this morning and 229 parkrunners turned out. No anglers by the lake today as apparently many of the fish have died from an unknown cause - it may be algae but is being investigated by the Environment Agency. My time was 29.05 - 11 seconds over my post restart PB, but what's that between friends! 😀
Good morning Parkrunners! A beautiful sunny, chilly morning here on the east coast. 323 runners at Lowestoft today. After a sprint finish I knocked a second off my PB and got round in 36.27. Really pleased with that. Nothing like a PB to keep you smiling for the rest of the day! 😎
Solo PR today as my daughter is in London. She’s around next weekend she thinks, so I promised to sample our newest local PR (Marine Parade in Weston-super-Mare) with her.
Instead I went to Burnham and Highbridge PR, also on the coast. The wind was biting and was disproportionately a headwind, even on an out and back course! 🙄 But at least it was sunny ☀️
I doubled up and ran the NRC intervals run on the HM plan. It was fun and I’ll do it again. 20 x 30 second intervals at mile and 5k pace, with minute recoveries when I simply slowed up a bit. So my time was 35:40 Garmin, 35:54 official (notoriously slow start at Burnham.
I went to do some parkrun tourism this morning with my fellow parkrun tourist Petula. We drove to Cabinteely parkrun and thankfully the rain stayed away although it was very windy and cold 🥶. The course was a 3 lapper, 1 small lap and 2 longer laps. It was a very hilly course and was hard going, so I was very happy with my 32:03 finish time. I felt strong today and know I could have run a good bit fast if it was a flat course. Petula finished in around 30 minutes. My thoughts were with you Almorr, and the memory of your friend Keith as I ran today. After our run Petula and I went for a coffee and blueberry muffin. It was a well earned coffee.
Good run for you Damien, thanks for your thoughts regarding Keith, I also love a blueberry muffin, yummy, I did manage to run a short 3K this morning just after 9 o'clock around the park near to where I live, I got negative splits which cheered me up a little after a rather sad week.
Thanks Dexy. I decided to try and run everyday for the month of February. I'm taking my time and not pushing myself too much, however I feel like I am getting stronger and a little fitter. I am hoping that by the end of February i will be able to run a 30 minute parkrun again.
My regular haunt of Chadderton Hall this morning. The weather was slightly raw. OK if you were moving but if you were standing around it was cold.
A slightly larger field than usual of 78. I said Hi to a few of the regulars.
Today we had a first time parkrunner with a difference: he is blind and was being accompanied by a guide runner. Special instructions were given. The guide would be running on his left and anyone overtaking the pair should do to the left of the guide runner.
And we were off! I'm further down the pack than usual, and it's bunched up and impassible. I bide my time until some gaps open up.
The lady with the chocolate lab is having trouble running with him. The dog is particularly easily distracted today.
I slowly move up the ranks, passing a dozen or more. I joke with the marshalls. To one who is continuously pointing out a right turn, "In event of emergency, the exit is..." To one at the bottom of the big climb, I ask if there's Kendal Mint Cake at the top.
Unusually, most of us were lapped about half way round the second lap by two fast runners. More normally, this happens during the third lap. They finish with times of 19'18" and 19'24".
On the final straight, there isn't a straight. A group of six walkers is moving slowly in a bunch on "the racing line" and I have to run wide round them.
The first scanner can't handle the QR code on my watch, so I rummage for my official barcode card. His phone doesn't like that, either. I go to the other one, who has no problems with the QR code.
After, I chat with a few of the others, until I start to get chilled, then bid my goodbyes and get back to the car just in time for it to start raining. Towel off, put clean towel on car seat, put on overjacket, go to nearby Lidl for pastries and ice cream, then go home.
My official time today was 29'22", ranking 27th out of 78.
Good afternoon Damien and all. Al’s news makes running today seem all the more important. We’re running for Al as well as for Keith.
I actually ran at Stratford today for the first time in a few weeks, I even treated myself to a lie-in, which was lovely. We ran the alternative route as the path is still being finished but that gave me the excuse to finally run in my Christmas present from Katnap , my Inov8 trail shoes. It is hoped that the path will be finished early next week so the route will be back to it’s speedy tarmac self.
It didnt seem that cold to begin with but a strong, cold wind kicked off just before the run which really dropped the temperature and made the second half of the loop quite hard work to push against. The cold wind on your chest can really take it out of you.
As usual, I didn’t think I was doing that well, especially as loads of people overtook me towards the end, but it wasn’t so bad at 28:35, especially in my new shoes, but I’m really not a trail runner, give me straight tarmac any day.
A fellow HU member introduced himself to me whilst I was hanging around at the end getting my bearings and breath back. Unfortunately I cannot for the life of me remember his HU name, so if he could message me I’d really appreciate it, sorry - I blame lack of oxygen getting to the old brain cells 🤪
I’m very proud to say we had two kittens timekeeping today: youngest was with us and eldest was at his local in Liverpool for the first time. Hopefully the first of many visits there 👍 I’m off to sort the tokens out now 😀
A lie in and new shoes , what a day TC! Well done for your time as well, especially as it wasn’t on your favourite surface! You’ve clearly got your kittens well trained, well done them for volunteering - I hope you can join the elder kitten for his PR before too long!
Thank you 🤗 Yes, I’m hoping so too OG. I did sort of make it a fait accompli by emailing them yesterday to introduce him. I was honest and copied him in so it wasn’t a big surprise but sometimes they need a little nudge 😁😉
Hello everyone, like many others, we had a lovely sunny morning but a biting SW wind which garmin said was 4mph as opposed to gusts of 25 mph and 4C.
Sadly our loudspeaker had been removed from our storage cupboard at the local gym so our poor RD had to raise her voice to 404 participants.
I was flagging in the wind in k5 but was geed along by 2 lovely ladies who said to run with them. So I tailed them right over the finish line. 34:12 parkrun time , 33:38 Garmin.
No low flying crows to contend with this week, thank goodness. 🦅 but a group of Sean’s (correction: swans 🦢) flew over my head to join the party at Canoe Lake.
UpTheStanley had pulled a muscle at hockey last week so this week, when he should have run, he did barcode scanning instead. His battery ran out towards the end so my phone came into play too.
Oldgirlruns was also there and will be posting her own brilliant run . She joined us in a very busy restaurant for breakfast. A great start to the day as always.
Parkrun #3 for me. The venue is getting more popular with 310 parkrunners today. Rather chilly and I felt cold before we started but by the end seemed over-dressed. I did try to go for it and was pleased with a PB of 22:42. However, before I can seem too smug I was overtaken by a chap pushing a double buggy. All kudos to him and goodness knows what his time would have without the children on board.
Hello everyone! I have slept really badly this week, it was very cold, frosty and windy this morning, so I’m afraid I went back to bed and skipped parkrun this week. Mr S and I are off to Spain in the campervan on Tuesday (the joy of being retired - only decided to go last week!) so my next parkrun will be on 12th March, as there aren’t any in Spain. Still, I am looking forward to some hopefully warm seaside runs over the next month 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻
Thank you 😊 We only have a vague route in mind and nothing booked, but hopefully not necessary in February. Barcelona, Granada (the Alhambra), Ronda, Cordoba and Gibraltar are definites, but otherwise we’ll go where the mood takes us 😃
Ooh but it was fresh on our seafront this morning damienair! Heading out was lovely in the sunshine but as soon as we turned for home at the cone, crikey that breeze was chill! No Coddfish or Mr C today so I decided it was time to combine some C25K (Revisited) with Parkrun. I set off for a 5 minute brisk walk before doing 2 of the week 3 runs, crossing the line with an official parkrun time of 50:49. Now, that was only 50 seconds faster than my walking time last week but as it included a slight deviation for, ahem, convenience, I’m going to accept it quite happily and thank the Council for keeping our conveniences convenient🙄! I came in at 390 out of 404 which is fine for me and it felt so good to actually be running at Parkrun again! And, as ever, an excellent breakfast with Dexy5 and UpTheStanley to finish the morning!
Marshalling and token sorting today. Tooting was a less Popular Front today, less than 500 runners. A bit chilly. But warmed up a lot for my 4.3K run at 11:30. Next week will be my first PR for two months.
Have been quite ill this week (fortunately testing negative) so wasn't sure whether I was gonna be just walking one or if I could get a time I was happy with given I'm still having trouble with clotty nose. Picked woodbank as I'd not been there since December 18th. Had a little warmup try of the incline up under the bridge before 9am and was able to just about keep running up the whole stretch so reckoned I could perhaps try for a time under 30 minutes. Another decently busy one we had 174 people out today. Managed to finish dead on 29 minutes but it was such a huge struggle coming up that incline twice. Not sure how I was able to do 15k on Thursday fairly easily cause this was definitely the toughest I've ever found a simple 5k parkrun (although surprisingly, my heart rate stayed in the steady and easy pace sections on my garmin so there's obviously nothing wrong with my heart anymore (resting heart rate had been elevated during the week when I was sickest)).
Back to lyme park next week so better hope my lungs are up for some super inclines by then.
Thank goodness I was able to go so far over my January target of 200k as this lowly 20k week could have seriously hurt my ambitious target for this year!
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week 2 begins! 
