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.
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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Good morning everybody and happy Platinum Jubilee weekend to those of us celebrating. Yesterday Shake-and-run and I with our respective OHs went to the Midlands Air Festival at Ragley Hall. Sadly, the mass air balloon ascent was cancelled due to the wind but we saw some great displays including the incomparable Red Arrows. Plan was to meet up with Katnap and TailChaser this morning for Stratford parkrun. However, best laid plans and all that, we got an email just after 8.00 to say it had been cancelled due to a fire on the course. Undeterred, Shakes and I jumped in the car and headed to Warwick, along with hordes of Stratford folk. The run is an out and back round the racecourse, with a tricky little hill half way, which you run up and down both ways! It was also rather windy. Anyway, official time 32.48 (Strava time 32.20 as a bit of a queue to get through the start) and I was 255/355. Now for the post run coffee in Stratford with Tailchaser 😂
Hello all. This morning I ran at a parkrun which is just 15 minutes from home. Porchfields parkrun is in Trim and is a 2 lap course with a large Norman Castle and a medieval Abbey in the background. I had a cold during the week with a light cough so decided to bring Ruby our Cocker Spaniel on her first parkrun and just take it easy. There were plenty of stops along the route to say hello to other doggies, sniff and even fit in a bathroom break. 🫣 Thankfully I was prepared with a couple of poopie bags. It was my second time to run this course after being at the inaugural parkrun some 36 weeks ago. And despite Ruby stopping a few times along the way I managed a PB for this course of 32:54. I’ll be able to pop back and beat that some day. Maybe even with Ruby. Ruby is resting now, her excess energy which she had at 7:00am this morning is burnt off, but she’ll be bouncing off the walls again later. 😀
I ran my second ever Parkrun with gorgeous Tasha99 and Beachcomber66 who I had the pleasure to meet for the first time. A gentle run and chat in 36 minutes. Loved it 🙏
Parkrun #19 for me. Perfect weather and a light breeze. The organisers had arranged pacers for those aiming for a specific time. Since I've been showing gradual improvement I took the bait. It turned out I just couldn't hang on to the 20 min pacer and ended up with 20:15 which still was a PB for me. Close but no cigar.
Good afternoon Damien, this morning in brilliant sunshine I ran my 46th parkrun at Drumpellier Parkrun in a time of 32.06, I am quite happy with my time, my age grading was 60.07%, however, looking back to my first parkrun at Drumpellier on 21 September 2019 in similar weather my time then was 30.55 which is quicker than today but my age grading that day was lower at 59.55%, I like looking at age grading because that means in a sense I was a bit better in running despite not just as fast as 3 years ago. 😊 🏃🏾 👍
Thanks Oldfloss, I was particularly pleased about my age grading being higher than 3 years ago dispite my time being a little slower, it was a very friendly parkrun this morning, one of the other runners asked me my age and congratulated me when I told her that I only started running when I was 72, I mentioned C25K was the training course I did.
👍 🏃🏾 62.85% is my highest age grading at any parkrun I have attended, that particular run was ran at Drumpellier Parkrun on 4th September 2021 in a time of 30.09.
I agree with you regarding getting a 60% or more age grading at parkrun, I have had 6, all at Drumpellier Parkrun, non at my Home Parkrun which is Dunfermline, the highest at Dunfermline is 59.87%. that's because they say Dunfermline is the 8th hilliest parkrun in Scotland.
PS, I am glad that I didn't run at Dunfermline parkrun today, the result only came through at EIGHT at night (8 PM) due to gremlins in the parkrun Website, that's an awful long time to wait for your result for the 128 running there today.
Yes, it took many hours after the text message before the email came through, and then a few hours more for the website to show the results. I don't usually post up my Strava track for a parkrun until I have the full details to add to the description.
Strava had a glitch, too for me. My phone recorded the run using Strava, but my watch did also (belt and braces), and the two recordings were fighting each other. I had to uninstall and reinstall Strava to restore some sanity.
At least now everything is OK, as far as I could see it was only two parkruns that the results didn't come on time, there were probably more.
I always get my result from parkrun by e-mail, usually not long after I get home, when I went by car I usually had to wait, sometimes over a hour before my result came through, I just hope that the problems we had today with the late results from some parkruns doesn't happen again, I don't have Strava, I just use Mapmyrun and my Android phone for all my times when running.
Impressive if you can get close to 60 on a hilly parkrun. I’ve hit 60 twice this year, once at Market Rasen Racecourse and once at Doddington Hall, both of which are almost flat!
I might as well register Severn Bridge as my home PR nowadays because that’s where Jenny and I went again this morning! I love it, and the fact that there was a frisky NE wind this morning didn’t deter us either. 💨💨
My watch is doing nothing to endear itself to me, and refused point blank to pick up GPS until over a km in. Luckily Strava was compliant. 🙏🏻
Some bonkers times today. I knew I’d be keeping it steady as I’m on the tail end of a rather pesky chesty cold, so my Strava time of 36:07 seemed reasonable. Jenny’s Garmin time was 28:59 and she was thrilled. However when the PR times came in, mine was downgraded to 36:40 (and I was closer to the front than normal so that was bit odd) and hers upgraded to 28:04! She thinks there was a bit of token shenanigans going on (she heard an ‘oops’ from a hander-outer), so she’s not claiming a PB.
It didn’t matter. We had a blast as usual! I’ll be volunteering next week as we’re out for a 60th b’day dinner on Friday ….. 🥂 🍻 🍷 🍹
Very well done to both of you. I’d love to try that parkrun sometime. Sorry it has taken me so long to reply. We had extended family over for a BBQ and drinks on Saturday afternoon and evening. Everyone stayed over too, so it was a very busy couple of days.
Hello... another unplanned run this morning, but a chance too good to miss. I was going to d a 5K coastal path run but....!
Low tide, sun shining and a light wind. So a (NOT) Park RUN, on a beach... not THE beach... not PLAS HELI, the Saharan Stamina Soaker.... but a beach just below me. PERFECT!
IT was BLOOMING terrific.. I was FIRST off, led all the way and FIRST to cross the FINISH LINE... because there was just ME... It was fabulous... !
Flat and unblemished most of the way out... more stony and a trifle damp on the return journey... But just super... Strava said 35.46.... NRC and CB said 36.23. I don't really mind which, I just got to run the beach which I have been waiting to run for a while !
Great run for you today Oldfloss, glad you enjoyed it, its strange that those times are different on different devices, anyway, the main thing is to enjoy the run and not to bother too much about the time.
Bit of an odd one. Edinburgh HM last Sunday with a PB of 1:59:05. Went for first post-HM run on Tuesday evening; a fairly sedate 10.5k, not remarkable in any way, everything felt fine. Left ankle felt a bit "twingey" on Wednesday morning and could barely walk on it by the time I went to bed. Thursday morning, ankle sore, instep burning, convinced I had the dreaded PF. Popped a couple of anti-inflammatories, bound myself up in a tubigrip and it was starting to ease by the time I went to bed. Yesterday a wee bit niggly, but nothing worse than usual. Today, fine so decided to chance it. Ran my traditional 'Parkrun (plus a bit)' of 13.75k with no issues at Lochend Woods and then along the cliff path in Dunbar, with the Parkrun bit coming in at 28:39 which is pretty typical for that event.
So, yeah, good to get it under my belt on what was a wonderfully warm, sunny, Saturday morning, particularly when less than 48 hours ago I was looking at an extended period on the IC.
So happy that you recovered quickly from your injury and a big congratulations on getting a sub 2 hours HM at Edinburgh on Sunday, I was hoping for a time like that last Wednesday when running 10 Miles, let alone a HM,.
Our weather was much better than forecast , thankfully. Thunderstorms weather warning cancelled. Wind gusting to 37 ENE but dry. UpTheStanley had the pleasure of being RD combined with a visit from Kelly Holmes 7 weeks ago. Today he was responsible for the Jubilee and Thank You weekend. We put bunting down the funnel and encouraged red, white, blue and purple clothing . I wore a tiara too!
His loyal motley crew all volunteered. Me as timekeeper for the first time with Coddfish , on finish tokens Oldgirlruns , and as tailwalker Mr Coddfish .
It was definitely a better option for me to volunteer this week. I had the the second dose of chemo pumped into me on Wednesday and the steroids they give you for the first few days to help manage sickness haven’t sat well with me this time. They are making me buzzy and hyper, causing high heart rate and insomnia, so much so I managed all of 2.5 hours sleep last night and had to fall back on the trusty folding chair for time keeping today. It had served me well during the pre-hip surgery timekeeping sessions last summer. As I have had no nausea I have ditched the last remaining dose and am hoping to come down enough to sleep tonight. I will talk to the medics about reducing the dose or even eliminating them on the next cycle. I tried to run through it yesterday but just couldn’t stop my heart rate soaring. Glad it was a lower volume of runners than usual for Dexy5 ’s first time timekeeping.
I’m going to do a post later because this week from last Saturday to today has just been…silly. So I’m not going to go into too much detail but suffice to say I am still trying to do my 104th parkrun as Stratford was cancelled due to a hedge being on fire near the start line. Here was my morning:
I was down for Event Day Course Check today and it’s probably the quickest EDCC ever as I spotted it as I walked into the park. Shame I and all the other volunteers won’t get their credits, together with all the work Katnap put in during the week as he was RD today. We suspect some ‘kids’ were having a bit of ‘fun’. So they stopped 300+ others from having their fun, including all the tourists who were staying nearby at the racecourse for the caravan show and the other tourists who were visiting for the Jubilee celebrations. Thanks guys…
That’s me done for 3 weeks now as I’m not able to run at parkrun again until the 25th June 🙄
The hedge looks pretty damaged in the corner Coddfish but if something can be grown through it to cover it up then it should be ok. The tennis club on the other side seem to be totally unaffected thankfully.
It could have JP. If it had been the autumn/winter then that part of the tennis club is covered in an inflatable bubble. If that had caught then the whole of that area would have gone up, possibly with people playing tennis in the bubble. Doesn’t bear thinking about. As it is, the whole long line of hedge could have gone up.
Yes, we got the news out super quick which was really good. Unfortunately Katnap and I are getting a bit of a reputation for cancellations as our ratio is quite high!
It looked awful today Damien, that entire part of the hedge is black. The benefit of it raining so hard this morning was they couldn’t do the same to Juniors.
It was fine this morning and the temperature was mild... except for the headwind blowing from the NE. Very busy today with 101 runners. A month ago there were only 17.
I arrived about 8.45am. The car park was nearly full, which took me by surprise.
I didn't recognise any of the volunteers today. I knew not to look for Oldfloss as she'd forecast it was going to be busy and was going to do her own thing in Criccieth. It's half term week for many and a double bank holiday weekend for everyone.
A line in the sand had been drawn as the start. I kept back. My only aim today was to run all of it and not need to walk.
The outward leg was made harder by there being a headwind. It took me a while to find the most comfortable stretch of sand to run on. As there were few landmarks to go off, I was looking at my watch to check my pace wasn't too fast. It took ages to get into a steady comfortable rhythm.
The sand around the turnaround point was particularly chewed up and I quipped "Can I go for a lie down now?" as I passed the marshal (and dog) guarding the cone.
The return leg was much easier as the wind was now from behind, and we were going about the same speed as the wind was blowing. The sand slightly further up the beach was also much firmer and I had found a good rhythm too. Somehow I overtook a lady in a yellow top.
I plodded the rest of the way. There were marshals at about 2.5km and 1km from the finish.
During the final 100m the sand got much softer and harder to run on, making a sprint finish absolutely impossible.
I grabbed my finish token and went to one of the scanners. He couldn't read my plastic barcode card with his phone, so I went to the other one.
Then I hung around for a bit, chatting with a few others. When I got back to the car, the couple in the minivan next to me were blatantly cooking bacon on a camp stove. Torture!
Back at the car, I get a text message that the package that should have been delivered yesterday was going to be delivered back in Manchester in about half an hour. I ask that the courier leave it with the friendly couple next door.
I grab a coffee at the café but there's nobody else there who looks sociable.
About half an hour later when I'm in Lidl doing some shopping for Dad, I get a photo of the parcel in next door's porch, also showing my neighbour's feet in socks.
Official place today: 46 out of 101. Official time: 27:49, equalling my PB here. And I did not need to walk today!
You did brilliantly.... HUGE well done you ! I chickened out and did my own thing... and enjoyed it... you would love the beach here too.... maybe a joint, jolly next time the tide is out and you are on the Llyn!
That would be very nice indeed. I suspect the next time I'll be this way will be mid July. My father, my brother-in-law and my sister all have birthdays within the same week, and they all live on Pen Llŷn.
After last night's thunderstorms the puddles were back at Portsmouth Lakeside today - but not too big and there was no rain during the run thank goodness. There was a Jubilee theme, so lots of red, white and blue, including one guy with a rucksack and flag as though he was climbing Everest. Bit of a breeze, particularly for the last 100m when the course veers northwards, so pleased with a result of 29.50. 96th today so plans are afoot for my 100th in a few weeks!😀
No Park run for me today. I was Number-Checker at the Finish Line. Only 320 today, so no real worries (like when we had over 500!) I think the mizzle and showers put a few people off! The weather got better and I jeffed 8K on a meandering route home.
Wee bit of tourism for me today at Lochore Meadows. Absolutely gorgeous spot in weather like today’s. My time was four minutes slower than my previous run there, yet still my fastest parkrun of 2022: training had slipped badly but gradually improving now. 5k without walking currently takes some willpower because my calf muscles start to feel tired around 3k but I can do it if I don’t go too fast. More of a 38’ parkrunner than the 32’-ish I was getting before lockdown but I know why that is and what to do about it. Got signed up to write the run report so that’s my homework for tomorrow.
Parkrun #30 for me, fortunately I got a 25parkrun tee a couple of weeks ago, as for the jubilee we were in red/white/blue or purple/white/silver so purple was the way to go! Smaller field than usual but all there were happy and smiley. Fizz and strawberries after run if wanted along with a few cakes! Ran well, feeling easy-ish for a change, came in at 32:22 a fastest time this year result, first in my age group (and probably last too!) just sneaked into the 60% age graded score with 60.81%. Am working up to a tilt at my pb by the end of the month if all things keep well in the interim.
Morning damienair , well yesterday I did my first tourist Parkrun and joined in the one at Hereford. It's twice round a flat racetrack. . It really made me appreciate the one we have in Boston. Hereford is a beautiful city and I presumed it would be through a lovely park somewhere, so apologies to anyone who does that one but I was quite disappointed 😔Having said that, still did a good time, 25.41 and the people were all friendly and welcoming which I know Parkrun is famous for!!
The results for lyme park got emailed to me at 1:04 this morning! Parkrun number 44 and 13th time at lyme park. Again I ran it in my new peregrine 12 shoes so was going pretty hard given I've got a tough fell race today. At least it was good practice I suppose.
Missed last week as I said cause I was up in the lake district trail racing. Super tough '10k' course (did in fact measure 11.2 on my garmin!) that took us up over 3 big hills above the buttermere valley. Total elevation gain was over 800 metres!
The plan next week is to do my nendy again which the app tells me is cheadle hulme this time so hoping for a nice dry week as it's all on grass.
Getting pretty close to 50 now. Plan to do it at lyme again so hopefully I don't scare too many of my running friends off joining me for that one.
Oops, I'm a bit late this week, I was persuaded to go to Hyde Park to join in the festivities and didn't get home till nearly midnight so have only just sat down at the computer.It was pretty windy, husband didn't feel like running so I said the magic words, 'OK, don't worry, you have a rest, I'll go on my own....' and next thing I knew he was all kitted up and ready to go.
My stomach was a bit upset but luckily didn't do anything embarrassing while I was running. I felt like I was going quite fast for most of the way, I walked far less than normal. I was a bit surprised that I was 45 seconds slower than last week but maybe I'll blame the headwind. My husband was a bit slower than normal as well.
My consolation is that I was fastest in my age group...probably only because the very fast lady wasn't there this week (and there were only 2 in VW 60-64 😂)
Hi damienair, well it's very definitely not a Parkrun this week and not helping either. For the first time since starting this running journey I'm taking a rest day because I know I need it!
On Wednesday I had my gallbladder removed, and unfortunately there were complications so what should have been minimally invasive keyhole surgery turned into full open surgery. Although this was NHS it was also in a private hospital as commissioned work. I suppose private healthcare cherrypicks the most lucrative and simple procedures so they hadn't planned for my complications or an extended bed stay.!
So I was discharged after one night, I'm not complaining about that, who wants to stay in hospital but I hadn't appreciated the difference in post operative care I needed to take. I want to keep moving, so yesterday I did two walks to make up my 5k, very very slow walks I might add but I realise now it was too much.
So today is my rest day and REST I WILL!
Have a great day all you Parkrunners, it may be a few weeks before I'm running again, but I will be PARKWALK'ing asap!!!!!!😉😁
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