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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I’ve finally done my 104th parkrun this morning! It was beginning to feel like it was never going to happen in between accidents, injuries, volunteering and life. Very relieved.
I took it quite easy as I’d done the Run for Beer relay last night and my legs were quite tired. I’m also under orders not to run fast at parkrun until after the marathon in October. Last night was probably a bit naughty then…ah well.
So 33:20 today. A similar time to my first one. There was a bit of a headwind on a lot of it so I was more than happy to take it easy.
I also did pre event course check, close down and I’m doing the tokens. Between the Kat family we did 6 different roles. We really need more volunteers cos we’re going on holiday next month!
Well done on your restraint TC. Still a good bit quicker than me even so 😅😂😂
Well done too on your volunteering roles. Eastville was close to not being held this week up until the 11th hour as they were painfully short of volunteers - again. 🙄
We haven’t got there yet but our main RD today did put a big plea out. If Eastville is anything like us, our DofEers are either finished or going through exams, others are on holiday and we’re getting very few new volunteers. Something will give soon I’m sure then it might shock people into volunteering.
Yes we seem to have a cohort of those who always volunteer but this has to be supplemented by others giving their time instead of running once in a while. At lakeside they were pleading for people to volunteer for the next few weeks so it’s a country wide problem I think.
Sorry everyone. I'm late posting this up today. For some reason I could not do it on my phone and had to do it on my PC instead. This morning I did my 105th parkrun in a lovely slow leisurely time of 49:08. I have had a very tough year with work and during the week I managed to find a new job in the same company I work in, and so last night I went to a pub with my good friend and next door neighbour to celebrate. I celebrated a bit too much. This morning I was OK, but knew that a fast parkrun was not on the cards. I took my doggie with me and there was a lovely very popular guy there whom is a core team volunteer celebrating his 50th Birthday today. He was dressed as a pink flamingo and a load of girls were dressed in pink with pink wigs and tutu skirts. It was great fun. I ran for the first 1.5 kilometers and then my doggie Ruby decided to stop for a toilet break. I cleaned it up and then my friend Ida came along dressed in pink with a tutu on and so we walked the rest of the parkrun together chatting and catching up.
At the finish there was a lovely birthday party for Derek. We gathered around and had sausage rolls, birthday cake and drinks for an hour. Chatting and celebrating Dereks birthday. Ruby ran around the field happily chasing after birds and swallows. I adore parkrun, what an amazing community event it is.
What a fabulous example of a parkrun Damien! I’d love to have seen all that pink! Congratulations on the new job, hopefully it will give you a bit more time for your family and your running!
That makes up for all my grumbling about volunteers Damien. You are right of course, it is a wonderful thing. What a wonderful morning you have had too - congratulations on the new job! 🥳
Jenny and I made the last minute decision to try the famous Curly Wurly (Somerdale Pavilion) today. There are 2 reasons for its nickname. It’s held on the grounds of the old Fry’s/Cadbury’s factory in Keynsham and the course itself is definitely curly wurly. It’s a hoot!!! The briefing was so funny. ‘If you’re in the long grass, you’re going the wrong way, the finish is somewhere over there, follow the person in front of you, and the lead runner - good luck’! It’s basically a mowed track spiralling tightly in, then out again with lots of twists and turns! 😅
Not ideal footing on the grass for my weary legs after yesterday’s fartlek (when will I learn to leave a day’s rest after a speed run? 🤦♀️), but it was a ton of fun and Jenny got one of her best times -28:06. Mine was 37:45 (37:38 Garmin) which I’m perfectly happy with.
Followed by a lovely egg bap and coffee. We shall return! 😀
No, they don’t exactly cross Jonathan, but people are running in all different directions at once so it gives that impression! It’s a lot of fun that’s for sure. 😀
Well, the plan was to stay in a hotel last night to do an iconic parkrun today with a special running buddy. But UpTheStanley has gone down with the lurgy and I’ve not been well either, so had to postpone that trip. Both Covid negative though.
Southsea was cancelled due to a rowing regatta (which was then cancelled due to high onshore winds). So I left UTS in bed and dragged myself out to pick up Oldgirlruns and went to Portsmouth Lakeside convinced I would walk it. Bumped into JonathanP and had a quick chat and we then we were off. I managed a steady trot until the last km when I had to walk a few times to catch my breath. I’m glad I got out even though I’ve no energy left.
Amazed at 34:46 time (34:01 Garmin) with the way I felt. Coffee and pastry followed.
Well done for getting out there Dexy and a superb time in the circumstances. I wondered when you weren’t where I expected you to be! Hope you both feel better very soon xx
The best laid plans eh? It sounds as though it all worked out well though. Hope you are both feeling better soon and manage to get your rearranged trip away xx
I’m still recovering from Covid so I think park run is on pause for me for awhile🥹
No.2 son opted to stay in bed so it was only my hubby representing our family today at Park run. He ran 24:28 which is not a PB but his fastest time this year.
Thanks TailChaser 😍 Hubby has been working hard doing interval training once a week so it’s good to see it paying off at ParkRun. Hope your marathon training is going well. x
It definitely does! I’ve been doing those too, they’re so hard! Otherwise it’s going ok so far thanks 🤗 10 miles tomorrow and a recovery week next week that I’m really looking forward too - no interval training for starters 😂 x
Good afternoon Damien, so that was parkrun No. 49 for me today, my time at Drumpellier Parkrun was 31.29, another +60% age grading at 61.25%, so I shouldn't really grumble at that, No. 50 next week at my home parkrun of Dunfermline which is a week earlier than I thought, it's also their 7th birthday.
I enjoyed my run this morning, the weather was dry, a fresh southwest wind, the temperature around 15C, so it's onwards and upwards to parkrun No. 50 in one week's time.
Thanks Dexy and Hargo, today was my 5th Saturday in a row that I ran at parkrun, usually I run 2 in a row and have one week off, however, as 2nd July will be Dunfermline parkrun 7th birthday, the 3rd anniversary of my 1st parkrun and most of all my 50th parkrun I thought it would be a good idea to combine a treble celebration, certainly I will tell the RD that it will be my 50th parkrun.
Brilliant running again Alan. Very well done. Looking forward to hearing about your 50th parkrun in Dunfermline on Saturday 9th July. It's a great milestone.
It is next Saturday 2nd July that it is Dunfermlines 7th birthday, so I'll be there for my 50th parkrun a week earlier than I thought, I just noticed that on their Facebook Page
I will report my 50th parkrun to all on this forum Oldgirlruns, yes I had a nice run this morning, one of the volunteers who has run over 350 parkruns and has an average time of around 29 to just under 30 minutes, and is in the 70/74 age range was speaking to me before the run and asked me what my time was, I told her that my time here is usually in the 30+to just under 32 minutes range and said that next time she runs she will try to pace me to run just under 30 minutes say at about 29.30 pace, well maybe 😊😊🏃♂️
Number 47 and 14 at lyme park.Had 6 additional chapel club runners today so excellent points all round! Last few days of the June challenge and some people are really hammering the hills to get those elevation gain points up. Including me. Went and did a circuit in the lake district called the espresso round from keswick on Thursday. 13.4 miles over 4 hilltops and over 1000 metres in elevation gain! My friend and opposing team member lee is going to do the tea round from keswick which is the espressos much bigger brother. 30 miles and 10 hilltops!
As for the parkrun itself I was 10 seconds behind my pb. Into the headwind up that final long straight and it absolutely murdered me! Would definitely have got it without that.
The scanner said well done for the position at the finish but it's only myself I'm competing against so I did not quite share his joy.
My next time at lyme will be for the big 50! Nendy next week (burnage) then a nice slow flat one in Manchester somewhere (south manchester probably) week after as its the wilmslow 10k the 10th July.
Only missed 2 Saturday's since the restart so pleased I made the half century so quickly.
Back to parkrun today after 3 weeks (hooray!) following my diagnosis of atrial fibrillation - see previous post. The medication seems to be working well as my resting HR is back to normal, and I've had my chest x-ray but still waiting for the echocardiogram.
It was lovely and unexpected to see Dexy5 and Oldgirlruns before the start, although I missed out on the post-parkrun chat due to having to depart quickly - granddaughters on sleepover back at home!
Enjoyable run although I found the last k quite hard (similar to Thursday's run), so eased off on the pace and came in at 30.47. Only 10% in HR zone 5 but I will continue to keep an eye on that! 97th parkrun and counting.....
Oh wow JP, I didn’t realise you’ve had health problems. Good to see you back to it and that the medication is doing it’s job. I bet it was so frustrating knowing your 100th was so close. Nearly there now 👍💪
Very well done Jonathan. Nice pace and not far off from reaching your 100th parkrun. Sorry to hear you have AF. Medication and treatments are getting better all the time.
Crumbs Damien, it’s ages since I posted anything I’ve almost forgotten how to do it! Our parkrun was cancelled today so this morning was due to be me off to Portsmouth Lakeside on a bit of solo touristing. In the end Dexy5 and UpTheStanley weren’t able to do their own touristing in Bristol, so Dexy picked me up bright and early and away we went. A short chat with Jonathan P when we got there, a quick hello to the Tailwalkers to let them know I was likely to be just in front of them, and we were off. It’s a mixture of pavement and track alongside a lake amongst the trees and late spring flowers. Really rather nice! Dexy appeared to be steaming along quite happily when I saw her, despite having said she would be taking it slowly today. My 41st parkrun was at my usual snail pace but with the occasional move into a fast walk I was able to come in 217 out of 221 with a time of 49:58. A post-run coffee and croissant to finish a very good morning! Happy running folks!
I broke 45 minutes for the first time this year. Even the PR time was under 45 minutes, whilst my Garmin time was 40 seconds quicker as I always start st the back now.I carried on and completed over 14K overall. I hadn't planned a longer run but decided against doing 10 miles, just in case, but I might have missed a trick as it was only about 18 degrees at the end and cloudy - it might get hotter again! Probably no PR next week as I am at a Music Festival on Friday and Saturday (staying at my Mums, so no smelly toilets or zero showers, thank you very much!)
Parkrun no: 23, 20th at Lowestoft. It was a warm morning with a northerly wind. I needed a few walking breaks as it was hard going in the heat. There was some lovely encouragement from some runners who had already finished and were continuing their runs in the other direction. I finished in 38:30. A fair bit off my PB but I think I’ll have to wait for cooler temperatures again before there’s any chance of improving that. It’s just about getting round during the summer! The seafront was being set up for Armed Forces Day so I couldn’t resist a post run selfie in front of the Spitfire before I left!
My 25th parkrun today and I went to nearby Salisbury. As the course is completely flat I was hoping for a PB but was 12 seconds away. Not seen zero elevation recorded on my Strava before 😆. A bonus of attending a small-ish parkrun is that my place was just under 200 for the first time ever. There were only 272 runners. Really loved this location and will definitely come again
Good 25th parkrun for you Mudita11 today, don't worry about that PB being 12 seconds away, only 272 running, the parkrun I was at this morning was attended by 130 runners, since the return of parkruns after lockdown most parkruns haven't had as many runners, on average about 50 less than pre pandemic..
Thanks AlMorr it was nice to run amongst fewer runners than my usual 700-800 at my home parkrun and get a higher final placing 😂. I will try to do more parkrun tourism in future. Good luck with your 50th in a couple of weeks. I look forward to hearing all about it.
My 50th parkrun is this week, a week earlier than I thought because my home parkrun's 7th birthday is a week sooner, so I will be running my 50th on Saturday 2nd July, not as I thought the following week.
Don't worry about speed Mudita11, the main thing is that you enjoy your running. I just noticed the result of a 10K which I didn't take part in not too far from where I live, there were 111 runners and obviously walkers as well, IF I had taken part regarding the times of my recent 10K runs I would have been around 30th in a time of around 1 hour 12 minutes, I noticed that the last person to complete that event came in at 111 in a time of 2:58:48, for a 10K that's a little slow.
Well done Mudita! I too was caught out the first time I did a flat PR. I personally don’t find it much easier than when there are a few hills involved. I put it down to using the same leg muscles over and over again. Well done on your run though! 😀
Lovely sunny day, pacers to the fore, I latched-on to the 29 minute one and hung on for dear life! Realised he was going to be a bit slow by the last half k, so dung deep overtook him and broke my 29:02 pb by 4 seconds. That’s my effort for this year, back to my usual 34 mins from now on. We had cake again this week, milestones are now coming thick and fast at our Parkrun 😃
Thanks, at my age every second counts! I just wanted under 29:00. Garmin watch didn’t agree it said 29:11, Strava gave my Parkrun (a segment) time as 27:26 for 4.99km, but 29:12 for the 5km, which it picks up from my watch. No idea what it uses as the segment, as something is definitely skew whiff with that!
We went over to Scarborough today to watch the red arrows display at armed forces day so did our 1st parkrun at the newish whykeham course! 2 laps around a lake in the gorgeous morning sunshine and a coffee and toasted teacake in cafe overlooking a different lake! 8yr old grandson did his 1st ever parkrun with us and we finished in 31.27! I thought he would be flagging near the end but I was struggling to keep up with him! Ahhhh the joy of youth eh? Lol....all in all it was a fantastic day
I completed my first park run today in Swanely. Even though I graduated C25K over a year ago I didn’t think I was ready and kept putting it off. I usually run 4k once a week so my goal was just to get through it, and I did. even though my time of 37 minuets is not my fastest I’m pleased I made it to the end
Congratulations and very well done on your first parkrun. I ran the first kilometer myself yesterday and walked the rest with a friend. It took me 49 minutes. The great thing about parkrun is that it is not a race. You are just running, jogging or walking with other people. And it can get very addictive.
Hi everyone and bonjour from la France 🇫🇷 It has rained almost constantly since we arrived on Monday with the odd thunderstorm thrown in for good measure, but thankfully not the golf ball sized hailstones, which have been smashing car windscreens and wrecking garden furniture. I didn’t do a (not) parkrun yesterday, as I was supposed to be going out with the running group here this morning. That was cancelled due to today’s weather forecast, but it wasn’t raining when I got up, so headed out to do an on road out and back 10k (vineyards are just too muddy for running through) 5k time was around 32.30 despite some hilly bits. The rain started again just as I got home, but it’s forecast to improve from Tuesday and I’ll probably be complaining about the heat next weekend 😂 Happy running!
A lovely morning for running. Just the right temperature and a little breeze. I was in tee shirt and shorts.
One concern was the toenail on my right little toe was catching on the sock a little. This was something that had been aggravated during my HM run on Wednesday morning.
The other one was that I'd been making sure that everything was in place for my junior colleague to work on whilst I was on holiday. This meant periodically checking something whilst I was packing on the Friday evening. Unfortunately I fell asleep in my office chair during the last bit of it and woke up at 2am with a start. This meant I wasn't feeling 100% on the following morning.
A last minute visit to the little boy's room meant I arrived there at 8.55am.
Some of the regulars were missing and there was an appeal for volunteers due to upcoming holidays amongst them.
There was the usual briefing and we actually set off on time.
I held back as usual for the first half lap, as I'm never properly warmed up at these events. Once I gained confidence I started to move up the field gradually as usual.
Somehow last week's Run Director (the one with the naughty chocolate Labrador) had been persuaded to run this week (without the dog). I bid her a very good morning as I lapped her.
I also passed the lady who I'd helped find her barcode on her phone last week. (She has very distinctive long thick slightly unruly black hair.)
Unusually, a lady who always runs with headphones and I kept overtaking each other. She finished just in front of me today by five seconds. Afterwards she approached me and commented on how we often finished within a few seconds of each other, and how she knew it was me from the distinctive sound my shoes make.
Barcode lady missed going through the finish funnel and had to retrace her steps to go through it to get an official time. Oops!
I hung around afterwards to clap a few people in. Then, once last week's RD had finished, I made my farewells and headed home. I didn't want to linger too long as I had a car to load up.
Official time: 28'36" Placed 17 out of 57.
This coming Saturday I'm hoping to run at Blickling in North Norfolk. So, if you happen to be there and see someone running in toe shoes, it's probably me.
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