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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Unfortunately no parkrun for me again this morning. I arrived home from Holiday late last night with a head cold. I’m thankfully not Covid positive. But it is also bucketing down with rain this morning. I was going to go to parkrun and walk it but not in that rain. Happy running everyone.
Morning folks! No PR for me again either this week. That’s 3 weeks in a row. 😱 All for good reasons though (wedding, then hols 🇫🇷), and we’re currently driving up through France ahead of our tunnel reservation tomorrow morning. Hearing the news, I’m thankful we’re not going in the other direction, either by Eurotunnel or ferry. 🙏🏻 🚗 🚘 🚙
Anyway, I did a lovely pootly 5k as my (not) PR yesterday morning. I’ve had a great running week, clocking up 24.5k over 4 runs. ❤️
Thanks Damien. I managed 6.5k, 10k, 3k (intervals) and 5k. I was pleased with that, especially as it went some way to burn off some of the million or so calories I consumed this week! 😂
Bristol area parkruns have put out an all points bulletin wondering where you are cheeky! But you’re still running and have had a great holiday so it’s all good! Have a good trip home!
Hey folks. I did my solo 5k for the week on Thursday. It was pretty cool up here and I managed 5k in 33:36 with an average heart rate of 131. So nice and steady. I fitted in a 10k this morning with my running buddy (!). It was quite hot and a bit hilly at 92m total ascent, so I was quite pleased with 69 minutes and a 143 average heart rate. VO2 max didn’t reduce my score, so all good. Everyone seemed really relaxed and friendly up in the forest today; funny how my run finished about 2 minutes from the cafe!😋
Good afternoon Damien, I hope you recover from your head cold very soon, this morning I ran my 52nd parkrun at Drumpellier Country Park Parkrun which was it's 3rd birthday, my time today was 31:01 with a age grading of 62.17%, I had a piece of birthday cake after the run, I followed a visually impaired runner who was running with his guide, the visually impaired runners time was exactly 31 minutes, his guides time was given as the same time as mine, after the run I was congratulated by both of them, the weather was dry but as I write this that ☔ rain you had in Ireland has now arrived where I live.
No Oldgirlruns, I only had a small piece of birthday cake, 🎂 I admit that I like going to parkrun birthdays, I have attended 3 different parkrun birthdays since May 14th, no more for a while. 😊
There are 16 parkruns over the year that I could attend within 30 miles of where I live by car on their birthday, two are on the same day in October, there are 3 in May and July and many more spread throughout the year, even if I had a car I wouldn't go to all of them, perhaps 15 😂
Well done Al Morr good time as well. You deserve your piece of cake. Just. Sprinkle of rain here , could do with more. As long as not on my walk tomorrow morning. World games are brill on tv, not long to the commonwealth games.
Your long weekly walk tomorrow, for me I'll probably go a 20K short bike ride tomorrow, I have been watching the World Athletic Championships, even the last runner in the 5000 metres /5K ran a sub 15 minutes time.
PS, I have just realised that the visually impaired runner and his guide were the same two runners that I paced almost 3 years ago at the same parkrun, my time then was 30.56 so only 5 seconds slower on Saturday,
Hi damienair & (not) park runners and park runners,
No park run for me as I totally stacked it (as my boys would say) on Wednesday on my run. So bad that I had to visit a medical centre for a tetanus and to dress wounds. I even managed to destroy my Garmin Fenix😭 I’m totally blaming TailChaser , Cmoi & linda9389 for making me want to join the cool gang 🤣
Hubby did his 50th at our home park run today coming in at 24:55 & no.2 son came in 6th at 21 something. I was sad that I couldn’t be cheering them on the finish line.
Thank you! linda9389 - I don’t think anything is broken but I’m pretty sore. No running for me until I’m out of bandages. Garmin are kindly sending me a new watch at cost price so hope to be ready when it arrives next week 🙏
Oh RW, just when you were getting back to it, and trashing your watch 😳 extra ouch!! I hope you heal quickly 😢 We are a club no one really wants to join!Congrats to hubby and speedy no.2 👍
Thanks cheekychipmunks - I’m still pretty sore as grazes are mainly on my knuckles and wrist so taking ages to heal. Garmin took the main hit which might have saved me a broken wrist 😍
Oh no RunWillie , not you as well! I'm sure I speak for my sister faceplanters when I say that we love you, but we'd really prefer to keep our club very small and exclusive.
Nice customer service from Garmin, just wish it hadn't been necessary. The only reason mine wasn't trashed was that I wasn't wearing it when I fell. Could you possibly claim via your household insurance? A Fenix isn't cheap, after all.
Wishing you a full and speedy recovery, plus lots and lots of patience and positivity while you're waiting to get back to running. xx
You're so virtuous Dexy5 , I don't even track all my runs with Strava, let alone with my Garmin! In any case mine would've been smashed to pieces if I'd been wearing it when I fell, no chance of saving anything. 🤣🤣🤣
I quite agree Cmoi! So glad that didn’t happen to my Garmin, but sounds like they’ve come up trumps. I smashed my Goodr sunglasses but thankfully they’re not quite as expensive as a Fenix and they saved my nose.
Thanks Cmoi 😍 Patience isn’t my strong point but I’m going to try. Garmin were amazing. I love that you are able to run without tracking. I don’t think that I can do it without my watch 🤣
I have no patience at all. I started running again very, very slowly and short distances only two weeks after I fell, taking at least one rest day in between. Super frustrating.
Katnap and I were touristing today with youngest kitten, collecting our last Compass Point at Henley Wood, Oswestry.
There aren’t many ‘wests’ but this one is conveniently placed on our way to my parents in law. We’ve done Southampton, Northwich and Eastleigh, so we now have the set 😀 Oswestry was a nice, mainly trail course, a long 2 lap circuit, through the wood, running parallel to the A5. Some tricky bends and lumpy bits but no great height changes.
Katnap and kitten speeded off quite early on but I was very pleased to come in 1st in my age category even though I was trying to go steady.
We went to the lovely cafe run by the local church afterwards: lots of homemade cakes and biscuits, with a special ‘Park Run’ breakfast menu.
Now for a relaxing week in Wales, apart from the 14 miles I have to do tomorrow 😳
Thanks Dexy. We have to find another East as youngest kitten didn’t do Eastleigh with us, so he’s not quite there. A good excuse for another spot of touristing. Hmm…Eastville… 🤔😉
Ooh, a complete set of a challenge - well done TC! The run sounds lovely - and church run cafes often do excellent eats don’t they! Have a wonderful holiday!
Have a great time in Wales and congratulations on finishing your compass challenge. I have west (Westport) and East (Eastville). I must organise and plan to complete my challenge too. I need to travel to the UK to do it. An excuse to fly over and meet some of you lovely people.
Definitely Damien! I know of a particularly scenic parkrun where you can get a PB and later take in a Shakespeare play and eat some very good ice cream 😁
So the long-awaited, slightly delayed day of my 100th parkrun had arrived. As the Southsea crew weren't able to join me at Portsmouth Lakeside, because they were all volunteering at Southsea, I decided to join them there. UpTheStanley was RD and also in attendance were Dexy5 , Coddfish , Oldgirlruns , Mr C and OGR'S brother. Unfortunately cheekychipmunks wasn't able to join us due to being on her hols.
Of course having UTS as the RD meant that I was guaranteed a shout out before the start - coincidentally there was also another Lakeside refugee there celebrating his 100th, at the fantastic age of 83!
367 of us set off along Southsea prom - thanks to Dexy, who had made sure that I had a '100 today' pinned to my top, I had quite a few congratulations from other runners. It was quite warm, so very pleasant to turn at the halfway point and benefit from a breeze on the return journey, finishing in 32.34.
It was a bonus to also gain a volunteer 'tick' by sorting tokens until we were all able to retire to a local cafe for breakfast or cake - chocolate brownie for me but I understand the banana bread with ginger cream was also a big hit. Here's to the next 100!
The motley crew are very forgiving of my Celebration ideas and fancy dress themes. The milestone T-shirts were out In force today, and I look forward to seeing you in black next time.
A very well done on your 100th parkrun JonathanP, and for tourist volunteering.
PS, I have just looked at a photograph of Bushy Park Parkrun on their Facebook page, it looks like they are running in the Sahara Desert, look at the amount of dust the runners are churning up.
If I could I would send the rain we have had overnight down south to where it is needed, this Sunday morning I have just returned from a short bike ride, the grass is nice and green and there were even a few puddles I had to 🚴 cycle through, I hope it rains down south especially to help the farmers.
Thanks Al, we had some rain Thursday and Friday but not enough. I have a vision of you on your bike with your legs in the air as you go through the puddles!
The puddles weren't that deep, just a few short ones, that's the part of my 5K run through the woods where I run if the puddles aren't deep, my next run is on Wednesday on the another course which is the same course as our local Santa Dash in December which I intend to run this year, my PB (not) parkrun is 31.30 which I ran on that course last September.
Woohoo, you did it JonathanP ! 💯💥🏃♂️ So happy you were able to celebrate with the Southsea crew, and as an honorary member, you know I’d have been there if we hadn’t been in 🇫🇷
Congratulations JonathanP on a massive 100 parkruns.👏💯🏃🏻♂️ Seems so incredible to me, particularly as my parkrun total stands at 2! Sounds like you must be over your recent health concerns which is very good news.On a different note my Marathon 2 headphones which I have so appreciated and I purchased on your helpful recommendation are not working properly. They turn on, but if I want to pause my listening, they won't let me. I have had a flare up related to my knee injury, so two months of no running and now I'm back to week 5 of C25K. So I would like to pause my Desert Island Discs podcast while listening to Denise Lewis, but pausing isn't working. Have you had this problem or are yours still working well?
My apologies for my question in your celebratory post. Again well done to you! 🏃🏻♂️💯🎈🎉
Thanks over61 - you'd be surprised how quickly they build up! Sorry you're having problems with your headphones. I haven't had that problem, but I did have an issue with the battery not holding charge - I contacted the sellers and they sent me a replacement so that might be worth a try? I think they were worried about a bad review if they weren't helpful, so it might be worth hinting at that!
Thank you JonathanP. I can't imagine that you hinted that you would give them a bad review, did you? I have really so enjoyed my headphones, the facility that enables my husband to telephone me being an added bonus. I think that I read that (not surprisingly) they are not waterproof. I always carry one of those old fashioned shower caps and put it on at the first hint. So have endeavoured to look after them well. My battery has bee fine so far. Thanks again 😊
It was so great to have JonathanP at Southsea so that we could share his big 100 celebrations today. 🥳 💯 🏃🏻♂️
As he said, UpTheStanley was RD today so his Motley Crew were in full support. Coddfish and Oldgirlruns were tail walkers so get the double tick along with JP. Mr C, a marshal en route, and I was number checker. I was very pleased to see the timekeepers and finish tokens were in step all the way. OGR also enlisted her brother to start on the token sorting, and he did very well considering she forgot to tell him to bring his glasses. 🤓
UTS did brilliantly, handling some delicate incidents, and one marshal went beyond the call of duty and drove a runner home after she got tripped by a dog lead and hurt her ankle.
The volunteers do a wonderful job, so please remember to thank them as you pass, and perhaps give it a go if you haven’t tried it yet.
Hi Damien, today was a volunteer day as UpTheStanley was in charge. Coddfish’s chemo cycle meant she was able to walk it so we volunteered to tailwalk; there weren’t many walkers so it was, shall we say, a little brisker than some weeks which wasn’t quite what we’d planned (well I’d planned for a gentle walk and a chat!). Jonathan P joined us for his 100th parkrun (celebration!). I have my brother staying with me so we signed him up for his Barcode and he had a volunteering initiation - a little token sorting, marshalling and breakdown! I’m hoping he’ll volunteer at his local PR when he gets home! It was warm out there but with a gentle breeze on the return leg, thank goodness! A great breakfast at a local cafe to finish! Lovely!
Number 51 saw me undertake an experiment. Have seen a list that suggests that lyme park is the 6th toughest parkrun in the UK and that watergrove is 1 place tougher. Went to test this theory today.
Pb at lyme after 15 attempts is 23 flat. Today's time at watergrove was 23:07 but interestingly lyme always measures 4.95k on my garmin and today measured 5.01k so the average pace came out the same.
As far as elevation gain goes lyme wins easily with 127 metres compared to 111 at watergrove.
The clincher that makes me feel like watergrove is slightly easier is that watergrove starts with a 600 metre flat start whereas lyme starts with an immediate 9% incline over 800 metres on a super rough boulder strewn track.
Obviously I'm being biased but lyme also has the view from the cage which is the finest view from all the parkruns I've completed so far.
Was wearing my red 50 milestone ultraband today. I'm definitely pleased I went for it as it's so much easier to just clip on compared to wrestling the plain band over my hand.
Hello parkrunners! I’m still sweating in the SW France temperatures with no parkruns nearby. However, as part of my half marathon training plan I was down to do sprint intervals today. 10 minutes easy pace warm up, 10 x 20 sec sprints/45 sec recovery, 10 min easy pace cool down. Made it up to 5k for a sub 35 time. Amazing considering I walked quite a bit of it 😳 9 weeks to HM!
Very well done Sandie. I’m 5 weeks away from my Half Marathon. Training has taken a serious nose dive. A month ago I was at 14K, since then I have been away on work trips, 2 week holiday in Spain where I just couldn’t manage to run with the temps being so high and then came home knocked out with a horrible head cold, I’ve even managed to lose my voice. So I’m not at all looking forward to it.
Oh no! That’s a real shame. Funny how we always manage to come down with colds around holidays isn’t it? I’m sure you’ll be fine. If you can get in another couple of long runs, the adrenaline will keep you going
Good evening all! Sorry for the late post! PR no.26 today and 23rd at Lowestoft. I got to wear my new milestone T-shirt which I was excited about. I was sweating before I’d even run anywhere this morning as it was so warm! There was a particularly lovely friendly atmosphere today. I am quite used to ending up running on my own after the first km, once the crowd has spread out a lot but today I was playing cat and mouse with quite a few other runners who, like me, were taking short walking breaks. Given the heat, I was really pleased to finish in 37:58. I took a slow walk back to my car after doing my stretches and enjoyed the sea breeze, which helped to cool me down. My step count is pretty healthy today as the family and I went for a 5k walk round the local nature reserve after lunch.
Parkrun 26 for me was Holyrood in Edinburgh with my son and daughter. It's a new PR, this was week 2. It's very scenic, running round Arthur's Seat - a hill near the centre of Edinburgh. The first half is pretty steep uphill, most of the second half is downhill. My splits varied between 7 minutes and 5.33 minutes! Considering how hilly it was I was happy with my time of 32.51.
Fantastic and very well done on your 3rd parkrun. Great way to spend time with family and friends. It’s a great motivation too to keep running and stay active after completing C25K. I’m still running 6 years after doing C25K. But I know I’d have given up a long time ago if not for parkrun.
Hi all, sorry to hear about all the falls and colds, wonderful for all the new park runners and volunteers and those with milestones. It was Pacer week at Walthamstow again this week. I had signed up for the 35min spot earlier in the week, determined to be nearer to 35 mins this time. Suffered from cramp two nights before then got a stinking cold courtesy of my daughter and granddaughter, so was not looking forward to the run. It isn’t covid I did check before attending. It was hot again too. I did manage it, still on the fast side (34:22) but as there was no one in my vicinity I wasn’t too worried. My watch had predicted getting in on 34:45, but at the finish it read only 4.95 with a time of 34:22, so still some tweaking to do but getting better. Cakes/chocolate again this week. Looking at the weather next week it might be a volunteer role instead of running!
A very late report from me this week. It's been one of those weekends.
I did get to parkrun at Pwllheli on Saturday morning. It was raining. Not heavily, but if I wasn't doing parkrun I might not have bothered to go out.
I arrived at the car park at about ten to the hour. It was busier than I'd expected. I delayed as long as I dared before getting out of the car and changing into my grippy shoes. Two tee shirts as it was windy.
My fifth run on the beach here, and each was different to the others. The sand moves about so much depending on the weather and tides that you can never predict what the surface will be like.
The numbers are increasing for the summer. 61 there this week. Almost all of them are tourists. I recognise the tokens lady. She was Run Director at one of the events in May.
I chat with a few of the others before we start, explaining how it's a really simple course but how hard it is to run on sand, and comparing stories of where people usually run.
We get the shout to go (a minute late), and everyone sets off.
The first 100m is always soft as it's half way up the beach and it gets a lot of foot traffic, being at the entrance to the beach.
The tide is out. The sand is more evenly spread and there is much less shingle, but there are no areas packed hard like last time I was here.
If you've never run on sand before, beware. At its worst it shifts under your feet and robs you of all momentum: you're pushing hard all the time and have no bounce as you would on a harder surface. Often the texture varies from one step to the next. When you do encounter shingle, the larger pebbles have the potential to turn your ankles. In summary, it's hard.
I find a more stable strip of sand that doesn't give quite as much, and hasn't already been trampled by the herd in front of me.
As usual, I hold back a little at the start, because I'm never properly warmed up at the start of a parkrun. Let the mob wear themselves out in the first km and then plod past them when they've gradually slowed down is my strategy.
The turnaround point is invisible in the distance, doubly so with the fine rain in the air. The watch counts off the kilometres.
Then it's the cone which marks half way. Hold on, I know the marshal from a few months ago. He was taking photos last time I saw him. I joke that I could do with some windscreen wipers on my glasses.
The return leg. Now I'm facing the other runners who had previously been behind me. I also can't take the route that I'd used on the outward leg as they were using it.
A lady in a brightly coloured tee shirt with lots of logos on it is ahead of me. She gradually inches further and further ahead.
The wind was from the side at the turnaround, but due to the curved shape of the beach, the closer to the finish you got, the more it was in your face. I slowed. And I slowed more.
The final 100m was over the churned up loose sand where we'd started, and the finish funnel was the worst bit of all. No hope of a sprint finish.
I get in, stop the watch and collect my token. My time is OK, but quite a bit slower than last time.
After being scanned, I chat with other finishers and clap in those coming in.
A couple of young ladies decide to cool off by putting on swimming costumes and going for a dip in the sea. Brave people!
One guy crosses the line and falls to his knees in the sand for a minute. He's OK, just absolutely knackered.
Near the end a little girl finishes ahead of her dad. She's totally had enough and cries as she stops. I chatted with her family afterwards. Not her first parkrun, but definitely the hardest they'd done.
Afterwards, a quick coffee in the cafe on the other side of the harbour, a chat with some other parkrunners, then I was off to do some errands for my father.
The first finisher did it in an impossible 21:42. The seasoned regular who Oldfloss met was over three minutes after that, and commented (via Strava) that the conditions were very hard on the day.
As for myself, I came in at position 21 of 61, with a time of 29:02, with no walking breaks. The lady in front was a minute ahead of me.
Looking forward to meeting Katnap , TailChaser and the Kits there next weekend. Pity Oldfloss is on the IC and will not be joining us.
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