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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No running for me this morning. Instead I was a parkrun volunteer doing barcode scanning. I brought Ruby along with me and she adored it as I also brought along her favorite toy, a tennis ball and a throwing stick. She spent 90 minutes chasing a ball. Perfect morning for her. It was very cold, but the course inspection deemed it safe to continue. Loads of parkrun events around us were cancelled this morning. Only 44 brave souls attended my local parkrun, hardy, strong people. Layers was the key today, I was warm and there was a lovely atmosphere. Hope you are all keeping well and warm during this cold snap.
Hi Damien, well done to you and Ruby volunteering this morning. All of our local park runs were cancelled today. I was due to run a Xmas Yule yomp 10k tomorrow but I’ve been feeling full of cold the last few days with no sign of it going so I’ve opted to change it to a virtual run when I feel up to it.
I hope everyone stays safe and warm while the weather is like this.
Everyone who had to stand still to volunteer today Damien deserves a massive pat on the back. I froze moving around so I really don’t envy you barcode scanning. Well done Ruby for distracting you so well!
Good morning Damien, I was going to go to Springburn Parkrun but instead got the bus to Palacerigg parkrun, there is a 3 K walk from where I get off the bus to the start of the run, however, at about 1K to the start I met 2 marshalls walking in the opposite direction who told me that due to ice on some parts of the course, parkrun was cancelled, I should have gone to Springburn Parkrun as originally planned as that went ahead, I'll go there next week, weather permitting, I did manage to run a slow 3K around part of the course in around 22 minutes being very careful that I didn't fall at that very icy part which was the cause of the cancellation.
👍 🏃🏾 I wore 4 light layers of clothing, a sleeveless vest, a light jumper, a slightly heavier jumper and my parkrun T Shirt, running trail shoes with my running socks to match, thelmar gloves and a thick wooly hat that covered my ears, so I didn't feel at all cold despite the - 3C temperature.
Parkrun #34 for me. Last week I volunteered because of a niggle. This week I thought I'd see how things were by running but not over-doing it. Turns out niggle is still there so I need to take it easy. Anyway, onto parkrun. It was cold, -2 really cold. Wasn't sure how many layers to wear as I didn't want either to freeze or over-heat. I decided to wear 3 layers and had a fleece top to do a warm-up. Warm up was a good 20 mins as I didn't want to run whilst cold. Took off the fleece just before the start and hung it on a tree. The run went OK. There was someone in front of me running the same pace so I just followed him around. Whilst the ground was frozen it wasn't slippy. Official time 21:51.
Mighty chilly start to the day and I left home at 7:30 to pick up Jo Jaz20 (rare HU user). Checked FB to make sure Severn Bridge was on - it was - so we headed there and danced around in the tunnel prior to the start. ❄️ Only a tiny field of 91 today, which meant we were right towards the back, coming in neck and neck at 37:37 (37:32 Garmin).
I felt so much better mojo-wise, as we chatted the whole time, and she shared my enthusiasm for the lovely views. 😍 A personal Severn Estuary cloud prevented the sun from shining on us, but there was no wind and the run felt easy and wonderful.
Definitely a young and fit demographic out this morning! Sensible people stayed warm at home! We were mighty pleased to have made the effort though. 😇
My post went into a black hole so here I go again…
UpTheStanley and I headed for Portsmouth Lakeside this morning to meet up with JonathanP . I have never seen such a winter wonderland there with a heavy frost coating all the vegetation and the lake frozen in some parts. For me it was a thick long sleeved 1/2 zip top under a T-shirt, gloves, hat and long leggings, but there were some hardy souls in vests and shorts. -6C apparently and my fingertips were freezing throughout. The low sun was dazzling to start with but soon we were running with our back to it, or under the tree cover.
34:50 was good enough for me on a day like today, as I slowed down where I usually speed up in case it was slippery. We were glad to be running on the trail as it was very slippery on the paving of the prom at Southsea .
We headed for the cafe and I had my first mince pie of the year to celebrate a young lady’s 50th parkrun, it would be rude not to.
Good run on a tough morning Dexy5. Vest and shorts in -6C ? Never going to happen up here! Christmas is now formally in play following your first mince pie. 😋
Well done for getting out Dexy. Yes probably safer than at Southsea today. It’s why I didn’t suggest Eastville or Ashton Court to Jo - both prime cancellation candidates on a day like this.
I too was surprised at the number of young gazelles in shorts and tee shirts. No thanks! 🥶
I’m still waiting for a post that beats -7ºC Dexy! But I think -6/-7, there isn’t much difference, it’s still brass monkey season! 🥶 Well done to you all getting out there.
Mmm, that reminds me, I need to make some pastry for our mince pies 😋
Hi Damien. -1C up here, a hard frost but the sky was clear; a lovely light in which to run. Today was a trail run as usual. I took 7 minutes plus over the first 1k, partly to warm up my calf muscles and partly to make sure things were ok under foot. The remaining 4Ks were all run at about 6:30/k for a Garmin time of 33.04, a little bit quicker than last week.
Post run, into the cafe of course. It was like a sauna in there, and contrastingly freezing when I re-emerged. But, there was a surprise for me on the walk back up the hill. A gold crest appeared right in front of me; a beautiful little bird which I have been wanting to encounter. I have done well for bird spots on runs recently; kingfisher,tree creeper, buzzards, barn owl as well as all of the usual winter suspects. I can quite see why some people see them as messages from departed loved ones; they really raise the spirits. Keep well wrapped up everyone and watch where you are putting your feet!🙂
I did my usual (not)parkrun run through the park 😉 this morning. Because I've had some really sore quads and was trying to do the homework for a brief workshop offered by The Balanced Runner, I paid a lot of attention to my form.
About half-way through I realized, though, that it wasn't what I was doing but rather what I was wearing that was most likely causing the problem: The area between the end of my warm underpants and my knees was getting cold even though everything else on my body was nice and warm (even my hands were finally getting warm!). That was exactly the area that had been sore... Temps have been dropping here in Cologne (today's high is supposed to be 0°C... 🥶), so I am 99% certain this is the cause...
So, I put off the Feldenkrais lesson to another time, took a hot shower - and then ordered a longer version of the Ortovox underpants I was wearing. While I wait for that, I'll be using some silken underpants, which are falling apart and ought to be covering enough 🤣
It was a bit 🥶 at Stratford upon Avon today. Beautiful but freezing! Apparently -3ºC, felt like -7ºC and it certainly felt it. Between the temperature, the huge Christmas market in town and county cross country championships, it was a bit quiet at 168 - about 200 less than the athletic club takeover a couple of week earlier. It was very frosty though, but thankfully not much ice. I’d tested the course on Thursday, to escape a mound of CVs, and was confident it wouldn’t get cancelled, thankfully it wasn’t.
I helped with pre-setup and lost the use of my thumbs fairly early on. Most of me was ok, it was just my hands. I braved taking my jumper off but decided to leave my scarf on - I’m glad I did as I didn’t take it off until the start of the final lap.
My legs really didn’t want to turn when we started. I had a really long day yesterday (including our works Christmas do) and I’ve been running at least 5k each day this week (still trying to get my 1000 miles for the year), so they don’t like me at the moment! They got going though and youngest kitten kept me going for the first lap.
The second lap was mostly on my own but I started to speed up and caught up with a few friends for the last lap. Slightly over 30 minutes but second in my age grade, which I was very chuffed with as I don’t think I’ve done that at home before.
I’m just hoping this coldness/frostiness lasts for Christmas - it would be lovely to have a white one for once.
Have a great runny week everyone and stay warm 🤗💪👍👏👏
That was November wasnt it? When Novembers were cold! The river is a heat sink, it’s always colder on the Rec than anywhere else in the area. The sun was actually quite warm and it was so picturesque, I should have taken photos really but I didn’t want to fiddle around with taking things off to get to things!
Only 2nd in your age grade? I have been first (and only in my age grade a couple of times )
We were surprised to see our friend had once been the first female finisher. She runs around the 36 to 40 minute mark.
Her home parkrun is often very muddy and usually has a small turnout and on that occasion it was very cold, rainy and muddy and runners kept dropping out so she kept moving up the board.
The only other female was the Tailwalker, who probably wished that our friend had also dropped out because that would have been a brilliant achievement.
They are a fit bunch around here Sue. Most of my age grade that are above me are usually part of the athletics club, so I don’t stand a chance! It’s often much easier at other parkruns. Never, ever been first female finisher, even at Pwllheli where there about 28 runners 😅 so big kudos to your friend!
After a 2.30am start to drive to Stansted Airport in -3.5c, I was on a plane to meet up with Shake-and-run in France at 9.00am. A game of pétanque this afternoon (playing in gloves is challenging 😂), dinner with our French running group tonight and then meet up at 8.30am tomorrow for a group run - forecast -4c, but with sunshine. I will post separately when I have thawed out!
Starting at my feet.One pair of shoes, two pairs of socks, two pairs of leggings, two long sleeved tops (one fleecy lined), one hooded waterproof jacket, two pairs of gloves with outer waterproof half-mitt, one parkrun buff, one hat.
I was toasty warm once my merino socks warmed up, although as usual my fingers and especially right thumb took until the second lap to warm up.
We decided not to join the others for breakfast because we wanted to get back up the hill in case the road closed (it was clear until we turned into our road).
Quick change into warmer coats and we had a five minute walk to the village for mini-mega breakfasts.
I had forgotten my Gymboss so I had to run the full 5K, as I had nothing to tell me to start running if I took a short walk break. Once again I was slower than when I run/walk 90/30 seconds. But one step closer to my 200th run (hopefully New Years Eve, weather permitting)
All being well we will be at Woodgate Valley next week.
I don't feel I ever have much to report, but I like to dip in occasionally.I was half expecting to be down your way for the Christmas meetup with my brother and family next weekend. They like Stratford Youth Hostel but in the end he booked an Airbnb near Bromsgrove which is about halfway between us and they can call in to his sister in law on the way home on Sunday. Our planned parkrun was cancelled today, hopefully it will be on next week.
Nothing wrong with that. Our Sons Rugby training was cancelled yesterday morning and my wife took full advantage by staying in bed until well after 10am.
And no run this morning either. The reaction to the Flu Jab kicked in properly last night, with a scratchy throat and feeling drained. A good night's sleep fixed that.
Hopefully I'll get a suitable gap for a run tomorrow amongst all the other busy times: new washing machine delivery, a case conference on Teams for my dad's cousin, normal work (and its meetings).
As Dexy5 has mentioned, it was great to have her and UpTheStanley 's company at Lakeside this morning. I was a little tight on time arriving again, but who would want to hang around in this weather? UTS and I ran together, which had the effect of me running slightly faster than I normally would, and him slightly slower, so it was a good match!
Having said that, it was not the weather for PBs, but I was pleased to be able to make progress up the field and overtake a gent in a green beanie in the last km that we'd had in our sights for a while! Another sub-30 at 29.56 was a real bonus. Oh and yes, shorts again!
How do you do it JP? Although, I’ve just seen this photo from Dolgellau and there were worse conditions to wear shorts in 🥶 Well done on your speedy run!
Average run. Cold ( minus 2) but no ice. I had 3 layers. Had to take beanie off before start. I carried on for 8.5K in total. 10K next week. Parkrun time was way off- almost 6 minutes faster than real time. It would've been 3 minutes faster than my PB. I think the timing guys got frozen fingers. Great fun for all.
34.08 for me at my usual Parkrun, about a minute faster than last week when conditions were better but I was coughing still ( at end of 2 week cold). I did consider getting back into bed but knew I'd regret it!
Was up at 7am and straight on Facebook to peruse the list of cancellations and figure out where I was going. Wilmslow had given a tentative go ahead Friday evening so that was the favourite and come 7:30 on Saturday they said course inspection was good enough and gave the green light.
Set off for the 30 minute drive over and it started snowing again so was considering my options all the way there. Seems like the fresh snow helped somewhat as it added a nice grippy texture to the paths on top of the trodden in snow underneath.
Still around minus 3 though so was well wrapped up like everyone else. Only a few of us wearing shorts! I find the cold is sometimes better for my knees. It's the damp they don't like.
Taking it easy after a super long run Thursday and with the conditions but surprised myself I got around 27 minutes. Definitely kept me warm out there. Certainly appreciating the volunteers for standing round in that for an hour or so. They all had many layers on!
Very well done on your parkrun and nice finish time. I'm aiming to be finishing in around 27 minutes in 2023. Ruby is a great Doggie, she is very popular at parkrun.
Hi Damienair, discretion said it was just a tad too icy to venture out for my local PR yesterday. I like solid ground beneath my feet and the thought of waiting a couple of hours for an ambulance, quite apart from adding to the NHS pressures seems a tad selfish to risk.But today the freezing fog lifted a tad at midday with the odd snowflake so it looked safe enough for a walk with maybe a bit of a jog. There is a lovely summer walk through the sheep pastures up the surrounding hills to a long cinder track going along the top of the hill which gives lovely views across the Nene Valley. The paths churn up in winter but when frozen make this a comfortable walk. So off we go kitted out to run with extra layers but resigned to walk. The first hill gets the heart pumping so as a walk it's good exercise. I've never attempted this route as a run.
Having warmed up, a baby steps run seemed in order to get the lungs working. It's hard to get them working in the cold air. Careful through the various kissing gates, unusually no sheep in the fields, up to join the cinder tracks. Although the grass was still covered in frost and the ground slopes away I felt surprisingly sure footed.
The cinder track was a great surface, the odd frozen rut to avoid but even though it was frosty it felt grippy underfoot. So off we go and up the pace a little but still at conversation level, it's so much more enjoyable as the murky, frosty views were an absolute wonder.
Northamptonshire is an interesting county, for although it's an old established farming county there are swathes of isolated farming land. So this route out, parallels the Mid-Shires way and it's possible to walk a good way without crossing roads.
Track eventually stops and continues as a path across the fields to the quaintly named Nobottle on the old Roman Road. But time for me to turn back and make the most of the downhill return run back to the old school and a final jog round the village to hit the 5km. So all in together with walking was 59minutes for 6.5 Kms.
And the bonus. At the top of the route for about a fleeting minute the sun tried to burn a hole in the murk but lost out to the Troll from Trondheim, but not before this #chinkoflight was snapped!
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in my age grade a couple of times )
week3run1 ✅. 3 x 17 mins with 1 min walks. 
week 2 begins! 
