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 had a horrible few days. I was stuck in Frankfurt Airport for over 24 hours trying to get home from Geneva with work due to having two flights canceled last minute. Thankfully I got home yesterday evening. I’m not sure if my local parkrun will be on this morning. It’s still freezing here and footpaths are very icy. I’m going to go anyway to the park to walk our dog Ruby. Good luck everyone.
Thank you. I’m OK thankfully 😅, it was extremely frustrating at the time and stressful trying to sort everything out. But once I got home yesterday evening and relaxed beside my wife and a lovely wood burning stove I chilled out. I played out on a frozen field for an hour this morning with our dog. All is good in the world again. Next job is to try and get my luggage back. I’ll never go through Frankfurt again.
Got in the hall just before 11am, only got out at 3pm. Lights are working, sound seems to be OK, now for some food and a good soak in the bath before getting back there!
And when it's over, all the wiring has to come down before I leave, otherwise it'll end up all tangled up in one corner on Sunday.
I was master of ceremonies this evening, including coming up with one of my worst ever puns on the spur of the moment as I suddenly realised I'd forgotten to write a paragraph of my script.
The concert ended at 10.30pm. It took two hours for me to pack up.
My watch started today with "Training Readiness: 1 Poor". I have to admit, I'm feeling a bit drained today. I might even wait until Tuesday for my next run.
Good morning Damien, all the parkruns in my area and the 4 I go to were cancelled due to snow and ice, however, I did manage to run around that disused football pitch very near to where I live.
This morning instead of a 3K maintenance run, for old times sake I ran, run 3 of week 5 of C25K with Laura, I was very careful that I didn't slip or fall, there was a light covering of snow on the pitch, not ice as there was on some of the paths, I am now back home and as usual eating a chocolate ice-cream swirl, 😋. yummy 😋
Hi Beachcomber66, the reason why all the parkruns were cancelled apart from the ones at the coast was that there was a 4 inch fall of snow on Friday, then it partially melted, then froze and to top that there were also a few rain showers, a combination of black ice, when I left the house to the start of my run on the football pitch, it usually takes only 3 minutes, with all the ice about, it took me 6 minutes, I decided after the run to come back another way, the run itself was OK, running in soft snow but I was careful about not falling, it was nice running run 3 of week 5 of C25K with Laura again, because of the snow my time was about the same as the first time that I ran it in May 2018.
Of course not Dexy, I buy a packet of 4 on a Tuesday, the first one is ate around 9.30am on a Wednesday after I return from my mid week run, at this time of the year its only a 5K, the second swirl in the packet I eat on a Saturday morning after parkrun or a run near to where I live, the third swirl I eat is on a Sunday morning, in the winter after a long Sunday morning walk, in the summer after a short bike ride, the last of the 4 I buy on a Tuesday is ate on a Monday night after my only fish supper of the week.
it was today Al, but I left it too late to enter. I’m quite glad because it would have been in a complete downpour! I shall dress up for parkrun though.
This Saturday I will wear my reindeer jumper and red Santa hat at parkrun, weather permitting, just as well you didn't go to the Santa Dash because of the rain, I was going to go to our local Santa Dash but it wasn't held because of financial issues.
I just don’t do ice; full stop….and when it has water on top….lethal. We don’t get many days when running is impossible in this country, so I guess we can cope with a few days off 🙂
The short walk on the gritted path was the most dangerous part of my walk/run this morning, the salt hadn't taken full effect of the ice, if I had come back down that hill on the way back from my run I am sure I would have fallen, I came back a different way, once the run started around the football pitch I ran in the snow which fell yesterday, no problem, this morning I ran around the pitch 12 times, 5 times around it is 1K, 2 years ago in similar conditions I ran around it 40 times, that was a 8K, I took a photo of the moon setting in the north west and 5 minutes later the sun rising in the south east.
One of our friends was recollecting an evening when he watched the sun setting as the moon rose …it made quite an impact on him. Sky watching can be very uplifting.👍
It was freaking cold on my (non)parkrun this morning through the Stadtwald in Cologne! I had like a thousand layers on and once I started running except for my hands, I was okay, though (it was -6 or -5°C still at 10:30 am). My hands didn't get nice and warm until about halfway through (I think I really need some new gloves!).
The music I've gotten addicted was super helpful to get my mind off the cold. I know not everyone enjoys this, I love to concentrate on syncing my steps with the beat. The music is by Mariana Bo, a DJane from Mexico, sped up to 155 bpm using the AudioStep app. (A taste at regular speed is here: beatport.com/track/vivaldi/... )
The warm shower after the run felt really good and I am looking forward to my soup for lunch - will probably brew some tea first, though...
(Had to fiddle around with the link as the YouTube link went all weird... )
Sounds very much like our runs this week CR! We’ve been out in everything from 0 to -7ºC. Today it was 0–2ºC and we had hot chocolate followed by coffee. I can recommend Ron Hill gloves, they have a little extra layer that you can pop over the fingers (to turn them into mittens) or tuck into the back depending on how cold you feel. Doesn’t stop the thumbs freezing though 🥶
My pleasure. I think Shake-and-run had similar ones from Decathlon a couple of years back, hers inspired mine. They are very good, as is the chocolate 😋
Yes, I found some at Decathlon, too. The Ron Hill ones don't appear to be available in Germany, so I might go with the Decathlon ones. Too bad as I like designs by fellow runners 🙃
I got similar ones from Decathlon last Christmas. They only had one pair left, slightly too big, but that meant I could fit a thin pair underneath last Saturday. On Monday I wore ski mittens.
Very well done on your run in the Chilly conditions. I used to love listening to music as I ran. Must get back doing that in the New Year. Hope you lovely hot soup went down well for lunch.
I was secretly hoping PR would be cancelled this morning - I’d rather have stayed warm at home. But sod’s law I had my full selection of 6-8 so I had no choice! 😅
I picked Burnham & Highbridge. It was still frosty and I figured it would be the least treacherous. The course was fine except for a couple of stretches where I took it super slow.
Most people in my snail range seem to be staying at home in this chilly weather … so I’m finding myself nearer the back than usual at the moment. But hey, I was out running and they weren’t so woohoo! 😇
Well done cheeky 👏👏👏. I went out for a pitch inspection with Molly and Mrs BC. We took the car over to the cafe walkway and found that conditions underfoot, apart from the paths that had been cleared up to the cafe, were lethal. Water standing on top of ice…..so definitely no run today. The estate footpaths and side roads are pretty bad too. Hopefully things will be better tomorrow….the sun is out now so 🤞. I saw two runners come out of the car park; I hope that common sense kicked in!
Very well done on braving the very cold weather conditions. Mine was canceled but we turned up anyway. I didn’t run, but played fetch with Ruby for 70 minutes. She is nice and tired now.
Hi CC, glad you enjoyed your run today despite the cold weather, I hope your ear is better and you can sing at any Christmas concert you go to with your choir, I wonder if you know the less well known tune of "While Shepherds Watch Their Flocks by Night" its the Yorkshire version by John Foster, I have a version of it on a CD, worth a listen.
Thanks Al! It’s always a lovely feeling after running; more so when you hadn’t fancied it in the first place. 😇
I was lucky in that the GP was able to clear my totally blocked ear, and she noticed the other was partially blocked as well. A week of olive and oil and drops in that one too, and she cleared it so I’m back to full hearing again! Can’t describe how wonderful it is! 👏
We sing a wonderful ‘Pentonville’ version of While Shepherds Watched which hails from Sheffield. It’s so jolly and the original version is underwhelming in comparison. Apparently there are several versions! 🎶🎄 It’s such fun singing carols - especially the descants! 😀
So happy that both your ears are completely better CC thanks to your GP, on that CD I have by "Psalmody, The Parley of Instuments" directed by Peter Holman there are 4 different versions of While Shepherds Watched their Flocks by Night and 3 versions of Hark the Herald Angels Sing, not the well known Tunes we know, apparently these versions were very popular in Yorkshire from 1750 to 1840.
How wonderful Al. I haven’t heard any of the Hark versions, but we’ll never go back to the well known version of While Shepherds Watched ever again! 🎶🎶🎶
I think if Ashton Court or Eastville had been cancelled, I might have unofficially cancelled all the local ones in my mind Jonathan, and stayed in bed! But I was good. 😇😅
A lot of runners were absent at my PR too but positively I had my highest finish by a long way in 126!!!!!!! I wasn't counting how many behind but it beats my normal finish close to 200!!!!!!😁💪
I like Burnham and Highbridge, my favourite one near to my brother. But this weekend we all met in an Airbnb near Bromsgrove. Nearby parkruns cancelled unfortunately
I looked out the window at 7.00 and there was a heavy frost all around us. Then the Event Director put out a photo of the prom on the RD’s WhatsApp group. Slippery on the paving slabs! It was decided that it was no worse than last week so go ahead with warnings in the briefing, and run at your own risk.
It was better by 9.00 and fortunately it warmed up during the run so all went well. Only 214 participants braved the cold today but I was joined by UpTheStanley (annoyed that he was 25 seconds over the 25 mins), Oldgirlruns and mr Coddfish . UTS ran me in so there was a sprint finish to keep the 2 chaps behind me exactly where they were. Happy with my just over 34 minutes as I’ve only done one short run this week . Breakfast followed in the Southsea Beach Cafe and now waiting for the house to warm up again before I get in the shower. Well done to anyone who could get out there today, it looks like milder weather is on the way.
Stratford upon Avon parkrun was cancelled today, so was Warwick and Arrow Valley. No surprise really as it was a skating rink when we went round yesterday. We were too lazy to travel to Leamington to join the core team so we had a lie-in and, after a bit of yoga, did a (not)parkrun for the first time in a year.
Thankfully it’s thawing a bit today but it was still very slippery. Ironically I didn’t fall over until we started the post run warm down! I’ve been doing at least 5km each day this week and only fallen over twice so far. I have plenty of padding so no problem, certainly better than tripping over tree roots! I’m really hoping its thawed more tomorrow as my legs are really feeling it and I’d just like a normal run! Fastest 5km of the week though at just over 32 careful minutes. I have 44.5 miles left of my 1000 mile challenge with 14 days left to do it.
Hoping our parkrun will be back next weekend as I want to dress up in my reindeer outfit and get my Christmas shoes out again (they don’t have enough tread for these conditions).
Stay safe everyone, I don’t recommend going out in these conditions but if, like me, your nearest treadmill is a 20 minute walk away (I won’t drive that sort of distance for environmental reasons), it actually seems safer to run!
I know JP! Typical! No, it was a very gentle slip, just pride was hurt. If you’re nuts enough to go running in these conditions you have to be prepared to accept whatever comes your way 🤷🏻♀️
True dedication TC! I hadn’t even considered the option of doing (not) parkrun on the Common if they’d have been cancelled! 😳 It would have been hideous. 😅
I’m glad you’re ok after your walking tumble. It’s funny how we feel more secure when running isn’t it?
I hope there’ll be photos of Reindeer TC next week. I’ll don my antlers and more than likely sport a (no need for a falsie) red nose! 🦌
Ah, the famous Common runs! I bet you don’t miss those! I forgot I’d already mentioned the reindeer outfit!! Sorry cheeky, I’ve just repeated myself in a reply to your post 🤣 Yes, no red nose paint needed next week. All runs are a bit hideous atm. It’s still snowy outside this morning so more of the same today 😬🙄
No I don’t! 😅 Not the best running weather is it TC? I left home with sleet and 0 degrees 🥶, thanking my lucky stars I’d decided to do my 10k at the gym, then wished I was outside when I practically overheated on the treadmill. 🥵 I’d better not be coming down with something; it took me ages to recover today ….. 🤞
Well done TC. I’m going to don my antlers next Saturday too, but I won’t be doing the Christmas Day run as my sister and b-in-law will be staying with us. Our parkrun is holding all 4 parkruns over the holidays, are you?
We’ve got 3, no Christmas Day. I think Leamington are doing all 4. I’ll see what the enthusiasm is for travelling over but can’t say I fancy running up a muddy hill on Christmas especially as we have that other hill on the 27th. Hopefully the volunteers who couldn’t yesterday will pop their hands up for Christmas Eve 🤞
No parkrun for me today as we were away visiting family - but I did manage a (not) parkrun yesterday. Out at 7.45 before the sun was up - quite icy at -2° but managed to complete 5k in 31.01. Relented and wore leggings for the first time this winter!😜
Parkrun #35 for me today. A frosty start to the day and although the temperature was the same as last week it felt colder. I have a wonderful venue running round these lakes. Sometimes the swans take an interest in the runners but this morning they were more concerned about ice on the late. I think people had been put off by the cold as there were fewer runners today. Still it all worked out well and I was pleased to take part. Every time I go out running I'm grateful for my health and the fact I can run. I never want to take this for granted.
I fully intended to do parkrun today and all 3 of our local ones went ahead despite a heavy frost and -1c temperature, although Market Rasen only had 73 runners. However, during the concert I was singing in last night I started to get an itchy nose and by this morning I was back to a full blown cold 🤧🤧 First Defence, Day and Night Nurse and fingers crossed I can get rid of it by Christmas. I’ve got all kinds of events this week and our son is coming home tomorrow, so I really don’t want to be under the weather. Grrr 😡
Good evening all, I haven’t been to PR for the last two weeks due to finally catching Covid two weeks ago and last week I was taking my daughter to the local church to perform with her primary school choir 🥰🎅🏻. That meant I was rather desperate to go this week as my aim to do my 50th PR on my bday at the end of Feb. My local one at Lowestoft was cancelled at 7.30 this morning but luckily my second closest at Gorleston was confirmed a little while later. It was a gorgeous morning despite the freezing temperatures. In my photo below you can just about see the RD walking along with his bottle of table salt to thaw the ice! It was a fairly small crowd (126) compared to what I’m used to . The volunteers were all still smiling despite how cold they must have been! Covid has definitely taken its toll on my lungs and it’s going to take some time to built that stamina back up again but I’ll keep plugging away. Looking forward to slightly warmer temperatures and going back to my home PR for Christmas Eve.
Hi Damienair,Sorry to hear about your travel problems. Hope you've managed to find some relaxation since.
I'm really chuffed to say I did my first Parkrun since my operation (7weeks) having done volunteering in the interim.
Today I reckon it was at its coldest and the paths were white but still sufficiently grippy to run with a couple of signed icy bits to avoid.
I feel for the Marshalls but they were jogging up and down to keep warm, probably expended at least 5k of energy!!!!
I layered up and today was running with my new Contra beanie, very cosy, and I've treated myself to some road/trek running boots which are excellent. Up until now my footwear/clothing has been quite basic so at least the extremities are smart!!!
I don't feel up to the level of fitness before my op but was really pleased with today's time of just under 40 minutes. The first 4k was pretty good but I was desperately overheating and needed a layer less! I took my beanie off at the end and it had a covering of frost!
The photo is of the dedicated volunteers at their pre set up briefing. The picture says it all about the conditions.
Home parkrun went ahead but unfortunately the tourist one we had planned was cancelled, as was the next nearest one. Probably for the best as mobilising 2 teenage nephews for the early start was a tad ambitious methinks.
But we had a good weekend and avoided the snow and ice on our journey home.
Parkrun cancelled, so a short lie-in followed y my first 10K in five months over mostly ice free paths (had to do a double back on quite a few parts and weaving to find safe routes.) Supposedly 2 degrees but felt colder. Weather is back to "normal" now, hopefully everyone here can find a safe PR on Christmas Eve.
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