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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Happy New Year everyone. There are parkruns organised on New Years Eve and New Years Day so you can do 2 days in a row. I’m away tomorrow morning so won’t be at parkrun but I plan to do one on New Year’s Day. Good luck everyone and enjoy your parkrun.
New Year and new start again. Looking forward to getting back to running again. It’s going to be tough. But I’ll get there. Really looking forward to getting back to enjoying running again.
We know you’ll get there Damien and you’ll get back to where you were. I hope to too. I’m a good 3 minutes slower than I know I can be. Let’s show 2023 who’s boss! 👊
Ah, you have age on your side young Damien! I have no doubt you’ll get back to where you want to be, but, at the end of the day, the thing I’ve concluded this year is that you should only go as fast as you enjoy. Happy New Year 🥂
Our park run was not running due to the foreshore being set up for fireworks later. No.2 son wanted to test his new shoes so we headed to another park run 30mins up the road. I sat this one out as I completed my annual mileage yesterday & I’m taking a couple of days off before I start HM training. No.2 son, hubby & I have booked a HM race in 13 weeks. I’ve run the distance but never entered a race before. Exciting.
No.2 Son came in at 20:40 & hubby came in at 24:38.
Sadly, no parkrun for me this weekend and I was going to volunteer today and run tomorrow. Covid has arrived in our household so I will be at home, listening to the strong wind and pouring rain instead of standing at the turning cone cheering people on.
it is BC, especially as I’ve only had one positive test if I get a 3rd negative I think I will declare myself clear. Sadly UTS is day 8 and still positive . We would def be hunkered indoors today even with the C word. 💧💦💧💦💨🌊
It took Mrs BC and me the full 10 days to test negative last March. There was just a tantalising faint line for the last couple of days, but a positive is a positive. Good job you are both fit and strong 👊
Sorry about Covid arriving in your household Dexy5, I hope its the light version and won't last long, did you really miss standing in the wind coming off the sea and pouring rain ☔ cheering the runners at the turning cone at Southsea parkrun this morning? yes, that's what I call dedication, I wish you and UpTheStanley a happy New Year for 2023.
It WAS beautiful, woke up this morning and all the snow has melted, I am now going to go a short walk, perhaps 2K then watch the annual New Year Concert from Vienna on BBC 2 at 10.15
I volunteered today as timekeeper at Chadderton Hall Park. A really strong field this morning, with the first seven finishers (of 62) coming in under 22 minutes.
I'm hoping to run at the comparatively flat Pennington Flash (near Leigh, Lancs) tomorrow.
Jenny decided last minute to travel to London so I was left to run solo this morning. Fiffed and faffed where to go. Needed somewhere that would double as a nice dog walk afterwards, ruling out several. Picked Marine Parade (Weston-Super-Mare) as I could walk Flossie on the beach after.
Turned up nice and early, sat in the car out of the elements for a bit, then headed up to the start. Bit quiet today I thought. Hey, seriously, where is everyone? Pretended I knew what I was doing and jogged back down the prom for a km, to find everyone congregated by the new start line! It might have changed months ago, but I made it there with a minute to spare before starting almost plum last! 😅 Didn’t feel like exerting myself today after the mountains of food (3 roasts in 4 days), so jogged along happily. Got drenched on the beach after, but Flossie had fun. 🐕💦❤️
I might return tomorrow for some experimentation ….. will decide in the morning. Happy New Year everyone. 🎉
Sounds like mine today: pre set up, briefing and token sorting. Tomorrow’s just token sorting! I prefer my way round, lie-in sacrificed today rather than tomorrow!
If it’s the PR I’m thinking of I can only imagine the quagmire 😆
My first run for 12 days and first parkrun since 3rd December for a variety of reasons and, having missed Xmas Eve and Xmas Day, I was determined to make it today. I’m still suffering with the cold that I seem to have had for ever (and have managed to pass onto Mr S, who is now on antibiotics and steroids for a chest infection!) and it was pouring with rain when I woke up. Still, I had told myself I was going, so I did. Miraculously the rain stopped as the run started and it was a balmy 8c with no wind, but lots of puddles to avoid. An unspectacular 33.52, 79th out of just 101 runners and 3rd out of 3 😂 in my age category. But I did it 😃😃 Happy New Year everyone 🥂
Happy New Year to you and Mrs BC too. I didn’t realise I’d got a badge until I checked my Garmin 👏🏻👏🏻 Maybe next year I’ll finally get further oop north for that long awaited parkrun with you!
A very happy New year to you Demien for 2023,I feel very fit today, I got the train to Springburn Parkrun, my time was 32.35 but that wasn't the last run I ran today, the train station near to where I live is a half hour walk, however, instead of waiting for a bus at the station I decided to run home, I walked a little and got home in a little under 18 minutes, about 20 minutes earlier than if I had waited in the cold for a bus, when I got home I ate my usual Chocolate Ice-cream Swirl then a 20 minute workout of pushups, squats and a kettle bell swinging exercise I learned from a YouTube video, now you see how I meant regarding feeling very fit today, at 2 o'clock I will take Holly the dog her usual 2pm walk.
With the first Covid "lock-down" (we never really had those here in Germany... folks just call them that...), I started walking instead of taking a bus. I've been amazed at how much quicker I get places now... it's rather sad, really, because public transit ought to be a reliable alternative!
And congratulations on all your accomplishments today, AlMorr !
Yes BC66, quite a lot of exercises for me today, after the dog walk for the rest of New Year's Eve (Hogmanay in Scotland) I will put my feet up and watch the television for the rest of the year, I won't be going to a parkrun on New Year Day, I wish you all the very best for 2023.
I would normally do those exercises in the morning or afternoon but I felt fit enough to do them after parkrun this morning, I have attended 36 parkruns this year, 21 more than last year, however, the highlight of my running year was on the 27th November when I ran my first full Half Marathon in memory of Tim, I wish you Oldgirlruns and the rest of the Southsea Crew a very prosperous and happy running New Year for 2023
Thanks TailChaser, I have run 36 parkruns this year, 21 more than last year, the highlight was at Drumpellier parkrun on August 6th when I met Tasha99 and GTFC, I wish you a very happy Running New Year for 2023
Amazing Alan. Very well done on running home after your parkrun and on all the extra exercises at home afterwards. Hope you had a lovely walk with Holly. Happy New Year.
It is hot here today! Well, not really hot hot but 17°C isn't really the usual temperature on a winter day... Plus, I remember wearing my winter coat just a couple days ago... So, I ended up carrying a lot of the clothes that I had put on - that sudden temperature change threw me because I couldn't adopt gradually. Nevertheless or maybe because of it, I very much enjoyed my (non)parkrun! Plus, it was fun to get to wear my new Contra shirt 😊 despite the slightly too short sleeves (which seem to be a theme), it wears really well.
Depending on how I feel in the morning (and how much sleep my neighbors will let me get...), I'll go to a New Year's Day parkrun...
Hi Damien, I set myself up for a proper (not) park run today; I decided to follow the NRC 5k and see what happened. So, speedy shoes on, I set off skirting the mud and puddles.
I ran the first 3k a bit too quickly….6:19 and 6:18 were not sustainable at my current level of fitness. So I backed off a bit and got control of my breathing; CB said that was ok!
I was quite happy with 32:15 and an average heart rate of 141bpm. Even the grinchy VO2max gave me back one of the points it had stolen over the last few months! I settled into a really comfortable rhythm, which worked well with my super soft shoes. The only fly in the ointment is that the extra pace was, in the main, down to an increased stride length (1.02m as opposed to my usual .95). I hope that there are no repercussions! But hey, it felt good. 👍
Flat white and brownie this morning. My pal who has a mobility scooter was in the cafe; saved a place for me.
Mrs BC and I are experimenting with Vietnamese coffee, condensed milk etc. Just a question of balancing coffee strength with the sweetness of the milk. Need more practice! 😋
The coffee was a Christmas present from our sweet toothed eldest. I was pleasantly surprised by the intensity of the flavour. Mrs BC has reserved judgement pending further trials!
Very soggy at Portsmouth Lakeside today - the rain stopped for the start, but within 5 mins it was back for the rest of the run. Needless to say, the puddles round the lake had multiplied, so there was lots of splashing and dodging (naughty!). Only 187 runners today not surprisingly and the time was a bit immaterial but for the record 31.26.
Oh and further to Dexy5's post about food banks earlier in the week, the RD announced before we started that next week there would be a collection of any items suitable for our local food bank - great to see parkrun doing something extra for the community!😀 Happy New Year to one and all!
I’m sure you wouldn’t dodge those puddles would you JP?! Very wet and windy down the road at ours today as well, glad I wasn’t out in it! Happy New Year to you!
Very well done Jonathan and yes brilliant idea about supporting the food banks. Especially considering all the excess unopened food which may be in peoples houses after Christmas. That is a lovely idea.
No Parkrunning for me this morning as I still feel rubbish with this month long cough and cold I’ve had. Instead I decided to volunteer (first time) so I could get some fresh air and cheer everyone else along. I really enjoyed it. (Photo: I’m in the middle) ☺️ Happy New Year everyone and let’s hope it’s a healthy and happy one with lots of running goals.
1st parkrun of the weekend today. It was Katnap ’s 100th and the completion of my R5kED December, so we both had milestones to celebrate. We were also joined by Shake-and-run for the first time in a couple of months as she tailwalked.
It was a bit of a miserable morning, dull, wet and windy. Tbh, after the weather I’ve run through all December and what I trained through in July/August I’m pretty resilient now. The biggest decision was what to wear as it was actually quite warm.
Katnap had a bit of a battle on his hands though as he had two balloons to fight as we made our way around the 3 laps. Sometimes they tried to make a break for it, sometimes they tried to strangle him, other times they tried to tow him along. He should have worn roller skates really 🤣
Apart from the battle with the balloons, it was a bit of a trudge, but we ran together at around 32 minutes. A sprint finish of sorts, no surprise that Katnap beat me at the line. My legs were really feeling the 31 days worth so I was quite surprised they had anything left in them.
We all volunteered today, with eldest kitten timekeeping and youngest kitten photographer, so a real family effort. I’ve had to get the tokens sorted and wired up ready for tomorrow’s event, which is why I’m a bit late posting!
Post coffee and almond/apple croissant with Shakes, we’ll be celebrating the New Year together and attempting to drag ourselves out of bed for part 2 in the morning. Maybe just the one snowball tonight?!
Have a great evening everyone and happy new year running!
Huge congratulations to Katnap on his 100th and to you for RED December. 31 days and Christmas to navigate. Awesome woman 🥳🥳🥳 Glad to see Katnap managed to keep hold of his balloons, unlike a certain cheekychipmunks I could mention (but won’t in case I embarrass her 😂😂). Have a lovely evening and Happy New Year 🥳🥂
All I can say in response is ‘ears’ Sandie1961 ! 😂😂😂 One on top of your head, the other over your left ear! 🐈⬛ 🤣 Oh, and my balloon made a dash for it - I was left running just holding the string! 😅😅
Christmas was a bit 😱 tbh Sandie! I wouldn’t recommend trying to sort Christmas and do what I did. To say it was disorganised would be an understatement 🤪 Happy New Year to you all 🥳🥳🥳x
Woohoo congratulations you fab Kats! You put most of us to shame! Yes, bit windy for 🎈🎈🎈🎈🎈 You’ll be out again tomorrow, we all know that! Happy 2023 🎉🎉🎉
Congratulations to Katnap on the big 100 parkruns. How come it’s always extremely windy on 100 celebration run days? It was for cheekychipmunks and mine. Well done on your daily 5ks in December too TailChaser . I can confirm you are a running addict. Kittens and Shake-and-run too, what a great time.
Thanks Dexy. Strange isn’t it? It was much colder today but that wind was still there. Shakes and I both ran (despite lack of sleep) but Katnap and the kittens all volunteered. I am going to attempt to break the habit tomorrow, I really don’t want to do it again in January 😴
Evening all, 44th PR today at Lowestoft and my 36th of the year. Rather on the windy side and even a little bit of rain but sounds like nothing compared to some of you on the south coast! Fairly comfortable one today and finished in exactly 300th place. I’ll be back on the morning for a spot of volunteering! Happy new year!
I did my first parkwalk this morning 🥳 as the only walker out of 25 participants. It seemed like the British expat community had come together (okay, there were a few British tourists...) plus one runner from Australia (!) and me, the German-American living in Cologne... So English all around! I think there were a few Germans, too... At 25, this was exactly the right size for this introvert and I plan to do my first parkrun on Saturday (unless the bed wins again 🤣) . (I didn't want to run today since I did a (non)parkrun yesterday...)
Just had to add I ran the same PR today too (New Year’s Day, Marine Parade). Felt great, the atmosphere was incredible and I was nearly 2 minutes quicker than yesterday. I was very pleased to have made the effort and it was the perfect way to start 2023.
Congratulations on that time! I bet there was a bit of a nip in the air along there as well as a buzz in the atmosphere. Lovely place to run. Happy new year!
Yes there was a fairly strong headwind when we turned, and as we do 2 out and backs we were treated to it twice MU! But it’s lovely and I suspect I’ll be using it when I start to ramp miles back up to HM this year. Makes a change from my usual routes. 😀
I'm planning on doing the NRC HM plan again…I really enjoyed it last time and it’s nice to look forward to it knowing what’s coming! Lots of time with the lovely coach B!!
Pop over to the West of Ireland for a weekend and run at Westport parkrun. Westport is a gorgeous town, loads of lovely hiking spots. That was my first compass point on the compass challenge. I have West and East done, I need North and South. I’ll have to arrange a couple of trips to the UK.
The northernmost in the British Isles is Bressay (Shetland Islands) but that's a really expensive place to get to. (Overnight ferry from Aberdeen to Lerwick, or a flight into Sumburgh and then a bus to Lerwick, then the ferry to Bressay.)
Most westerly (excluding Ireland) is Lews Castle, Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis.
Without crossing water, most northerly is Thurso and the most westerly is Land's End.
Most easterly would be Lowestoft. Most southerly is again Land's End.
It has to have East, West, North and South in the name to qualify for the compass challenge. So far I have done Westport parkrun in the west of Ireland and Eastville parkrun in Bristol. I’ll be visiting Dexy5 and the crew hopefully towards September or October this year to get my South and then I’ll find a parkrun which has North in the name such as Northampton parkrun.
I was thinking we’d maybe get away with running at Weston-super-mare Juniors cheekychipmunks ? Westport sounds lovely damienair. I see Oswestry counts as west too. I’ll have to check out the maps.
Good morning everyone and Happy New Year 🎊. I kicked off my goal of doing over 40 parkruns, getting fit and getting healthy again by attending a parkrun in the town where my parents live. I awoke a little late and had to scramble to get to the start line on time. I reached it with 3 minutes to spare and was surprised to find 2 of my parkrun friends from my home parkrun waiting for me. Completely unplanned it was so lovely to see them. It was a small turnout of around 35 people and the run was an out and back along a canal. My finish time was 37:25 and I’m delighted with my time as I have not been running in a very long time. But I’m back. Happy running everyone.
Same again for me today too, though our numbers were way down on yesterday’s. Thankfully I got a bit of a lie-in as we’d only had about 5 hours sleep 😴 It was cold and still windy, and the muddy bits were still very muddy, the squishy leafy bits still squishy and leafy. However, we had a beautiful sun and bright blue sky, which always wakes me up albeit temporarily.
Tried my new lovely shoes out as my legs needed some help, and they didn’t disappoint. As expected, a bit rubbish on the mud but brilliant on the sprinting straights. Very happy with my time of just over 29 minutes thanks to the shoes. Good benchmark to start the year on.
Nice to see Runnerno marshalling - sorry, I didn’t recognise you in non running clothes 😅
Katnap and I now have 6 days to fill the roster as we are next on the list to RD 😬 but at least it might give my legs a rest…
Fantastic running TC and great start to 2023. Very well done on your parkrun. We had a lovely blue sky too. Have a healthy happy 2023 to you and all your loved ones.
Hi Damienair, sorry to hear you're not back to running yet but for some reason January is the great motivator. Well I either made my last error of 2022 or my first of 2023 by reading the events list for NYD wrong. Medina PR ran Saturday as normal not today . Perhaps it was meant to be because yesterday was truly awful weather, flooded roads, wild winds and lashing rain. Whereas today was sublime by comparison.
A continuing self inflicted folly was to enjoy company and intake until 3.00am and then get up for PR at 6.00am! So turning up and seeing enthusiastic PR Juniors was possibly a godsend as I'm not sure I was fit for 5k.
I needed a gentle flat run so call by Fort Victoria and hit the coast path to Yarmouth, and I did my own Junior 2.5k PR. At the turning point overlooking the Yar estuary I had my own #Chinkoflight, the first of many in 2023 with luck.
And then as I reflected on the night before a worrying commitment to meet up with a few fellow masochists for an 11.30 dip. They won't turn up , they did. Brrrrrr🥶🥶🥶
Very well done on your little Junior 2.6K 😀, I’m sure it was perfect for blowing off the cobwebs. And if that didn’t work I’m sure the dip certainly did the job.
I’m back running now with full enthusiasm, 10K booked for end of April and a Half Marathon for end of August plus a goal to run over 40 parkruns in 2023. One done and 39 at least to go. I’m also aiming to beat my parkrun PB later in the year. I have a lot of work to do.
Had my best time at Castle Park, Bishops Stortford, where I have usually been slow, on Saturday. My third run there, despite it being the closest I've ever been to a Tough Mudder! My nephew ( a sub 20 minute runner) said he couldn't run as he had no trail shoes! In fact it was so bad, that the Sunday run was cancelled.
Lay in bed reading when I should have been at parkrun on NYD. They were kind enough to video our runner who plays the bagpipes playing Auld Lang Syne though.
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