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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Hi damienair & other park runners, (not) park runners,
It has been super hot all week & I’ve run 45k on my HM plan so I opted out of park run today. I did run a (not) park run to meet no.2 son & hubby at park run in 32:02. No.2 son got 21:43 & hubby took it steady for him coming in at 27:20.
Morning running friends 👋 No PR or volunteering for me this week as I’m on hols with my two daughters and two little grandsons. I have run a couple of 5ks though and I’ll do another on Monday before we leave. Shame there isn’t a PR here in Tenerife - it’s awash with runners, joggers and walkers so they’re missing a trick!
Good morning Damien, no parkrun for me today, however, I did run a 3K "maintenance run"around a pond near to where I live in a time of 21.39.
Not sure about next week, there is a man living just down the road from where I live graduated from C25K about 4 months ago and now goes to parkruns when he hasn't got work commitments on a Saturday, he told me he has a Saturday off every 4 or 5 weeks and next week is his Saturday off, he told me last week if he can, he will take me in his car to Palacerigg parkrun.
Hi Beachcomber66, I agree with you about running short 3K runs, I made a big mistake back at the end of 2018 which was the year I graduated from C25K, as you know I have been a cyclist from since I was 7, however, in recent years I havn't cycled during the winter months, so during the winter of 2018 /2019 I didn't run at all thinking like cycleing it would be OK for me to restart running at the beginning of March 2019. After the first run I felt awful, I did not want to repeat C25K again in full, instead I ran run 1 of week 1 on a Monday, run 1 of week 2 on a Wednesday and run 1 of week 3 on a Saturday and so on until the 30 minutes runs of week 9, so now and since the winter of 2019/2020 I now run at least a 3K in addition to the 5K I run on a Wednesday, from March as I have done over the last few years I hope to gradually increase my running to 10K, I will increase my midweek run by 1K a week until I can run 10K again.
You are well organised Al. I am finding that doing only long one run per week, and keeping the other two shorter but quicker, I seem to be making more progress in terms of pace on the long run. I remember the concept of “junk miles” from my early running days…sometimes less, in terms of short run distances, is more 🙂
It would be nice if he at least ran me in his car to parkrun, he works on most Saturdays but has the occasional Saturday off, he graduated from C25K on Saturday 6th August 2022, I was walking on my way to parkrun, as he passed me running he shouted that he was running run 3 of week 9, I shouted back "good luck" since then he's ran about 4 or 5 parkruns and a few 10Ks too, last Tuesday I met him running when I was coming back from shopping, he told me as he passed that he was running another 10K.
UseHi Damienair,. Hope you're weekend is going well.I'm on tourist roster this week and fortunate to be on the Isle of Wight and able to run the Medina PR, which starts in Seaclose Park and uses a long out and back run along the banks of the Medina River. The rowers were out being coached to the backing of a curlew call, a great soundtrack.
The first Km was very tentative as I've been hampered this week with an odd muscle strain from gardening! Just two short runs, but all seemed well so I maintained a steady pace with the aim to get round and appreciate the new route. My watch time said 39:54 so happy with that.
This is an exceptionally well run and very friendly PR. If you ever holiday on the IoW I recommend it. But note when the festival is on the site is closed for running for a couple of months or so and the PR switches to what I believe is a more challenging up and downer in Ryde.
Update official time was 40:27 and this was faster than my summer course run which I remember as an easier course so very happy with that.
A (not) parkrun 5k for me! My husband has started running more consistently in preparation for a 10k we’ve entered in June. He did a little bit of hill training last year but mainly short intervals to get fit. This was the second ever 5k we’ve done together. A lovely chilled out and chatty run beating last time’s time by three seconds. The time didn’t matter to be honest-it as great to see it was a comfortable, confidence building run. The out and back uphill followed by downhill led to some super negative splits too! Maybe next week we’ll be up early enough for an actual park run. Our nearest is known to be tough so will look at options!
so lovely to be able to run together MissUnderstanding . I dreaded the early parkrun start, and then I got addicted. Now it’s 8.30 starts when volunteering.
Thanks! It’s working really well. I was worried because he’s naturally faster than me but the chatty, enjoy nature runs are lovely. Running together regularly on Saturday is a new thing since new year. Hopefully the next step is to make it a little earlier.
Mr Cheeky has yet to be persuaded to join my daughter and I at PR, mainly because he’s always at his beloved rowing club on a Saturday morning. Plus he’d make it into a race and do himself a mischief! He’s a good runner, but only uses it as rowing fitness. One day we’ll get him out with us!
Running together for the event is an interesting proposition! I think he’s likely to be quite a bit faster than me but much less experienced and might crash and burn. The race is June so plenty of time what will lead to the most marital harmony!!!
This morning I traveled with 2 of my parkrun friends to do some parkrun tourism at Russborough House parkrun. It was a lovely course on hard tarmac, trails and fields. I ran this morning with the aim of completing the course without taking a walking break. I also didn’t look at my watch and ran at a comfortable pace whilst still trying to push myself a little. I’m very happy with my result which was 31:35. Bit by bit I’m improving and getting fitter. Another parkrun done and another one ticked off my list. It was so nice having the company too.
You must have quite a few tourist parkruns under your belt by now Damien? Well done on that time, you’ll be at a pace you’re happy with in no time I’m sure 👍
Good morning Damien and other fellow parkrunners! This morning I was sitting in bed with a cuppa scrolling through social media when the local news said a new parkrun was starting at one of the sports centres in Lincoln. I knew it was being planned but didn’t know when it was due to launch. So a change of plan to what is now my nearest parkrun (just under 5 miles) with a choice of 4 within 10 miles. The car park was already pretty full as I arrived at around 8.40 and I bumped into quite a few of my running club members as I walked to the start. As you can imagine there was quite a response when the RD asked if there were any tourists 😂😂 The course is round the cycle track, so not the prettiest and it is twice round the short end and 3 times round the longer end. I was lapped at least twice by the faster runners. Only 17m elevation gain in total and all on tarmac, so could be a pretty fast course. My Garmin time was 33.29, official time 33.35, which is 2.31 faster than last week (the inhaler I’ve been prescribed appears to be working - and, even better, no post run coughing 🥳👏🏻). My finish token was 378 😳 although it came through as 322 on the email 🤷♀️out of 449 runners. How true that is I don’t know as my scanner said they only had 450 tokens 🤪 So much for trying to keep it quiet! The cafe was open, but the poor young lad serving didn’t really know what had hit him, so, after queuing for 40 minutes, chatting to other runners, I bailed and went home for coffee and a bacon sandwich. Looking at the numbers for the other Lincoln parkruns, they aren’t much lower than usual but there were huge numbers of visitors from all over including Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Cambridgeshire. I was chatting to somebody from West Bromwich who had driven over specially, there was a couple from Blackburn and a lady from Hertfordshire. I don’t know if it was because it was the first run or because, and here’s the knock out blow, it is Yarborough Leisure Centre parkrun. Yesss, a Y for my parkrun alphabet 😃😃😃 Also day 4 of RED February. All in all, a very satisfying morning.
Good run Sandie and great that your inhaler is working. I needed to use both of my inhalers this morning, which is unusual. They worked though; one of my intervals was at 5:32 pace and I wasn’t remotely out of breath. Thank heaven for the NHS !
ha ha. It seems they didn’t follow parkrun advice to keep it quiet for the first one! I was told about it yesterday. 😂 Not only were people after a Y, but there is also a 1 for the Fibonacci sequence. Runs 2, 3 , 5 etc will be very busy too.
I’m glad to hear your inhaler is doing the trick Sandie1961 , a good time today.
We were amazed. The other Trotters said they thought there might be about 100!! I had no idea there is a Fibonacci sequence and don’t know what it is anyway 😂😂
It’ll be interesting to see how much chatter there is about it in the UK Parkrun Tourists Facebook page. They usually try to keep quiet about inaugurals but it doesn’t seem to have worked for this one, I hope it doesn’t do it any harm as we really need more than one ‘Y’ in this country!
Fabulous news that the inhaler is doing its job, I bet that is a big relief (in more ways than one!). 😍
Good job there is a very large car park. The centre is the race village for the 10k, cycling grand prix etc so they’re used to big numbers (unlike the, possibly teenage, lad who was in the rather small cafe)
Yes, very pleased at the benefits of the inhaler (just as long as I can get rid of it asap)
I missed the 1st one at Market Rasen, only making no. 2 so it was good. The atmosphere was amazing! Feeling more normal, even if due to inhaler, was a big plus
Woohoo Sandie 🙌 A win on every level! Nice to have that Y ticked off (none for miles in the SW as far as I know), and great that you’re kicking that lurgy well and truly into touch.
Hopefully help will be recruited at the cafe next week. 🤞
A bit of an off beat 5k in the woods this morning, Bare stats, 5k at 33:24 don’t really tell the story. This was an interval run, and the first 1k included a walk and stop for stretching exercises before the intervals started. So my first 1k was 7:53. but the intervals got me into sub 6.00 pace for the first time in years. I felt ok afterwards too. 🤞 I feel the same in the morning! I even managed to spot a hardy tree creeper on my walk home….clearly my head was up and sight wasn’t too blurred by the effort 🙂
Good old Wikipedia: “The European green woodpecker spends much of its time feeding on ants on the ground and does not often 'drum' on trees like other woodpecker species. ” It appears they nick nesting holes that are already made. Professor Yaffle from Bagpuss was one. Maybe it’s just as they don’t peck as much as he’d have pecked a hole in himself!
🙂 Fascinating. We get the noisy spotted noisy wood pecking type up here. I have only once seen a green one. Maybe that is because they are more discreet!
So far any way JP. Slow long run planned for Monday. I know what you mean about not letting the coach/ programme lead me astray. No more intervals planned for a week, so we will see how things feel then.
Creeping up the speed eh Captain Sensible? The difference is, you’re doing it in a controlled fashion and know when things don’t feel right. Mr Snail-no-More! 👏
This morning was proof that the running community is awesome. We had our food collection at Southsea parkrun for the local Pantry, and people were so generous. We had volunteers from the Pantry in attendance as well as a journalist from the local newspaper.
I was awake at 4.00, hoping it would all go to plan, and I’m still buzzing.
On top of that, UpTheStanley ran in less than 25 minutes, which he hasn’t been able to do for ages.
Breakfast had to follow.
So a very good morning - now to think about rugby. Come on Wales (sorry Damien) , Come on England.
Gloomy here as the Welsh better half has resorted to necking very good English beer. I'm saving myself for England. Brilliant combination of activity and purpose over The Solent. The joy of a community.
Excellent Dexy. How wonderful that you got such a fantastic response and collected so much food for the food bank. That is just great. Well done too to UTS, brilliant effort and great finish time.
Bit of volunteering, bit of running, bit more running then more volunteering this morning. Just how I like it ☺️
Ran to parkrun with the token bag over my shoulder, someone commented that it looked like I was running from a ‘job’ and my bag should have ‘Swag’ written on it 🤣🤣. Then I did the course in reverse to do the course check, just a table from the restaurant and a tree branch to move out of the way.
We had a trainee Run Director today and she did very well. How she could do the run brief and not want to be swallowed up by the ground I don’t know, but that’s why I normally give that job to Katnap 😁
I wasn’t going to go fast today as I’ve now started a HM training plan and it told me to run at Level 5 (what is that???). I took that to not mean full pelt, but I probably went faster than I should have done because I just can’t help myself! I reckon a Level 7-8 (whatever that is). So I came in at 29:31 which I was really pleased about as I’ve got my first Stopwatch Bingo number for about a year - only 8 more to get! I’ll be on 500 plus runs before I get them all at this rate! Once you’ve got to a certain level it takes ages to get the last few numbers.
Core team meeting post run at my friend’s cafe. It was a sad day as she was closing up for good (it’s a long story of battles with the landlord). We bought her out of brownies again, I’m going to have to find out where she gets them from (or get the recipe).
Level 6 6 miles tomorrow 🤷🏻♀️. Have a great runny week everybody 🙌👏👏👏
That’s really good Dexy. I would say you’ll get the rest in no time, but who knows! Most of mine are in the 30s I think.
Yes, it is a bit complicated. The highest level is 9. It’s the Big Half 9 week plan and it seemed to suit, it’s only the levels that I don’t like. It’s quite easy for the first couple of weeks then the speed play kicks in.
😁 Yes, that one 😢 Landlord has been a complete 💩 The annoying thing is I’ve been trying to get core team meetings in there for months and they really liked that room as it was just the right size (the same one we were in last week - the heating was on this week!).
Another enjoyable run at Portsmouth Lakeside this morning. Almost a carbon copy of last week - just 2 seconds slower and a field of 248 . Back to shorts and t-shirt today and no gloves - that's more like it!
My tenth visit to Hafan Pwllheli this morning, and parkrun number 56 for me.
I'd done a 2.25km run to the chippy yesterday evening, before driving from Manchester to Aberdaron (about 3 hours).
I was a bit too slow in getting ready this morning and found myself having to drive a little more assertively than I'd like on the B roads into Pwllheli (eg. overtaking slowcoaches on the few good visibility sections whilst staying within the speed limits). I arrived with 5 minutes to go, quickly changed my shoes and donned a cap. I probably would have benefited from gloves (8°C with a breeze), but had forgotten to bring them.
The Run Director (who greeted me by name) was in the process of explaining the route (essentially, run along the beach to a cone 2.5km off in the distance and come back here) and asking if there were any milestone runners (there were none).
The tide was going out, but was still fairly high up the beach. The sea was calm at the start point, but further round the curve it was washing in and out enough to catch a few people by surprise. There were lots of stranded jellyfish of various sizes littering the dampened sand.
Something struck me when I was approaching the turnaround point: for someone of about 5ft 7" tall at sea level, the horizon is about 5km away. So I called out to the marshal there that this was "Half way to the Horizon." I then had to pause briefly to explain myself to a puzzled-looking marshal. (The look might instead have been, "This bloke's off his rocker.")
The return leg had me feeling more and more tired, but I kept plodding. I actually overtook a few people on this bit but that was probably more from them being more tired than me than anything special on my part.
Of course, for the last 200m the sand gets softer and we have to run further up the beach. This makes the last bit much harder to run.
Then it's over and I get handed my finish token (a very worn barcode with the number 9 on it). I stop the watch and phone app, get my breath back, then go to the scanner marshal.
Afterwards, I hang around chatting for about 15 minutes by which time I was starting to get cold. A man finished and dropped to his knees on the sand to get his breath back. His wife said he always did that. A little after that I bid my goodbyes. The stragglers didn't finish for another 20 minutes after I'd left.
Ah, someone else who gets that look too 😆 I’m glad I’m not the only one! Well done at keeping at it, good to see they’re getting a better winter crowd.
Hi damienair, parkrun was OK despite unfortunately being without my wing man, daughter number 2, as she fancied a lie in so I was left to my own devices. Bumped into 2 friends who invited me to run with them so the warning signs were up as they normally finish 500mtrs ahead of me. Started a bit quick and they lost me on the first hill after 2k. Struggled a bit but managed 29'15" my second sub 30' 5k. I posted about a feeling either half empty of fuel or half full of breakfast an uncomfortable feeling none the less😂😂Overall quite pleased with the effort 😁
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