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 & (not) park runners and park runners,
No park run again for me as I was keen to run a 5 miler at my goal HM pace. I did join park run for a couple of k’s to finish off my run. No.2 son was cautioned to try & not smash it out the park today as he ran 12k yesterday with his Dad for HM training. He still came in at 20:18. Dad was volunteering today as the lead bike. Fun morning for all.
Our Run Director was chatting to us about that today. We are hoping that we will be able to continue to use the lead bike for our park run. Our park run loops back on a narrow path & think it’s going to be a safety issue for our faster runners without one 😳
Hi Damienair, I hope your week has progressed as planned. After my post about intervals I thought it would be too soon to see any improvement after a couple of weeks but today's effort at Parkrun was on my timing a PB at shading under 37 minutes. It might have been helped by the presence of a Stormtrooper who set off at the back but clattered past me after 0.5km and disappeared into the ether before I finished! Running on behalf of Scope and may be coming to other Parkruns too. You have all been warned and may the force be with you. Update 37'02" new parkrun PB!
A perfect 5k for me this morning; at 7:25 pace. The original intention was to run intervals, but I have been thinking about pace all week; prompted in part by a tight calf and two long runs which, on reflection, were just too quick. So today’s pace was inspired by friends on this week’s Marathon chat. Result, an effortless run and the calf feels really relaxed. A short recovery run doing its job in other words.
Great stuff, I've had the occasional twinge and have done gentle shorter runs, rather than just stop running and it has worked for me, but I have wondered whether it might be frowned upon. Re-assuring to hear your strategy. Hope the long run goes as planned. A 15k is a long way off for me!
Not really 😇. I have been running the long runs at my long run pace, about 7min/k. I mistook that for an easy pace. Thanks to VRBs that has now been remedied; easy pace is now closer to 7:30/k. My calf was very grateful.
This morning I ran at my local parkrun in Navan. It was lovely to be back at my local parkrun course. My goal this morning was to get a sub 31 minute 5K time. I managed to hold an average pace of 5:58 for the first 3 kilometres but unfortunately I had to take a quick walking break on the 4th kilometre due to my calf muscles feeling very tight. After that I got back running and managed to finish in a time of 30:31. I’m very happy with that, I’m improving steadily every week and over a minute faster than last weekend.
Fantastic, that's great progress on the plan, knowing your local run does help. Ours is pretty flat on a flood plain but with the odd incline over an earthwork. You get to find those short bits that you can push just a little bit or recover.
Thanks TC. Bit by bit. I’m 8 lbs lighter than I was at Christmas and training more consistently now. I’ll just keep trying to keep it going and build it up.
Good morning Damien, that was a tough run for me at Palacerigg parkrun today, a trail course with plenty of puddles, rough terrain with plenty stones and streams to contend with after a night of continuous ☔ rain, the rain did go off for the run, at least that helped, at the end of that tough ran I was treated to a piece of cake, it was the parkruns 24th event, only 36 running, no runner got a sub 20 time, I was surprised to get a sub 34 minutes time of 33:59, almost 3 minutes slower than last weeks time at Springburn parkrun.
Thanks Damien, it is a good way to start a Saturday morning but even now after 4 hours after I completed my 72nd 5K parkrun my legs feel as if I ran 16K, not 5K earlier today, it was was a very tough trail run..
No Dexy5, it wasn't that passing storm named Otto that caused the course to be so wet today, Storm Otto made Friday a little windy where I live in Central Scotland, it was north east Scotland who got the worst of Otto, what caused the parkrun to be so wet and muddy this morning was the next depression which didn't give much wind but a lot of rain during the night, the rain started at 6.30pm Friday and didn't go off until 8.30 this morning, at least it wasn't raining during the run.
No, where I live in Central Scotland missed the worst of Friday's gales, it was north east Scotland who bore the worst of Storm Otto, one of the volunteers supplied the cake because it was a well known runners birthday today, that's the second week in a row that I have had a piece of cake after the run, last weeks cake was because several runners were celebrating milestone runs.
Aha, that’s good. The news down here made it seem like most of Scotland was affected. Definitely still deserved all that cake though. Heres to more birthdays and milestones!
Back at Stratford this week - it was our 7th birthday so cakes and fruit platters were on hand for breakfast this morning 😋. I made some brownies (which luckily we’d sampled before I took them over) and they seemed to go down well 😁
The weather started off ok but it turned out to be a damp one which didn’t do the cakes much good. However, the birthday prizes were presented by a parkrunner who had been saved in March last year by the early intervention of multiple runners who carried out CPR and looked after him after he suffered a heart attack on the finishing straight. He was in hospital for 12 weeks, 10 of which were in intensive care. It as amazing to see him doing his speech on the pavilion steps looking so healthy. He’s just got back to doing 5km on the treadmill and is hoping to return soon. His speech warmed us all and just emphasised why parkrun is such an amazing event.
My run wasn’t anything special but I had a good natter with a fellow runner for the first two laps. He dashed off on the final lap and I tried to chase him which helped get me negative splits. I came in at just over 29 minutes which gave me plenty of time to help clear some of the cake and fruit as we had loads remaining (no brownies though!). Wouldn’t want it to go to waste, so had to do my bit 😁!
Katnap and I are RDing again next week and touristing the weeks after, so it will be a few weeks until we are back home. I was back in cropped leggings today so I might even be back in shorts by then!
Yes, particularly as our ED’s partner recently had a heart scare too. We weren’t there the day it happened but we know many who were and they were there today to welcome him back which was lovely.
(And I really do have the fitness level of a 20 year old???!)
Wow. Fantastic parkrun morning and how lovely to have that guy there looking so healthy to give the speech. Happy parkrun birthday to your course and well done on your run. Like you I’m volunteering next weekend and I will then be touristing again the following weekend. Happy running.
Thank you Damien, it was really something. We normally have a local athlete giving the prizes (last year we had David Moorcroft) but this was way more poignant and personal to so many people.
Yes, Chinko, it’s definitely brought us all closer. I hope nothing like that happens anywhere ever again but if it has to then I think you can be reassured of the help from any parkrun community to be honest.
That sounds a moving event @tailchaser , and isn’t it lovely that he came back for your birthday. We have 3 defibrillators close to our route, and our tail walkers carry a portable one, but I still dread anything like that happening to one of our runners. When I had a wardrobe malfunction at your parkrun, one of your runners came up to me to check whether I was having a heart attack, which I’ll never forget.
It was Dexy, and brilliant to see him too. We did a review of all our emergency procedures after the incident and changed quite a lot. We also have 3 defibrillators but they aren’t always working, so the pre-event course check makes sure we know of their status. All the core team are also trained in opening the height barrier to the car park, so an ambulance can come in (that came in useful when we had to get the fire brigade in last year). Also, some of the more distant marshals now carry a basic first aid kit (which came in very useful when I had an argument with a tree root last year). Much as I would hate it to ever to happen, it woke us up out of any complacency that may have set in. As you found out, they’re a wonderful, caring bunch at Stratford 😍
Jenny and I decided to bite the Eastville bullet this morning. Too windy to be fun on any of the coastal PRs and Severn Bridge. 💨💨
It was murky and drizzly, but it didn’t seem to put off the hoards of Eastville runners. I started near the back as always, and it was a very slow crawl through the start. My time was (as has been the case for months) unremarkable at 38:55 (bit quicker Garmin) and Jen’s was 29 something. We both agreed it felt hard today, but job done and we had delicious lattes and a chocolate chip cookie at the little van at the top of the park. Worth the Eastville hills! 😋
Garmin and Strava didn’t agree with my splits at all. Odd, bearing in mind one syncs with the other and I don’t use Strava separately. 🤷♀️
Very well done to you both. That wind was definitely tough going today. I must get a post parkrun treat or breakfast soon. I seem to be just going straight home afterwards.
Thanks Damien. It’s why we chose Eastville, as the wind doesn’t tend to affect us so much. Thankfully it’s rare to get a head wind up the long hill (just wait - I’ve jinxed it now - next time will be full on I bet!!) 😅
Definitely good to plan post run treats. Keeps me going anyway. 😋😋
My watch starts the 5k when I start it (WearOS) but Strava (phone) knows the PR course exactly with splits, so it gives that time for me when I cross the start line, I tend to start at the back so trudge through until the field separates and everyone finds their speed. And of course the official Parkrun time is slower still. From memory today was 12 seconds difference. My watch also links through to Strava, so the run appears twice too with the different times! It was windy in Northampton too but mild!
I’ve found the same with Strava Chinkoflight. Different stats from the Garmin sync vs when I use it alongside separately. I think my watch was playing games today though, as the PR map was all over the place and I know I’d simply followed the path. Darned tech 😅
A very windy at Southsea this morning so I was pleased to be number checking , in support of UpTheStanley who was Run Director today. A couple of adjustments as a result of people running through the funnel twice 😤 or not even being part of parkrun and running straight through. Why?
Good to see Oldgirlruns and Coddfish in matching new shoes.
Jen said there was a girl at Eastville who insisted on making up her 5k by continuing running past people before she’d picked up her token. 🙄 Some people.
That's absolutely ridiculous that there are runners running through the funnel twice and even worse runners not even part of parkrun running straight through, that must be very confusing, congratulations to you for number checking and UpTheStanley for being RD again
Yes, sometimes people go back and run in with their slower partners or friends and forget they shouldn’t come through again. Nonparkrunners coming through is very annoying but thankfully it doesn’t happen often.
Because they can? Maybe because it’s exposed to a busy prom. I’m glad we don’t have to negotiate as many non-parkrun people as you do. Or runners that just don’t appreciate what they are doing!
Yes, as we keep reminding everyone, parkrun does not have exclusive rights to the prom. Fortunately we had an experienced funnel team this morning so adjustments quickly made.
Hello everyone! After a couple of weeks at our new parkrun, it was back to Market Rasen for me today. It was quite breezy and Mr S and I had had an Indian takeaway and a glass of wine too many with friends last night, which didn’t do anything for my pace. A fairly pedestrian 34.17, 79th out of 94 runners (still well down on pre Yarborough Parkrun days) but 1st in my age category (out of 1 😂😂😂) and that’s RED February Day 18 done and dusted. Only 10 days to go!
1st in your age category is wonderful whether it’s out of 1 or 100 Sandie - you just don’t tell anyone the other bit! Well done on your run and your RED Feb so far! 👏
I have been doing C25K as my return to running / recovery programme after completing cancer treatment. I ran W5R1 yesterday, so really I should just have walked today. However the temptation of jogging alongside Oldgirlruns was too great, as her pace is perfect for making me go slow enough to build up distance endurance. With the wind behind us on the outward section of our out and back parkrun, it was surprisingly easy to keep jogging continuously. It got harder once I had turned around into the wind, but I managed 25 minutes of continuous effort before I needed to walk. After that I was spent. I will continue W5 at possibly a slightly quicker pace on Monday.
I think that's brilliant. My wife had 8 months on off chemo but was determined to stay active. You have to have so much grit, I was always in admiration, she set me a benchmark for tackling my own recent health issues.
My local park again today. They'd got a new pop-up sign (left of photo).
It was a pleasant morning. The wind hadn't reached us by this point and the sun was trying to warm things up.
I said hellos to various regulars and took position near the rear of the pack.
The course was muddy in places. Starting off this morning seemed a little harder than usual. Maybe the watch was right about me not having a good sleep, etc.
Anyway, I plodded on, catching up with Peter (who had earlier balled up his gloves whilst he sorted out a twisted sock, then found the glove ball rolling off down the hill) and briefly chatting alongside. He dropped back soon afterwards. I powered up the S-curve hill (on the first lap only).
Near the end of my second lap (of four) I was lapped by a leggy guy in his early twenties who did a new PB at 18:34, but chatting afterwards said he could probably go faster(!)
I gradually moved up the field as usual and was able to open up a little during the final stretch, but there was nothing left in the tank.
Afterwards I chatted with a few folks. The run director then brought the new pop-up sign (structured like a pop-up tent) to the finish line and started to struggle trying to put it back in its cover. The instructions weren't much help. Another marshal tried to help and I got roped in, too. Eventually, together by a fluke we worked it out. It has to be looped three times: by twisting it first and then folding it back in on itself.
I hung around until about 9.50pm. Just the parkwalker (we had one this week) and the tail walkers were left to come in.
Official time: 29:31. 28th out of 62 participants.
Parkrunners assemble on wide tarmac path in a tree-lined park.
We used to have a pop-up tent like that Nowster. I found a laptop with YouTube on it (so we could have it playing in the garden) invaluable for working out how to put it away again! They are a lot smaller these new pop-ups. Well done and I hope Peter got his gloves back!
Yes all parkruns in UK been sent the new pop up sign and we treat putting it in the bag as a test for our younger volunteers. I’m sure there will be a youtube video and a fastest record soon. It was left in the bag yesterday, or it would have ended up in Brighton!
It had been a hectic week - we foolishly offered to look after the youngest 2 granddaughters overnight while son and daughter-in-law had a night away for Valentine's Day(!) - so parkrun should be a doddle after that! It was however quite breezy at Portsmouth Lakeside, even though our thoughtfully-placed motorway embankment did its best to shield us from the worst - the last km was a particular challenge! I was therefore quite happy to come in at 30.39.
Hello Damien and VRBs. Tourism again for me today. This time Havant where I’d arranged to meet a friend I’d met when doing a parkrun in London last year. What a beautiful course this is, though much hillier than expected (hadn’t done my research very well 🤣) and very muddy. Yes Dexy5 my new trail shoes got well and truly christened 😱🤣. Lovely coffee and natter afterwards. Only 212 runners compared with 920 at my home parkrun Southampton. I’m getting to like these smaller ones more and more 👍🏻
Can we have a picture of their muddiness please?! It’s not right having a clean pair of trail shoe this time of year anyway!
Southampton is quite unusual for numbers isn’t it? I think it was well over a 1k when we went a few years ago. I can understand why you need to escape it often. We had about 400 at Stratford today and that felt more than enough.
Ok!! That’s very good, cleaning it all off! I’m terrible, I just bang the soles together outside then put them back in the box when they’re dry. Then the next time I go out in them I traipse mud everywhere!
Still doing parkruns. Last week I only did the 5k and did token sorting and closedown. The week before I carried on to complete 10k. Today I ended up near the back of the field as per usual but carried on jeffing to complete 13K. I am gradually increasing the gaps between walking. I may even start losing weight!
Very well done on all your running. I’m on a mission to lose some weight too. It’s very hard to do. Enjoy your running and looking forward to the bright evenings and warmer weather.
Hi Damien and all parkrunners/not parkrunners, I got back to Parkrun yesterday after a couple of weeks marshalling while my calf strain healed. Just as I’m getting over that I feel like I’m getting that head cold I had before Xmas (which lasted 6 weeks), I’m getting so frustrated I’m not being able to run this last two months.
It was a tough Parkrun with 3.5 laps which I’m not a fan of but I managed to finish it.
Hoping this cold doesn’t last too long as I’m loving the fresh spring like weather at the moment and I’m desperate to enjoy running in it.
my local parkrun is a 3.5 lap course too, with a good hill which saps the energy. I hope you feel better very soon. Pop plenty of vitamin C. You’ll be back stronger soon I’m sure. Best wishes. And very well done on your parkrun.
I found it so strange when the fast people are on their next lap taking over as I’m used to just one lap at my fave park run and 2 laps at my local one where we don’t have anyone running past lapping us.
I take a vitamin C tab every day - I must just be run down 🙄
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