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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Good morning Damien, as I have a rule to go to parkrun 4 weeks in a row and one week off, I wasn't at parkrun today, however, I did go a 3K run around the park very near to where I live, a reasonable time of 20:33 which is OK for me, I'll be back to parkrun next week 👍
Indeed BC66, a lap of honour, I attend 4 different parkruns over 4 weeks, that involves a lot of travelling on different buses and for one of the parkruns travelling by train, so on the 5th Saturday I stay at home and run what I call "a 3K maintenance run" as I did today.
They’re still running the winter course and the marshals did a good job of warning everyone of potential hazards due to a muddy/slippery course.
It’s a lovely 3 lap course which includes a nasty hill, which had to be done 3 times, so I was glad I was able to enjoy the views and run the whole thing every time 👍
Well done on your parkrun. Ally Pally, love that name. My local parkrun is a 3 lap course too with a hill that saps the energy and needs to be tackled 3 times.
Speed intervals this morning, or that is what they were labelled anyway! Two minutes best 5k pace followed by one minute slow, and repeat 10 times, with a 2 minute slow spot in the middle.
It was a lovely sunny morning, everywhere looks fresh and green and most of the mud has dried up. Still the odd squelchy patch for the unwary though. I did 5k in 33:56 with the intervals varying between 5:48 pace and 6:23. It was good to be able to see the extent of the heart rate reducing during the slower periods; I walked the last few of these. All of this against the background of the call of the returning curlews. Feels like a good morning’s “work”. 🙂
Perfect Sandie. I have been struggling with a tight calf since last Monday’s long run, but all of the stretches, rolling and general pounding seems to have paid off. All came together nicely. 10 miles on Monday, and rain is forecast! 😬.
It is forecast to be windy too…but not cold. First 10 miles since GSR. I am working on Coach Bennett’s “ you can run faster without running harder”. Good trick if I can perfect it!
As we know, plenty of people go for run walks at Park Run; some prefer it that way, others want to build up to running the whole distance. That is the beauty of it; each to their own.
In a few weeks time, to be exact, Friday 28th April I am due my umteenth Covid booster inoculation jab, normally I wouldn't go to parkrun the next day but now with parkwalk I will go to parkrun the following day and run a little with walking as well, certainly no PB that day.
No harm done Al. All of this happened in Canada…we dodged the tornado and my daughter and I sat drinking a lovely bottle of Rioja on the basis that it was too good to be left if our cabin was struck! We just received a warning that a tornado was likely over the lake where we’re staying. Mrs BC prepared a refuge, complete with bottled water, in a cupboard! I reckoned that if a tornado struck our cabin the whole lot would be airborne. ….hence the wine! 🙂
After a month away in the van, I was looking forward to getting back to parkrun this week. However, on Tuesday I woke up with that telltale tickle in the throat, which by Thursday had turned into yet another full blown stinky cold (I managed about 6 weeks without one) so there was no way I could have run and am sitting in our lovely sunny conservatory coughing and snuffling and crossing fingers for next week 🤞🏻🤞🏻
I have some choice words for your cold Sandy, not able to be repeated here. I’d used them on mine, and now it’s gone so they obviously worked. If you use your imagination I’m sure you can guess what some of them are!
Well done BC, speedy intervals king! Isn’t it funny how we enjoy them nowadays? Your HR clearly approves, and the fact the birds were singing for you makes your hard work a joy! Nice. 👊
First job this morning was releasing 2 baby jackdaws into the wild - they’d flown down the chimney into the living room and Jenny’s screams (😂) startled them through to the kitchen. Out of the windows they went, relieved to be set free! 🦅 🦅
After about a second’s debate, Jenny and I decided on Severn Bridge. Why would we not? Next to no wind, not too warm, not too cold. Seems like everyone else had the same idea as there were 357 runners and walkers on the bridge this morning! It’s usually in the 100’s. Wow, it was perfect today. 🥰
It took forever to get through the start (nearly 20 seconds difference between Garmin and official time), but I was thrilled to be close to 4 minutes faster than the last time we went. My fitness is gradually returning at last. Onwards, building up to the Bristol 10k next month. 😀
Yes I felt really sorry for them. One squashed my spider plant, and one was perilously close to knocking over 2 vases of daffs. No damage done to plants or birds I’m happy to say. 🙏🏻
I thought I would be running today but as UpTheStanley was RD and struggling for volunteers at the beginning of the week, I said I would be number checker and first timers welcome today. He certainly had his dream team with Coddfish on timing and Oldgirlruns and her visiting brother doingfinish tokens and me running between them. Mr Coddfish was on set up and set down.
A glorious morning, a faint ‘easter’ly breeze and 509 runners , the highest number since lockdown. Our tailwalker did her 250th run so we had lovely cupcakes 🧁
Hi Dexy5, I was watching a programme on TV about The Mary Rose in a museum in Portsmouth, excellent, I notice that large tower called The Spinnaker Tower, I am wondering if you have ever been up it?
That’s a great picture Dexy! Shakes had her ears on for tailwalking too. And our illustrious ED had his (bit creepy) chick outfit on again…. He didn’t scare the tourists off though and we also had a post lockdown record of 447. To think we used to have that every week!
My goodness me, two baby jackdaws in your living room after falling down the chimney, certainly not a thing that could happen to me as my house has all Central heating and no chimney, well done on your run today at Severn Bridge, good luck for your Bristol 10K next month.
Thanks AlMorr . It doesn’t happen often, but living in an old cottage it’s not unheard of. You can sometimes hear them up in the chimmey, but fortunately it’s always well after log fire season. 🙏🏻
After the knee scrape last week, with some trepidation I kitted up and went to my local parkrun, one of the top twenty most difficult in Britain.
This is what the knee looks like this morning. I'll leave it to the imagination as to how it looked this time last week. It's still tender to the touch, but that's only skin deep. As a joint it still works normally.
We'd had another ground frost overnight (about 3°C). By 9am it was sunny but still chilly. It was about 6°C according to the car, and the watch recorded between 8-10°C on top of my shoe. I wore two long sleeved layers on top but trail shorts below. I did think about wearing gloves, but didn't need them.
There were a few visitors from other areas, but the numbers were normal (61). Today was the fiftieth parkrun of my nemesis (otherwise known as Peter) and the hundredth time of volunteering for another regular (John). The organisers got special sashes for both of them.
I did my usual trick of starting at the rear of the line-up and gradually working my way forward over the course of the run. By the final lap the field had spread such that I found myself with nobody within 50m of me.
Marshal John (the 100-er) was on his usual corner just before the S-shaped bend with a steep climb, which today had its own sign for "John's Corner". I often exchange a light remark with him like "Here again?" or "Last lap. See you next week."
I got lapped about 1¾ laps in. That guy (over 6ft, long legs, etc.) finished in exactly 19 minutes.
The knee settled in after a few minutes and I wasn't aware of it by the end. I was definitely getting tired on the fourth lap. There was no mad sprint for the finish.
It was a beautiful morning and it also started to warm up. Afterwards I chatted with many folks, helped out when a lady's barcode wouldn't scan, and attempted to fold up the pop-up sign again. It eventually took four of us and two views of videos before we succeeded.
Official time was 29:12 and I finished 27 out of 61.
Glad we weren’t the only ones to have a problem with the sign - our 13 year old expert wasn’t there today. Fortunately a couple who do junior parkrun came to our rescue. We need to watch that video!
For any Parkrun tourists - I recently got to the Mannheim one (Nekerau): smaller than the UK ones I’ve tried - a stunning circuit through a nature reserve and along the Rhein, and about 60 friendly folk many of whom went for breakfast at the end.
Hello Everyone and Happy Easter 🐣. This morning I ran at my local parkrun. It was a beautiful spring morning. I just wanted to run this morning at a nice pace and aimed to stick to a 6 min/km pace. I finished in an official parkrun time of 30:06. I felt comfortable and enjoyed the run.
Hallo daminair! No running for me today as I was on volunteer duty at our parkrun. My brother is staying with me so he was volunteered as well. A glorious sunny morning on the south coast with virtually no wind certainly brought out the runners - there were 509 in total! The tokens were flying off the pile like nobody’s business! But with UpTheStanley’s crack funnel team in operation, including Coddfish and Dexy5, all was well! Plus breakfast afterwards, when we were also joined by Mr Coddfish’s sister, so a good morning all round!
I bet it’s lovely there when the weather does what it’s supposed to do! Our token sorters will be busy this weekend, we had a post lockdown record too! Lovely day to volunteer 👍
7 weeks now since I've been able to run parkrun (or at all!) due to the dreaded hernia. Luckily I have my initial appointment with the consultant on Wednesday - hopefully I won't have too long to wait for the op after that.🤞
Even volunteering can be quite uncomfortable - but I couldn't miss today as we were celebrating the wedding of our Event Director & Volunteer Coordinator, so signed up to marshal. I even managed to get a spot around the lake where you catch the morning sun and there's a handy bench if needed! 264 took part today, with a high proportion of 'thank you marshal's. Oh and we also had a collection for the local food bank, so doubly rewarding!😀
Good luck for the hernia op JP - I hope you don't have to wait too long. I had a hernia repair done at the end of Feb and got back to running after a few weeks so I hope all goes as well for you.
After a week off from parkrun it was back to the home run today. We’ve got youngest kitten running again after the Monsal Trail race so he kept the momentum up this morning being paced by Katnap for a sub-25 minute. Still not back to his speedy self but it’ll come if he keeps at it. I’m hoping it will help with the imminent exam stresses.
I made the mistake of splitting my run with Shake-and-run yesterday into two 5ks, so I missed out on the Weekend 10k Garmin badge. As I’d like a rest tomorrow I decided I’d get it today if my legs let me. Weirdly my legs felt better than yesterday, so after running to parkrun and doing the Event Day Course Check, I’d racked up just under 4km and decided it was possible. I did parkrun then a little extra to make it up to 10km. Garmin badge done 😁. The things I do for a bit of virtual bling 😂
A lovely cup of coffee at the RSC by the river with Shakes and Katnap made the perfect start to the day.
My first PR in about 15 months, at Lanhydrock near Bodmin. Such a beautiful but excruciating course with a long, very steep hill in the last kilometre.
As usual I kept up with the crowd for the first 2km and then ran out of steam. Nevertheless a PB by about 20 seconds.
One unexpected bonus was my Garmin going haywire and giving me a VO2 max score in the high 40s and a fitness age of 24. I’ll take that! 😁
Well done HeavyFoot, you should be very pleased with yourself that now your fitness age is 24, just shows how running makes you feel so young again 🏃🏾👍 🏃♂️
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week3run1 ✅. 3 x 17 mins with 1 min walks. 
week 2 begins! 
