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 Saturday everyone and Happy parkrun day. This morning I was running at my local parkrun with my lovely Cocker Spaniel Ruby (my daughter). We joined around 130 others and it was cold. I forgot my gloves and boy were my hands cold for the first half of the run. I didn’t run all week but I felt good and just took my time taking a couple of walking breaks along the way. My ribs injury has thankfully healed up really well now. I finished in a time of 36:27. Almost 2 minutes faster than last week. I’m delighted with that. Hope you all had a great run.
Today was a really good run, last week was mud, today was biting cold, but this seems to do something for my running, because I hit a personal best of 32.45, previous PB was 33.57.
That, I am now running most of the course as opposed to jogging is a real development. This was my 20th. So I’m less of a novice now.
Rock onto next week. Have a really good week everyone ✨
hi! I’m doing RED January so I decided to do an easy mile or so before parkrun and then I volunteered at my local event. I love being able to watch the start and seeing the front runners coming in as I usually just get lapped by them! I’m always a bit taken aback by the state of some of them at the end though 🤢 Maybe I don’t put enough effort in! Or do they try too hard? 🤣
Good afternoon Damien, l didn't go to parkrun today, instead I ran what they call a 3K maintenance run and guess what? my new all white cat Loki followed me out of the house to the start of my run which is only a 90 seconds walk, before I started running I did a few stretches, asked Loki if he was going to run with me, once I started running he ran with me for the first 20 metres before giving up and disappearing into someone's garden, after that I ran that 3K and once I was home Loki reappeared again.
898 at Eastville today! Some serious New Years Resolutions I think. 😅
I did W2R3 of C25K with Flossie and had a blast. I can’t remember what W3 has in store, but I’m hoping I can run with her next weekend too. My time today was 46:52, academic really.
Last run in this age category. Big birthday on Tuesday and we’re heading off this afternoon for a few days away. Flossie is coming, so is my yoga mat and running stuff. Oh, and Mr Cheeky. 😅
Perfect Saturday morning for uou and Flossie . Definitely on your way back!!!Wishing you a wonderful BIG birthday break 🎂 from myself and Mr Wk7 and, of course OldPupWk7!
So pleased to see you remembered to pack MR Cheeky .😀
Thanks over61andstilltrying , I’m not a big fan of surprises but I forgave Mr Cheeky for arranging for the “young” chipmunks to show up later, with another lot arriving today! Very jolly! ❤️
How lovely that you can run with Flossie again cheekychipmunks. 898 is a lot for Eastville isn’t it. We had high numbers too . Have a lovely birthday week. There are benefits to moving up to the next age grade.
You have no idea how wonderful it feels having her back with me at PR Dexy5 . I won’t stretch the running portions much further for her sake (although I’m sure she’d love it), but maybe W3 will be ok. We’ll see. 🐕🥰
Yes, 2nd highest attendance at Eastville. They ran out of tokens and had to resort to raffle tickets!
Thanks JonathanP , C25K has definitely done the trick and brought the love back. My cough has subsided too, and I’m sure this easy approach has helped with that. 🙏 None of the stubborn ignoring it malarkey like last year! Hope you’re escaping grandchildren germs. 🤞
Hope you had a lovely Birthday Cheeky and celebrated in style on your few days away. Wishing you a belated Happy Birthday and well done on your parkrun last week.
Today, I decided to volunteer as my knee is sore from a fall earlier in the week. It was a busy event in Hampstead with 485 runners, despite the 2° temperature 🥶
happy Saturday everyone! I was back at Parkrun after a break caused by local flooding and me having the. ‘ lurgy’ between Christmas and New Year . I’m feeling better but still have what social media is calling the ‘100 day cough’. Well I’m 17 days in so just 83 to go 🥺. I did some short runs in the week and my goal today was to run the 5k. The first two laps were fine but I could feel I was tiring on the last lap and start to cough a little. I was glad to get over the line and pleased with my efforts which will hopefully keep me on track for the 10k sausage run next weekend. Have a good week everyone!!
Today nearly went well! I am trying to rediscover a bit of pace over 5k, but by the end of 4K I knew that I had started too quickly! Negative splits yet again, so not all bad, but not 5k. By the time the lighter mornings are back I should be ready for Park Run again. 👍
Back to intervals is the next step. I paused my HM plan at 12k because I was doing very slow long runs. This is part of an effort to increase fitness before slipping back into the plan. Monday’s 10k will tell me where I am. The mud doesn’t help of course!
Thank you BC. We lost a few people at the last minute so I had to jump in. Tomorrow I will do RunWalkLocal so I will get my 5k with others in. We are lucky to have a fall back. We are both hoping to escape to Lakeside next week and give UTS a rest from organisation and see JP.
Another one ticked off within the M60. We went to Peel today which is at Salford University so a very young demographic of 533 runners. A slow start and I found myself behind the 35 minute pacer so thought I would give it a go. After about 1km I passed her, then a short distance later I passed the 36 minute pacer (!)
After a while they both passed me, then I passed them, twice more.
Once the crowd thinned out I was doing a nice steady pace then during the last kilometre I found myself between the 35 and 36 pacers who were finally in the right order.
Really pleased with my time of 35.33 and surprised (although I shouldn't have been really as I was surrounded by students) that I was 3rd in my age category.
A lovely venue in a pleasant park even if it did mean driving through Manchester but unfortunately the museum didn't open until 11.30 so we came home for 2nd breakfast.
Good afternoon Damien and all! We’re currently travelling back from Dover Waterfront after our second FordyRuns Extreme parkrun. This was their 6th and they have been all over including Dublin and the Isle of Wight.
It’s a long way from Stratford upon Avon so we stayed in a ‘Purple Palace’ (aka Premier Inn) overnight in Rochester then made the rest of the journey there this morning. It’s been a fab day and quite an adventure. Poor old eldest kitten was left with RDing at home on his own but it is good for him and there were plenty of other experienced core team members to help out. I think he was ok though.
Dover is the only run in the country that goes over a pier. We were warned to take spare clothes as we could get wet but thankfully the wind kept down and it was just cold. It’s a fast course as it’s flat. Katnap was super speedy as usual, wearing shorts despite it feeling -2°C, nutter! I broke 30 mins again despite a slow start so I’m happy and it’s been loads of fun meeting up with the other Fordys. Hopefully there will be a YouTube video up in the next few days.
Nice chat over a Wetherspoons breakfast afterwards, they did very well catering for us all.
Next week we’ll be touristing again! It’s the National Running Show just down the road so it would be rude not to!
Have a great runny week all 😃
A large group of runners with a pink FordyRuns banner in front of them
Hello Damien and fellow parkrunners! I decided to go back to Yarborough this morning, as it’s the closest one to home and I was meeting a (non-runner) friend for brunch at 10.30, so needed to get moving. It was a beautiful sunny day, although only 0.5c 🥶 Official time 34.35, which is 40 seconds faster than last week, my fastest finish since 30th September and my first sub 35 since 28th October. Nowhere near my former pace, but moving in the right direction at last.
Not sure about that BC, but it is good to feel that I am getting some pace back. Hoping that RED February will bring further improvement 🤞🏻 Off to France on Tuesday for a couple of weeks so maybe a couple of more hilly runs!
I usually find January and February tough, mainly because the trails are so slippery. I am doing more stretches and massage ball work these days; seems to be paying off 🤞🤞🤞
Hi Damien and all VRBs. I did Southampton parkrun today following a week of grogginess with a cold. There were an incredible 1349 runners and so it was very congested in places but nevertheless I really enjoyed it! The weather was cold but dry, thank goodness. I kept my gloves on the whole run. My finish time was 30:33 which I was happy with. Glad to see a female first finisher today - doesn’t happen often!
Super speedy Mudita11. Glad you have conquered your grogginess. It looks as though we are in for some freezing weather up here next week! Objective will be to finish each run in upright position!🙂
Really enjoyed this post. Ran a 5.87k run in the park today, but Not a Park Run. A lovely crisp January day so run was nearly perfect. Thought I might get to 6k but legs said "no thank you". Was listening to Coach Bs 5k Finish Lines and when the line "something I'd like to try but never have is..." a Park Run was the Finish Line that came immediately to mind. Thinking about committing to my nearest PR in March. Your post has definitely spurred me on to sign up. 😁🏃🏼♀️ Happy running everyone 🏃🏾♀️
Very well done on your (not)parkrun. Hey don't delay. parkrun is fantastic, you can walk, jog and run. Sometimes when my fitness is way off, like now, I do all 3, run, jog and walk. It's not a race, just a jog in the park.
We went back to Cudmore Grove, Mersea, for the second week running and had a great time. It was cold though. We were very consistent, finishing exactly 10s faster than last time at 39:35 and we scored negative splits FTW! 😀🏃♂️🏃♀️
my post has just gone down a black hole so rather than do it all again, here is a short version. I volunteered to help UpTheStanley today as he replaced an RD with Covid.
Felt like -1C and a light northerly wind meant lots of PBs for the 486 runners. I was number checker amongst other things. Our 3rd DofE volunteer joined us today and made a good impression with his enthusiasm.
It was great to see Oldgirlruns running and Coddfish walking with her poles while MrC jumped in to volunteer as timer at the last minute.
It was an interesting experience at Portsmouth Lakeside this morning. The runoff from Portsdown Hill drains into the lake and due to recent rain it was overflowing, so they were pumping it out right across our usual route. So we were diverted to the other end of the lake and an alternative route - out and back twice, along the side of the lake. However as it was overflowing across our path we were wading through it on 4 occasions🌊😀
All good fun but definitely not a week for improving on last week's time - particularly with 353 finishers doing 2 laps!
Hi parkrunners, I headed to a local Parkrun, which I love, as it’s one lap and has different terrain which makes it interesting.
I haven’t ran here since last July as I’ve been injured (plantar fasciitis). So it was good to be back. I met some of my running bugs buddies there and we set off as a little group chatting away. I found the pace faster than I usually run but I could still speak so wasn’t too bad.
I was happy to find that I had ran my fastest time there and it was my 2nd fastest 5k 30:20 (go me)! As long as I can have a chat whilst I’m running that’s what makes a good run for me.
443 of us out there so very busy but what a lovely day to run. 😊 I love Parkrun atmosphere and have missed it.
Carried on afterwards to complete 8.5K My PR times are still slow but it might have been quicker had I not started near the back of over 700 participants. I still got caught up in the bottlenecks near the start. It is odd that people don't want to run on muddy bits at the start, but will run through large puddles after a mile or so (and do 3 laps of it!)
Less damp underfoot than last week and still great fun.
Well done and that was a busy parkrun. I'm always nervous of falling when it's muddy. When I go down I end up really hurting myself. Like the others I don't mind the puddles.
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week3run1 ✅. 3 x 17 mins with 1 min walks. 
week 2 begins! 
