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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We ran the Humber Bridge Parkrun this morning in stunning conditions. The route has changed as the Country Park was flooded. This was so much better as you run by the side of the Humber all the way with the Bridge in view. A stunner 😍
Hi damienair & (not) park runners, & park runners,
Just me from our family running at park run 28:32 on my watch. Results were off today & not in my favour so I was glad that it wasn't a PB day 🤣 Hubby & no.2 son ran 15k in prep for their HM instead. Hubby volunteered & made it to the start line just in time.
Good morning Damien, this morning I didn't go to parkrun but instead ran what I call a 3K maintenance run, untimed , however, shortly after I completed that run I met two runners and ran 1K with them, I did time that 1K with the two runners which was 7mins and 21 seconds, they asked me my age which is 77 and congratulated me on that run with them, I also told them that I have completed 107 parkruns
The next two weeks I will be at Palacerigg parkrun, next week as a marshall and the following week as a runner.
A (not) parkwalk for me today, we are still in Lanzarote. On Monday we did a coastal walk and I fell over on some rocky ground. Tbe lady that helped pick me up said she saw something move under my foot, then I took quite a long time to fall.I knew I was going down, I was trying to pick the best spot to land 😀
Anyway I got off lightly but my knee has been a bit sore. As the other Lanza Road Runners set off I walked behind, but ahead of the regular walkers. I did try a few short jogs and it wasn't too bad but I walked most of it and stopped to look at the promenade scultures that I usually run past. I turned back after 2km so that I wasn't keeping everyone waiting at the coffee kiosk.
It was raining when we set off to walk to the start but is sunny and warm now.
Good plan 🌞thank you.We have a few more days. My knee is better each day, I just want to make sure it is ok for another couple of days walking near the volcanoes - that picon can be quite slippery.
There seemed to be a lot of parkrun cancellations again this week
There is. Most of the ones south of us were cancelled. I think people are rained out now as our numbers were way down. Normally we get a lot more refugees.
Thanks, Dexy5. We went for an 8.5km walk around and up some volcanoes which was hard work at times through the picon (volcanic ash) but my knee was fine, even the slippery downhill part that I was not looking forward to.
So I think it is on the mend, 13.5km total including to and from the bus stops and round Lidl to buy our tea.
Cutting to the chase: ohhhh to run my first ever PR in 27:50! Jenny and I are drooling with envy! 😅
Seriously, we’d persuaded Will (son/bro) to come along for the first time. He’s not a runner, he says, having only done two 5ks in his life prior to today, both at the gym, and before that his running consisted of a few short outings during lockdown which he soon gave up on!
Severn Bridge was cancelled due to unexpected snow, and so was Eastville. 😫 We dragged him out in the cold rain to Clevedon where it was just wet, and hoped he’d enjoy himself. He sure did!
Six months pregnant Jenny managed 34:49 (impressive) and I trotted around in 39:06 (Garmin 38:39 - started way at the back).
Sadly Will won’t be a regular due to his work shifts, but I’m sure he’ll be inspired to build on this epic first result!
I know TailChaser , but it’s literally the only morning he’s always at the club. We’ll need to entice him away one week with a gigantic breakfast! 🥓 🍳 🍅
I never pay attention to mine RunaroundSue , mainly because I’m the least competitive person I know! The one fact I do know is that he’ll only get faster - and I won’t! 😂
I don't, for the same reason but our friend liked to compare age grades for him and his son (who is usually in the first 5 or so). But he got the bug, joined a running club and now even age grade is no consolation!
Parkrun #96 for me and memorable for all the wrong reasons. I had a collision and fall - but everyone is OK. I was back at Sandringham where there is a 2 lap course starting out on paving and then transitioning to trails. On lap 2 you always come across parkwalkers.
I was less than 1km from the end and in front of me there was a mum with her young daughter on the left. About 5m from them the daughter moved over to the right side of the trail. Her mum could see I was approaching and yelled at her daughter to stand still. 1m from them the girl moved into the middle of the trail and I ran right into her. There was no way I could have avoided this. We both went flying and hit the ground.
The other walkers checked we were both OK (I thought I was OK but adrenaline was pumping) and I got up and finished the PR. At the end I told the PR director and he took my details and said he would file an incident report. I saw the mum and girl at the end and they are OK.
Now, a couple of hours later, I feel a bit sore and have grazed knees. I was also covered in mud (which softened the landing). Thankful - it could have been a lot worse.
Amazingly I still finished 8th overall. I guess this shows I was running at speed when it happened.
Ooh, I’ve had similar things happen. Children can often be unguided missiles and no matter what you do, anything can happen. Same with dogs, it’s impossible to second guess them. Glad you are all ok, I hope your soreness settles very soon.
Thanks very much. Dogs are on leads so if you don't hit the dog then the lead can be a tripwire. Children though can be much more random. The PRs where I run all have multiple laps so I think I'm used to running past people and being careful. Apart from completely stopping I'm not sure what else I could have done.
No, you’re right. My experience was at Halloween. There was a family chatting to another family on the corner of a road, completely blocking it, all fancy dressed up. The adults all moved to one side so I could pass, then a tiny vampire filled the gap they had just left and I crashed into him 😩. It all happened in slow motion. Sometimes we just can’t avoid it.
Good afternoon Damien and all! Just about warmed up now after a busy morning. Little did I know what I’d signed up for with Event Day Course Check a few weeks back. Last week we were cancelled so eldest kitten and I carried over our timekeeping to this week, so I didn’t realise just how long I’d be out there today, in very mixed conditions!
We were still very waterlogged from last week but the river had dropped, just leaving mud, puddle and debris. The water table is really high though, so the rain we’ve had the past few days had nowhere to go, so it needed an earlier than usual check to make sure the course was viable. Off I trotted this morning for a 7am check 😴
Thankfully the course was fine apart from the two short grass/mud sections, so the RD and I agreed that with a few adjustments we were good to go. I helped with a bit of pre-setup and 270 hardy souls were soon queued up and ready to rumble.
Eldest kitten and I always seem to do a good job timekeeping, we kept right in sync. Runners and walkers came either storming in or gingerly stepping carefully across the line in the mud. Amazingly we had no incidents and no one face planted! The finish funnel was really churned up though. Maybe it will dry off during the week…
3 hours in and I was frozen. It had been raining when I set off at just before 7. Then it warmed up a little as the sun rose, and then a freezing wind got going, which slammed the temperature back down again. So Katnap and I went into town and had a nice warm brunch to try and get some warmth back into our bodies. Three coffees later and I’m over caffeinated but at least a bit warmer!
Have a great day all. At some point this weather is going to improve surely??? 🙏
That sounds quite tough, getting so cold. We did Event Set up and Barcode scanning one New Year Day but it was too long outside.Now we just do full Set up if we are not staying for the parkrun because of another engagement (usually involving ukuleles)
Finish area set up is not so bad, although it was pretty cold when we stepped in because the volunteer did not turn up. But at least we could run to warm up (would have worn something warmer if we had planned it)
I feel your pain TC. That wind was biting wasn’t it, and I was moving. Well done for your volunteering duties; Stratford needs Kats and would be lost without you all!
That’s one of the reasons why Katnap has stepped back, because he doesn’t want them reliant on us. I enjoy it though and eldest kitten gets a lot out of it.
That’s a smart thing to do TailChaser - hopefully it’ll encourage more people to step up. I don’t live close enough to any of our numerous PRs to be part of the core team, but I do love my marshalling and barcode scanning at Eastville - shame more don’t feel the same! 🙄
It’s a long morning when you do the pre course check and the timekeeping TailChaser , especially in cold wet weather . Well done eldest kitten too . I can imagine that role plays to his strengths.
That's like my new all white cat Loki, I let him out of the house at around 5.30am, if it's mild and dry he will come back around 7.30am, depending how cold it is he won't stay out long, if it's raining ☔ he'll come back in 5 minutes, I use him for my weather reports, dogs are the same, Molly even seems to know when it's going to rain hence her not going out with you.
I had a very memorable run today at Moors Valley parkrun. The RD did the usual pre-run announcements, thanks to the volunteers etc, then she said she had a special announcement. She said how wonderful her partner is and that they’d met at parkrun in 2019. Then she pointed out that this is a leap year and proposed to him!! He said yes 🙌 🥲. I think I got some dust or a fly in my eyes at that point.
The run itself was in a beautiful wooded location. It was the ‘B’ route today due to flooding on the usual route. We would normally have run alongside a lake so I’ll definitely do this one again after a dry spell. Managed to finish in 32:45 once I’d got the pesky fly out of my eye 😉.
Oh that’s lovely Mudita 😍 Our ED was proposed to by a Leamington RD at a NYD parkrun a few years back. He gave her a parkrun wristband with the proposal on. They got married during lockdown 😍
Visit number 63 to Chadderton and parkrun number 93 for me this morning.
I really didn't want to get out of bed this morning, but I rolled out anyway.
The weather forecast was for near-freezing rain. (Deep joy!) Nonetheless I prepared and put on too many layers including a thin mac (not waterproof) which would allow the raindrops to bounce off rather than soak in. I needn't have bothered. It didn't rain.
Calamity! I'd left my current set of running shoes back at my parents (where I'm staying most weekdays at the moment to help out), so had to rummage around amongst my pile of older shoes to find some suitable ones which were part worn but not past it. The result was the pair seen in the photo.
So, with the Run Director just starting his briefing I arrived and made my way to the back of the pack. A few quick greetings, and we were off.
There were a few puddles that could be avoided but the course was in good nick. I eventually caught up with (and passed) a pair of regulars who were pacing each other for the first couple of laps. He's just turned 70 and she's about my age.
I passed a few more runners before finding the group that was doing about the same pace as me. One of them was pushing a baby.
I said "Good morning" to the other park users and joked a bit with the marshals.
By the end of the fourth lap I was spent and there was no sprint finish.
I hung around afterwards chatting until the chill started to seep in, then bid my farewells.
Official time: 29:56, my first sub-30 there since October. Finished 25th of 57.
Once I'd done some shopping I went home, changed into different (dry) kit, drove my car to leave it at the local tyre fitters and ran home from there. That's the first time I've done two separate runs in a day.
Toe shoes. Specifically the Vibram TrekSport model in black.
I ran the 2 km to and from PR this Saturday so I could complete a 9 km training run. It's the first time I have tried to extend a PR. I found it quite hard to time my arrival for the start. I was anxious, so I ran too quickly from home, arrived too early and had to do some stacking circles. That, and the long queues in the finish funnel and for barcode reading made my pace a bit erratic. Still, it was an experiment worth doing. The main thing is I got out of bed this morning and ran 9K. I am very happy about that.
Well done. I tried that while doing a 10k one week and was surprised that the parkrun felt easier having done a run beforehand. Not usually u early enough though!
NHS 'How to warm up before exercising' is my default pre-run warm up. On PR days, I follow that warm up with a fast cycle to the venue and I continue with gentle dynamic stretching to prevent muscles seizing up again before the start. That seems to be a good warmup for me. Unlike you Dexy5, the PR did not feel easier. By that I mean I didn't notice any added benefit by running instead of cycling. Maybe even the opposite. But that was probably due to my panicky running too fast to get there. It will probably work better next time and it would fit better with a 10 K or longer run.
I see lots of people running to PR, so it must work for many. Personally, I like to be there to hear the announcements and applaud the milestones, visitors and volunteers. Running there and back doesn’t fit well with voluteering. I am trying to reach 25 volunteers by this summer. So, with all these things in mind, I will probably run to/from PR only occasionally in future.
Yes , I’m part of the core team at ours so am usually helping out beforehand, and sometimes I even forget to set my watch to get GPS, let alone do warming up. Well done you for setting volunteering as a target. That purple shirt will be yours in no time. (My favourite)
That's great. When we run our home Parkrun we run a mile there, do it and run a mile home so it makes 5 miles. It's a brilliant way to get extra miles. Well done to you!!
hello damienair and all, we are still In Colorado and decided to have a rest day from skiing . I didn’t put my watch on but we must have walked 5k getting down to the town and back and wandering around the shops. So we didn’t miss out on our parkrun breakfast of cappuccino and cinnamon rolls. Good job there’s no bathroom scale in our condo. The view from our favourite cafe is lovely. The trouble with wandering around shops of course is the temptation and I bought a new jacket in the sales.
It was definitely trail shoes at Portsmouth Lakeside this morning - only some intermittent drizzle but plenty of water on the ground in the infamous lakeside puddles! My performance continued to improve post-twinge with 32.49 as opposed to 33.17 last week - what more could you wish for?
Hi Damien, usually leave it to Dexy5 to do this job, but today I initiated parkrun (admittedly on a treadmill) in Breckinridge Colorado, altitude 9600 feet. Machine works in miles so my time is somewhere between 30’00” (3 miles) and 32’17” (3.25). So I should be good for an age-group record (if they still existed 🙄😀) on return to sea level ….
I volunteered at my local parkrun yesterday, helped set up a soggy course, but it was torrential rain and loads of big puddles so I left it to the runners and went home after set up for a cuppa.
Hi Dexy5, I hope you are enjoying your skiing holiday in Colorado and that shopping trip, regarding volunteering, I have been lucky as the weather has stayed dry although cold while I was a marshall, by the way I have signed on for 2/10K event races later this year, the first one is the second time for my local Cumbernauld 10k on Sunday 15th September and the second event 10K is the first time running at The Great Scottish Run in Glasgow on Sunday 6th October, that's the big one with thousands taking part.
Thanks Al, you have been very lucky not toj be get wet volunteering. We’ve had a very wet winter. The great Scottish Run will be very exciting for you. The atmosphere of the big races is wonderful .
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