Hello Everyone. 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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Marshal at Woodbank today. A friend did hid 500th parkrun and I didn't fancy that hill. A lovely day for standing in a lovely park, all the tree blossom seems to have survived the recent stormy weather.
Highlight was a small dog who tried to steal one of the cones. Luckily his mouth was full as he was carrying his ball. 🐈
It means so much to break the 30 minutes, First parkrun last June 42 minutes now under 30. I'm absolutely loving parkrun and being a tourist trying different parkruns and finding your favourites. My favourite parkruns are Lister Park and Huddersfield not a fan of my local one Shroggs Park because it's so tough all though I use it for Hill training
Good afternoon Damien, I am very happy about my parkrun this morning at Palacerigg Country Parkrun, it was my 111th parkrun, number 20 there, my time was 33:05 which is only one second from my PB there the very first time I ran at Palacerigg in September 2022, higher age grade today at 59.45% compared to 58.32% two years ago, during the run I was talking to a group leader of Jog Scotland who told me she had run several marathons and one ultra marathon, she finished only 2 seconds behind me
Lol, I have just got a email from the London Marathon organisers to collect my event pack before 1730 today, I am NOT running the London Marathon tomorrow but I will be watching it on the television, why I got that email seems a bit strange.
PS TailChaser and other parkruners, on Sunday 21 April on the BBC Radio 4 programme Profile (12:15) there is a feature of parkrun founder Paul Sinton Hewitt, worth a listen, I have already heard it on BBC Sounds.
It was so lovely to see blue sky this morning after a very grey week, and there was just a breeze to keep us cool.
UpTheStanley started at the back as a roving marshal to check all was running well and then ran with me when he caught up. A good steady run ended with a sprint finish to overtake 2 ladies, but I was then overtaken by 2 men who couldn’t resist the challenge. It was only when the results came in that I discovered I was first in my age group with 33:40, while one of the ladies came 2nd 3 seconds later. She got her own back though as her age grade was 62.9% compared to my 62.08%. We had a good laugh in the scanning area as I apologised for my mad dash.
The best thing is that Coddfish was able to take part this morning as she has not been at all well, but she completed her 246th parkrun and is determined to get to 250!
So we then went to breakfast with Mr & Mrs C and Oldgirlruns . We forgot to take a photo until 3 of us were walking home.
Good to be out there , even if it was tough and has worn me out. Thanks cheekychipmunks and Sandie1961 for your good wishes. One run (well walk) at a time.
Afternoon PR friends. Well wasn’t that a treat (I hope I’m right in saying the UK is bathed in similar weather - if not, I apologise). ☀️☀️☀️
I’d had plans to run at Ashton Court this morning as a friend was running her 100th. However she had lots of friends helping her celebrate, so when Mudita11 casually mentioned she was coming to my neck of the woods and would I like to join her at Severn Bridge, well it was a no brainer!
Bridge was closed westbound so I had to take the long way round (lucky I checked), but I was there in plenty of time and we met up. I suggested she might prefer to zip on ahead of me, knowing how zippy she is, but she said no, she’d run with me! So we had a lovely lovely chatty (all the way!) run in the most perfect conditions possible. SB can throw the kitchen sink at you, but today it behaved. 🙏🥰☀️
Time showed we were chatting (39:05 official), but that didn’t matter one jot. We both agreed it was a fabulous run.
Discovered a lovely cafe that Jenny and I didn’t know about, so that’s a bonus for next time! We spent a good while there (with Mr Mudita), still chatting away.
Thanks for coming Mudita, and thanks for saving me from AC this week! 😅
🤣🤣🤣 Ashton Court is a tough one but I might be able to join you to cheer you on.,,if I can breathe making it up the hill!! Severn Bridge isn’t a massive drive for us…I’ll let you know when it’s on the schedule for MrU and me! Marine Parade in Weston was glorious this morning!!
Haha MissUnderstanding , AC is a challenge I always enjoy, but I’m far too easily swayed away from it. Definitely let me know if you plan on going though! Yes I can imagine MP being picture perfect today. 😍 Likewise with SB - I’d be there in a heartbeat! 😅
It was a lovely surprise, and I’m so happy for Mudita11 that she experienced it at its best - unlike you guys. I shall forever remember your cat ears akimbo Sandie1961 along with my balloon breaking free leaving me holding a string! 😂
How brilliant cheekychipmunks . Mudita11 had to do this one as we’ve all raved about it so much. I’m glad you both had a good old natter while you ran and afterwards at breakfast. Was breakfast in Chepstow?
No it wasn’t in Chepstow, it was a 5 minutes walk from the start. Who knew? Still, when you came for my 100th at least you all had a guided tour of the closed roads in Bristol! 😅
She’s surpassed me on all levels JonathanP and I was very impressed with the number of different PRs she’s done, along with only needing one more letter in the alphabet challenge! It was great to see her. 🥰
I absolutely loved it cheekychipmunks ! The whole morning, all of it, was glorious. Thank you for introducing me to your favourite parkrun and spending time with us xx
Mr M had a football game to go to nearby and I’ve wanted to do Severn Bridge pr for ages so we made a day of it - with a very early start 🥱 💤. I do love a bit of tourism so any opportunity to do a new one 🤣 xx
Trip to Preston Park Brighton and my 78 year old Dad was keen to come along as well.
It was their 11th Birthday and celebrated with 668 runners & walkers (plus dogs and buggies).
Husband was his usual speedy self and came in around 22 mins. Dad ran with me (dragged me round 😁) and I got him to have a sprint finish so he made up a few places ahead (he is much quicker than me anyway) and we finished just over 33 minutes, which is my best time on that course.
Dad enjoyed himself so I think he will go back to that one again at some point.
He is Sandie1961 . Ran 40 odd marathons (done London quite a few times) and planning a final one next year. He’s a sub 30 min parkrun normally and often 1st in his age category, although he wasn’t today!
How lovely to do parkrun with your dad Beth, and running with someone else who is faster does help your finish time so long as they appreciate your limits.
i carried on my touristing and visited Pymmes parkrun today. I’d been told it was very friendly and I can confirm it is. Very cheery volunteers and a lovely run director with some nice announcements in the beginning.
I also spotted Geoff Marshall, of train/tube youtube fame 🤩
We went to Marine Parade this morning. It was a bit of a comedy of errors. We left late because I couldn’t find either of the t shirts I wanted to wear on the radiators. Turned out they were still in the wash. We’d planned to park on the seafront but it was a bonkers £7 minimum spend for 4 hours when we wanted one hour. That meant finding somewhere else which was a decent walk to the start. By the time we’d got there, everyone had already gone! We could see the tail walkers in the distance so decided to just do a chilled run as planned and hope we caught them up!
Conditions were perfect. Cold but bright and for the first time in ages, I wasn’t too hot in shorts, sunglasses and my third choice top! We caught up with the pack but it was actually really lovely running with less “pressure” (which I know comes from myself and not any other parkrunner) to finish in a certain time because we’d probably started three minutes after everyone else!! It was lovely and quiet too.
In the end, the gun time was quite decent at just over 32 minutes. My garmin “chip time” was a fair bit faster which I was very pleased with! MrU and I had a treat breakfast before driving back. The weather was so lovely that I jumped out before we got home and walked 4.5 miles across the fields and bridleways. A great start to the day after a very disorganised beginning!!
Hope it’s been a good morning for you damienair whatever you’ve been up to!
Arghh I feel your pain MU. It’s exorbitant parking isn’t it? I haven’t been for a while and it was £6 - so it’s gone up to add insult to injury. Nice 🙄 Glad you had fun in the end though. 👏
Well done MissU. We get quite a lot of touring parkrunners who don’t check the website or app so they go to our old starting point. It is probably 3k to our new starting point so we often have runners join us late and they end up running 5 mile instead of 5k.
I was supposed to be in Ireland this week, but I ended up travelling up to Cumbria on Monday and my lovely mum passed away in the early hours of Tuesday. I am so very grateful I could be here, especially for my dad. I had brought my running kit with me thinking I’d get out for a couple of runs, but mum’s passing was somewhat unexpected, even though we knew she probably didn’t have a lot of time, so that didn’t happen. I was determined to go to a parkrun though. I did Penrith the morning of their Diamond Wedding 5 years ago, so wanted to go somewhere different. Talkin Tarn popped up - happy memories of splashing about in and on the water, picnics, ice cream as kids. It is very much a trail run with cinder paths along the tarn (small lake for non-Cumbrians!), woodland, grass, hills, mud. We were warned to beware of roots and stumps in the briefing 😳 I could have done with my trail shoes, but only have road shoes with me. I kept stopping to take photos and also walked some of the trickier bits, so finished in 37.28, but a lovely bright sunny morning and very friendly welcome. A T for my alphabet and Ireland will wait until September. This one was for you mum 💔
First parkrun in a few weeks. We were supposed to be touristing but our trip got called off, so back home.
I decided to have a bit of a recovery run as I’d done a quick run on Thursday and my legs weren’t happy. I clung on to a friend and we had a lovely natter. Katnap went differently and got his second fastest 5k. Nice to see marathon training hasn’t slowed him down!
We also had a visitor today. A very pregnant Anna Harding from The Running Channel. It was lovely to actually recognise her this time as I never spotted her last time she came. Big kudos on her for running as she is now very big and she was taking it very gently.
We’re run directing next week. Not done it in a while but the roster is looking good 👍
Another beautiful morning at Portsmouth Lakeside today (shush - don't jinx it for next week!). I'd had a good running week getting back to 10k on Tuesday and a sub-30 5k on Thursday so was hoping for a further improvement on last week - but the best laid plans.......20 seconds slower at 31.57. Oh well - there's always next week!😃
Another late night meant I overslept and had to go to my nearest parkrun.
Today was number 99, and number 69 at Chadderton.
We had an air frost overnight but it had warmed slightly by the time I got out. Winter kit for me today, even though many were in tee shirts and shorts.
The sun was out but there were places where it hadn't yet reached.
I arrived at 8.55am. Just early enough to say hellos to a few of the regulars.
The usual call outs for milestones and people from foreign parts like Yorkshire.
And we were off. As usual I hung around near the back at the start, letting all those who weren't familiar with the course tire themselves out in their initial spurt of speed.
A reminder of the course structure. You start on a flattish wide former main road which runs through the middle of the park. After about 100m there's a right angle turn onto a tarmac path which drops down the hill to the river. At the bottom of the hill another right turn onto a gravel path which runs alongside the river. You then climb gradually roughly following the river for about 500m until the edge of the park, with another right turn onto a flatter, but still climbing section of tarmac path about 50m. A right turn and a slight slope downwards, then a rise leftwards into the S shaped climb up to the top of the slope. The course then turns left to do a lap of the square rose garden (with no roses) and leaves by the same opening you entered, turning left again. Another 50m and a slight right through a wooden archway and onto the former road you started on. Then another 150m to pass the start/finish area. Repeat another three times.
It's a compact park and the route is deceptive. Many think the S-bend climb is the killer. It doesn't help, but the big effort is that relentless climb alongside the river.
I had to bite back the temptation to tell a lady I passed that she probably needed insoles. Her gait was all wrong: toes inwards and knees knocking together.
The marshal who usually polices the bottom of the S bend wasn't there this morning. He's there so often that he has his own sign, "John's Corner".
Anyway, I completed it. I did need a couple of short (5 second) walk breaks to keep the old HR down. I've not run often enough recently, and it shows.
On finishing, I waited to take a few snaps of regulars finishing for them to use on their Strava postings and chatted with the marshals. Then on leaving leaned on the railing outside the little cafe and chatted with a couple of regulars (she's fanatical about running, he can't run nowadays but always cheers, and their two little Pomeranians).
Next time will be my 100th parkrun. It'll also be the 8th anniversary of this parkrun course opening.
Finishing time today 30:23, 44th out of 94.
The finish funnel at Chadderton Hall Park parkrun.
No parkrun unfortunately for me today. I was working at a Conference and could not get away. It was a pity as I was in Kilkenny and I have not yet had the pleasure of running at that parkrun. I’ll be back running at parkrun next weekend.
22nd 'run' for me. Didn't feel that great, new shoes as my knees had been troubling me and a change seemed worth trying. According to my watch it wasn't a bad time, official time came through and I was just 13 seconds short of my PB. Very surprised and pleased - onward and upward.
I disappear from HU for large chunks of time because I sometimes don’t want to be reminded that I have lost the ability to run, and in all likelihood won’t regain it. Then sometimes I feel the need for running company. I enjoyed watching the London Marathon this morning and look forward to the Olympics.
Yesterday was parkrun 246 for me (at a slow walk) so I am getting close to that coveted green 250 shirt.
For anyone who doesn’t know me from when I was a regular blog participant, I am living with metastatic breast cancer. The cancer itself isn’t problematic, but I suffered a major treatment related incident last September, when my immune system, primed by immunotherapy, went on a self harm spree. Some of the consequences were immediate and at the time life threatening. Others continue to emerge some 7 months later as I gradually wean off the very high dose steroids they gave me to control the immediate problem, which also masked inflammation. I have damaged kidneys, thyroid and lungs. I have inflammation in my spine affecting feeling in my lower legs particularly the left one. My damaged kidneys make too much uric acid leading recently to an outbreak of gout. Plus a recent ablation procedure on the cancer in my liver went a bit wrong leaving a needle in situ in the liver and causing peritoneal burning.
Stuck on 179 parkruns when lockdown kicked in, I was waiting for a hip replacement when parkrun restarted. My accumulation of parkruns was impacted by recovery from that, then breast cancer surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and an earlier liver ablation. Then immunotherapy combined with chemotherapy and the immune adverse event. Then the recovery from that and the second ablation that went wrong. Unsurprisingly the parkruns have got sparser and sparser and of late slower and slower through this, despite a great return to running in early 22 and again in early 23. I am now walking slowly with hiking poles and finding kilometre 5 a particular struggle.
I am going to need a lot of support to get through the 4 remaining parkruns, especially as the other hip is showing signs it will also need replacing. I am hoping to complete this before the end of June (there are a few Saturdays with other commitments and I can definitely only do parkrun or something else, not both). Once I have done them I will retire to volunteering, unless/until my symptoms improve
Keep running whilst you can, you never know what is round the corner.
What can I say to such reply? Thank you so much for this update. I find it precious to read of both the highs and the lows of folk's journeys, although some are so very hard and challenging. I need a dictionary, our medical book or Mr Google to begin to understand the enormity of what you have been going through. I am so very sorry. I don't keep up with our forum fully so I have missed many previous posts, but I remember your hip replacement and how you were asking your consultant about running, if I remember correctly, before you could even walk. I am so aware that we do not know what today holds let alone the future. 4 more park runs to reach the 250! I think if anyone, with all the medical difficulties that you have, can succeed it is you! Have you a plan as to which Saturdays will be the ones? Probably this will be completely dependant on what your body can cope with. I look forward to hearing of your success amid such trials.
I think I may have understood that the medical folk accidentally left a needle in you? I have heard of such things before, I am so very, very sorry.
Here are some flowers for you 🌹🌸🌺🌼🌻🌷💐 and here's to those next 4 park runs! Does the parkrun organisation also award t shirts for milestones in volunteering?
Thank you! The needle wasn’t accidentally left in - the probe melted and left the needle in situ. Malfunctioning equipment not negligence. So it has to stay in place, as it would be major surgery to get it out.
Hoping to ‘parkrun’ the next 2 Saturdays, then take some holiday abroad before my next scan, resuming in June, health permitting. Yes, parkrun has the same milestones for volunteering, I am someway past 50 but a way to go to get to 100.
Oh Coddfish I am so sorry to read about your health issues. You are going through such a difficult time and I hope you feel better soon. I hope you manage to reach your 250 milestone as planned as it is surely difficult for you. You’re strong, you’ll do it.
Oh wow. Huge congratulations GTFC and Tasha99 , absolutely amazing news and I’m so delighted for you both. Wishing you both a long, happy and healthy life together.
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