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.
Written by
damienair
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Hi damienair & other park runners, (not) park runners,
Just hubby today with a time of 28:33. We’re all still recovering from Covid. I managed a slow 15k today & finished up at park run but there is no way I could have run park run. No self control 🤣
Well done to your hubby. Hope you all feel better soon. Our house has been hit by a cold this week too. Thankfully we are Covid negative. Get well soon. Well done too on your 15K.
Brilliant. Well done you two. Yes I’m going to take note of that one. I got my I yesterday. I’ll be getting my Z in a few weeks which will leave me with a Y and a J to get to complete my alphabet challenge. No Y or J in Ireland which means a couple of UK trips.
Good morning everyone! My 2024 PB streak came to an end at Market Rasen today. I set off too fast, had to take a walking break to get my heart rate and breathing under control and finished 6 seconds slower than last week. Grrr 😡 2nd out of 11 in my age category and I appear to be comfortably achieving 33 mins now, so to work on getting to 32. Enjoy the rest of the weekend!
Dexy5, it was in the Autumn of 2021 that I was "on fire", all my runs and parkruns nwere PB's, the fastest time 30:09 at Drumpellier parkrun, happy now to get a sub 32, the last time I got a sub 31 was in August 2022 at Drumpellier when I was running with GTFC and Tasha99.
My age grading at Dunfermline parkrun on Saturday was 58.61%. I was watching the commemoration for D-day from Southsea on Thursday, when the Red Arrows flew over I was thinking that you would hear them outside your house as well as on the television.
I sort of struggled at parkrun this morning, today was my 114th parkrun, I ran at Dunfermline, I thought my time would be over 35 minutes but guess what? 34:16 which is the EXACT SAME TIME as my very first parkrun at Dunfermline almost 5 years ago, normally I sprint to the finishing line but couldn't do that today, anyway with it being a sub 35 minute time by 44 seconds and the same time as my very first parkrun I am reasonably happy with my run this morning. 😊 ✔️🏃🏾
Intervals again for me up in woods. 31:58 for the last 5k ; just slackening off a bit between intervals now. Average heart rate was 135 and back up to “superior” on VO2max 😂. You have to laugh! HM attempt sometime next week. One of those days when it was freezing as soon as it clouded over, but pleasantly warm otherwise. Really enjoyable morning 🙂
Yes that VO2 algorithm certainly needs some work BC - the only time I ever reached superior was while cycling during lockdown and that was a complete mystery! Enjoy your HM attempt....
Went to Lister Park and run 30.51 my times are getting quicker again slowly 🐌 so definitely happy with that. Got a tough week ahead with an 11k run coming up.Well done to anyone who volunteerd or ran 🏃♂️ 👏 a parkrun today or tomorrow
Good afternoon everyone. Just having a mid lawn mow ice lolly, and I thought I’d catch up on here before heading out for round 2!
I went to Clevedon Salthouse Fields this morning. It had rained early on, but cleared up in time and it was a lovely running temperature, with the added bonus of a cooling breeze on the home stretch of the 3 laps. It was the B course today, as high tide meant the lake was out of bounds, so a congested route up and down the seafront with tight turns and narrow paths.
It meant I passed one of my work colleagues 6 times as he was marshaling!
Happy with my time of 38:54 (just over 39 minutes official), as the first 200m was practically walking due to the number of runners trying to jostle into position. Jostle away guys. I’m happy trotting along merrily!
Delightful latte and a very tasty cherry and raisin scone after (cute little cafe in the park).
Right, back out to finish the grass! Have a great week everyone. 😀
Clevedon looks so nice in the sunshine! I haven’t tried that little cafe. We often end up at the Tim Hortens on the way out of town because it reminds us of a Canada holiday! The scone sounds like a perfect way to end a super run.
Hello everyone. This morning I was up early and travelled with my 2 parkrun friends to Shannon which is about 2.5 hours away from home. We ran at Illaunmanagh parkrun so as to get an I for the Alphabet challenge. It was a gorgeous parkrun course. An out and back along an estuary and through a beautiful woodland park. Quiet except for the birds singing in the trees. I had a cold during the week and didn’t run on Thursday. So I planned to just have a nice relaxed run today. I took off mid way in the crowd of 60 runners and walkers and ran without looking at my watch. I felt comfortable and enjoyed the scenery and slowly moved up through the field of runners. The turning point was around a football pitch and then back. I finished in a time of 26:40 and was delighted. We then had a post parkrun breakfast with some of the volunteers in a beautiful cafe.
I have been starting to look at where we might be on Friday nights in September/October when we’re in Ireland - 5 miles from Portrush on 13/14 September. Do I dare? 😬
Decided to head to Seaford but hadn’t really checked the forecast properly. Yes it was sunny but a very strong coastal breeze.
As always it’s lovely on the out lap to the half way mark but the moment we turned the wind was quite brutal which slowed me down. On a plus note I ended up with positive splits 😆. So not my best time at 33.02 but it’ll do. Husband however got a PB.
The best bit though was a big group of runners that had been doing C25K with the local running club and were out for their first time on their graduation run having completed C25K earlier in the week.
The C25K group of graduates must have added a lovely atmosphere to the parkrun. Congratulations to your husband on his new PB and very well done to you too. Great running.
We went to our home parkrun Southsea this morning and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to run it. I had a Tooth extraction on Wednesday but I thought I’d be ok today. My foot was hurting a bit on Friday but I was willing to walk if necessary.
Managed to run it all apart from 2 short walking breaks to catch my breath. I was 2nd in my age group; the first ran at a time I’ve never managed.
We’ve had an exciting time in Southsea this week with the national and local commemoration of D-day, then today the Red Arrows flew here for Armed Forces Day.
Great pic of the Red Arrows. It must be great to experience some of the D-Day commemorations. That whole area of course was a massive staging point for the invasion. Well done to you both on your parkrun at Southsea.
Unfortunately there were few tickets available to the locals, so we were watching on TV along with the rest of the country. I was pleased it all went so well. It was a great bonus to have the Red Arrows display on Saturday afternoon for Armed Forces Day.
I've been laid low with a stinking head cold this last week. Very odd as normally colds start in my throat, progress to my nose, then drop down to my lungs. This one stayed in my throat and sinuses. I got very hoarse and nearly lost my voice a few times.
I did a test run on Thursday evening, just doing 12 minutes/2.2km. The run part went without incident, but as soon as I stopped I had a coughing fit.
So parkrun number 103 at Chadderton (73rd time there) this morning.
It rained overnight here and was chillier too. I put on along sleeved thin top with my 100 parkrun tee shirt over the top. A different set of trail shorts today as I'd worn holes in the all black ones I'd been using regularly for about three years.
I arrived in good time this morning. Just as well as a large local parkrun at Heaton Park was cancelled today due to the Park Life festival being held there this weekend. Our numbers weren't as great as feared but it was noticeably busier.
There were a few familiar faces there including my friendly rival, Peter, who used to be much faster than me before he got ill. Today he decided to take the first three laps at a slower pace then give his all on the final lap. My only plan today was to finish the run.
We set off and were joined by another of the regulars, a lady who runs most days. I'd actually seen her husband and their two pomeranian dogs before noticing her. The three of us ran as a group for a few hundred metres, chatting a bit. Then she pulled ahead. I hung back for a bit, then Peter dropped behind. I caught her up and passed her.
Due to the numbers and the narrow paths it wasn't possible to make faster progress until the field had spread out a bit after the first lap.
I found a comfortable pace for the first three laps. I was lapped about three quarters of the way round my second lap by a black guy in a plain white tee shirt which had mud splatters up the back from his kicking gait.
The final lap was a hard one. Peter overtook me.
I decided to have a walk break for about 20 seconds on one of the flatter sections. The sun had come out and my two layers on top were starting to look like a mistake.
The home straight saw me overtaken by a father and daughter who were going for the sprint finish.
And, as expected, once I'd stopped and collected my finish token I had a bit of a coughing fit.
I asked after the speedy mud-spattered white tee shirt guy. He had finished first but had no barcode so it wasn't recorded how fast he was. Doh!
I did it in 31:45 today, over 30s slower than Peter and a minute faster than the lady.
Not bad given my watch was telling me I'd had too little sleep, my training readiness was low, my training status was "strained" and my HRV status was low. (That shows you how much store I put by those stats.)
Wishing you a speedy recovery from your cold. I’m in the same boat today. Feeling lousy. I too got a coughing fit after my parkrun yesterday. I didn’t feel like running my long run today so took my dog for a 5 K walk instead. Well done on your parkrun.
Back to home territory at Portsmouth Lakeside today after last week's hilly run in the country. Another large field with 348 finishers - pleasantly warm but some clouds kept the direct sun off us for most of the run. First 3 kms were around 6.10/15 mins but my pace dropped to 6.29 for the final two, hence a time of 32 mins dead - pleased with a 11 sec improvement on 2 weeks ago. Away on grandparent duty next Saturday so see you all in another 2 weeks!
Well run damienair, especially with a cold. There seems to be a lot of it about. I had an allergy problem this week - a severe reaction to some grass I walked through wearing shorts. I had red weals on my legs, followed by swelling a day later, so bad that my ankles disappeared. I didn't run all week due to the swelling. The weals went yellow like bruises due to the breakdown of haemoglobin. Fascinatingly horrible. By the time Saturday came around my ankles had reappeared and I was raring for a parkrun. I went decided to aim for a negative splits run which I haven’t tried in a while, but I find is a fun way to train at parkrun. Very pleased with my steadily decreasing splits; 6.12, 5.53, 5.38, 5.27 and 5.15, run without a sportswatch, just on feel. Second in my age group. The first person in my age group 60 -64 ran in under 22 minutes, which equates to a 90% age grading. How incredible is that!
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