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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Morning all! Today I was up bright and early (4:30) so thought I'd do a (not)Parkrun before getting picked up for work at 7:30. I've struggled with distance lately but today's 5k felt good, I kept it slow on purpose and completed in just over 30 mins. The morning air was cold and fresh, I still ran in a t-shirt but felt fine once I'd gotten up to pace.
I was very pleased to get another 5k under my belt after a week or so of only managing short runs and walks.
I hope everybody had a great parkrun or (not)parkrun this fine autumn morning!
Leamington is very close so suitable when Stratford gets cancelled because of flooding. However I have always avoided it, until today!
Every one talks about the stinky hill at about 2k, but no mention of the lovely long down hill, the wonderful woodland paths or great views.
I’ve done a lot of miles this week so am feeling a bit fatigued, also need to keep something for the Cotswold Way tomorrow, so a perfect excuse to walk when I needed to and stop for a picture of the view.
I even saw Mr Shakes jogging into the finish today. Thank you Leamington , we will return.
That one sounds lovely, I'm going to start looking up parkruns for when I can, my aim is to walk 5k in under an hour, I'm not there yet but will be soon
It was on 6/7/19 Sandie1961 . I just looked it up. No idea of the occasion either, but I remember Windoze was there and I had Flossie. I ran it in 35:56 which is motoring for me! I don’t remember the hill or the mud 🤦♀️
Pacer day today although I mostly tootled along, just behind the 36 for a while, overtaken by the 38. Walked/ran for a short while then joined the 40 pacer and runners to come in at 39.09 (5 seconds slower than my best time at Marple this year).Oh yes, I also did First Timers Welcome again, accompanied by a Sign Language volunteer this time. She also accompanied the RD briefing.
Great photo Damien, no parkrun for me this morning, however, as part of my *training" for my first big 10K Great Scottish Run on Sunday 6th October I ran a 3K along the Clydeside walkway in Glasgow in a time of 18:50, but I just realised that when I run next Sunday my 3K time will be 24 minutes as I have been allocated to run that 10K in 80 minutes, (I ran the Cumbernauld 10K in a time of 1:07:38) next Saturday the day before The Great Scottish Run I am a marshall at Palacerigg Country parkrun.
Don’t worry about trying to stick to that “allocated” time Al. It’s just an estimate of your finishing time so you’re starting with similar paced runners. You can run your race at whatever pace you want. Hope it goes well!
Thanks very much MissUnderstanding for that information, there are 3 colour wave starts for the 10K, the first is at 8.30am for the fastest runners, that's the purple wave, from sub 40 minutes to 55 minutes approximately, the second wave, green is for the runners running 55 to 74 minutes, their start time is 8.38 am, the third wave, pink, the one I am in starts at 8.58 am and is for runners running 75 minutes to 90 minutes or more, so I will start following the 80 minutes pacer and during the run might try to catch up with the later green wave runners.🏃
Just keep to your normal pace at the Great Scottish Run and you will be fine AlMorr and you’ll be fine. It doesn’t matter where you start as your time doesn’t start until you cross the start line.
Great advice from you Dexy, thank you, yes I do know where the time starts on a event race, there is a timing device on the ground under the big start banner, event races like the London Marathon or the Great North Run takes runners sometimes more than a hour from the gun start to that timed mat, my 10K race two weeks ago it only took six SECONDS, however, next Sunday I am sure it will be longer than that but hopefully not one hour, I expect it will be no more than ten minutes but who knows 🤣??
Hello everyone. This morning I got up early and headed to Tramore parkrun which is on the South East Coast of Ireland. It was an absolutely beautiful morning, blue sky, calm and a perfect morning for a parkrun. The course was up and back along a promenade before a left turn up in a coastal parkland where we did two laps before exiting out onto a left turn along a car park before the final long straight to the finish line. My Garmin time and official parkrun time matched perfectly at 26:07. Delighted with that result. After i caught my breath I thanked the volunteers, scanned my barcode and popped across the road for a lovely Al fresco coffee in the sunshine. Another tourist course ticked off my list.
No parkrun for me this morning-I ran 5k last night instead. Stuck in a four hour meeting! Luckily a very nice breakfast was provided and there were mid morning doughnuts!
MrU went to Eastville and set a new PB. He missed the briefing and accidentally started right at the front instead of the back!! He really enjoyed the challenge of keeping up with the faster runners and it pulled him along to 26.06. I need to watch my back-he’s almost caught up with my 5km best! Perhaps that’s what I need to work on over the winter! 🤣
Good for MrU keeping pace with the speedies for a while! I’d simply be mown down if I did that! Eastville would have looked gorgeous this morning. I’ll be volunteering there next weekend. 😀
Typical-next weekend I’m visiting family so I might stop in on a Welsh one on the way. I like Tredegar House! One day we’ll be in the same place at the same time!
I was pretty impressed with him!! He likes running rather than loving g it like I do. I think I might have him convinced we should do a half marathon together next year which is a massive win!
Afternoon all! 👋 I had the best time this morning. As the weather was perfect after all the rain we’ve had, I asked Jenny if she fancied her first run/walk with the baby buggy. We’d planned it a while ago, but events/the weather have got in the way.
Obviously, with such incredible conditions, we chose Severn Bridge. I programmed my Garmin to do 1:1 walk/run intervals, we started near the back and I took the first stint with the buggy! Baby was relaxed enough to fall asleep! We kept on swapping after 2 sets of running/walking and came in at 44:05 (Garmin) 44:49 official. My official time was wrongly put at 45:44 which I know has to be wrong as we literally finished neck and neck with no one around us. I’ve emailed SB, only because it’s clearly incorrect and I thought I should point it out.
We didn’t even try the nearby cafe as there were a couple of massive running clubs on tour and knew we’d be stuck in the queue forever. Instead we popped to Magor Services for a McD breakfast of egg McMuffins and hash browns. Our treat! I won’t divulge how many of each Jen wolfed down! 🤣
How lovely for Jenny to be able to take junior to parkrun cheekychipmunks . Was he asleep throughout? In our experience, the RD does like to know if something is obviously wrong like that. In fact UTS does often check if he sees people he knows came in together before submitting the results.
Depends entirely on the RD of the day. They may decide as it doesn’t affect your PB for the event that it’s not important. But it will alert them that there was a mistake, for future reference.
It sounds as though all 3 of you had a good time cheeky, or do we call you Grandma Cheeky now! I’m glad you managed to find some breakfast too - parkrun wouldn’t be the same without it, would it?!
Just Cheeky is fine thanks Oldgirlruns ! Being a grandma of 3 makes me feel old enough as it is - I don’t need reminding on HU too! 😂 It was a lovely morning with Jenny and the littlest one! 🩵
Last Saturday was "Operation Get Dad Up Early So We Can Visit Portmeirion Before The Rain Comes", which was successful as NW Wales basked in some afternoon sun whilst the south of the UK got rained on.
Today I'm back at my usual haunt. I get up. I look out the bathroom window to see a thin covering of frost over everything. The thermometer outside was reading 2°C.
Bother! It's much colder than I'd prepared for. That led to a rummage in my kit bag for some winter togs: two warm long sleeved layers on top, trail leggings and thicker than usual socks, and gloves.
I kit up in the warm bathroom, feeling over-warm as I layer up, but know from experience that the river valley the parkrun is in will retain the chill long after the sun has hit it.
I arrive at 8.55am hearing the distant call for the first timers' briefing. This is my 81st visit here, so I suppose I can skip that.
I get down to the start/finish area, a flat bit of former main road (there are still holes where there used to be cat's eye studs) within the park with fenced tennis courts to one side and a steep slope to the other.
The volunteers are muttering that we're not going to start on time (again!) as the briefing was taking ages, and we still had the Run Director's spiel to come.
RD comments in his speech that we seem to have a lot of visitors this week and asks for people to shout out where they're from. The furthest call was Gloucester.
And then we were off. I struggled to slip my phone in the belly pocket of my leggings (whilst running). Then I heard someone playing (probably a ringtone) a snippet of Beyoncé's Crazy In Love, and muttered to anyone who might hear, "Oh oh. Oh oh. Oh oh. Oh momma."
Unusually, I seemed to find my pace group quite early and didn't have to overtake that many.
Once again, my goal today was to get round without any stops or walk breaks.
And that I did. I was lapped at about half way round lap 2, which showed the front runners were pretty quick (the first two finishers came in under 20 minutes).
Nobody was guarding the rose garden entrance today, so there was no music there.
By the middle of the final lap I was starting to feel a bit tired, but I plodded on.
Somehow I found a little extra to increase my pace to the finish line.
Delving into the stats from the watch, my form seems pretty good: cadence was gradually increasing from 160spm to a peak of 184spm, my stride length was pretty consistent (average 94cm) and my stride efficiency was consistently good (vertical ratio 7.0%, vertical oscillation 6.8cm). This isn't something I usually look much at.
Afterwards I hung around chatting, then snapping a finish line photo of one of the regulars and sending it to her. She'd loosely put her coat on for the last lap, so came across the line looking like a caped superhero.
I chatted a little afterwards as the day was starting to warm up. As I was leaving they were setting up for the local kids' cross-country event. Red and white barrier tape was being put out. Someone commented that the sunlight was reflecting off the fine beads of sweat that had accumulated on the top of my cap.
Official time: 32:19. I thought I was being slow today, but actually I was 44 seconds faster than two weeks ago!
Not sure if I'll be parkrunning the next couple of weekends, but I hope to do the Ayr parkrun on Oct 19. I just need to remember they start at 9.30am north of the border.
Volunteered at my home parkrun today along with various buddies. One of our regular volunteers has recently taken responsibility for training a puppy who is going to grow up to be a guide dog for the blind. The 17 week old puppy is absolutely gorgeous, and was fantastically well behaved even though his minder was marshalling one of our turn around posts. Somewhere in amongst swooning over the dog I got my job done. I was not the only one who fell in love with the dog.
One of my choir friends used to bring a guide dog in training along to rehearsals Coddfish . She was told to involve it in as many day to day activities as possible! She had a tough time letting it go when it went off for further, more advanced, training. 💔 PR is a great place to bring a pup in training, and I’m not surprised you were besotted!
Hope you’ll be there at the GSR? Would be lovely to see you. 🤞
We had good team work at both ends of the funnel today didn’t we Coddfish! The puppy was absolutely gorgeous and probably better behaved than some of our more regular doggy participants!
Week 3 of Irish parkruns and this week we were just a 7 minute walk from Tralee parkrun. Funny that 😂😈 A flat 3 lap route around the town park on tarmac paths, although the start was a bit crowded. The weather was dry, a little cool and a bit overcast, but perfect for running. I was 149/225 and 10/19 in my age category, finishing in 34.44, which is my fastest time since 29 June. Happy with that! Off round the Ring of Kerry tomorrow and hoping to land in Clonakilty for the final Irish parkrun next week 🤞
It looks like we may not make it round the Ring today after all. We are currently being buffeted by 50mph winds, so going nowhere in a 3m high box! Glengarrif on Tuesday and Wednesday nights and the Ring of Beara is in the plan. Thanks for the suggestions 😃
Very well done Sandie. Enjoy the rest of your visit to Ireland. I haven’t had the pleasure of visiting Tralee parkrun yet. I ran at Killarney parkrun last year.
I had planned Killarney (here now!) but we had a slight change to the scheduling. Tralee is just a standard town park run, but very friendly (aren’t they all? 😄) Just wish I’d known about Inis Meain when we were planning the trip - 3 nights in Doolin but Sunday to Wednesday 🤦🏼♀️
My 49th parkrun today and went to Lister Park Bradford. Me and my son in law became pacers for the day he did 22 minutes I did 32 minutes and loved the experience, I came in at 31.28. I'd definitely do pacing again next week undecided on what to do for my 50th parkrun
Tell the event team that it’s your milestone next week so that you get a well deserved shout out. I like a bit of fancy dress on my milestones, as my long suffering running buddies will confirm!
Morning all 🙂 So this was my tenth parkrun and I was typically late, very stressful day yesterday and didn't get to bed until late, therefore overslept🤷♂️ so I rushed out this morning, nothing to eat or drink🙄 got held up in traffic and road works😤 I didn't leave enough time to warm up properly but off we went. Started off a bit quicker than usual but kept the pace up, going well at the half way turn point, then I got a twinge down the back of my leg, slowed down until the pain went were I picked up the pace again and all was well until about 500 m out from the finish when the "twinge" came back with a vengeance😕 A runner of a similar vintage to me ran alongside and encouraged me over the last few 100 metres and I still managed to finish with a PB of 25:34 which I'm very pleased with, not so happy about my leg, got the ice pack on it as soon as I got home and used some ibuprofen gel on it, I now have a limp but think if I take it easy for a few days everything should be good👍 Oh! the weather was good, a distinct chill in the air, but nice and dry😁
After last week's best parkrun time this year, I was hopeful that my ankle niggle had subsided, but 10k on Thursday proved that it hadn't! So I decided that walking would be wise today - hence ending up as parkwalker at Lakeside. It was a beautiful morning but only 5° when I arrived so the gloves had their first outing since earlier in the year.
Interestingly we had a visit from the local PCSOs doing their PR bit and offering cookies & water to finishers - I didn't see any of them running though! Not too many walking today, but I did have interesting chats with two parents who were walking with their teenage sons who had special needs - my area of work before I retired. Came in 338 out of 344 (52.49) - a gentle jog for the ankle in the week methinks....
I’m not going to like this post JonathanP , because it’s not fair that your ankle is putting your GSR in jeopardy. I’ll be keeping everything crossable firmly crossed hoping that it improves and you can take part. 🤞❤️
Brilliant, you have finally been able to post that photo from our get together last week. It was such fun.
UpTheStanley was RD today and despite several pleas for volunteers during the week, I was finally dragged in to barcode scan , along with Mr & Mrs Coddfish , and Oldgirlruns in different roles. It was a chilly but sunny day - just perfect PB weather. Grrr.
A plea to anyone who has done 20 parkruns and never volunteered, don’t assume that your parkrun doesn’t need you. There is often a lot of panicking going on during the week during to get enough volunteers to run the event safely. Volunteering is a great way of meeting people too.
Yep, Eastville especially round here is always begging on its knees for volunteers each week. It’s a huge PR with loads of familiar names in the results who never step up, and they should realise the number of volunteers to make it happen so they can take part. Gets me really cross.
Well done for volunteering today Dexy5 . I’m doing my part at Eastville next weekend. 😇
Well done to you all for volunteering. I usually volunteer 1 in every 5-6 runs. However this year I’m trying to get 50 parkruns done in the calendar year on my 50th year on this planet. After New Year I’ll be back to volunteering 1 in every 5-6 runs.
A great picture Damien, didn’t we have a good time! I can’t believe it’s already a week ago! It was glorious down here on the south coast today and I volunteered to do finish tokens for our 428 runners. Breakfast with Coddfish and MrC, Dexy5 and UpTheStanley followed, of course!
Last week was fantastic. I really enjoyed it so much and it was so lovely to meet you too. Well done for volunteering. I was on the South Coast yesterday too, but the south coast of Ireland. The weather was beautiful too. Not so nice today though.
Conditions in Worthing were perfect for parkrun yesterday after a week of torrential rain that I got caught in more than once. It was a bit chilly at the start but I knew it wouldn’t be long before I reached a comfortable temperature. Just set off to enjoy it, which I did. Stayed in my comfort zone (my favourite way to run). Imagine my surprise when my results came through later and I had set a new PB! By 1 second! Every second counts though right. And every second brings me a tiny bit closer to my long term life running goal of completing a sub 30 5k. 00:33:20 was yesterday’s result. Still a way to go, but just enjoying all my running along the way.
It was a beautiful clear morning at Oxford's University Park's parkrun. There was an alternative course due to flooding and we had a lot of guests from other parkruns that had to be cancelled due to flooding.
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