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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This morning I volunteered as Timer at my local parkrun. Really enjoyed volunteering again although my hands were very cold. We had 151 runners, joggers and walkers which is a good turnout for us. Looking forward to wrapping my hands around a hot cup of coffee now.
I have to go out and run in a while myself. Happy running everyone.
Shock of shocks, I dragged myself out of bed early this morning, picked up a running friend and headed off to do the famed Albert Park park run. It was cold, raining, and a bit slippy on the surface, mainly due to the presence of large patches of lichen. For the first time in ages I wore my faithful road shoes; they seemed to appreciate the outing! My friend is usually much quicker than I am, but he has had a long lay off, so we decided to trot around at the same pace and just put our worlds to rights.
Albert Park is a renowned speedsters run, with we lesser mortals asked to keep to the outside of the largely rectangular path, so as to let the speedsters hug the inside. That means that 5k times and Park run times are quite different for lots of runners. The first 1k was a steady 6:13, and we increased speed lap on lap, (negative splits in other words) with a final lap of 5:37 adding up to a 29.45 5k and a 30:29 Park Run time. Just what we both needed. Over coffee we met up with 82(I think) year old Tom Harper who started running aged 76. It was his 500th Park Run; so here’s to you Tom. He did the Berlin Marathon last year by the way!An absolute legend 👏👏👏👏👏.
Thanks JP. I did one PR last year, in August 2024. We have been threatening to do a park run together for ages; the planets just aligned for today. It was a good way to catch up and the fact that he was just building up fitness together meant that running at the same pace worked. He let me set the pace, and I just felt that I could push a bit harder at the end of each k. I always say the same thing; I should do it more often!
I have just looked at your post; good to see you running. How is that suspicious little bulge doing?
Thanks BC - it's much the same, which in itself is good news. A little uncomfortable when I start running, but then eases off and I hardly notice it. I'm going to stick to a steady pace though - mustn't push my luck!
Thought I would get my pr in early this time; I can relax for the rest of the year now 😴. I noticed how everyone was just so nice; hello…..good morning….good finish….etc, it really is a wonderful concept.
Morning running pals! After walking my dog yesterday lunchtime and coming back frozen to the marrow (4 degrees, felt like -8 degrees according to Strava), I’d planned on skipping PR this morning. However I gave myself a stern talking to, and found myself driving across the Severn Bridge at 8:20 this morning. Motorway signs had “Strong Winds on Bridge” warnings, which surprised me because it didn’t appear windy at home, but I could definitely feel my car being buffeted and I had to grip the wheel firmly!
Which is exactly the same way as I ran over about 40 minutes later, being buffeted from all angles! It was a swirly whirly kind of wind, and it definited made for an interesting run!
Time was 39:23 (Garmin 39:27 including a short roundup to 5k). Done and dusted. 🙏
You’re right Beachcomber66 . My exception (for SB anyway) would be strong winds and heavy needle-like rain in winter. If I wanted a facial I’d book myself one somewhere cosy! 😅 Bet it’s chilly in your neck of the woods today. 🥶🥶
Thanks JonathanP ! I was second guessing my decision when I saw the motorway signs, but in reality it was better than a head wind. My shoes coped admirably too!
It looks like someone was performing an organised attack on the parkrun website yesterday. For instance the cancellations page was timing out. The fallout from this appears to have slowed down official results processing for some events.
Back at Chadderton Hall Park today. 3°C and damp. The group of us shivered and jumped about trying to keep warm during the Run Director's speech.
And then the off. This course is slow. It's not exceptionally hard, but you get about 100m of wide and level former main road before the course turns 90 degrees and goes down a narrower path on a steep hill.
Then you have to gain back all the elevation you just lost. About 75% of the course is uphill, either following the river through the park or doing a 30° S-shaped incline up to the rose garden.
Entering and going round the rose garden and exiting again involves doing eight 90 degree turns in quick succession.
And you do this all four times. On top of that, the course measures about 250m longer than 5km on my watch.
That said, I have done it 90 times including today.
In the absence of an official time, my watch said it took me 31:51.
I didn't hang around for more than 10 minutes afterwards. It was blooming cold and my sweat-dampened kit wasn't providing any protection.
Very well done nowster , like you I have to head away as soon as the run is over as I got a very bad dose one time from hanging around in damp kit. I either have to go or I change my tops straight afterwards.
I do have a change of tops in my car and some microfibre towels.
One towel goes on the car seat to protect it. The other I use to rub down head and torso.
In the summer I'll strip to the waist and put something dry on. In the winter that's not wise, so I'll just change the outer layers having dried off as much as possible.
I couldn’t decide what to do this morning. I had a bit of a funny tummy but I had to go to take the tokens and do the course check (I suspect I got a chill on my run after work yesterday - see, I’m not that hardcore cheekychipmunks 😅 ). I’m also determined to get to 200 as quick as I can now, so I had to do something. My watch also said ‘rest’ as did my plan… I thought, I’ll run gently with Shake-and-run but I didn’t see her. I could Tailwalk? No, the missing DofEr has turned up. Finally, I decided to parkwalk. No one was parkwalking. As soon as I put the blue bib on and I saw Shakes, but it was too late - my brain and body were ready for the walk, not a run.
Anyway, I think I did alright. Parkwalking is a bit of a funny one. It’s a walk so you can do it on your own or with others but it’s also about encouraging others. I also had to convey messages to the RDs (a runner was using a waist tied dog lead which is no longer allowed). I spent most of the walk with Hillary, who was very hard on herself as she was upset to be at the back and she was upset to take just over an hour. But it was a really cold morning and the wind was blasting in our faces at times. To spend an hour walking in that was quite a thing: neither our muscles or lungs like it.
Afterwards, after saying bye to Hillary, I collected the tokens and Shakes, Katnap and I went to the cafe for double hot drinks and a bacon and egg sandwich. Thankfully my tummy was feeling better by then and I was cold and hungry! Nothing lasted long on my plate 😂
Glad your funny tummy didn't come to anything TC. Yes parkwalking can be a strange role - it seems to depend on who else is walking that day and whether they want/need to be encouraged!
When you are an RD you can’t miss all the people doing the wrong thing TailChaser . I always seem to be asking people to not run in the cycle lane while I’m running . parkwalk is the one role we don’t chase for volunteers, nice to have but not necessary to run the event.
The walk probably did you good , and allowed you to enjoy a lovely brekkie.
You’re not wrong there Dexy, you have to have eyes everywhere. We’re exactly the same about parkwalkers. I was just in the right mood for it yesterday, just for once I was feeling quite chatty, and you’re right, the walk did do me good. I think Hillary helped me out as much as I helped her really.
The parkwalker role is an odd one. Sometimes ours are found walking together, ignoring other walkers. When I was walking it a lot, working towards my 250, and struggling with the immunotherapy induced pneumonitis, I would find parkwalkers wanting to talk to me, when I could barely get enough breath to walk and couldn’t talk. And don’t get me on those who don’t know my backstory who tell me if I keep doing it I will improve and will soon do better. Arggghhhh!
Yes, I agree Coddfish, you do have to pick your battles as a parkwalker and not ‘over talk’. Listen and take your cue. I tried talking to one lady who very obviously wanted to be on her own, another who was easy either way. I hope I said the right things to Hillary, I’ve known her for a while, but even the. you do still have to be very careful.
Every couple of months my local parkrun has pacers. I thought I'd volunteer as a pacer today so I joined a group of runners who were pacing times ranging from 20 minutes to 45 minutes. My goal was to run at a steady pace so not to speed up or fade away towards the end. Thankfully I managed to do it without messing it up too much and finished a bit quicker than my goal time which I thought was better than being slower.
After I finished I had several people approach to thank me for pacing. I found this rather touching that there had been a group behind me following and I'd helped them achieve their target time.
So if you haven't ever been a pacer then why not give it a go. You don't have to be super speedy. Just choose a pace you feel reasonably confident you'll achieve.
Well done 00marks 👏👏 Pacing has always worried me as I never really know what speed my legs want to do until I get going. But we hardly ever have them so it’s not a big deal. Youngest son was also a pacer today though, he seems to enjoy it as well.
Very well done on pacing. I’ve done pacer a few times and I really enjoyed it. In 2019 I got my parkrun PB of 25:36 by following a 26 minute pacer. I was absolutely exhausted after but so thrilled, I’d never gone sub 26 before that. Last year I got 25:36 again and even managed to get a new PB of 25:22.
No parkrun for me last week as I had a dodgy tummy - not very pleasant! So I was doubly pleased to get back to Portsmouth Lakeside this morning - pretty chilly and fairly wet underfoot, but our trusty motorway embankment did its usual job of shielding us from most of the wind. Set a steady pace with a gentle sprint at the end, coming in at 32.02 -happy with that.
Thanks Damien, but I'm sticking with a steady pace at present following my further hernia diagnosis, until I get more clarity on whether surgery will be needed
Well done for your parkrun time JonathanP . I was looking at my watch thinking of all my buddies taking part everywhere, while I lay in bed with a Kleenex at the ready.
Thanks. I love volunteering at parkrun, feel like I'm still part of it even when I've not been able to do when injured. The people are great, so friendly.
Definitely a cold one on our exposed prom. I was timekeeping. Clothing included knee high fur lined leather boots, waterproof over trousers over my ordinary trousers to keep the wind off, dry robe, cycling warmth sleeve (as my dry robe only has three quarter sleeves), very thick jumper, merino wool scarf, tech gloves to do the timekeeping. I resembled a Michelin Man. Knocked over someone’s bike that had been attached to a lamppost as I tried to get to the start line. 436 finishers despite the cold and damp.
Oldgirlruns completed run number 99, the big one should be next week. The final finishers took some time to return, as they included a lady in a wheelchair. We then discovered the lady and her 2 companions had volunteered to sort the tokens, which obviously now couldn’t happen. Oldgirlruns, Mr C and myself then tackled the tokens in a cafe over breakfast, joined part way through by UpTheStanley who had been doing important event director stuff. Didn’t get home until gone 12, so a fruitful morning, followed by a fruitful afternoon watching rugby. Did I mention England won?
You definitely need all those layers when you are timekeeping! Many thanks to you and the team for sorting out the tokens, less for me to do at home .😀
And what a match it was too. I was shouting loudly for an English win. What an exciting match it was. Just sitting down now to watch Ireland vs Scotland and trying to warm up after spending a couple of hours on the sidelines of a pitch whilst my 12 year old Son was playing a Rugby match. They won 31-24. Well done on your volunteering yesterday. It was very cold.
Well done Ireland too. My daughter spent the weekend in Rome for her (Welsh) friend’s hen do, which included the match. Unsurprisingly the result and the weather did not go down well.
Well done everyone who volunteered or ran the parkrun. I was supposed to go to my local parkrun this weekend 😪 but ended up awake at 3am with the trots so although I managed a 5k running to the toilet I didn't manage a parkrun. At the moment it seems to be 2 steps forward one back but hey ho we carry on happy running this week my friends
Terrific run at Ingrebourne Hill. Made a wrong turning or might have had/matched a personal best. Volunteered there, as well, and at Pinner Village Junior today which was celebrating its 3rd Year!
Very well done to you for your parkrun performance yesterday and well done too for volunteering at Junior parkrun. Such a pity that you took a wrong turn.
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