So, my friends, it's been a little while! I've been running but work has been crazy as this time of year always is in the NHS - so what better time to launch a new project!!!!!
Firstly, I have to tell you about last week's Parkrun. So, as you all know by now, my Parkrun is a horror. 4.5 laps of hilly hell - the stats tell me it's not far off being one of the worst in the country. We have a love hate relationship. The weather wasn't great but it didn't look too bad. Until around 2.5 laps in when the rain started to fall - torrentially. I was only wearing capris and a t shirt and I was drenched. It was stinging my eyes, my trainers were completely sodden. As the rain increased in intensity you could physically see people's shoulders sagging and their feet slow down. I love running in the rain - but this was too much. I could have carried on - this wasn't my demons playing their games with my mind - I just didn't want to. At 4.5 laps I'd had enough and as I came down the hill to the start of the last lap I'd decided to stop. Then I saw my friend - who generally runs a time of under 25 minutes compared to my 40 - standing waiting for me. I thought she was waiting to say goodbye as I ran past (or not) but she didn't. She joined me for the last lap and gave me the push I needed to finish. I was so touched that she'd waiting around in the rain for that.
Then to running club on Wednesday and lots of hill work which was really challenging - but I did it and was really quite proud.
And so, to parkrun this morning. My parkrun is a small one - only around 130 on a good day. After last week, combined with a couple of nearby races, barely 100 people showed up - and the only people I can normally finish ahead of were missing. You know what's coming don't you? Yep, I spent the whole run with the tail walker. It was actually horrible. It didn't feel like my own race. He was lovely and is a member of my running club, but it was horrible. Not a great time either although my lovely friend ran the last lap with me again - and I put in a great sprint as I came down to the finish line.
What was amazing though, was the applause as I came over the finish line. That's why I love Parkrun and would encourage everyone to take part in them. Because my parkrun is so evil, you only tend to get runners doing it - you don't really get the walkers that you do at every other parkrun I've done and there aren't many parkruns like that. So, how have everyone else's parkruns been today?
Written by
RebeccaSK
Graduate
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You've changed your little profile picture - it's gorgeous! Now, how is that post inspirational? It's basically telling of a load of horribleness! Even though I've not been here, I've been running although having problems with ankle instability affecting my knees and hips as I've been pushing myself harder so some weeks I'm only doing two runs but I'm not beating myself up about it because those two runs are challenging ones! Plus work is mega crazy. I am loving running club. In the five or six weeks that I've been going, I'm no longer always the one at the back. A few weeks back I had to do a different parkrun as I was away from home for the day. It was a pretty much flat one. Guess what? I hated it - it was boring! My friend always tells me that hills are our friends and I think I may actually be starting to believe her!
Well, I see it this way... you were at parkrun and many people were not. So that makes you a winner in my eyes. And I bet that the tail runner - who is only there from a safety perspective was happy to run with you at your pace - and not slower.
I was a volunteer at my parkrun today: my hands were cold in the very heavy rainstorm and I dropped one of the finish tokens instead of giving it out. Doh!
I love volunteering at parkrun. I've only done it once but it was an opportunity to give back the support and encouragement that I get so much of. Do you run your parkrun as well as volunteer?
My philosophy is to run parkrun 10 times, then volunteer. And I always volunteer for a role where I cannot also run, so normally I am funnel manager or timekeeper. I've got a niggly achilles tendon at the moment, and so I've not been running as much as I'd like: more volunteering.
I think you are really brave to do such a hilly parkrun! Well done, what a great achievement, especially in such heavy rain last week. What a lovely friend you have, to run with you for the last soggy lap!
I am sure if your park run was larger you would not have been at the back this week, you are just a lot more courageous than the majority of people to try and tackle the hills!
I have been plucking up courage to do parkrun for ages and finally took the plunge today. I was nervous at the beginning, but enjoyed running in the rain and straight through the puddles! There was a good atmosphere and I will definitely go again soon.
Hmmmm, I'm not sure bravery has too much to do with it - it's laziness really! When I first graduated I was travelling to parkruns slightly further afield to get a flatter run. Now I just prefer the extra 30 minutes in bed that I get from going to the hilly one! It's also a really gorgeous run which helps too. My friend, Liz, is the reason I'm running at all. I knew her vaguely through work and at the beginning of the year I signed up for a triathlon to raise money for syrian refugees. At that point I was an awful lot fatter and hadn't exercised for years. I'm a strong swimmer and knew that would be fine and figured that I could manage the cycle but the run was something truly challenging. Prior to that I had tried running loads of times but never been able to run for more than a couple of minutes, even when I was at school. Liz told me about couch 2 5k and encouraged me to do it, even though I truly didn't believe I'd be able to......and here I am. After I'd finished C25K and was drifting with no real running focus she encouraged me to join her running club. Having had a bad experience with a running club only a month or so previous I was reluctant but she assured me her running club was different and I joined - and it's a bloody incredible club! We don't run together - she's a hardcore runner - but she's always there with support and encouragement and, most importantly, praise.
Well done on your first parkrun! I remember my first one - it was actually my graduation run too! I was so nervous and so apprehensive but I quickly realised that I had no need to be. Since then I've tried four different runs and all of them have been great. Parkrun is now a part of my weekend. It's what draws the line under a week at work and makes me look forward to two days off. When I can't parkrun it really screws up my weekend! When you can, please keep going. As you get to recognise people and they recognise you, the support gets even more amazing - if that's possible!
Sounds like it was a challenging run! I ran my first Parkrun today in a time of 36:18 and I really enjoyed it but then I didn’t have the copious amounts of hills that you did! Well done for persevering with it 😊
Great time - even when I've done flat courses I've not beaten 38 - but I will in time! The thing about hills is that they invariably go downwards as well as upwards! The uphill is tough but I try to hang on knowing that after the uphill comes the downhill where my breathing can regulate and things get easier. The problem with my parkrun is that there is only (literally) about 10 metres of flat - the rest is either uphill or downhill. I have stability problems so have to take the downhill slowly - I can't just let go and blast downhill like lots of people do!!!!
Keep persevering with those hills as they’ll be worth it in the end!! Plus, you’re getting out there and running which is the best feeling in the world 🗺!!
I think it’s great that you are doing park runs. It must take a lot of courage to do that. I’m still going out running alone. Not sure I could run with all those runners. Well done for doing it. I’d love to try it once I’m more confident. 👍
I thought the same before I started doing parkruns. I always prefer to run on my own otherwise I find myself allowing someone else to dictate the pace and that rarely works for me. However, parkun is a huge group of people largely doing their own run. You just have to get into the zone and run your own race (although, obviously, parkrun is not a race). There are occasions where it has worked for me. Sometimes running with other people gives you a little bit of motivation to go a bit faster. After you've done a couple of parkruns you realise that people are not taking any notice of you. Parkrun is now my favourite way to run - running at my own pace but with the support and encouragement of people that genuinely think you're amazing. My first parkrun was scary but once I was actually there it was far from it. Tell them it's your first parkrun and they will take such good care of you. Give it a go!
I manage to run up the hill for the first lap but after that I've never been able to run up the entire thing. Each week I try to make myself start running again earlier and earlier but it will be a while before I can run the entire thing!!! 31.44 is unbelievably impressive - I'm in awe!
I love parkrun, I had an absolute blast running straight through every single muddy puddle...my white socks were black at the end 😂. Parkrun expects nothing of you other than to go along and join in, it’s not a test, it’s not a race, no one is judging you, it’s a phenomena that hopes to form a habit with you - the free milestone t-shirts for 50 runs, 25 volunteers etc.,
I’m never going to be quick, I’m always in the last third......sometimes I run it all, sometimes I walk/run.....sometimes I volunteer......(I’ve been the tailwalker) but I’ve met some lovely people, (I don’t think I’ve met a parkrunner or walker or volunteer who isn’t nice) all very, very different, some you wouldn’t even meet in your normal everyday life......but we all gather for a 9am trot around the park every Saturday, we have a chat, a run , perhaps a coffee in the cafe afterwards, or cake (love the cake!) then we go our separate ways.
Just shows you that from some of the comments here running is as much about your head as your body......my only regret is I didn’t go sooner.....it’s going to take me a long, long time to get that 250 shirt....🏃♀️😂
Hope you keep going, it’s a shame you think your particular course is only for ‘runners’ whatever they are, I’m sure the volunteers don’t intend it to seem that way, if I were you, I’d keep going just to prove us more sedate people can do it, and rope in a load of my friends....😄....parkrun is for everyone.
Eyes on the prize lovely, well done in the rain (I marshalled that week and got as wet as I would have done if I’d run! 😂) get those free t-shirts! 😊
I agree - I've never met anyone at parkrun who isn't nice. Personally, I do wonder how much the guys that sprint the whole thing and finish in about 15 minutes get out of it. To me, parkrun is, exactly as you say, about going along and joining in - it's about getting people who would never enter a 5k race running 5k and it's about encouraging those who need the encouragement and support. It's about an inclusive - but not exclusive - running community. Yesterday was my 12th parkrun and afterwards I had a chat with a couple of the committee members at my running club about offering more support to the newbie runners that have finished C25K and are drifting, as I did.
Maybe I should have written it better about my course being for runners - it's certainly not that the volunteers see it that way, I just think newbie runners and walkers are scared by it. Compared to some of the other parkruns I've done, it's not a great course. Not only is it hilly but the paths are narrow and the track uneven. It's also a shortcut to the station so you have a lot of the general public using it - and I'm always very conscious that they have as much right to use the park as we do - but it's hard when the track is barely wide enough for two people because you don't want to scare them.
I know what you mean, someone did ask me the other week, why do the fast ones bother? I’m not sure I’d get out of bed just to run for 15 minutes 😂......but then you realise they’ve probably done a few miles as ‘warm up’ to get there 😂. And as for sharing paths, we had two riders on horse back the other week coming down the course towards the runners, 😳, then a local resident swan decided to come off the lake and have a preen right on a half hidden corner - luckily it wasn’t in a bad mood.....
And hey, after all, you did it 👍 , ours does seem to be getting more walkers and walk/runners which is a good thing.
I did enjoy the mud and puddles, a bit too much I think....🏃♀️😂
My lovely friend runs 2 miles to the park, runs the 5k, invariably does an extra lap with me and then runs another 3 or 4 miles running home in an indirect way!
One of the things is that people are doing it for different reasons - the course record holder for my local parkrun for example is part of the British Youth Triathlon squad, and you get the impression that for him it's s a short but hard training run, with the advantage of proper timing.... then there's the ones for whom it's their main aim of the week, the ones determined to get that milestone t-shirt, those who just want to get round, the people who use it as a social occasion..... the joy is that everyone is welcome, and if in a few years it turns out that Matt Willis is the next Olympic hopeful, I'll be able to say "Oh, yes, I've run with him a few times...."
I have run parkrun lots of times and volunteered a number of times. I am a very slow runner. I always finish near the end. I wont ever be fast. But I run!
If you prefer to run alone simply have a quiet word with the tail runner before you start and say that. They wont mind ar all, they will just hold back a little.
With regard the hills, keep going, they are great training tools. I have no parkrun on my doorstep, i have at least a half hour drive to a choice of three. All are hilly, two are very hilly and very muddy at times as they are trail runs. Few tourist parkrunners visit more than once! But that just creates more interesting runs. Also, you get to know other runners if the groups are smaller and more stable.
You are doing great! Dont let those gremlins put you off!
I'm an exceedingly slow runner!!!! I too am always near the back. I must admit to never even thinking to say that to the tail runner but, of course, you are right. He was actually incredibly sensitive and discreet - when I was struggling he would drop back a metre or so but at the point when I said I didn't want to carry on he gave me a friendly talking to! You made me smile when you said about the tourist parkrunners. You can always tell who are tourists at our run by the look of trepidation on their faces having seen the hills! They never come back!!!! It's a standing joke that if there are tourists the run director always welcomes to our lovely flat course! If they hadn't noticed the hills by then, the large roar of laughter normally alarms them!
However, I am growing to like the hills - the course is less boring as a result and it's a beautiful course too. I recently joined an amazing running club which is based in a town called Burgess Hill - the clue's in the title. I simply cannot avoid hills where I live and although I managed to do most of the C25K without really encountering too many bad ones, I realised straight after graduating that if I wanted to continue to run at least 5k, I wasn't going to be able to avoid them. On Wednesday at running club we did some hillwork and although I absolutely dreaded it, I managed it - the drills at running club are really helping!
I'm sorry, I think you are bl**dy amazing! I'm reading that and thinking my God, I would have given up weeks ago.... or I'd still be there now, crawling up the hill. It sounds awful and yet you still go back week after week. That's some blinking determination you've got there, gal. I'm in awe. I have absolutely no doubt that you will get there, in the time that you want, because you are going completely the right way about tackling it. You aren't giving up and one day, if you stick at it (which you will) it will definitely get better for you.
Thank you - but I'm truly not bloody amazing! I just love my bed so much that I'd rather have an extra 30 minutes under the duvet and face the hills than lose the 30 minutes for a flat course! I don't run up the hill every lap - I just can't! However, it is getting easier thanks to the running club drills and you're right, I will get there although, maybe not by the end of the year which was my goal.
My friend is just wonderful. She takes the learn to run course at my running club - which is basically C25K. Hand on heart I can truly say that I wouldn't be running at all if it weren't for her. She very strongly believes in running bringing people together and champions running for mental health. We both work for the NHS and we've thought about setting up a group for those who need to lose weight for their health - diabetics, asthmatics, overweight people. We've also thought about getting people with mental health issues involved in Parkrun - not necessarily running if it's not their thing but volunteering if that's what they'd prefer. I've had mental health issues all my life and although they've been well controlled for 15+ years now, running has still benefited my mental health even now. Less stress, sleep better and have more energy. The other group we'd like to include is those with learning difficulties - bringing people into such a collaborative environment when they are very frequently alienated and alone would be hugely beneficial. Ideas, ideas!
Nah, sorry, I still think you're doing an amazing job! I like your honestly though! Those ideas are brilliant too, I work in a secondary school and so we have a cross section of all of the above and I can see from my own experience how beneficial it would be for certain kids. Try telling them that though! Running's helped my mental health no end.
I can't do park runs, well done for completing yours though, and given the conditions you've done a very, very good job.
I've no issue with people, feel comfy in groups, etc, but when running l want to be left alone, nobody by my side.
Recently l found myself in my local park just when the run was about to start, all rearing to go. I wouldn't wait, they wouldn't quit so we compromised - they went anti clockwise and l went clockwise for full 5K. A sight to behold
Thanks too for the Park run info - I am not quite ready yet, but intend to get there post graduation - it'll be the next thing to aim at. I just know I'm going to be that person at the back with the tail runner - but think how much better I will make everybody else feel! 😀
See grit and determination always and when yours deserts you, your friends help you on the way. That’s an inspiring story as ever. So first week back in London, i wimped out of registering for Park Run, but have just done it. Finsbury Park next Saturday, I hope to break my duck....
You are my virtual nagger... this post arrived just at the right time.. happy running this week and one work slows down a but to give you some breathing space
Look, pubs will be trading early and yours will be easily accepted as the home red. Hope there won't be any of that black leggings/white top fashion statement on the day? My son can spot those things easily, l will be more relaxed 😎
Joking aside, enjoy the run, l will forever hold respect for the fellow Lucifer 'been-there-done-that' Runner!
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