Hello fellow runners!
Pretty much a year to the day after I started C25K, I ran my second Park Run at Great Denham at the weekend.
A year ago I had not run more than a few metres since leaving school. As you can see from the results, you can come a long way in 12 months by using this programme to get you started. I finished 20th out of 172 entrants and was second in my age group 
Keep up the good work!
Well done Mike. That’s some going 😀. Here’s to many more.I was first in my age group at my first Park Run - but then I was the only one in my age group😂
Wow! That’s really fast, I hope I improve that much over time. My park run improves every time and I’m trying to get it to 30minutes 😀 i managed 33mins 56seconds this week but that was strava,official park run said 34mins and a few seconds. I’m going with strava every time 😂
My Strava made it 3 seconds slower, but it took me a few seconds to stop the run. The thing that did annoy me was Strava only recorded it as 4.98k, so I didn't set my 5k PB. It was annoying because I'd knocked more than a minute off it!
I always forget to switch off strava however it does record my 5k time then continues on if that makes sense. Some park runs are slightly short of 5k so your strava might be right.
It recorded 5k when I ran it last time, but they reversed the course this time and it would seem they miscalculated the start and finish lines......
Happy runniversary Mike.
What you have achieved Mr Blurr 🤔😂 is amazing and much,much more to come.
You are a natural with huge ability.
Keep inspiring the forum Mike and take good care of you.
At your amazing pace, I think, it is even more critical to apply the guidance rules.
💥🏃♂️💥☄️
Thanks Robert. As you can see, I still came in almost 5 minutes behind the leader and a guy in his 60's finished in 19:38!!
Thanks for pointing that out Mike.
Yes age grade 60-64 and 81% + world wide.
That is incredible and to think there are a further 18%+ better than that.🤔
It’s mind blowing.
Your performance is very inspiring also.💥🏃♂️💥👏👏
The 81% isn’t a rank order so it doesn’t mean 19% are faster. In fact 80% is an international class performance and that doesn’t mean 20% of parkrunners are internationally competitive athletes. Age grades are complicated but roughly speaking, 81% means the world record for your age and sex is 81% of your time. So it would take a world record run to lap you in a five lap race. Similarly an age grade of 50% means you are taking exactly twice as long as the world record holder for your age and sex. Or maybe not exactly as they do apply some statistical smoothing to the calculation but that’s roughly how it works.
They say roughly speaking an age grade of 100% is a world record or close to it; 90% is world class; 80% is international class; 70% is national class and 60% is a ‘local’ class performance which I suppose means a good club athlete. 51% means even the world record holder wouldn’t lap you in a two lap race, which seems a reasonable ambition to me
That is very interesting. So, according to that I was 0.37% off being national class with that run. That's mad. This time last year I'd be a gibbering wreck after 30 seconds.
No ‘almost’ about it, given it’s only an approximation anyway and you scored 70 to the nearest whole number. It is of course national class FOR YOUR AGE AND GENDER rather than in absolute terms, but it’s a seriously good performance. A relative of mine has twice in his life, some years apart, been an age group world champion (though not at 5k, he likes his runs much tougher) and his age grade at parkrun is typically 88-90 so that would suggest the designation of world class being around 90 is quite near the mark.
Thank you so much for that concise explanation and your great understanding.
I have only done one PR many months ago.
TBH did not take the time to follow up properly the correct facts. Just assumed mathematically that the inverse may apply.🙈
It is very interesting and thank you Arthur. Top man you are.
Take good care of you and thanks for the enlightenment.
👍👏👏💥🏃♂️💥☄️
Great run Mike! 😀 Well done. 4.98k, yes I know the feeling, but it’s worse when you do a ‘long’ parkrun and it comes out at 5.1k. That extra 100m adds 20s odd!
Wow... breaking 20 soon... amazing run.
Thank you. Seems only a short time ago that I was trying to break 25 mins!
That's amazing! It seems so out of reach to me. I'm not sure it's even something I would be aiming for either. It's totally impressive.
I thought 25 mins was impossible not so long ago!
I so agree! 5K in any time seems unattainable. Good luck to the super-athletes. I wonder why they bother with this site.
Super athletes? Who are they?
Err....You!!
I "bother" with this site because it was the people on here that got me through C25K when I doubted myself. I'm just trying to give some encouragement to those doing the programme.
Wow Mike 21 minutes is fantastic!! Well done you!! A very encouraging post!! Brilliant!! 🤩❤️
Thank you. Hopefully I can keep on cracking my times.......
Yes, do let us know!! 🤩🤩🤩❤️
This is superb, and you have flown with your running, a total natural. It’s so heart warming to read about our amazing successes.... onwards and upwards eh 🤗
Thanks Ju-ju. I couldn't have done it without the support of you guys and this forum
Well done you
Thank you. I can't believe that this time last year I couldn't run for more than 30 seconds without feeling I was going to collapse in a heap.
To park run or not to park run?
My first park run with my new toy 😁
Achieved my goal of a park run before Christmas 
To park run or not to park run?
Just did my first park run! 
