7 Things I learnt on my first parkrun:

[DeeTray]

It’s a particularly big London park run going by the number of volunteers on the website.

1. Don’t be afraid to ask the many yellow vested volunteers what to do as everyone else seems to know what to do- they are all very friendly, despite seemingly getting only one piece of useful info per yellow vest. It’ll be more obvious the more you do.

2. The pic on the course map doesn’t mean to say it’s one lap!! I nearly feinted when they said it was 3 laps. Ignorance is bliss.

3. If you position yourself at the back, half way thru the first lap, nope those are not people lagging behind you, they are the front runners!!

4. Never feel self conscious about the way you run. Everyone else runs funny. Seriously - I got a good view of the front runners huffing and puffing, legs and arms all over the place as they sped away from me on their 2nd lap.

5. Do rugby players get thigh rub? It looked painful.

6. I don’t really get out of breath when I run, but my legs feel it; most of the front runners had very loud exhales through their mouths.

7. Run intelligently. I have to be careful as I have had and can feel I’m prone to Achilles issues. Don’t feel pressure to speed up, nobody else knows why you are running or what you are dealing with.

[Cfc55 Graduate]

Great post DT I did my first parkrun last Saturday and really enjoyed it! Your observations are spot on, and are clearly common across the country 😂! One I might add is I found it useful starting at the back as passing a few fellow runners ( hopefully) is far more encouraging than starting near the front and being passed by everyone 😂

[DeeTray Graduate in reply to Cfc55]

Yes, agree, I was at the back, felt great when a few people started walking and I could pass them 😂. I stayed in the shadow of someone all the way round, . My competive edge kicked in at the last minute and I overtook her to come 612 instead of 613 (out of 645)!!

[Cfc55 Graduate in reply to DeeTray]

Good job on the late overtaking manoeuvre 😂! I got done like that by a very nice but very competitive lady 😂! 645 people 😮 wow that’s a lot! Only about 150 at my local run.