Decided to brave a parkrun this morning despite the miserable weather. Large contingent from a local running club turned up and put most of us to shame with their warm up. They had a number of novices with them but they were all paired up with experienced running partners: a real Laura rather thsn a virtual one. Started off at the back and stayed that way. Not sure I like a route with 3 laps, very demoralising for you to be lapped twice by the front runners, who were heading for times of 15 minutes! Also wet & windy by a lake makes it feel harder than it was.
However persevered ran the whole way and came in 2nd last with a time of 37.43 over 2 1/2 minutes faster than my first 5k the week before. So have beaten my 40min target & well on the way to next target of 35 mins.
Written by
mgnmum
Graduate
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That is brilliant, well done, especially in those conditions. The Parkrun I did was a loop, and I remember how I felt firstly being left by all those "proper" runners at the start but then also seeing the frontrunners coming towards me as I was only about 1/3 of the way round! I wouldnt have liked them lapping me like that either! It doesnt detract from how proud you feel after doing it though, especially after doing it so much quicker than your solo efforts!
Well done, that's a respectable time and you can only get better! Parkrun is not about competing with the other runners, but competing with yourself - getting PB's! I've done 7 now and have finally got under 30 mins for a 5k, the first run I did was about 35 mins.
As you probably found, you get carried away with the pace of the other runners and there's the incentive to try and keep pace/catch the runner up in front, which you don't get if you run by yourself. Don't worry about the 'proper' runners or being lapped by them - they've been running a lot longer than any of us!
Now you've done one, you'll know what to expect next time and the challenge to do better. I'd advise going every 3 or 4 weeks, because then you will see an improvement in your time. You could also look to see if there is one locally when you go on holiday, just to do a different course. It will still be logged against your name at parkrun.
That's really great and so encouraging as I'm doing the Sportrelief 3 miles next weekend and currently just aiming to get round - I've only just got to week 9 and haven't got anywhere near 5k in my 30mins, so I'm also planning to do a parkrun in a few weeks. It's really good to hear how people improve each time.
Well done, that sounds a really good time to me. Good for you to get out there and do a parkrun. I'm trying to pluck up the courage to do one but would rather do 5km on one of my normal runs first just to be sure I can do it, which I think might only be a couple of weeks away.
fantastic effort for plucking up the courage to go , i would love to find a mate that lives closish by that i could go with , i am like you and many others dont have much confidence to turn up. I did look at the sport relief one but found i am working that day (dam, just as i nearly persuaded my 10 yr old to do it too)we had a running club in our town but i am to chicken to join too many competitive runners . but a big calp to you for getting there and well done on the pb. keep doing them !!!
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1st Park Run
1st parkrun done!! 
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First post-grad run/first parkrun
