parkrun

[_DJ_]

My 7 year old knocked over a minute off his PB today to take it to 24:33. He ran with someone pacing at 25mins which definitely helped.

He's definitely too quick for me now!

[RizzoTheRat]

MesoForm said:

Bit of a bizarre "incident" this morning as I was walking behind the tail walker after finishing marshalling - the tail walker was obviously friends with the people she was walking with, 20m before the finish she and another started doing a sprint finish! Cue a frantic race director telling her to wait and come in last

We had a tourist tail walker a while ago who just set off at her own pace and wasn't last despite being briefed on what to do. A few weeks later one of our regulars spotted a post on Facebook saying someone had done the same, looked at the results and it was the same person!

[GloverMart]

New parkrun for me, new letter of the alphabet and a course PB there too (obviously!).....

Was working at Arsenal u18 v Ipswich u18 with a noon kick off so having done some research into course quality, plumped for Oak Hill in Barnet.

2.75 laps of a park almost entirely on tarmac paths and worthy of a decent time, I'd imagine. Sadly the 5am alarm + a drive of 125 miles saw me unlikely to smash any records but just pleased to get out there and get another one under my belt. It's probably the one thing I'm most proud of since I started parkrunning; I'll try to make sure I get one done no matter how muchplanning goes into it. Today, as I was working afterwards, dropped into South Mimms services for a shower; not the best but it helps me get out and do another one.

[yellowjack]

My 66th parkrun this morning. My local one at Bournemouth (King's Park) again, because my wife had booked a Heritage Open Days guided tour of Allendale House in Wimborne in the afternoon.

Unusually, I was pretty organised this morning. I'd already made coffee before my alarm went off, so I had plenty of time for a second cup and morning ablutions. I still pushed my luck with timings, getting out of the house with only 3 spare minutes. They were enough, though. I got up to the start, and had time to save my warm-up run, and to set a target for my Garmin watch 'Virtual Partner'.

I thought I'd have a punt at setting a new PB (at Bournemouth) for a second consecutive week, and so I made the target 5k in 00:23:00. Last week's Bournemouth parkrun PB was 00:23:37. Overly optimistic as it turned out. Ahead of the wee "grey man" by 11 seconds after the first kilometre, the start looked promising. Sadly, though, I couldn't sustain that pace. By the last half a kilometre I was 56 seconds behind the Virtual Partner. I dug out a wee bit of extra pace from somewhere, but it didn't last long. Then the last turn and the potential sprint finish. I managed a sprint of sorts, and passed one chap, but couldn't quite hold on to pass a group of four finishers ahead of him.

I resigned myself to a 00:24:xx finish time, and tried to catch my breath on the finish funnel shuffle. Token. Chat. Scan barcode. Chat. Then I decided to run the course again, to make a 10k, and with the run home that made it 12km for the day. Time for another coffee and a bath, and a quick check of the results email before driving to Wimborne...

Bournemouth parkrun results for event #548...

Your time was 00:23:49

Congratulations on completing your 66th parkrun and your 55th at Bournemouth parkrun today. You finished in 94th place out of a field of 567 parkrunners. You were the 89th male and came 16th in your age category VM50-54.
Your PB at Bournemouth parkrun remains 00:23:37. Your best time this year remains 00:23:37.
You achieved an age-graded score of 63.96%

So it wasn't as far off a new PB as I had convinced myself it was. Only 12 seconds slower. I'll happily take that.

I'm struggling to remember what I set as my parkrun target for the year, now. I'm sure I've more than achieved it, but I keep on "moving the goalposts" and seeking faster times. I'm sure it will come, but today I just didn't have enough in the tank. I've run sub 23 minutes once, but that was a pan flat 4-lapper at Fordingbridge. Getting below 23 minutes at Bournemouth parkrun would make my (running) year. But hey? What's more important is that I'm still putting the miles in, week after week, and doing it with a smile on my face...

[john2443]

madbadger said:

... 5k app ... What would be good is if it could expand to be more useful for informing people of cancellations and helping people to register as volunteers.
Ironically there is a lot of moaning in Facebook groups today as the app gives people a lot of stats and challenges and the concern is that HQ want to take this away, which doesn't seem to be the aim at all.

Because fewer people particularly younger ones use FB, and Twitter has gone out of favour it's become more difficult to notify runners of cancellations / need for vols / lost and found etc so if we could post on the 5k app and it pinged followers it would be a great way to contact people - a bit like having a bespoke parkrun Twitter.
(I know we can post on the event website news page but not a lot of people read that and lots of events don't use it anyway!)

It would be good if stats remain on the app - it seems that it was 1 person, who has now left, who removed them - hopefully the current staff will keep them.

Can anyone remember if HQ ever did an app - I have a vague recollection that when they set up the API they were going to but can't remember if they ever did.

[madbadger]

john2443 said:

madbadger said:

... 5k app ... What would be good is if it could expand to be more useful for informing people of cancellations and helping people to register as volunteers.
Ironically there is a lot of moaning in Facebook groups today as the app gives people a lot of stats and challenges and the concern is that HQ want to take this away, which doesn't seem to be the aim at all.

Because fewer people particularly younger ones use FB, and Twitter has gone out of favour it's become more difficult to notify runners of cancellations / need for vols / lost and found etc so if we could post on the 5k app and it pinged followers it would be a great way to contact people - a bit like having a bespoke parkrun Twitter.
(I know we can post on the event website news page but not a lot of people read that and lots of events don't use it anyway!)

It would be good if stats remain on the app - it seems that it was 1 person, who has now left, who removed them - hopefully the current staff will keep them.

Can anyone remember if HQ ever did an app - I have a vague recollection that when they set up the API they were going to but can't remember if they ever did.

Yes It is a liability overly relying on Facebook.
There did used to be an official parkrun app but it used to crash whenever a new event was added and needed to be deleted and reinstalled every time.

I’m sure the new one will be an improvement.

[5pen]

My thoughts on the 5k app moving in-house are that at least what it is now will be a starting point - HQ could have potentially blocked access to the data it relies on and developed their own version, but this way is more collaborative with the developer and user-base.

If the app can be developed further with some input from core volunteer teams as to what would help them and leave alone all the stuff that the participants appreciate then it could be a win-win.

Put me in the "cautiously optimistic" camp.

[RizzoTheRat]

5pen said:

Put me in the "cautiously optimistic" camp.

Same here but the challenge chasers are moaning that parkrun HQ are anti-tourist and they're going lose all thier precious challenges. Although I think they might actually be right as all these challenges aren't official parkrun things, and do cause some problems with large numbers of tourists at some events. I can see an official app maybe cutting back on some of that kind of thing and leaving it with the unofficial apps, but the moaners argument is then that with an in house app, there's no real incentive to parkrun to keep an API that other apps and sites can access, especially with data privacy concerns. Being able to look someone up on the 5K app when thier barcode won't scan is useful, but also could be considered pretty creepy when you can see where someone's been at 9:am every Saturday for the last few years.

[john2443]

The main touristy things HQ don't like are Inaugural and event number chasing (Nelson, Fibonacci, 500,1000 etc) because they're unfair on event teams - if you normally get 200 and 800 turn up one week it's hard to handle.

I don't think they're against things like alphabet etc as those are spread about, you can get a letter any week.

As far as knowing where someone's been at 9 am every week is concerned, you can find that on Power of 10, so if the app wasn't going to allow the data to be seen, PoT would also have to be shut off and Google will probably find you anyway.

[RizzoTheRat]

I assume PoT uses the same API as the unofficial parkrun apps use to pull data, so if they do shut it off PoT would lose access too.

I agree HQ don't think things like alphabet tourism are a problem, but they're going to be soon. We had 211 runners on Saturday, about 90 of those were tourists. If we go above 250 people we'll be classed as an Event and need a permit, which costs money. We can get away with it happening occasionally (twice so far this year) but if we're regularly over 250 we would have to close, or we might just get away with changing our name as that would reduce the tourists a lot. The limit is different for different events but it's the same process for all Dutch parkruns, and will soon be an issue for the Z's.

Edited by RizzoTheRat on Tuesday 23 September 16:57

[5pen]

Change names!? (Zuiderpark is the one you’re referring to isnt it?) Can you imagine the meltdown amongst the select group of weirdly obsessive folk who worry more about what random letter of the alphabet a parkrun’s name begins with than anything else!?

[RizzoTheRat]

We put out a facebook post one April Fools day saying that acknowledge the number of UK tourists we'd make things simpler for them by changing the name to South Park (translation of Zuiderpark). there were indeed a few people having a bit of melt down until they realised it was a joke

When we reach the point numbers are an issue, I'm not sure telling the council that changing our name will reduce the numbers would be believed though, it sounds insane to any non-parkrunner.

Edited by RizzoTheRat on Wednesday 24th September 12:08

[madbadger]

RizzoTheRat said:

We put out a facebook post one April Fools day saying that acknowledge the number of UK tourists we'd make things simpler for them by changing the name to South Park (translation of Zuiderpark). there were indeed a few people having a bit of melt down until they realised it was a joke

When we reach the point numbers are an issue, I'm not sure telling the council that changing our name will reduce the numbers would be believed though, it sounds insane to any non-parkrunner.

Edited by RizzoTheRat on Wednesday 24th September 12:08

I'd quite like to come to your parkrun. It looks lovely. But if I do I will become dangerously close to doing two alphabets and then will become 'one of those people' so I'm resisting!

[RizzoTheRat]

madbadger said:

I'd quite like to come to your parkrun. It looks lovely. But if I do I will become dangerously close to doing two alphabets and then will become 'one of those people' so I'm resisting!

You don't have to be one of those people that turns up with an A-Z flag and a t-shirt with all their parkruns printed on it


Some time back I commented to someone before the start that their A-Z t-shirt was a a bit presumptive as they hadn't run their Z yet... apparently they'd had to get the t-shirs redone as they'd originally had them made for one of polish Z's and it had cancelled the week they were there Obsessive tourists are weird.

[5pen]

RizzoTheRat said:

We put out a facebook post one April Fools day saying that acknowledge the number of UK tourists we'd make things simpler for them by changing the name to South Park (translation of Zuiderpark). there were indeed a few people having a bit of melt down until they realised it was a joke

When we reach the point numbers are an issue, I'm not sure telling the council that changing our name will reduce the numbers would be believed though, it sounds insane to any non-parkrunner.

Edited by RizzoTheRat on Wednesday 24th September 12:08

Haha. Very funny, but quite serious at the same time as it would definitely help keep the numbers manageable even though it might require an odd conversation with a local bureaucrat.

[Master Bean]

New one in Newbury starts tomorrow. I've never done an inaugural and I know it's frowned upon but it is close. Decisions.

https://www.parkrun.org.uk/victoriaparknewbury/cou...

Edited by Master Bean on Saturday 27th September 16:36

[yellowjack]

Master Bean said:

New one in Newbury starts tomorrow. I've never done an inaugural and I know it's frowned upon but it is close. Decisions.

https://www.parkrun.org.uk/victoriaparknewbury/cou...

Here's the thing. If it's an inaugural event, by definition no-one has taken part in a parkrun there. So where is the line to be drawn? Geographical proximity? You say it's close, so you should go.

I was tempted to go to Fordingbridge Recreation Ground parkrun's inaugural event. What put me off was wanting to give their core team and volunteers time to "bed in" and make adjustments if necessary. I think I attended event number seven in the end. There's word that Christchurch/Highcliffe is getting an event "in the autumn", but I've seen nothing concrete yet. That might tempt me, but we'll have to see. My local one (Bournemouth) is a smidgen less than a mile from my front door, so any "tourism" I do from home feels a touch disloyal/wrong. I know one lady who's a regular at Bournemouth parkrun who lives almost equidistant to three events. Other people have chosen Bournemouth because parking is easier, or the journey is quicker even if it's further away from home than an alternative. Out of 66 parkruns, 56 were at Bournemouth. Of the other 10, only 4 (at three locations) were visited "from home". The other 6 have been "necessary tourism" when I've already been away on holiday, and they've all been the closest event to where we've been staying. Personally, I'll continue doing parkruns like this. There are about 5 events fairly local that I hope to run at some point, and I'll carry on running the closest event to holiday accommodation, but chasing lists? That's not for me. Cycling has got me covered for obsessional goal chasing, with VeloViewer, Squadrats, Wandrer.earth, and Strava heatmaps to "colour in"....

[GloverMart]

yellowjack said:

Master Bean said:

New one in Newbury starts tomorrow. I've never done an inaugural and I know it's frowned upon but it is close. Decisions.

https://www.parkrun.org.uk/victoriaparknewbury/cou...

Here's the thing. If it's an inaugural event, by definition no-one has taken part in a parkrun there. So where is the line to be drawn? Geographical proximity? You say it's close, so you should go.

I was tempted to go to Fordingbridge Recreation Ground parkrun's inaugural event. What put me off was wanting to give their core team and volunteers time to "bed in" and make adjustments if necessary. I think I attended event number seven in the end. There's word that Christchurch/Highcliffe is getting an event "in the autumn", but I've seen nothing concrete yet. That might tempt me, but we'll have to see. My local one (Bournemouth) is a smidgen less than a mile from my front door, so any "tourism" I do from home feels a touch disloyal/wrong. I know one lady who's a regular at Bournemouth parkrun who lives almost equidistant to three events. Other people have chosen Bournemouth because parking is easier, or the journey is quicker even if it's further away from home than an alternative. Out of 66 parkruns, 56 were at Bournemouth. Of the other 10, only 4 (at three locations) were visited "from home". The other 6 have been "necessary tourism" when I've already been away on holiday, and they've all been the closest event to where we've been staying. Personally, I'll continue doing parkruns like this. There are about 5 events fairly local that I hope to run at some point, and I'll carry on running the closest event to holiday accommodation, but chasing lists? That's not for me. Cycling has got me covered for obsessional goal chasing, with VeloViewer, Squadrats, Wandrer.earth, and Strava heatmaps to "colour in"....

I'm not that fussed about doing inaugural ones either and I generally don't tend to hear about them anyway until after they've happened.

Newest couple round here were Three Brooks and Brickfields Park in Bath; both have started in the past 15 months or so and it took me till event number 48 to do Three Brooks and I still haven't done the Bath one. Same with the challenges, if they happen, they happen. Last weekend, was working at a lunchtime kickoff so had to do a parkrun fairly close to South Mimms services so I could grab a quick shower. Oak Hill seemed best and I got a new letter for the Alphabeteer however if I'd had to do a parkrun with a letter I already had, so be it.

[Alex@POD]

yellowjack said:

Here's the thing. If it's an inaugural event, by definition no-one has taken part in a parkrun there. So where is the line to be drawn? Geographical proximity? You say it's close, so you should go.

I was tempted to go to Fordingbridge Recreation Ground parkrun's inaugural event. What put me off was wanting to give their core team and volunteers time to "bed in" and make adjustments if necessary. I think I attended event number seven in the end. There's word that Christchurch/Highcliffe is getting an event "in the autumn", but I've seen nothing concrete yet. That might tempt me, but we'll have to see. My local one (Bournemouth) is a smidgen less than a mile from my front door, so any "tourism" I do from home feels a touch disloyal/wrong. I know one lady who's a regular at Bournemouth parkrun who lives almost equidistant to three events. Other people have chosen Bournemouth because parking is easier, or the journey is quicker even if it's further away from home than an alternative. Out of 66 parkruns, 56 were at Bournemouth. Of the other 10, only 4 (at three locations) were visited "from home". The other 6 have been "necessary tourism" when I've already been away on holiday, and they've all been the closest event to where we've been staying. Personally, I'll continue doing parkruns like this. There are about 5 events fairly local that I hope to run at some point, and I'll carry on running the closest event to holiday accommodation, but chasing lists? That's not for me. Cycling has got me covered for obsessional goal chasing, with VeloViewer, Squadrats, Wandrer.earth, and Strava heatmaps to "colour in"....

We use our tourism to chase lists, we went to Zuiderpark because we were pretty much driving past in the way back from Germany for example. If I have a choice of hotels at my destination, I might choose one close to a specific parkrun. We also fancy a night away for our wedding anniversary, we're thinking of visiting Durham as it's nice and we can bag a J while we're there and complete the alphabet.

I agree that going to a far away parkrun specifically for the parkrun is strange (amongst other things), but for us it helps us discover different places as we travel around.

[spikeyhead]

Decent run from me, first time I'm been close to my PB since April. Far prefer running when it's cooler. I'm also two minutes quicker than I was last September, hopefully my pace will improve a lot over winter. Very happy with today's result.