parkrun

[Petrus1983]

I completed my first park run on Saturday - two stand outs were how many people were there (582) and how well organised it was. I wasn't looking for a time and started at the back with my new running group before edging forwards towards the end to finish in 488th place with a time of 35:50. I'm very confident I can get under 30 mins almost straight away - and then start looking to chip away at that.

[john2443]

Welcome to the thread and parkrun - yes, you'll probably find your times will come down quickly for a few weeks, after that it gets more difficult.

It depends how seriously you want to take it - some people are happy at 30 and never train, others will train every day and get down to 20 but it's only you who cares what your time is and as long as you're happy with the time you do then it's fine.

[Petrus1983]

john2443 said:

Welcome to the thread and parkrun - yes, you'll probably find your times will come down quickly for a few weeks, after that it gets more difficult.

It depends how seriously you want to take it - some people are happy at 30 and never train, others will train every day and get down to 20 but it's only you who cares what your time is and as long as you're happy with the time you do then it's fine.

Thanks

I'm happy with a sun 30 and see what happens. I've had years of being rather lazy but joined a running group back in September so enjoying the mix of a nice group of people and doing something healthy. I've got 5 10K races booked in for next year so it's a nice mix.

[downthepub]

I was in London village last weekend, and for lots of boring reasons, did Highbury Fields. Whilst usually not a lapper fan, the 5 (!) laps soon passed and I genuinely enjoyed the event. Great transport links!

A couple of curious things, not sure where the timers were hiding, as a veteran timer myself it's always nice to say "cheers" to them so usually I keep an eye out, but with all the people milling around I didn't spot 'em. The other thing was that I passed the tail walkers once; lapped plenty of other people a few times. In saying that, because it's a large event (~560) in a relatively small park, I guess there's not the same pressure to have folks at the back as tail gunners as it's probably quite hard to tell who is actually at the back.

[Master Bean]

It is the 22nd on Saturday which means you must run in a tutu.

[Master Bean]

50th volunteer this morning. Glorious weather.

[spikeyhead]

I managed my first decent run in a while, finally seem to have shaken off the after effects of a cold. Fortunately it was mostly dry, with a little drizzle as I was approaching the end. I enjoy running in the cold, and in the rain, but not in cold rain

[GloverMart]

Great work, Master Bean, well done!!

I had to stay at my local-est one today, Somerdale Curly Wurly. Bought some trial shoes a few weeks back and this morning was perfect conditions for their debut; a slippy, slidey, grass course with lots of twists and turns. Result? Best £38 I've spent all year, felt secure in them. Ran 29:42 which is my eighth quickest parkrun so far and almost broke the top 100 although a much smaller than usual field for some reason.

[yellowjack]

GloverMart said:

Great work, Master Bean, well done!!

I had to stay at my local-est one today, Somerdale Curly Wurly. Bought some trial shoes a few weeks back and this morning was perfect conditions for their debut; a slippy, slidey, grass course with lots of twists and turns. Result? Best £38 I've spent all year, felt secure in them. Ran 29:42 which is my eighth quickest parkrun so far and almost broke the top 100 although a much smaller than usual field for some reason.

The field was much smaller at Bournemouth parkrun today, too. 397 finishers, down from 552, 619, and 504 finishers on the previous three weeks.

I think the weather (forecast, anyway) had an effect, as well as at least two local 10k and 10 mile events this weekend.

I tried to push for a PB today. I set 00:22:50 as my target time for the Garmin 'Virtual Partner', and got to the halfway point of the first "big loop" nearing 20 seconds ahead of that target pace. Then a hill, into the teeth of a strong headwind knocked me for six. By the end of that loop, about the 3km point, I was 2 seconds behind, and continued to lose time. In the end I crossed the line at 00:23:20. I'd set a course PB of 00:23:03 on the 1st of November, so it was frustrating that I couldn't slip a sub-23 run in this morning, but my legs and lungs were just not enough to push through and overcome the headwind and drizzle today. Very happy with running another 00:23:xx, though, now that I've had time for it to sink in.

My 74th parkrun, the 62nd at Bournemouth, and my first run in the VM55-59 Age Category, too. 54th of 397 participants, 45th male, 2nd in my age category, with an age graded score of 65.86%. The numbers are a bit of an ego-massage, but skewed by the smaller fixed of finishers, I think.

[GloverMart]

Excuse some of the duplication from the running thread.

Got a tip on there about going for a longer warm up run before the start. My parkrun is a three lap course so ran around about 3/4 of it before the start, around 1.3k in total at a pace of 6:27/km, probably slightly faster than I'd planned.

Got off to a decent start and returned home with a course PB of 29:19, that's 34 seconds inside my previous best there and my quickest non-Somerdale (the short course) parkrun so far. Pleased with that; my splits were 5:57. 5:56, 6:00, 6:10 and 5:11.

[MesoForm]

GloverMart said:

Got off to a decent start and returned home with a course PB of 29:19, that's 34 seconds inside my previous best there and my quickest non-Somerdale (the short course) parkrun so far. Pleased with that; my splits were 5:57. 5:56, 6:00, 6:10 and 5:11.

Blimey, that's a fast last kilometre compared to the rest of the run!

For the first time in 140 parkruns I forgot my barcode! I wear one of the parkrun milestone wristbands with my barcode on but was in a bit of a muddle this morning as I was going to the gym straight after so somehow managed to leave my wristband in my running bag in the car
Being a former Scout ("Be prepared") I also had it on my watch and phone so still got my time recorded but felt odd showing my watch instead of wristband.

[john2443]

Downslink Shoreham by Sea done - was my NENYD and means I'm back to having done all the Sussex events... until another one starts...

[spikeyhead]

I really wasn't in teh mood to run quickly this morning. A stictch a couple of hundred yards into the run didn't help, so just jogged round. Still managed a time that would have been close to a PB this time last year, so not too unhappy.

[fiatpower]

First one in a while and I managed to wake up late. Made it 3 minutes after the start. Ran it in 25 mins but crossed the line with a finish time of 28 mins or so.

[yellowjack]

GloverMart said:

Excuse some of the duplication from the running thread.

Got a tip on there about going for a longer warm up run before the start. My parkrun is a three lap course so ran around about 3/4 of it before the start, around 1.3k in total at a pace of 6:27/km, probably slightly faster than I'd planned.

Got off to a decent start and returned home with a course PB of 29:19, that's 34 seconds inside my previous best there and my quickest non-Somerdale (the short course) parkrun so far. Pleased with that; my splits were 5:57. 5:56, 6:00, 6:10 and 5:11.

Yay! Course PBs are great. I didn't manage one today, but I'm glad I ran all the same.

I got mentioned in the Run Director's briefing this morning. I said hello to my neighbour, a member of the Core Team, as I arrived, and the RD congratulated me on arriving "on time" for two weeks in a row...

I wasn't too enthused about doing this parkrun before I left the house this morning, but once I was out of the door it was fine. We'd had a forecast for heavy rain for the entire duration of the run, but apart from a little drizzle on the warm-up run to the start, it was almost entirely rain free. Overnight rain had done its worst on the course, though. It was definitely a trail shoe kinda day, with wet roots, slick grass, and slippery mud in places. I stashed my rain jacket away before the start and risked it.

The run itself? I set my Garmin watch up with a target time of 00:22:50, and set my 'Virtual Partner' off when the hooter sounded. I didn't look at the watch too much, but I knew I was losing time. In the end I was about 2 minutes behind the VP. My eventual finish time was 00:24:55, where my course PB is still stuck at 00:23:03. Was I disappointed? Yes. But it didn't last, when I thought about it. A 15 mile trail run on Thursday, and a late 5k starting at 2259hrs last night, coupled with the weather and course conditions this morning.

I looked at my numbers after this, to get some perspective. Today I was disappointed by running 00:24:55, but it wasn't until 29th March this year that I ran my first sub-25 5k. And it wasn't until the 17th May that I got below 25 minutes at Bournemouth. It's amazing how "greedy" you get for regular improvements, and how easily you can forget just how hard you had to work to achieve your older, and substantially more modest target times.

So. parkrun #75 in the bag, and my 63rd at Bournemouth. 00:24:55 at the line, 86th from a reduced field of 384 participants, 75th male finisher, and 6th in my VM55-59 Age Category. Age graded score of 61.67%.

Sadly, we had quite a few fallers in the slippery conditions today. None that I witnessed, and none that required ambulance service intervention, as far as I've heard. One poor chap was in Run HQ at the end, though, with the RD washing a cut on his palm.

[Caddyshack]

My daughter(17) has a new (sort of 1st) boyfriend, she met him at running club, he has competed internationally at cross country, I asked him if he had done a park run and his time "14 minutes something"……

[downthepub]

I knocked a minute off my PB at Castle Woods in Aberdeenshire on our third visit; a nice wee unexpected bonus. Not had a PB in frigging ages!

[LastPoster]

MesoForm said:

Blimey, that's a fast last kilometre compared to the rest of the run!

Mart has quite the finishing kick

Whilst my overall pace is a bit quicker (although maybe not for long!) when we did his favourite run together and I told him to pass me with few 100m to go, I genuinely struggled to keep up

Well done mate. 28.xx soon

[GloverMart]

LastPoster said:

MesoForm said:

Blimey, that's a fast last kilometre compared to the rest of the run!

Mart has quite the finishing kick

Whilst my overall pace is a bit quicker (although maybe not for long!) when we did his favourite run together and I told him to pass me with few 100m to go, I genuinely struggled to keep up

Well done mate. 28.xx soon

Thanks mate.

I'm not sure where it came from to be honest. I got to the 4km mark around the 24 minute mark and thought I may as well have a crack at this and not die wondering. As mentioned earlier, I don't usually do such a quick first km due to traffic but when you get a great start like that, it's a waste not going for it and seeing what happens.

I can clearly run quicker, it's trusting myself to kick earlier, maybe.

[RizzoTheRat]

I was wishing I'd brought my trail shoes with me this weekend, I had a proper Bambi on ice moment at one point and only just kept upright and not face down in a puddle at Hogmore Inclosure.