Discussion
RizzoTheRat said:
925 runners and about 650 tokens apparently. That must have been a bit of a nightmare for the team. People chasing challenges are getting to be a bit of a pain in the arse.
I was there - the team managed really well, although given I was 93rd in 21 minutes there was nothing complex at that point.By the time my fiancee finished at about 26:30 you had to finish running about 50m short of the finish line.
By the time a colleague finished at about 32 minutes you had to wait nearly 4 minutes to actually cross the line.
The issue they had then was that the funnel wasn't long enough to cope with the number of people arriving at the same time.
They knew numbers were going to be huge as the landowner had publicised the event a month in advance.
I did a spot of PR tourism this weekend, went to Blickling in North(ish) Norfolk.
Lovely run, two loops, but felt like one long run. Views are great, has a long uphill drag and a long downhill one, through some trees, all fairly decent made up paths, not muddy, little uneven in places but overall really nice.
Carpark was a fiver as run by National Trust.
Nice and friendly. Worth a trip. (We camped nearby)
Lovely run, two loops, but felt like one long run. Views are great, has a long uphill drag and a long downhill one, through some trees, all fairly decent made up paths, not muddy, little uneven in places but overall really nice.
Carpark was a fiver as run by National Trust.
Nice and friendly. Worth a trip. (We camped nearby)
dirty boy said:
I did a spot of PR tourism this weekend, went to Blickling in North(ish) Norfolk.
Lovely run, two loops, but felt like one long run. Views are great, has a long uphill drag and a long downhill one, through some trees, all fairly decent made up paths, not muddy, little uneven in places but overall really nice.
Carpark was a fiver as run by National Trust.
Nice and friendly. Worth a trip. (We camped nearby)
I’m in Norwich and it’s my favourite of the local ones, the mixture of the course, location and coffee means it’s my default unless I’m meeting someone who can’t get there easily (as was the case last week when I was at Colney Lane, my second favourite). Lovely run, two loops, but felt like one long run. Views are great, has a long uphill drag and a long downhill one, through some trees, all fairly decent made up paths, not muddy, little uneven in places but overall really nice.
Carpark was a fiver as run by National Trust.
Nice and friendly. Worth a trip. (We camped nearby)
Blickling is a surprisingly fast course, I think it’s mostly down to only having 7 turns. That 1km slog of a hill isn’t pleasant though, especially as you start half way up it on the first lap.
Arguably the worst conditions I've run a parkrun in this morning. Hoofing down with rain for most of it, a wind blowing in your face down the back straight on all three laps and puddles/mud everywhere on what is predominantly a compounded paths course.
So I'm happy with 30:16. Would have been nice to come in sub-30 today but it was unlikely to happen tbh.
So I'm happy with 30:16. Would have been nice to come in sub-30 today but it was unlikely to happen tbh.
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.
I'm interested in those shoes, especially at that price. What make/model may I ask. 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.
I'm up to 28 mins for a 5k on a treadmill thanks to couch to 5k but I realise that real running will be harder.
The local park run is pretty muddy at the mo so need something more able than my knackered running shoes.
I did get up to 5k in the park when I did couch to 5k during Covid. Really enjoyed the running but I quickly injured my knee and hip.
Years of strengthening exercises and I decided to start again but only at the gym. I guess the treadmill is much softer going.
RizzoTheRat said:
16th today, my highest finish in quite a while. Admittedly there were only 21 runners but that's besides the point. 
Wotton in Gloucestershire, 2.5 laps of windswept and very wet and muddy field.
Three weeks if tourism in row, back home next week.
That’s a pretty mud one at the best of times anyway! Made it on time this week, just over 25 minutes. Well off my best of 21 mins but slowly moving in the right direction. Wotton in Gloucestershire, 2.5 laps of windswept and very wet and muddy field.
Three weeks if tourism in row, back home next week.
RizzoTheRat said:
16th today, my highest finish in quite a while. Admittedly there were only 21 runners but that's besides the point.
Wotton in Gloucestershire, 2.5 laps of windswept and very wet and muddy field.
Three weeks if tourism in row, back home next week.
I was 5th. Wotton in Gloucestershire, 2.5 laps of windswept and very wet and muddy field.
Three weeks if tourism in row, back home next week.
Out of 20
RizzoTheRat said:
16th today, my highest finish in quite a while. Admittedly there were only 21 runners but that's besides the point.
Wotton in Gloucestershire, 2.5 laps of windswept and very wet and muddy field.
Three weeks if tourism in row, back home next week.
That's not far from me, it's a tricky one at this time of year. They always seem to struggle with volunteers too. Wotton in Gloucestershire, 2.5 laps of windswept and very wet and muddy field.
Three weeks if tourism in row, back home next week.
I was 48th of 65 when I ran it in June of this year. No one broke 20 minutes either, think that's a first in any parkrun I've run too.
Yeah i was surprised not to get lapped given how slow i was. but it was tough going, first place was 22:28, that would have been 33rd at my home parkrun. Not a great morning for the poor marshals standing around in the rain.
Staying in Tortworth for the weekend, nice area, shame about the weather this weekend.
Staying in Tortworth for the weekend, nice area, shame about the weather this weekend.
Edited by RizzoTheRat on Saturday 6th December 22:43
RizzoTheRat said:
Yeah i was surprised not to get lapped given how slow i was. but it was tough going, first place was 22:28, that would have been 33rd at my home parkrun. Not a great morning for the poor marshals standing around in the rain.
Staying in Tortworth for the weekend, nice area, shame about the weather this weekend.
Ah next door to the prison Staying in Tortworth for the weekend, nice area, shame about the weather this weekend.
Edited by RizzoTheRat on Saturday 6th December 22:43
just up the road from me - everywhere is proper waterlogged at the moment.We got lucky with the weather at Bournemouth parkrun this weekend. The forecast was a bit vague as to where and when rain would actually hit, but there was a decent chance of a soaking if Alexis Green was to be believed. In the end, though, the sky at least was dry. The ground nit so much, but it was far from being waterlogged.
I arrived on time, again. Plenty of time to save the warm-up run separately, and to set a target time for the parkrun 5k. I settled on 00:22:50 as my target, hoping to get sub 23 minutes at Bournemouth. Currently my PB is at 00:23:03 from the 1st November this year. That was just a really good day, when I had no idea I was so tantalisingly close to 23 minutes.
To be honest with myself, conditions are just not conducive to PB attempts on this course right now. Too many sections of the course are negatively affected by the recent weeks of rainfall. But I have to try.
Result?
Bournemouth parkrun event #559
Official parkrun finish time = 00:24:38
My 76th parkrun and my 64th at Bournemouth
I finished 85th from 424 participants
77th male finisher and 6th in my VM55-59 Age Category
Age Graded Score = 62.38%
My pacing wasn't at all consistent, and there was a marked fade after a relatively fast first kilometre. Part of the "problem" may be my high (for me, at any rate) running mileage through the week. parkrun put the total up to 34 miles for the week, including a hilly 12km trail run on the Friday. Not ideal preparation, perhaps, for a tilt at a new PB...
I arrived on time, again. Plenty of time to save the warm-up run separately, and to set a target time for the parkrun 5k. I settled on 00:22:50 as my target, hoping to get sub 23 minutes at Bournemouth. Currently my PB is at 00:23:03 from the 1st November this year. That was just a really good day, when I had no idea I was so tantalisingly close to 23 minutes.
To be honest with myself, conditions are just not conducive to PB attempts on this course right now. Too many sections of the course are negatively affected by the recent weeks of rainfall. But I have to try.
Result?
Bournemouth parkrun event #559
Official parkrun finish time = 00:24:38
My 76th parkrun and my 64th at Bournemouth
I finished 85th from 424 participants
77th male finisher and 6th in my VM55-59 Age Category
Age Graded Score = 62.38%
My pacing wasn't at all consistent, and there was a marked fade after a relatively fast first kilometre. Part of the "problem" may be my high (for me, at any rate) running mileage through the week. parkrun put the total up to 34 miles for the week, including a hilly 12km trail run on the Friday. Not ideal preparation, perhaps, for a tilt at a new PB...
Edited by yellowjack on Sunday 7th December 10:31
croyde said:
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.
I'm interested in those shoes, especially at that price. What make/model may I ask. 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.
I'm up to 28 mins for a 5k on a treadmill thanks to couch to 5k but I realise that real running will be harder.
The local park run is pretty muddy at the mo so need something more able than my knackered running shoes.
I did get up to 5k in the park when I did couch to 5k during Covid. Really enjoyed the running but I quickly injured my knee and hip.
Years of strengthening exercises and I decided to start again but only at the gym. I guess the treadmill is much softer going.
https://www.mountainwarehouse.com/p/053037/mw/enha...
Somerdale Pavillion this morning, along with Glovermart who I saw at the start 
A course is still too boggy, so a run on the B course (which I rather like) which is a tarmac/gravel/mud out and back with just two sharp turns to slow you up.
Came up a bit long at 5,14km on my watch and a finish time of 24.58, but my 5k shows as 24.19 which would be my third 5k fastest ever. Considering it was slippery (ice) in places and fresh small gravel (hard work!) in others I'm pleased with that.
A course is still too boggy, so a run on the B course (which I rather like) which is a tarmac/gravel/mud out and back with just two sharp turns to slow you up.
Came up a bit long at 5,14km on my watch and a finish time of 24.58, but my 5k shows as 24.19 which would be my third 5k fastest ever. Considering it was slippery (ice) in places and fresh small gravel (hard work!) in others I'm pleased with that.
RizzoTheRat said:
In a pleasant change from the norm, we ended up with one more finish token than we started with
A Christmas miracle!Just been checking my stats for the year and my times are trending upwards. Beginning of the year was 23/24 minutes and now 21/22 minutes.
I've rarely gone flat out at parkrun as that's just not usually my thing but am now thinking that maybe on the right day/course and wearing a quicker pair of shoes then just maybe a sub 20 parkrun might be possible (current parkrun PB is 20:01 (age 42) and actual 5km PB 19:51 (age 51 last year).
Focus for next 6 months is marathon and then ultra (plus a snowshoe trek) but that's the kind of training that often brings me 5km PBs.
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