Parkrunners Assemble - the new thread that will remind you to "do not forget barcode" and that "you can walk, jog, run or volunteers"

I had a lovely warm welcome at [[https://dancingatlunacy.com/2017/06/13/parkrun-tourism-elusive-letter-i-at-inverness/ Inverness], on a decidedly dreich day!

My running times continue to slide, I need to increase my training and strength work, and lose about a stone, I think.

cinnamon Hen parkrun sounds awesome! :)

Trying to decide with hubby whether we stay local or do a bit of tourism this weekend!

cinnamon that sounds great!

gino I'm like you, I plod along but then I remember that its better to be out plodding along than doing nothing.

I know what you mean about stupid men. DH can do nothing for months then go out and do 10k in one go.

Hi TriJo nice to see you back!

We had a fabulous hen parkrun Saturday! Ended up with the bride to be plus 10 runners in tutus (5 of those with dogs, 2 of whom had tutus too!). The bride had a white tutu and veil, we threw confetti and hadcake at the end. We ran as a big group all together at the pace of the slowest person, was soooooo much fun and we made her cry as it was a surprise. Rd was also in a tutu as she was part of the planning

Damn men and their being able to pull good runs out of the bag! My husband is coming back from 5 years of chronic fatigue (triggered by overtraining for the 2012 London marathon) and he's already chipped 4 minutes off his Parkrun time in the 4 he's done since getting back to being able to run 5k. Still a long way to go for him but he's really happy with where he's at now.

DD and I were volunteering this week as I had a 10k event yesterday so wanted to save my energy.

DH ran his second ever park run and he is not a runner. He got a pb of 24.14. I've been running on and off for 5 years and can 'only' do 26.58. I didn't speak to him for the whole of Saturday

Cheers Trijo I've been going to the Gym since Feb and lost 30lb so far, I just can't seem to get a grip on running, I plod and find it so frustrating, I try a bit of slow and then fast but go cold all over, no idea why! I only run twice a week, spin once, I'll try some Hiit at home.

Build your overall running endurance (run more!)

Interval training

Leg and glute strength exercises (squats etc)

Following for advice. I've only done two so far. Any tips on getting a bit faster, I can get to the gym during the week so wondering if anyone has any ideas to build leg muscles or stamina.

28:30 with the buggy on Saturday at Hackney Marshes - Finsbury Park was cancelled so a bit of tourism! Enjoyed it and was delighted to see hubby run sub-23 as well.

How did everyone get on this morning?

Hi cinnamon thank you - another pb today, 43:50 for ds1. He's really got his head on straight at the moment so I'm wondering if he'll do the double at juniors tomorrow 😂

(We praise him for his efforts not his times, and are encouraging him to run for pleasure as much as speed, but he does love beating his own times now he's becoming aware of numbers!)

Hi purplepidjin, well done to you all!!

Kids don't think at all jollyjester, mine always ask why I don't win at every race I do!

Hello, I fell off for a very little bh time if anyone remembers me?

Ds1 has his pb down to 44:51 and I've started taking him to juniors (which is doing wonders for my volunteer credits!) where his pb us 13:41. Dh is under 30 minutes with the buggy and I'm under 35 for the odd occasion I get to run solo!

I have spent far too much time completing my parkrun tracker, charting my progress towards full alphabet, 50 events before 250 runs.

Elusive letter I this week in Inverness - and my most northerly location so far.

Was at Limerick in Ireland there at the weekend - multiple laps but a lovely loop with a nice stretch by the Shannon, then back to the UL sports bar to catch the end of the Lions match! Really enjoyed it.

Planning an interesting double on July 1 - I'm doing the Great London Swim and going in the 11:30am wave... which leaves us plenty of time for the nearby Beckton parkrun before it :)

I know flightless! It's been so long since I've done something just for me it was nice.

DH came and took the DC to the park while I went around. Ours is two laps and the start of the course is by the park. On the second lap it wasn't so encouraging when my 5 year old shouted 'mummy why are you last?'

You can't really shout back that it's all the DCs fault for being over 9lbs leaving me with a massive mum pooch and no pelvic floor to speak of!!

Jolly I love that you are already planning next week, it's so addictive isn't it?

Argh my post disappeared

Hi all! I finally bit the bullet and went to my local parkrun yesterday. I've wanted to go for ages but never had the courage. My youngest DC is now 10 months old so I wanted to get out doing something.

SIL is visiting so came with me yesterday. Shes a seasoned runner so I knew she would be way ahead of me.

I managed to run over half & walked a bit. Ours is really hilly (2 absolute killers!) but I was so pleased with a time of 35.53. (SIL was only about 3mins ahead of me so I was so chuffed)

Roll on next week to try and get it down into the 34 minute bracket!

Bizarrely enough the hill at the end felt quite easy running a sensible pace at the start. Can't think why...

Will go PB hunting another time when not planning to run another 16km to get home!

Happy parkrunday to all!

Weather's looking good so far here in Norn Irn, though showers are forecast for later.

I'm planning to be in Inverness next Saturday, if there's any Scottosh parkrunners around?

Buoyed up by two decent times in the last two weeks on other courses DS is on a mission to get his PB down at our parkrun. I have persuaded him to regard it as a long-term mission to prevent 11 year old disappointment
I am volunteering a lot in the next few months as I want to run my 50th on my birthday in the summer and I haven't got many runs 'spare' - 2 touristing runs and our club's Beginners Course Graduation leave me with one free parkrun between now and mid-August :o
However it looks like I could get to 100 volunteering occasions in that time too (as well as getting on the 20 different parkrun locations list )
parkrun . . . not addictive at all . . . oh no . . . not at all :)

Happy parkrunday everyone.

I'm volunteering for the first time this Sat. Excited! Last week I stayed behind after my run to cheer others and it was so uplifting.

Parkrunning for the first time in a while (races and holidays in non-parkrun areas!). Going to look odd with running belt and water bottles but am running home afterwards as my longest run before a half so had better be disciplined about not going too fast at the start or I'll be phoning DH for a rescue on the way back...

Not aiming for a PB obviously and last time I did the course I went off way too fast and struggled so it will be interesting to say the least.