Parkrun, as a walker, with even slower DH

I too am glad that you went, enjoyed it and have found a friendly parkrun. It feels like such a gamble to say 'Do it' based on positive experiences knowing that some places have a different vibe.

There is nothing wrong with some thoughtfulness towards the volunteers and other runners but most of them are there so that others can take part. Our volunteers have a higher variety of running backgrounds - and are supportive of everyone. The more runners that show up make it more worth their time. It does make me laugh in the winter when they say Well Done to us runners for turning up in the cold when they must be the ones really freezing.

Keep going and you'll be through that tunnel in your own right before you know it.

I honestly think parkrun was made for people like you. You said you (or your husband?) couldn’t really do it in the time everyone else was so you went anyway and joined in with what you could, walking a shorter distance but doing it with the parkrun people. And you described it as ‘awesome’, ‘friendly people’ and you’re glad you did it and I really hope you do it again. The founder of it all would be really very heartened to hear your story I’m sure.

I'm really glad you did! Keep it up and before you know it you'll be doing the whole thing. Especially if you can do some walks during the week too.

I am a fast parkrunner and also a volunteer. We have walkers in ours but they usually finish in under an hour.

Ours is two lap course and the walkers at the back cheer on the front runners as they get lapped and vice versa (although I don't usually have the breath to talk at that point but I will cheer them on when I finish). I don't get the animosity between fast and slow people There is no need for it.

As for being very slow, I would email the park directory just as a matter of courtesy. When I volunteer, I usually expect to finish by 10am so if there was someone very slow and I needed to go somewhere afterwards, I would opt to marshal in an early position so I could still get away on time.

I tail walk quite frequently.
Year ago with DD in buggy the child at the back decided that they were done after about 3km. Fine, except that, the next slowest person was many minutes ahead by that point, so I then went rather faster than a run to try and catch up, never did, no problem, no harm done, just a harder workout that I expected.

I don't think you should complete one lap and then go through the finish tunnel. You'll have a false time. Finish times are expected to be based on the whole 5k. People will start getting upset if you're doing that as it'll push them down their age categories etc.
There are other ways to track it for your own purposes if you'd like to do that.

At this time of year walking is fine and there will be others walking.

In winter having the volunteers hang around for very slow walkers isn't great, although no one at my parkrun would tell you that.

My parkrun is three laps so walkers can drop out after one or two laps and build up to the whole course if they want to, but still be involved in the social aspect says she who went only for the coffee this morning

There's a lovely picture of an 87 yo being given his finish token by a 4yo from today.

Why is she volunteering then? I once put myself down as tail walker and got an apology from 2 ladies in front. They explained that they had a local race the next day and wanted to walk. I've looked at the results from previous weeks and knew it wouldn't be a fast one.

@SpongeBobJudgeyPants I'm glad you went and enjoyed it. Can I suggest downloading something like Strava on your phone for recording your participation at the moment? Then you'll get your own record of your time and the distance you actually did and you'll see yourself getting quicker, or covering more mileage etc.

Going through the finish funnel if you haven't done the full course just to get a record of participating isn't really the done thing. You might find someone comments on it and may ask you not to do it. Your own record on any of the running sort of apps would be a much better way to keep track and then when you do complete the whole thing you won't always be chasing a personal best from stopping early!

I've started and not completed before. DS and I attempted the Christmas Day parkrun this year, but DS was struggling with the cold so we exited the course near the car. As there was a marshal there, we did say we were finishing early. It's no big deal 🙂

It's common for people to do one lap on two lap courses for a multitude of reasons. At juniors, our tailwalkers are used to breaking into a jog to catch up if it's the final participant and they need to catch up to the next one.

I know someone with arthritis who regularly walks lap1 while her son runs both.

Since only finishes are recorded, if you do part of the course it would not appear that you had been there at all. Unless you did part of the course, double back before the furthest point and still crossed the finish line.

go op !
just do it x

we have a lady who completes it on a wheels delta Walker. She is a total inspiration.

It is great that parkruns are getting more diverse in participation. I did my first one in 2015 in 30:30 on a hilly course... and was in the last 5 finishers! These days that's a mid-pack finishing time.

There's a 95yo that parkruns/ walks near us taking about 1:05:00 which is amazing. It's a flat course, popular run and not an outlying time.

I do think it's worth considering volunteer time if you know you're going to be a significant outlier on a parkrun's usual times. It takes a lot of people giving their time in the morning to make parkrun happen week in week out and filling the roster is one of the most stressful parts of the Director's job. My nearest run has parking permission until 10:30 and it's a 5 minute walk round to the parking, plus putting equipment away. Someone taking longer than 1:15:00 (which is a very slow walk 25min/ mi ) then starts putting parkrun into an awkward position with their arrangements with the council that could hypothetically result in those arrangements being revoked. Volunteers are there from 8:30, that's coming close to 2 hours standing around. In winter/ difficult weather, that can be a health and safety issue (that can include summer heat too). People have other arrangements in their day that they'll make around the usual times that their run takes. Some volunteers have tasks such as results to complete afterwards. There's also the practical concern at the finish line that an incident may have occured on the course if marshals/ participants aren't returning when you'd reasonably expect them to. While there is no official cut-off time, there can be deadlines on arrangements that parkrun has based on reasonably anticipated finish times.

I've walked parkrun many times through injury or when dealing with the whims of my children when they were younger. I'd always say to look at the times; it's more comfortable to not be a significant outlier anyway. Courses with fewer laps are easier for walkers. Having laps 2 and 3 storming behind/past you can be a little stressy, single lap or out and back is easier. Generally people get fitter by participating and their times will improve. At 45 mins there'll be a cross-over of brisk walkers (4mph) and slow runners either a constant slow pace or run/ walking.

Walking at parkrun is great, and most people can walk at a moderate pace that is reasonably forseeable, but there does come a point where if someone is significantly slower than reasonably anticipated, it does have consequences on the volunteers and parkrun itself, and it's a valid logistical point to raise. While parkrun times have increased (brilliant!), it's been a gradual process over years.

Not saying that OP is in extreme outlier territory, have a great time, it's a lovely community event.

OP - love your attitude! Absolutely, give it a go. That's the only way you'll find out. You'll be lapping everyone on the sofa, however little or slow you go.
I was going to add the comment regarding parkruns getting slower and hour that shows more people are getting involved.

There's nothing to stop you volunteering as tailwalker - once you're not a newbie anymore!!
Good luck!

Do go along. I am a Run Director and I am more than happy to be out as long as needed. We usually have a few walkers at ours, it's fine. We have some people who do a lap or two and then stop. Also fine, just don't go through the finish funnel if you do that or you'll never get a personal best again!

I've encouraged people to keep going who thought they might stop because they were taking too long. I love the walkers! I'm a walker myself too. Parkruns where people feel unwelcome because of their speed should be reported to HQ as far as I'm concerned so they can get a talking too and told to buck up.

exactly the same with my local one. Not friendly and not slow.

Paul Sinton-Hewitt the founder of parkrun is very clear on this. One of the things he and his team spend a lot of time on is supporting those events to change where they do not fit this ethos.

volunteer.parkrun.com/principles/walkers-welcome

I'm a regular volunteer and I don't mind hanging on for slower walkers. So long as you're trying.

I was a tail walker once when two women were basically out for a stroll, kept stopping to take photos of wildlife, stopping to get things out of their bag, put things back in their bag, put their jumper on, take it off, get sweets and snacks out their bags, total time wasters. That annoyed me. They should just have gone for a walk on their own and not taken up nearly 90 minutes of people's time on a Saturday morning. I'm sorry if that's not in the spirit of Parkrun volunteering but I don't think they were in the spirit of Parkrun participation either.

I never resent people who are genuinely taking part. Someone who is starting out on their fitness journey or getting back into fitness, or trying to keep mobile despite injury. Weve had a lot of people recently recovering from covid who have taken double their usual time, including me at one point. I'm happy to stay on and cheer you across the finish line no matter how long you take. And so are most of our runners and volunteers.

I hope your local Parkrun welcomes you op, and you have fun. It's a great start to the weekend.

Why volunteer then if they get frustrated at people who turn up to the event?

My friend does it and she only has one leg! For all those people saying just go and walk 5km somewhere else - parkrun was set up to be a supporting community for people who want to complete 5km in a collective 'event', be that walking or running. It's been quite some time since the terminology was changed for the volunteer who goes at the back to be 'tailwalker' not 'tailrunner', and I think that says something about the parkrun ethos.

Go for it - make yourself known to the RD beforehand (there should be a newbie briefing anyway) and enjoy the experience.