To have been really put off Parkrun by this

[rookiemere]

I'll start by saying I love parkrun. I've done over 130 of them and it's a real treat to discover a new one when we're away on holiday.

Everyone there is lovely and welcoming and it's such a great way to start Saturdays with a 5km run.

I am also older, fat and slow, but this is fine as I'm not there to win it.

So last Saturday headed to one of my usual parkruns with a friend. There was a traffic incident so many people didn't make it. This meant that rather than being in the back 10 or so I ended up being the last person bar the tail runner. Again all fine and someone has to be there.

However for the last km or so as I went past people who were dispersing made a big point of clapping loudly and shouting on encouragement. Obviously meant to be supportive, but I've run so many of the damn things and I just like to be invisible rather than the obviously last, slow ploddy person who people want to help.

I'm actually really nervous about going again, it upset me so much. I could go to one with more runners and then I should be less likely to be right at the back, but its a further drive and the whole thing has knocked my confidence and I don't know what to do.

Perfect!

Or just opt in to knowing time and position?

for some - the “race” element is really enjoyable to them. So they could “opt in”

I have also shed a tear. The unbridled joy that a very overweight man expressed when he crossed the finishing line. Still chokes me when i remember!

Thanks @sleeplessinengland @gasp0dethew0nderd0g and @abitoutofpractice I'll keep up with my C25K and give the parkrun a go (sorry if I spelt any usernames wrong).

The thing is, for everyone who doesn't like the encouragement and photos, there's someone else who does. I like the photos as its the only time anyone takes a photo of me.

@bitoutofpractice knew I had one wrong and I love that you clocked The Archers reference :-D

I thought this was going to be about the park run closest to me where a significant minority of park runners, mainly women, were using the gardens of the houses by the entrance as a toilet every Saturday morning, despite the protests if the owners and the park run organisers.....

I used to do park run until my health deteriorated. I was slow. My best time was around 35 mins. My OH did it in around 20. He thought I deserved more praise and encouragement because really I was putting my all in for almost twice as long as him. I agree! I liked the encouragement. My DD and I did it once and she said she didn't want to be last. I said we're still quicker than all the people who are sat n their sofas. If this encouragement is genuine then I think I'd really like it. There is no shame in being slower. Fast runners used to give me breathing tips as I came up the last hill and they'd been resting for nearly 20 minutes. I found it helpful.

Are you sure this is actually true, rather than some urban myth? It’s 5K, not a marathon! Surely you go before you leave the house? Sounds incredible to me that this could be anything more than a one off.

I really don’t believe this

Sign me up please!

Thanks for this thread though, it has opened my eyes so that I never sign up for parkrun

This is such a shame. I think it's gone unnoticed that OP had previously done over 130 parkruns and enjoyed them enough to do different events on holiday!

Really? 5km takes about 30 mins, not sure why people would need to wee while doing it?!

Parkrun tourism is also a great thing. It's pretty much global now. We've done quite a few around the UK, plus Stockholm and two in Canada. The run director in Montreal took us out for breakfast afterwards.
For me, it helps me keep motivated to run regularly, because I'm basically a lazy cow who would rather stay in bed. Last weekend we were at Shrewsbury Folk Festival and did Shrewsbury parkrun on Saturday morning.
There are minor challenges like doing parkruns for every letter of the alphabet and milestone t shirts which are a bit of fun.
I'm 61, so I'm never going to be Paula Radcliffe but I enjoy it

If I based my decision making on mumsnet I probably wouldn’t have had children; wouldn’t holiday at AI resorts; and would have a home stinking of retch zoflora

Thankfully - I don’t and I would urge others not to too!

OP here - it was not my intention at all to put people off parkrun generally.

I too have had many happy experiences of going on holiday- best ever was Queenstown NZ where there were more Brits than Kiwis.

Up until last weekend, all my experiences have been enjoyable.

I've been towards the back on many occasions and I have no issues with being clapped by marshals or any one else. It just seemed to be at a whole different level last week - possibly because less people - and I just don't appreciate being centre of attention.

But I will go again - maybe not to that venue this weekend. I had an amazing experience about a month ago at the Aviemore parkrun,. I was recovering from covid so legitimately taking it slow and was side by side with the tail runner for most of it and he was one of the most motivational people I've ever met, but in a genuinely nice unpatronising way. Plus it was quite a narrow course ( beautiful scenery) so less opportunity for people to group at the side, and had a much lower key community vibe about it.

Parkrun is a genuinely wonderful event, I just had one bad experience.

I guess lots of other people are doing it at the same time for park run?! So more impact.

Like every form of exercise and sport, parkrun is for some people and not for others, but it's interesting that it seems to be the same things that turn people off it.

This thread has spurred me on to attend my local one this Saturday! Thanks OP.

I will be proudly ploddy in the back.

If you want to be put off park run, the best way is to get caught up in the children's one by not realising it's on, then getting lapped by 6 year olds 🤣

A year after that and I started going every few weeks and, despite nearly always being last except the tail walkers, I enjoy the support that everyone gives the slow ones like me. I don't find it patronising personally, and I am really easily embarrassed. I do try to avoid people I work with though, as I find that worse than strangers cheering me on.

I know it has happened at my local half marathon because it starts very close to some very posh houses with big gardens and loads of trees/bushes to hide behind!

I find it unlikely that it's mainly women though.

Very envious you've done Aviemore OP, that is on my list of parkruns to do (haven't done one in Scotland yet).

@gatehouseoffleet Aviemore is a truly lovely parkrun- the scenery is magnificent, my friend was staying in Newtonmore so invited me up to do it.

I went out for a run with her this morning and then I realised that I don't think I'm fully recovered from Covid yet. Sounds silly as I had it two months ago, but I really struggled to do anything activity wise for the month after, and now that I think about it, my breathing isn't fully back to normal, so I feel a lot happier about being slower than normal now.

Also I think after covid a lot of the slower runners never came back to parkrun. Average times may be longer for most, but in what I've seen that's generally because one or two walkers join, but not the rump of penguins that we used to have pre March 2020.

YANBU.

I loathe parkrun. All the bell ringing and fakeness, oh we're all pals here. My main issue with it is how untruthful it is. It goes on about how wonderfully inclusive it is and it's for everyone and not a race. Well riddle me this then, if its not a race WHY do you publish times and call them results? Why do you make a massive deal on social media about the fastest males/females/course records? It's just a competitive race like any other and needs to stop pretending not to be.

I quite often volunteer as a marshal at my local parkrun and I always cheer everyone on. I have got to know who likes it and who doesn’t a bit more and try and keep it in mind. I know there is one boy who doesn’t like it so I just smile at him. I’m aware it could sound patronising but I really don’t mean to be it’s a difficult balance to be friendly and supportive but not patronising.

Because people like to keep a record of their times and improve on them. Yeah, there'll be some exceptionally fast people who are trying to win the whole thing but the rest of the 99% are just running against the speed they did last week.