Page 15 | To have been really put off Parkrun by this

rookiemere · 2022-09-06T09:10:54+00:00

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.

FarFromHome2 · 08/09/2022 01:33

eldora · 07/09/2022 20:43

We don’t like it though.

Leave us alone.

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You don’t, you really don’t get to speak for others.

If you are very slow, and don’t like anyone encouraging you then maybe it’s just not the event for you, or maybe you could use it as the sour you need to not be very slow.

eldora · 08/09/2022 01:39

@FarFromHome2 I’m speaking for myself and the others on this thread who have said they don’t like it.

Why would I speak for you? I don’t even know your language.

I suspect you’ve followed me from the other thread I’m on, hence the ‘slow’ comments. Poor form.

UsernameIsDeadToMe · 08/09/2022 01:41

MasterBeth your ideas are intriguing to me and I may wish to subscribe to your newsletter lol

0live · 08/09/2022 06:23

MadMadaMim · 07/09/2022 19:40

All those awful people who hung round to make sure everyone was cheered on and supported.

Utterly ridiculous post.

If you want to be invisible and anonymous, don't join events that have spectators.

This is the first time I actually understand the oft used phrase /tag #PeopleWillMoanAtAnything

This.

Anyone can run 5km on the street or in the park at anytime.

The streets of the uk are open to you 365 days a year, 24/7.

Most parks are parkrun free for 168 hours a week.

Even parks with parkruns have no parkun for 163 hours a week. Go run then.

But no, they choose to do it at a volunteer organised event and complain about the organisation and the volunteers.

They choose to go through the funnel and then complain about being given a token.

They dont inform the organisers that they don’t want photographed and then complain about being photographed.

They want the whole event to be organised around them and their issues.

Its pretty mean spirited.

Doingprettywellthanks · 08/09/2022 07:04

UsernameIsDeadToMe · 08/09/2022 01:41

MasterBeth your ideas are intriguing to me and I may wish to subscribe to your newsletter lol

It would be relentlessly and aggressively furious. About everything and anything.

You would finish the newsletter feeling…. Bleak!

Doingprettywellthanks · 08/09/2022 07:12

I suspect many of those expressing disdain of cheering supporters are simply using it as one of their long list of excuses not to exercise.

Original poster

rookiemere · 08/09/2022 07:24

Doingprettywellthanks · 08/09/2022 07:12

I suspect many of those expressing disdain of cheering supporters are simply using it as one of their long list of excuses not to exercise.

Or you could read the OP and see that I exercise regularly- but still fat and slow - to understand that I'm not using it as an excuse.

OP posts:

Doingprettywellthanks · 08/09/2022 07:28

rookiemere · 08/09/2022 07:24

Or you could read the OP and see that I exercise regularly- but still fat and slow - to understand that I'm not using it as an excuse.

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But you’re not expressing disdain are you?

Doingprettywellthanks · 08/09/2022 07:28

Some are.

So I was not directing at… you

Stolengoat · 08/09/2022 07:48

I love the way you put a capital p on parkrun even though your said you know it's lower case, you don't sound bitter at all lol

Herejustforthisone · 08/09/2022 07:51

MasterBeth · 06/09/2022 10:40

This is why I will never do Parkrun. Couldn't think of anything worse. It reeks of forced fun and everyone congratulating themselves on how supportive and caring they are while desperately trying to inch their way up the field. Real "Come on, Tim!" Daily Mail energy, with self-important wannabe midle-managers in hi-vis coralling others with megaphones to do their bidding. Passive aggressive pretentious lower-case "p" in all the marketing. And great hordes of "all the gear, no idea" runners imposing themselves on all the local parks on Saturday mornings with no regard for anyone else.

Fucking hell. 😆

Stolengoat · 08/09/2022 07:52

Sorry @ masterbeth

QueenWatevraWaNabi · 08/09/2022 07:55

These guys started cheering him on because they'd finished their run so he sprinted the last bit. Except he wasn't doing their park run he'd just started his and was then wrecked for the rest of it. He laughed it off and we had a giggle about it but it is annoying and a little patronising even if well intended

What a shame he didn't just laugh it off at the time: tell them that he was doing his own run, but thanks anyway. Although it does perhaps show the motivating effects of being cheered on if he couldn't resist speeding up!

Stolengoat · 08/09/2022 08:26

MasterBeth · 06/09/2022 11:44

It's the self-congratulatory, middle England tone of the whole thing overlaid with the petty dictatorial, uniformed, hi-viz figures of the marshals, armed with megaphones, coralling people into lanes and columns like they're running the fucking Olympics. It's the entitled middle-class assumption that it's just fine for hundreds of people to take over a public space, not once a year like a marathon or festival, but every bloody week at the same time, preventing everyone else from enjoying it as they would like. It's very Daily Mail.

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It's 1 hour a week, early on a Saturday morning and and of the 60 odd different locations I've done, everyone has been respectful of other park users. I'm guessing you walk your dog at the same time as parkrun?

Movingsoon21 · 08/09/2022 08:43

Shame it out you off OP! I have been pretty much every different character at Parkrun and have enjoyed the camaraderie no matter what my role/position and tbh have been cheered on by others in all of them, always feeling sincere.

E.g. I went through a period when I was younger of training and being quite fast, I’ve been the average plodder for a while when I first joined and did it with a friend just to get me up on a Saturday and as I’ve got back to fitness after my baby, I’ve been the slowest runner whilst pregnant and the fastest walker post-partum, carrying baby in a sling, and I’ve been the last person walking round while injured for a few weeks. I’ve also been a marshal numerous times and for numerous reasons.

When I was a general plodder I didn’t really notice the cheering as I was in amongst the crowd, but in all the other positions I really appreciated being cheered round, as it did feel like an achievement, whether I was going for a decent PB or was just about making the walk round when I was injured. It never made me embarrassed, I just waved and said thank you. I also liked the cheering when I was a Marshall as it’s nice to know that me giving up my time on a Saturday morning was appreciated. I genuinely think everyone there is happy for you and happy to see you and are just expressing that joy by cheering you on.

firef1y · 08/09/2022 08:48

Ummm yes I do think you are being a tad unreasonable, and I say this as someone who likes being invisible no matter what.

Too often in races there's very little (if any) support for the back runners and some not even for the back of the middle of the pack runners. One thing I like about parkrun is that everyone is supported. Doesn't mean I like being cheered on myself, but I just have my headphones in and focus on running so I can ignore them. Can you not try that???

gatehouseoffleet · 08/09/2022 08:50

I definitely don't think you should let your experience of one parkrun put you off others. They are different courses, different people, different numbers of participants. I've done about 40 different ones, and there are a few I wouldn't go back to because I didn't like the course (and I don't like running on sand, so will never do any of the ones that use beaches) but there are plenty that I do like.

firef1y · 08/09/2022 09:02

MasterBeth · 06/09/2022 11:44

It's the self-congratulatory, middle England tone of the whole thing overlaid with the petty dictatorial, uniformed, hi-viz figures of the marshals, armed with megaphones, coralling people into lanes and columns like they're running the fucking Olympics. It's the entitled middle-class assumption that it's just fine for hundreds of people to take over a public space, not once a year like a marathon or festival, but every bloody week at the same time, preventing everyone else from enjoying it as they would like. It's very Daily Mail.

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🤣🤣🤣🤣
Couldn't get less middle class if I tried, scum of the earth me.
Don't think I've ever read the Mail (although I did deliver more than a few decades back as a paper girl)
Only the race director has a megaphone and they only use it so everyone can hear the briefing, which includes the information that we don't have exclusive use of the venue and to be mindful of other users (the parkrun I go to is also used by mountain bikers, some of those are very inconsiderate).

It's around 60min at most once a week and tbh after the first 30min most remaining runners are well strung out. I'm sure you could avoid that window on a Saturday morning.

The marshals wear high vis so the runners can see them, yes they direct runners in which direction to go as well as being available if anyone gets in to trouble.

Finally, ok parkrun isn't for you, but there are plenty of people who enjoy it, people that pay their council tax and so pay for the upkeep of the parks.

firef1y · 08/09/2022 09:10

MasterBeth · 06/09/2022 12:52

No, four or five hundred, starting at 8.15 or so (all the megaphone hi-vis people just looove getting there ridiculously early) and hanging around, clogging up all the facilities, until past 11 o'clock.

Now I know you don't know what you're talking about. Parkrun starts at 9am, with the briefing just before. Most people don't really get to the start until 8.50am or so. The vast majority of runners are finished by 10am, there may be a walker still going then, but very, very few. And then how dare people make use of the "facilities" after, I doubt they are still queueing for the loo over an hour after they've finished. And if the facilities you mean are the park cafe, I doubt the cafe is moaning about all the extra customers on a Saturday morning

Bladedancer · 08/09/2022 09:52

So MasterBeth wants to use her local park at a specific time on a Saturday morning. She doesn’t want too many other people there getting in her way on the paths. She doesn’t want them filling up the car park so there are no spaces left for her or using the cafe so that she has to queue and might not get a table. And then she accuses parkrunners of an entitled, Daily Mail reader attitude! Hypocrisy or what?!

MasterBeth · 08/09/2022 10:35

Bladedancer · 08/09/2022 09:52

So MasterBeth wants to use her local park at a specific time on a Saturday morning. She doesn’t want too many other people there getting in her way on the paths. She doesn’t want them filling up the car park so there are no spaces left for her or using the cafe so that she has to queue and might not get a table. And then she accuses parkrunners of an entitled, Daily Mail reader attitude! Hypocrisy or what?!

I find it funny to see how difficult some of you find it to comprehend how hundreds of people literally taking over the park at the same time every week might be at all problematic for all the other park users (it's not about my inconvenience, it's about the inconvenience to everyone else who isn't in the Parkrun and to everyone who would be in the park but has to delay their attendance because of it). That entitlement - and that mindset - is exactly what I'm referring to: "well, most of us are enjoying ourselves, so your inconvenience doesn't matter."

Most people understand, I think, that a public place like a park only functions if we and try and behave in a mutually appropriate way. My use of the park doesn't inconvenience anyone. Someone walking a dog considerately doesn't inconvenience anyone. A small running group doesn't inconvenience anyone. A family enjoying a picnic doesn't inconvenience anyone.

But, just as someone who brings a massive stereo or a fierce dog or lights a bonfire in a public park is a nuisance to all the other park users, so organising hundreds of people together at the same [peak] time every week, monopolising the car parking and other facilties, roping off sections of the park for themselves, bringing amplification equipment into the park etc., denies everyone else their customary quiet enjoyment of the park. The insistence that they are doing a great thing for "the community" is the icing on the cake. It's for their own pleasure.

Doingprettywellthanks · 08/09/2022 10:53

MasterBeth · 08/09/2022 10:35

I find it funny to see how difficult some of you find it to comprehend how hundreds of people literally taking over the park at the same time every week might be at all problematic for all the other park users (it's not about my inconvenience, it's about the inconvenience to everyone else who isn't in the Parkrun and to everyone who would be in the park but has to delay their attendance because of it). That entitlement - and that mindset - is exactly what I'm referring to: "well, most of us are enjoying ourselves, so your inconvenience doesn't matter."

Most people understand, I think, that a public place like a park only functions if we and try and behave in a mutually appropriate way. My use of the park doesn't inconvenience anyone. Someone walking a dog considerately doesn't inconvenience anyone. A small running group doesn't inconvenience anyone. A family enjoying a picnic doesn't inconvenience anyone.

But, just as someone who brings a massive stereo or a fierce dog or lights a bonfire in a public park is a nuisance to all the other park users, so organising hundreds of people together at the same [peak] time every week, monopolising the car parking and other facilties, roping off sections of the park for themselves, bringing amplification equipment into the park etc., denies everyone else their customary quiet enjoyment of the park. The insistence that they are doing a great thing for "the community" is the icing on the cake. It's for their own pleasure.

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My local school “take over” the local council swimming pool every week. Other users have one lane only. The school takes over 3 lanes.

presumably this would piss you right off?

MasterBeth · 08/09/2022 10:59

Children have to use a swimming pool in order to learn to swim. Runners don't have to gather in their hundreds at the same time each week in a park in order to run.

MasterBeth · 08/09/2022 11:00

Running was a mass participation sport before Parkrun.

FarFromHome2 · 08/09/2022 11:02

MasterBeth · 08/09/2022 10:59

Children have to use a swimming pool in order to learn to swim. Runners don't have to gather in their hundreds at the same time each week in a park in order to run.

Each one of them has as much right to be running in that park as you do.

You are effectively trying to say that their run should not happen at that time so that yours can. That’s a ludicrous idea. Why do you take precedence over them?