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.

I get such pleasure from seeing people for the park run.

I will from this point on get extra pleasure from knowing that it pisses some people right off!

Roll on Saturday!!

We should all try to get along. Sometimes, the activities we take part in will affect each others' lives. If we are told that we are inconveniencing other people, we should put ourselves in their shoes and think about how can change our behaviour.

Lots of people like running. Lots of people like running together. Taking over a public space so it can happen is fine, as long as it doesn't require an unreasonable adjustment from everyone else. Our local half marathon is very disruptive, but it's only an annual event. If my neigbours have a noisy, disruptive party once a year, I'm not bothered, but if it happens every week then it's a problem.

There are lots of ways it could be changed. Maybe the size of Parkrun could be reduced, it could be run less often [monthly?] or even more often [daily] so it's spread out over the week, or done at 6 o'clock on a Monday morning. Telling people "don't inconvenience other people" is a pretty useless thing to say when you've gathered 400 people together to run round the footpaths of a public park.

I would also like to sign up for Shitrun please

@rookiemere have you considered getting a '100 parkruns' tshirt or whatever? Then no-one will confuse you with a plucky beginner and they'll probably just avoid eye contact awkwardly...
I do sympathise, I was very much not built for speed and would hate to be cheered on!

@DecayedStrumpet I have my 100 t shirt. I was so proud to get it and now I am so slow I'm embarrassed to wear it .

I don't think it would stop the well wishers as apparently cheerers gotta cheer - even if they can see it's distressing the runner.

Back to headphones next time.

To be pedantic, a lot of parkruns are not on public land, they are on land which the landowner has given permission to use both for parkrun and for general walking etc. If the landowner wants to dedicate their land to parkrun for all of 1 or 2 hourse at a time when most people are still having their breakfast then that is up to them.

And secondly, having experienced (and volunteered) at parkruns up and down the country I have never once come across one as you describe.

The entire routes are not "roped off". The "amplification" will consist of a 2 minute briefing at the start. Runners will spread out and sharing with other parkusers is expected. No roads will be shut and no paths made inaccessible. Maybe parking gets a bit hard but if you know that is the case then turn up a bit earlier or go at another time, just as you would if parking was limited because it's a really nice day and everyone fancies getting out.

How would cheerers “see” their cheering was distressing a runner? Crying? Middle finger up at them?

It's part of parkrun's USP ... I understand it can seem a bit patronising but I'd say YABA, sorry

Its pretty normal for people to cheer others on a race/ organised run. Its part of the whole race culture.

In order to host an event of the type (which is beneficial for runners - safe space, no traffic risk, can take place every week, free, daylight hours etc) it is necessary to use a large open publicly owned space which is only available in most areas in parks.

In effect, runners have to use parks.

On the ‘everyone else’ front - parkrunners always outnumber other park users. By its nature, the parkrun has to take place at the same time for everybody. You can easily avoid it, and you should.

You put ‘everyone else’ in bold, but actually that’s nonsense. Parkrun isn’t spoiling everyone else’s enjoyment. You’re in a very small minority on this thread, and I would hazard a guess an even smaller minority in RL, in the level of your disdain. How arrogant to say that everyone else feels as you do.

It would be arrogant if I had said that, but I didn't.

You said parkrun is spoiling everyone else’s enjoyment of the park. Otherwise, what did the first sentence of the second paragraph of the post I quoted mean, if it didn’t mean that?

No. Learn to read.

The sentence: "I am saying that a considerate person probably wouldn't want to spoil everyone else's enjoyment of the park on a regular weekly basis" says exactly what it says and no more.

It doesn't say Parkrun is spoiling everyone else's enjoyment of the park. I would hope it does - as subtext - lead people to consider if their activity is spoiling everyone else's enjoyment of the park. The evidence of this thread shows that many people aren't interested in considering this, or don't care if they are. You should respond to what people are saying, not what you think they are saying, or want them to say.

I think you have a choice to make here:-

You can either find the claps, supportive, ie cheering you on with encouragement

OR

You can somehow find offence in it and let it put you off

I realise what I say above 'could' be taken as patronising, but I assure you it isn't intended in that way. My point being, a person can throw off energy intending it to mean one thing, and you 'choose' to receive it in a way that reflects you.

We go day to day with choices to make, and can spend a lot of our precious time on earth being upset by things that were actually meant in good spirit

If you let other people, trying to be supportive, put you off, it is a real shame as you obviously enjoy it

Just go - so what if you are in the last few - I can assure you that no one else cares - the only limits you have are self imposed ones

Sorry I meant to add,
OP,
YABU - and the only person you are being unreasonable to is YOURSELF, by giving yourself limitations. Go and run

Lovely to hear as I am normally clapping and cheering from the side lines while waiting for hubby and kids.

You know very well that not only did I read properly, but I made a proper common sense inference about the meaning. I wasn’t the only person that did that either.

5 people! If it was a reasonable number, it wouldn't be a problem. Running groups of ten or 20 people aren't a problem. My local Parkrun can have 400-500 runners. The disruption it causes is over a much longer period than half an hour

It's rare (since covid) for a parkrun to have that many. Mine has around 200, 300 if a local one is cancelled.

But I meant that parkrun was inconveniencing about 5 people.

And even at Bushy Park, where they have way over 1000 runners each week. the vast majority have gone by 10am. And it's big enough to accommodate other park users anyway.

It doesn't say Parkrun is spoiling everyone else's enjoyment of the park

It certainly implies that.

The evidence of this thread shows that many people aren't interested in considering this, or don't care if they are

But in any event, no, I don't care if people don't like parkrun because it's one hour a week and there are other parks and other areas of the park to use. And the greater good of allowing people somewhere to run safely once a week outweighs the moaning of a dog walker (who could join in).

I'm not a dog walker.

are you by any chance retired @MasterBeth ?

Nope.

I find this sort of thing irritating and patronising but nothing ever stops me wanting to run - I like it too much.

OP here with an update.

I did a different, bigger parkrun today to avoid last week's experience and enjoyed peaceful anonymity during it. The volunteers clapped and said well done - which I have no issue with as they say this to everyone- and the passers by heading to the cars didn't seem to notice me, so all as it should be.

I talked to my friend who was at last week's parkrun with me. She thought maybe it was other non parkrun people giving the overly effusive "support ". So hopefully it was just a one off anomaly. Oh and I had my earphones today so that would have removed any distractions too.