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.

[angeIica]

@drunktrifle

I was put off going to my local one by the fact someone takes a photograph of everyone as they finish and posts it on the fb page. Nope.

I wouldn't go back if they started doing that here 😮

[IMustMakeAmends]

This experience is precisely what puts me off parkrun. I like running. At my own, slow, pace. I have little short legs. I jog in time to my running music. I'm slow. I would be at the back. I don't want clapped or cheered for that. I don't want my time published against my name. I don't want my photo all over Facebook.

Are you in Scotland btw OP? Just as there was a crash on the Edinburgh bypass last Saturday morning that made almost everyone I know late for everything they were doing!

[Sirzy]

Every parkrun I have done the clear message is to respect other park users and remember it’s a shared space.

when marshalling i will warn runners off the presence of other park users rather than vice verca. I have nearly 100 parkruns under my belt either running (slowly) or marshalling and have never encountered any issues often others will stop and have a chat about what’s going on!

[rookiemere]

@IMustMakeAmends

This experience is precisely what puts me off parkrun. I like running. At my own, slow, pace. I have little short legs. I jog in time to my running music. I'm slow. I would be at the back. I don't want clapped or cheered for that. I don't want my time published against my name. I don't want my photo all over Facebook.

Are you in Scotland btw OP? Just as there was a crash on the Edinburgh bypass last Saturday morning that made almost everyone I know late for everything they were doing!

Yes !
It was Oriam parkrun which attracts a lot less runners and generally has faster times than Cramond.

[givemushypeasachance]

MasterBeth's vitriol is quite amusing, as well as the idea that parkrun would make a park completely unusable for several hours! As a sometimes run director of a fairly large event - as I said we average 400+ participants - we only "rope off" our finish funnel, which is maybe 5 metres by 5 metres in size? That's to provide a finish area for people to funnel through, in one area of grass off a path, no other "roping off". We use the megaphone to announce we'll do a talk for first timers, so about 10 seconds, and then to address the main briefing as that's lots of people - so maybe two minutes of megaphone use, which you can't hear at all if you're about twenty feet away anyway. No other megaphone use.

It's a three lap course and that first lap is quite crowded, I wouldn't want to be on the path where we start/finish when 400 people start along it, but after ten minutes the faster runners are down in a different area of the park and the crowds have all thinned out. After that it's easy enough to use the park along with the runners. We make a point to say in the briefing that we share the park with other users and don't have priority, to be considerate and give way to other users. And we are a big event! I like to visit other events and there were 65 runners at the one I did last Saturday. Honestly no trouble to anyone else in that park.

[Frogsalad]

@Swingsarefun

As a fast park runner and regular runner, I cheer slower people on cause they are the people I respect most in the race. Yup I can hammer out a quick park run, it’s what I do all the time, there’s no embarrassment, I’m good at it, but turning up when you’re less fit is just a whole lot tougher mentally. I’m just really impressed that the less fit are getting out there and deciding to get fitter.

God I sound patronising!!!

I'm really sorry, but yes you do sound patronising. And it feels really patronising being on the receiving end. You might as well shout, "ahh bless you chubs".

I'm short, chubby and slow, but I'm fitter than I look - speed just isn't my strength and I'm perfectly ok with that. If I'm doing a half marathon or something then I don't mind a bit of encouragement along the route, but just trying to enjoy a weekend run I don't need to feel like a special cause.

[angeIica]

The were lots of runners from local running clubs, all jostling for position at the front, and it really didn’t help that the route doubled back on itself at the half way mark - so those of us towards the back had to run past the ones at the front who had finished a while back and were now clapping and cheering all of us from their vantage point

Yes, they're definitely used by some of the competitive athletic clubs. I don't know why that surprised me when I first started, but I expected it to be mainly families and amateur hobbyists.

I tried to get close to the front at the very start (I wasn't trying to win! Running isn't my main hobby I do it for stamina and cross training) but no chance of that. I don't even attempt that now.

[CapMarvel]

@MasterBeth

I do. I am forced to.

But, as I have a job and a life, Saturday morning is the ideal time to go running in the local park, or would be if Parkrun hadn't taken it over. And everyone trying to walk a dog, stroll through the gardens, buy a cup of coffee or do anything at our local park is also excluded at the this time (or their experience is, at least, much diminished) in a way that is simply not affected by anyone else's activities.

It's interesting to hear everyone's reactions. I have accused Parkrun of being disruptive and domineering, of imposing itself upon the quiet of the park and everyone's response appears to be "Well, hundreds of people love it" or "It's encouraged lots of people to go running" .

Yes, that's my point. People are so convinced by the untrammelled goodness of Parkrun that they literally cannot bear to consider that it might also be an anti-social activity. As I say, the tyranny of the majority. "We are enjoying ourselves. Clear off until we are done."

The point being that parkrun is an undeniably positive thing for millions of people across the world.

Frankly, who cares about one grumpy sod getting upset about it? You can't please everyone. Find another park or maybe unclench and join in?

[LyingWitchInTheWardrobe]

That's it, CaptMarvel, you don't care. Got that. No need for the name-calling though, eh?

[TigerRag]

@drunktrifle

I was put off going to my local one by the fact someone takes a photograph of everyone as they finish and posts it on the fb page. Nope.

This happened to me - attended a new parkrun, emailed in and stated that I was visually impaired and please could I have a guide. Turned up and ran. There was a photo of me and the chap I was running with me on their page. Their event director at the time had actually written something.

Went back again and kept getting asked if I was here before. So awkward.

[IMustMakeAmends]

Oh interesting, I haven't seen that. The chat locally here is always that cramond is a good one for beginners as it's flat and basically a straight line out and back.

My local one is Dunfermline which has 'killer hill' as part of it. Not gonna lie, that is partly what puts me off 😂

[gatehouseoffleet]

I kind of see where you are coming from OP, but parkrun provides a safe space for people to run with encouragement and generally not having stupid people making rude comments about women or not-skinny people of either sex. The culture is very much to cheer everyone in.

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

Ha ha love the comment about the lower case p. But I don't think it's unreasonable for dog walkers to give parkrunners space in the park for up to one hour (really only about half an hour as the numbers of finishers thin out after that unless you're at a big one like Bushy) a week. And most parks have ample space for everyone.

As for not wanting a time, you just run without a barcode, it's not difficult to avoid getting a time. But if you don't like it, there are plenty of other options on a Saturday morning from other running groups to running on your own or with friends.

[gatehouseoffleet]

I was put off going to my local one by the fact someone takes a photograph of everyone as they finish and posts it on the fb page

you can say you don't want your photo posted, and it's rare for a photographer to be there every week. Probably depends on the venue though.

[Coughee]

@LyingWitchInTheWardrobe

That's it, CaptMarvel, you don't care. Got that. No need for the name-calling though, eh?

To be fair, MasterBeth was far ruder than that about people involved with parkrun.

[SirChenjins]

@angeIica

The were lots of runners from local running clubs, all jostling for position at the front, and it really didn’t help that the route doubled back on itself at the half way mark - so those of us towards the back had to run past the ones at the front who had finished a while back and were now clapping and cheering all of us from their vantage point

Yes, they're definitely used by some of the competitive athletic clubs. I don't know why that surprised me when I first started, but I expected it to be mainly families and amateur hobbyists.

I tried to get close to the front at the very start (I wasn't trying to win! Running isn't my main hobby I do it for stamina and cross training) but no chance of that. I don't even attempt that now.

I thought exactly the same - that it would be a jog or walk round the course, no pressure at all, and it would be very informal. I got a bit of a surprise when I saw there were lots of v competitive runners with their club names on their chests all gathered at the front and going off at a rate of knots - I actually wondered if I’d pitched up to the wrong event. The email afterwards reminding me how unfit I was compared to these speedy gonzaleses was a bit hard to look at!

[CapMarvel]

@LyingWitchInTheWardrobe

That's it, CaptMarvel, you don't care. Got that. No need for the name-calling though, eh?

But all the name calling from the poster I'm replying to is fine? Just checking.

[MinnieMouseclubhouse]

Urgh. I had this on a half marathon once. Hate it.

(I was also told to "smile", which I reacted to by stopping (half way up a hill) and giving the guy a talking to for being a misogynist)

[gatehouseoffleet]

People are so convinced by the untrammelled goodness of Parkrun that they literally cannot bear to consider that it might also be an anti-social activity

Well you could say the same about dog ownership.

OK, so you feel like you have to avoid your local park for one hour on a Saturday morning. Actually parkrun gives me a safe space to run. Although some people do run with dogs, they are under control. For the rest of the week, I have to constantly amend my running and walking routes to avoid out of control dogs. And I think I live somewhere where the majority of people are responsible dog owners, but it only takes one to let their dog off-lead to chase every passing runner or walker.

[gatehouseoffleet]

I don't know why that surprised me when I first started, but I expected it to be mainly families and amateur hobbyists

It actually started out as an event for club runners, although it was always for all abilities. The current emphasis on inclusion and participation eg encouraging walkers, is to get more sponsorship for it as a health benefit.

[SirChenjins]

As for not wanting a time, you just run without a barcode, it's not difficult to avoid getting a time.

I wish someone had told me this beforehand - the Marshalls at the one I went to were quite insistent we had to have our barcodes scanned.

[rookiemere]

I normally love Parkrun and I certainly don't mind the odd clap or keep going.

I also am perfectly happy with my slow times, as I'm working towards number completed, not the speed I complete them at.

I've just never been in that position where suddenly I was in full gaze of everyone and attracting so much attention.

I feel awful that I've put people off going to parkrun. My goodness I didn't mean to do that at all and as I say I've managed to complete all the others without drawing attention to myself.

[randomsabreuse]

I like parkrun. Partly because as a female runner it feels safer running with a group than solo in a park in a strange city...

I'm generally back of the middle of the pack at a big town/city parkrun and near the end of hillier trail ones (which seem to self select for faster runners as they're "harder").

I think the 9am start was chosen because parks aren't usually very busy at that time, most visitor centres open after parkrun (or open early because of parkrun...)

I'm ambivalent on the cheering, some weird quirk of my pace means I run a lot of the course solo, cheering can be nice but equally if I'm being rubbish and walking more than I intended or I know the course has a sneaky evil hill hiding around the next bend I don't appreciate the cheerful encouragement... That said if there's a Marshall halfway up evil hill I'll comment something along the lines of glad I won't be seeing you again, nothing personal.

Definitely appreciate Marshalls given how crap I am at route planning and navigation though.

As has been said elsewhere there's plenty time to avoid parkrun and no reason not to be done by 8.30 if you want to avoid it!

[MasterBeth]

@SirChenjins

As for not wanting a time, you just run without a barcode, it's not difficult to avoid getting a time.

I wish someone had told me this beforehand - the Marshalls at the one I went to were quite insistent we had to have our barcodes scanned.

i.e. "self-important wannabe middle-managers in hi-viz coralling others with megaphones to do their bidding" 😁

[QueenoftheAngles]

@gatehouseoffleet

I don't know why that surprised me when I first started, but I expected it to be mainly families and amateur hobbyists

It actually started out as an event for club runners, although it was always for all abilities. The current emphasis on inclusion and participation eg encouraging walkers, is to get more sponsorship for it as a health benefit.

Didn't Tim (park run founder can’t remember surname) say that park run average times were steadily getting slower and slower and this was a really good thing.

[LyingWitchInTheWardrobe]

@CapMarvel

But all the name calling from the poster I'm replying to is fine? Just checking.

Are you a self-important man? A middle-manager? Owner and user of a megaphone? Wear hi-vis PPE in the park? Do you try to corral people into a 'funnel'?

I can't find where MasterBeth called you or anybody a name but if they did then fair enough. My point though is that nay-sayers who wouldn't join the event are not necessarily grumpy, just that we have our reasons.

It is true though that all people cannot be pleased all of the time. It is also true that a parkrun can be avoided so, horses for courses. I've never been to one, not my bag, but I do see that many people really enjoy them.