Parkrunners anonymous keep on running

[OhOneOhTwoOhThree]

As the last thread was filling up, here's a nice new one for parkrunners old and new

All parkrunners are welcome here!

Any Bournemouth parkrunners here? I will be in town next weekend and might give it a try.

Well done to your sis karatekimmi!

I'm home this week and will be going to mulbarton next week for a bit of tourism, not as bad as blatherskite as it's only 30mins away

postmanpatscat My lovely friend is a Bournemouth / Poole parkrunner and I have been a tourist there. They are super friendly, tea & cake available plus a good facebook page and race report.

Welcome espeth lovely to have you with us!

I came on today to say blathers ever thought about Junior parkrun....nearest one to us is in Nottingham or cambridge:)

This weekend I will be driving for 2.5 hours to get to Bristol

Will anyone on here be there? Hotel is booked for the night before as even I'm not daft enough to drive that far and back in one day for a 5k. This one is special as we're going down to run a 50th parkrun with the friend who took the Wife to her first one. Although next week will be 3 hours up to Yorkshire and I have no defence for that one.

This is all assuming I an run by Saturday of course. I think it's going to be OK but this week is going to have to be a rest week.

Welcome to elspeth. That is a fab time for a first 5k! I did 27:27 last weekend and I've been running parkrun for years.

Do you mean taking the kids or running one lego?

I think our closest to take the kids to would be Nottingham too but that's an hour and a half away which is fine for me but I'm not sure the kids would be quite as pleased. We could visit my brother and nip over to the one in Leeds one weekend but that is a bit of an operation just to take the kids to a parkrun - more tourism for me though

If you mean organising one, it's been thought about but turned down by all of the current RDs. parkrun HQ would love us to do one and we'd have more than enough kids but we struggle so badly to get one lot of volunteers a week even with 500+ runners that I'm sure we'd struggle even more if we tried to get 2 lots (or 3 as a second MK parkrun has been suggested!) Plus, a majority of the RDs run with my running club and we all do our long runs on Sunday which would mean someone had to miss out to run it every week. That and DH would probably divorce me if I spent any more time running than I already do!

I mean running one - is it a rule they have to be on Sunday ...is it a common time across the country like normal
Parkrun? I just assumed that you would do it 10am Saturday to run on from grown ups park run...surely that would make sense???

They're all Sunday at 9am (9:30 in Scotland) as far as I know. Running it on from normal parkrun would only work if you could make a 2km course from the 5k one which wouldn't work at MK as ours is a single lap. We'd possibly be able to make one nearby though.

Sunday would be a deal breaker here too :( However, we have a 1.75 lap course so much more do-able for us.

In fact we have a "kids run" thing already going once a month that have cheekily (in my view) set up for 10am after our parkrun which is what got me thinking.

We have so many kids that run the full 5k course already I think we'd end up with a lot of them not bothering anyway. My running club are doing a "family parkrun" on the 9th August too which will at least mean I can bring mine and not worry about them taking ages

That makes me feel better about our parkrun blatherskite if you struggle too with so many runners. It really p&*%es me off every week that people run week in week out and don't feel that they should volunteer. I'd be so embarrassed in as smaller field as ours to turn up and run every week and not support the event in other ways. We have lots that don't even do their 3 per year :(

We struggle too cinnamon. I am volunteering this weekend so that we can run my 50th the week after as a family (DS1 is away this weekend so I am hovering on 49.

Tourists welcome at Bedford the Saturday after next !

43 for me this Saturday, getting closer :)

I have to miss this weekend so remain on 43.

Hi everyone

I'm getting towards the end of Couch to 5k and want to build up to a Park Run.

My DP and I each run separately while the other has the kids. Is this possible at Park Run I.e. Is the event long enough for one person to set off and do the circuit then retrieve the kids so the other one can do the circuit?

Thanks.

Last Saturday was my 75th - half way to my next club shirt now

Hi Moosey Welcome to the thread. Running in turns wouldn't work at parkrun really. Times are all worked out from the point the timer starts at 9am so anyone starting late would have the extra time added to their run time. Also, parkrun uses tail runners to make sure everyone gets back OK and anyone starting very much after the start wouldn't be included in that. We have some people who run ours twice or more but that complete the course in 15-18 minutes and only record a time for their first lap as we have no way of recording multiple laps or laps that start late. Unless you can both complete the course in the time it takes the slowest person to run it, it's not very fair on the volunteers to have them waiting around for just one late starter either.

parkrun does have an option to record Freedom runs though which might be helpful for you. You could take it in turns to run parkrun 'officially' - staring at 9am and receiving a position and time at the end - and the other could run the course after everyone else has finished and record your time on the website as a Freedom run then swap for the week after. Freedom runs aren't included on your stats and don't count towards your club t-shirts but it might be a good way of recording your times if that's what you wanted. If you wanted all of your runs together, you could log them on a site such as FetchEveryone too which would allow you to keep a log of your runs and see how you are improving. I put all my runs on there.

Hope that helps.

Hello lovely parkrunners!
I missed last week due to a wedding quite far away, bit this week I'm doing my first ever bit of parkrun tourism!
I'm excited and nervous all in one.
Anyone got any experience of Southend parkrun?

Don't be nervous. I've done 14 different course now and they've all been friendly and welcoming. I've not done Southend but I'm sure it'll be the same.

Aah thanks blathers, you are a true parkrun ambassador!

It's not so much the running (on a schedule so will probs just have to turn up, run fast, go) as the actual logistics of finding it and getting there etc etc

Ah well, it's by the sea which will be lovely. And it's an hour on my own during a family weekend, which will be even lovelier

Oh lord don't say that! I'll end up with another job!!

I totally messed up getting to Barnstaple parkrun the first time I tried tourism and almost didn't bother with Lanhydrock because of the fear of doing that again. Remember how you helped though :) My tip is to e-mail the ^whereeveryou'regoing^[email protected], tell them you're coming and ask if there are any tips for finding the place, whether you need trail shoes or road etc. I did that at Lanhydrock too and a lovely lady called Alice replied to me. If you find their facebook page, that can be helpful too and I've had lots of chats on Twitter with RDs who are happy to welcome tourists to their run.

Thanks Blatherskite that's really helpful. I'll join you officially once I can run 5km. (I'm still stunned that this seems possible!)

Thanks

You're welcome Moosey. As long as you can cover the distance you don't necessarily need to be able to run 5k in one chunk though. There are plenty of people who run/walk/run/walk at every parkrun I've been to.

I remember being stunned that I could run 5k. It's amazing how quickly it becomes common place and you're onto the next distance though.

You could also take it in turns to run MooseyMouse? Depends on the age of your children but we have a couple who take it turns to run with their son at his pace and the other runs at their own pace. Parkrun is family friendly and it will depend on the route, some are lots of smaller loops where you may be able to keep your eye on them. I wouldn't at ours as there are two laps, on which sometimes I don't see another runner let alone be able to see my children! Luckily I'm good friends with a lot of other volunteers and if dh is working I can often leave them at the finish with one of those. We also have a lady who runs with her buggy and another who is doing c25k and so she run walks as blatherskite says.

I'm running with our youngest regular tomorrow so his mum can tail run. He wasn't very complimentary last time he was with her tail running so safest he runs with someone else

25.16
(So says runkeeper)
Thank you Southend!