parkrunners old and new come and chat all things parkrun.

[cinnamongreyhound]

Starting a new thread at FiftyNineOhEight's request. Come and get comfy and talk all things parkrun, anyone thinking of starting out on your parkrun journey we have loads of experience between us so come and ask.

I mean coming downstairs hurts

Forgot that was yesterday with your marathon friend FiftyNine, fantastic dedication from her and you all.

Well done Sugar, hopefully you'll get some good advice on your knee.

Fantastic time cinnamon especially if you had wind to contend with.

Great to see so much parkrunning.

I've spent half the night worryi I wasn't going to wake up in time for juniors and marshalling today. Mind you I'm the only one awake, going to have to get them all up soon.

So I was a tourist this week.....

Now, do people find thencourses are comparable in terms of time, or do you find your time varies according to the course? My time was a good 2-3 mins over what I would normally do, but didn't feel that slow. Was more hilly than my normal course.

Anyway, I now have The Running Bug. Can't wait for next Sat!

I'm usually slower when touristing as I've worked out exactly where/when I can push the pace on my local.

All courses are different, that's why your pb will be course specific, hills will definitely make for a slower time, as will things like soft sand (portrush, I'm looking at you! )

Good to know, thanks!

Brockenhurst has a summer and winter course. The summer is in local playing fields, winter fairly serious off road. Dh's time (without a 3yo in tow) varies by several minutes depending on season!

We have what we like to call a gentle slope, twice as its a two lap course and it always surprises me the variety of comments we get from tourists! Some don't seem to notice it so must be from hilly parkruns and others say it's a killer, especially second time around!

I had a fantastic time at Huddersfield parkrun as a tourist. Such supportive volunteers, and a beautiful park.
I was verrrry slow, so feel better that I can blame it on an unfamiliar course rather than the slight overindulgence the night before
It was my first time running without music, as I left my headphones at home. I was surprised how good I felt without it, it made for an even more sociable experience.
Bring on next week!

cinnamon - you have to run up our 'slope' 4 times as we are a 3 and a bit laps. The consensus is that it is a slope the first few times and a hill the 3rd and 4th time

We did an Easter Bonnet parkrun on Saturday and our Pop-up Cafe was back as we couldn't use the Cricket Club. 204 runners - 3rd time over 200 and the weather was grey and miserable so I'm not sure what the warmer weather will bring. Lots of happy runners, an enormous amount of cake and simple results processing so I was happy :o

Mad Hatter's Tea Party birthday celebrations in 3 weeks - how can it be a year already?

Gedling is a bit of a killer for the hills, but I think Lanhydrock is still the toughest I've come across. I'm looking forward to another bash at it in the summer.

My biggest variable on time is the amount of mud

I noticed ever increasing numbers at our local ones too feet, I wondered whether it would tail off after a burst of new year resolutions wearing off but it's pretty much increasing every week no matter what the weather.

I've volunteered to write our run report this week so I'm after some inspiration if anyone has any advice I'd appreciate it

Scary feetheart, ds3 is 1 in 11 days

Shopping alert...the orange t shirts are back in stock !!!

tribesports.com/collections/parkrun-performance-range/products/parkrun-women-performance-short-sleeve-t-shirt-uk

I managed to bag a small earlier but they are running out again I think!!!

Only large left 😭

cinnamon that went so quickly !

I'm run director for the first time ever on Saturday - scary. Only ever done scanning and number checker before now ! Luckily our ED will be there and I've been spared doing the loudhaler bit with quite a few experienced volunteers on other roles. We get a round 500 runners - but hope its not too busy this week !

Darn it, missed the T shirts!

Black Cat, most run reports tend to follow a certain pattern so don't stray too far from what readers are familiar with! I always like it when age-graded performances are noted, and junior runners tend to enjoy a bit of glory and name-checking. Congrats to anyone doing a milestone run, thanks to the volunteers and anyone who otherwise helped "backstage" (buns and coffee, photographs, transport). Maybe some mention of the course conditions or special circumstances, and a reminder of the course records?

Good luck RDing Runninggirl!

BlackCat - I always put in loads of photos and write the report round them! This time it was all the Easter bonnets (and a first-time plea for donations :)) Have a look at a few other parkruns to see what they do/get inspiration - Tring's is brilliant but the ED set a high standard from the start (and spends way too much time on stuff :)), some are just stats which I find boring, ours is somewhere in between and depends on who writes it. I like that different writers have a different style.

RunningGirl - take it as slowly as you need to and expect something to go wonky (and that's where we learn the most!) Make sure you have briefed all the volunteers well or checked fully that they know what they are doing (get them to talk it through with you) - I made the mistake recently of assuming the token person knew to give tokens to EVERYONE. She didn't, cue results 'issues'.
I also tell any new RD that "Some people are just grumpy gits, it's their problem not yours" The probability of this may be higher with 500 runners (we are just hitting 200)

My time can vary by a minute or two from week to week - it depends how tired I am, what kind of week I've had, how much wine I drank on Friday night, how hard my Friday yoga class was, whether I ran during the week, who I'm running with...sometimes I feel like i'm really motoring and I come in at 32 minutes, other times I feel like I'm gently jogging and I'm sub-30. I've given up trying to work out the ideal conditions for a good time

Sugar do you have decent supportive running shoes?

DS1 has been helping a friend with her MSc dissertation in sports science (or something like that). He's been running on a treadmill for 10-15 minutes at a time and she has been coaching him on his technique over a period of several weeks. He said it felt really weird to start with, but he has noticed a difference now he has mastered better technique, which is also supposed to prevent injuries.

feet I will try to round up a posse for your birthday celebrations. I remember the weather being very kind to us last year

We also have what our regular pacer describes as "a different kind of flat", which our parkrunners get to experience three times .

Some cracking parkrun April Fool's doing the rounds. Tring's is particularly brilliant :)

59 - would be great to see you all.
Need to discuss Pretty Muddy.

Gedling's was amazing, but I'm really disappointed too

Hilarious feet and chutney

I am missing parkrun tomorrow but in a good cause - we are heading north for a family gathering to celebrate my parents' golden wedding anniversary and DS1's birthday. Will volunteer next week as have a HM on the Sunday, so my next parkrun will be on tour visiting feet for her birthday

Give us a summary of the April fools! I saw one saying you could run with any pet, including rabbits and hamsters. And another saying that all under 11s had to be on short leads.

There were quite a few, including ours, about drug-testing and urine samples, Tring's was about paying for 4 different levels of parkrun experience (each one getting progressively sillier) and Preston's was about an unexploded bomb by the finish line and the precautions they had to take to ensure parkrun continued e.g. a separate finish funnel for parkrunners over 75kg (or a combined total of 75kg if running together) to stop vibrations, etc. Apparently they have actually had 3 unexploded bombs in their park since they started so it wasn't completely random!
I haven't really trawled the internet all day, there was a bit of a 'Look what we did" thing going on :)
Hoping for a nice normal one tomorrow after our course change and then Easter. I am going to stand still and take photos somewhere, possibly doubling up as a marshal as we are currently a few short although people will probably turn up and offer in the morning!
Happy parkruneve everyone.