Parkrunners Assemble - the new thread that will remind you to "do not forget barcode" and that "you can walk, jog, run or volunteers"

[standingonlego]

Panic moment, we were running out of room on old thread so started a new one for today's run reports

Ethel
The 25 volunteer milestone is for volunteering on 25 separate occasions. Doesn’t matter which parkruns, helping at juniors also counts.
But if you do two ‘jobs’ on the same day for example Marshal then sort the finish tokens after. It will recognise both jobs but it only counts as one tick on the volunteer numbers towards your milestones. So it’s for each volunteer rather than how many jobs on the day.
I hope that makes some sort of sense!?

It makes perfect sense - thank you!

Hi; newbie to this thread. I ran my fifth park run yesterday and broke my personal best of 31:56 to get 31:53. I have lots of fun and have never run before, so enjoy it. It is starting to get colder, and will become more challenging but I'm looking forward to it.

I run in country Australia and would really love to do park run in another country.

Hello, Parkrunners! I have just registered on the parkrun website and, even though I'm still a couple of months away from actually attending one (I'm at the beginning of week 2 of c25k), I'm already worrying about what happens if I'm the slowest one there! If everyone else is roughly 5 minutes ahead of me, will I know which way to go? Is the course sign posted? I can just see myself running off in a random direction and never finding the finish line!

You will NOT be last. For one thing, there will likely be others who are slower. For another, there's a volunteer who will be last. That's their job.

At the park run I go to, there's a sign and a volunteer at every turn/fork. Oldham has a course of three laps with the last lap taking a different turn at the fork. A volunteer stands there. I asked "I pass you twice on the right then once on the left, right?" and he affirmed that I was correct.

Yes Mouse - as JustGettingStarted says there's a volunteer who will be last, they're called the Tail Runner or Tail Walker and they will make sure they finish behind you! At my local there are usually a couple of people who walk the full course, so you could go along at a mixed running-walking phase of C25K and you'd still comfortably not be in the last handful of finishers. Good luck with your future parkrun adventures!

Thank you so much for your replies! I want to be sure I can actually do 5k before I go to a parkrun, so will wait a few more weeks, but it's good to know I won't get lost . There's 3 parkruns near me, two are fairly big, averaging around 300 runners per week, and one is tiny (36 runners per week). Any insights on which might be better for a first timer?

I'd go for the big one. There may be some good reason for the small one to be less attractive. And there will be more newbies at the big ones.

Have a look at the Results page for each. Scroll to the end and you'll probably find a lot of walking times. There is even a FB group 'Walking at Parkrun' so don't feel that you need to be able to run the whole way in order to join in. Parkrun is very supportive and encouraging. You'll love it :)

I got round on Saturday without too much discomfort - walking 1 min and running 4 mins. A long long way off my PB but I'm running again and I'm happy with that

Does anyone go to the Lincoln parkrun? I think that'll be the one I choose when I eventually build up the courage to go

And Brighton thanks for the tip to look at results of each location!

Happy parkrun day everyone. Tipping down here so just me from our house this morning. Everyone I know got a pb last week - so wondering if I try my very hardest ...

I'm sat in the car park, staying dry as long as possible.

Soaked to the skin and nowhere near a PB. Oh well home to the kids ...

I was lucky and didn’t get rained on! Not a PB but a good run. For the first time I ran some of it with someone I know who has similar pace and the chat was a great distraction. It flew by!

How lovely niceberg. I don’t know anyone at my pace except for dd. All my friends are considerably quicker :( if I practise I might catch them but I would be very surprised if I could also talk!)

I figure I need to train. I ran 10K a couple of weeks ago at the same pace as my 5k... I was thrilled at the time but following week made no dent in my 5k time. Last Sunday I deliberately tried to run slowly in a ‘recovery run’ wasn’t at all tired afterwards and looked at my watch and had seemingly run at almost the same pace as my usual ‘trying’ pace. I think my body had learned the speed it runs at regardless of my distance or aim - if I try and run quicker I just seem to feel more tired at the end rather than see the difference on the clock. I will try some pacing apps but does anyone have any other tips?

I think it takes experience to know your pace and its effect on your body. I generally seem to have only one speed, but I'm relatively new to running continuously for 30 minutes or longer.

I felt very tired today - I've been doing the Bridge to 10k and this has also been a heavy lifting week (I lift 3x a week at varying intensities). So, to my chagrin, I walked about 3x on the last lap during the uphill bits. My legs felt sore and glitchy.

And, to my surprise, I got the exact same time as last week/my personal best!

I must have gone too fast at the start.

Well done justgettingstarted-that’s great.

Jealous of your lifting, I used to love it but my core and back are shot with disc/ pelvic floor/ arthritis so I am terrified of being injured and not being able to run as I really need the mh benefits. Wondering about using weights in the gym rather than free but again a touch nervous

Join us in the weightlifting thread and we'll talk about your concerns. I believe that only the most extraordinary medical conditions rule out all weight training.

There's definitely ways to work around your particular issues.

Hi lotsofplanets I can relate to the pace thing. Well done on the 10k that is amazing!

The one thing I tried that seemed to work- to enable me to run faster - was hill sprints. Run as fast as you can for a set distance up a hill (a short, sprinting distance), then jog slowly back down. At first stick to say 6 or 8 repeats. I did this weekly for a while and it helps train your fast-twitch muscle fibres. My knees aren’t great though so I had to give it up as the intensity was too much.

The other option is flat speed intervals. Same idea but not on a hill. There will be lots of advice / training plans online.

Sorry if you already know all this. And here’s hoping we all have a dry one next week. 🏃🏻‍♀️👍

Thanks niceberg - don’t apologise I probably do ‘know’ it - actually getting out and doing it though...! I think I have been taking the lazy girl route of showing up and expecting to get faster - this works for a few weeks obviously when you first start. Not so much now though. Will try and get my fat ass out this week for some intervals.

Oh and thanks justgettingstarted, will do

Anyone from Bristol here? I'll be there next Saturday, in a hotel about equidistant from both Eastville and Ashton Manor (I think I got those right.) Which &would you recommend?

For anyone worried about going along and walking, I did my first walking parkin this week and was great. I normally run but am injured so physio has said walking only for now. As others have said there is always a tail Walker as one of the volunteers so you'll never be on your own at the back and never finish last. It took me over 50 minutes and I didn't feel rushed despite being a good 10 mind behind the person in front. Just go for it, don't wait till you can run 5km!