Slowest Parkrunner, feeling demoralised

[slet]

I’ve done 3 park runs. I know it’s early days. The first one I did in 42 minutes jeffing. Then I have done two at an another one local to me where ds is now volunteering, so I have to take him. It’s very small, very rural, and seems to attract v hardcore runners unlike bigger ones where there is more of an ability spread. I did it last week in 46 mins and today in 45. Parts of it are so muddy and im so scared of slipping, i have to walk very slowly not run.

im just so embarrassed at how terribly slow i am, i dont enjoy it at all and i can’t understand how people actually do this for pleasure and get addicted to it. A very elderly man with a limp was faster than me today and i just feel like giving up and thinking what is the point.

please can someone encourage me to keep at it?

We stopped parkruns as well as our local junior one is basically a free timed training session for competitive runners, complete with coaches yelling at children and children breaking down crying because they didn’t beat their pb…

I love the absolute generosity of Mumsnet. This is the goddamn spirit embodied.

OP, today I haven't actually got dressed yet and have only rolled off the bed for additional toast. You rocked today.

I live literally overlooking the finish line of a junior park run and I don’t recognise that at all. What a shame your local one has become like that.

Me neither. You could always try a different one, if there's one within a reasonable distance.

I attended my 50th different event today. Lovely friendly marshals and seeing somewhere different on a weekend away. Met up with a local friend too who we hadn’t seen for ages. Reasonably pleased with my time helps by a lovely pacer. Love parkrun. Well done on your PB @slet and your first parkrun @MyThreeWords .

Fortunately I don't recognise a culture like that at the numerous events we've been to locally and around the UK and Ireland on over 250 occasions.

If I did see that, I'd be reporting it to the RD to record as an incident for the safeguarding team to look into.

Did you have to queue to cross the finish line? I am a token hander outer and can spot newbies because they are the ones generally trying to get over the finish, to me and then to the scanners in super quick time whereas in reality your time is logged as soon as you cross the finish. If you have to queue for your token and queue for the scanners it doesn't matter your time is your time when you crossed the finish line. I've never been to an event where you have to queue to cross the finish but then again I haven't been to the super big ones.

Ah, thanks very much. @Littletreefrog . It makes sense now. I got past the sign that said 'finish', at the beginning of the taped funnel without delay, and then queued for my token, and then flailed about looking for a scanner.

I thought that the token was the bit that recorded your time but it must be that it records your position relative to other runners, and the guy at the actual finish clicks a time for each runner that is then allocated to your token - and then allocated to your personal ID when you get your barcode scanned. So if your token says you are 232nd you are allocated the time of the finish-post guy's 232nd click?

Gosh, it's a clever system, beautifully run by kind volunteers. So much easier for the runners than the old analogue days of the fun runs, when you had to register on the day, collect a huge paper number, pin it to yourself and then at the finish line hover by some person with a clipboard while they transcribed it.

@MyThreeWords yes that's exactly how it works, I was amazed when I started volunteering and it was all explained. Well done for running, I hope you had as lovely a day weather wise as we did it always seems to make everyone that bit more cheerful.

my yes. If you think back to the first runners their times get clicked as 18:03, 18:47 and 19:01 walk to the end of the finnel and get tokens 1, 2 and 3. THEN they get scanned and the software links their time to their position and to the person.

And so on until all the times match a finish position token and a person. It only gets slightly messed up (by seconds) if people duck out of the finishing funnel.

I've seen congested finish lines on Xmas day and post London marathon when it gets a bit nuts in pleasant weather. Even then people are only losing 20 seconds or so around the 'popular' 30 minute mark.

Just to add to your post @Thewonderfuleveryday, funnel duckers cause minor issues in the thick of results but they really mess it up towards the end and as someone who processes results they are the bane of my life. Everyone after them ends up a time out if someone ducks out before they get their finish token and nobody notices. It starts off no big deal, maybe I get 30.30 instead of 30.25. But towards the end you could be losing 5 or 10 minutes because the gap between finish times gets bigger.

I don't think people realise the rolling impact of ducking out the funnel and I wish they would either just wait, take a token and pop it in the bucket without getting scanned. Or just swerve the finish funnel completely if they don't want a time and the queue looks too long for them.

That is the point of Parkrun…. It is for everyone and for them to have fun at their own level. We can’t all be athletes. It made me giggle when you said elderly gentleman with a limp was quicker than you….. everyone is faster than me but so what? You are up, and out, getting fresh air and moving. That’s a whole lot better than sofa surfing with a pot of coffee and a book. Be proud of yourself, enjoy yourself. Heck, I’m proud of you because I’m too keen on sofa surfing and drinking coffee…..

When I ran in arms length with my then 5yo in about 50 mins, we used to end up with times about 5 mins out from each other despite being no more than 20s out from the final sprint. There were fewer walkers and 45 min+ runners then which exagerated that gap.

When I'm timekeeping, I don't sweat a second on a click vs my co-timekeeper as the gap is so minimal. It's one of the things I've learned to chill out about.

Its all official running clubs with their uniform/tracksuits, and parents volunteering (standing at the sides yelling at kids to go faster).
Its a 2-loop parkrun, with the competitive kids finishing 2 loops before the other kids have finished one, so there is a time when a group of 15-20 sprinting kids are elbowing everyone else out of the way to get past. Its really not fun and borderline dangerous.

I can see junior parkrun being stopped. Every week there are facebook posts about the issues of parents/children not following rules.

And there certainly shouldn't be uniformed clubs running. Rules state under 11s must be within arms length of an adult.

This. I stayed in bed because it was cold, dreary & raining.

Well done for getting out there. Keep at it, you'll speed up quite quickly

I didn't think the arms length of an adult rule applied to Junior parkrun I think that's just at normal parkrun.

At least you’re doing it, honestly the time doesn’t matter. You’ll naturally improve your time the longer you’re running. I’ve been running for 3 years and still don’t do 5k in under 30 minutes! Well done for doing it at all, be proud of yourself and don’t worry about your time.

Kids don't have to be in arms reach at junior parkrun. They can run the whole thing by themselves. It's why they have to do it in parks with minimal risks and loads of marshalls for the entry and exit points.

two I hadn't thought about that and how funnel ducking affects the later runners!

If you don't enjoy it...why are you doing it? You don't have to do it.

I'm always one of the last to finish but l actually enjoy going.

I’m a parkrun Event Director (kind of head run director who set up the venue) and we really don’t care if someone is slow, I want as many people there as possible. I get mildly excited when we hit 300 runners in a week, because more people are participating. I loved it when the guy who hadn’t run for years hit 100 runs all at the event I started. When the lady ‘confesed’ our parkrun helped her mental health having miscarried on a friday night that wad why we’re out cycling the course at 7.30. We’re here to make lives better, be that for someone that’s racing to win (but generally that’s boring) to someone getting out of bed and getting fresh air and social interaction, you’re what parkrun is for and be really proud of yourself. Spring is springing, summer will be better and by the time your son completes his DofE (I presume) you’ll be an addict in a milestone shirt! Just don’t stop when he does!

@ACynicalDad thank you for your extensive parkrun volunteering. That’s an amazing achievement.

@ACynicalDad Sadly I found my local park run to be very competitive - lots of local running clubs all with their club bibs on, right at the front, and off at a sprint. The course doubled back on itself at the half way mark, so as us slow coaches were half way round they were finished and watching us from positions at the start line. Some were cheering us, in what they probably thought of as a supportive way, but it took me right back to the hell that was PE at school. I gave up after a while and now exercise outdoors in other ways. I'm just wondering if that's typical of sll park tuns, or was I just unlucky? It felt very competitive and definitely skewed towards the running clubs - there were lots of them!

@SirChenjins I have done lots of different parking and would say you have been extremely unlucky. The whole ethos is meant to support everyone no matter how slow or fast and it’s definitely not a race.

We are in Northumberland on holiday and the one we did yesterday at Druridge bay was particularly lovely as the race director had dedicated this week it to his late wife who passed away last year.
He - as most run directors do - made a point of saying everyone was welcome and there was a tail walker as well as runner, indicating walkers are definitely welcome.

well, I’m very much a beginner. I am told that you have to keep at it to develop a love for it. I know it can be addictive and I’m hoping it will get me and I will get it at some point. I didn’t go yesterday as I was on a full day out but I sort of missed it.