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?

I do between 45 and 50 mins and I am delighted with that (late 60s). I would have been dancing a jig with your time.

There's usually 10-20 behind me, but my local runs all attract 200-300 people. You should be so proud of yourself. Your only race is with yourself.

You can't have been the slowest as the tail walkers will have been behind you. If you are happy with what you are doing and enjoying it then just keep going you are doing great. If you fancy a change you could volunteer to tail walk. I tail walk at the parkrun my son volunteers at. Well he runs then volunteers whereas I tail walk and arrive at the finish after most people have gone home. I still enjoy it though.

The fact that you get up and go and take part is the only thing that matters, even if you walk the whole thing like a snail is still movement. The ground is so muddy at the moment so very difficult to do anything. Well done for going, keep at it and forget everyone else, just think of the movement you are doing and the fresh air you are getting!

I’m Team sausage and scrolling but I do feel a certain admiration for the folk that go and do a Park Run x

We have way more walkers at our Parkrun than runners.

But I am not in the UK.

It seems from reading some PR threads here, that people feel obliged, or they they have to run. Is that the case? It most definitely is not the case with our parkrun.

I didn't go today as it was just too hot. But OP, just to give example, last week I came in 804th out of almost 1500 people. 😂. I only know that as I went to check the email to see how many finishers there were. I even forgot to check my token.

Obviously the first finishers do, but the vast majority in my crowd (walkers) just do it to get out, get some exercise and many just to meet other people. It doesn't have to feel pressurized.

I’ve been last at parkrun many times and once in a proper race. Literally no one cares. And if they do, sod them. My theory is at least I’ve done it, and if someone wants to laugh or feel superior about it, then I’ve improved their day too.

Fun fact. Lisa used to work at MNHQ

Oh really!? She’s awesome 🙌🏻

I'm all for hash browns and sausages, but they are even more enjoyable when eaten in the ravenous and virtuous glow of having run 5k at 9:00 on a Saturday morning and having the rest of the weekend ahead of you! I am extra-lucky because my local Parkrun is in beautiful National Trust parkland overlooking Lake Windermere and has a great café. I haven't been for ages as I fell off the running wagon for a while, but am back on it and planning to start doing Parkrun again after Feb half-term. I've done over 100 in total.

It's a legacy of PE teachers who valued speed over participation and regularly berated slower runners and belittled their efforts. My PE teacher thought I was lazy for staggering around wheezing, with cramped calves and clutching stitches and would say "motivating" things, like "you're not even trying" while boys bounded past goading "lapped you... lapped you twice"

It tends to instill a deep fear of being "slow" in public and set up negative self-talk about sporting ability and performance.

Parkrun is the antithesis of that, but it takes people a lot of drive and courage to get to that stage.

We've got junior parkrunners who've come about 150 times, jog round with their mates and aren't bothered about pushing to be near the front, and that makes me so happy that they're content to just regularly turn up and enjoy without the pressure to be competitive.

You did better than everyone who stayed on their couches.

Don’t worry about it at all. I’ve been at the back and at the front (of my age group!). No one judges. It’s just good to do it

That’s not slow - lots of people do that speed. Starting running can be tough.

The hill will have put people off (I sometimes go to one with a hill & it’s not unusual to hear parkrun tourists saying that they are never coming back due to the hill).

The 5k app is great for motivation as it has lots of challenges & you can track your speed and your improvements. It might help to think about your PB for the hilly course as a different target to beat to your overall PB.

Parkrun has done a lot to encourage wide participation (eg having the parkwalker as well as the tailwalker), so the other runners won’t mind slower speeds.

If DS is volunteering, then you may get to know some other volunteers, which might help. You could always try volunteering as a park / tailwalker to help with how you are feeling (as it’s then your job to be slow & the run can’t function without you).

Well done to DS for volunteering too!

@BiscuitsCheeseBiscuits "At mine today I came 29 out of 40."

Where was that?! I usually finish 450-500 out of 500-600 runners. I did a bit of 'stat padding' once by visiting Orkney to claim 51st (out of 53). I want to come to yours!

I am 42 and honestly still feel scarred by my PE lessons. I used to dread them so much. And as a result I didn’t really do any proper exercise until I was in my 30s and I realised endorphins were a real thing!

Hi op, well done for going on such a dreadful day. I was there today marshalling and the puddles and mud were awful and so you were amazing to do it! Also, please be aware that you won’t be the slowest parkrunner or the last as there is always a volunteer tailwalker who gets the last position. Ignore the speedy men at the front and rejoice on your brilliant achievement.

You’re doing great, I mean you got a course PB today, so you’re heading in the right direction.
Hills are hard, trails are hard, and it’s cold and rainy. But the hard runs build fitness. You’ll fly round a flat easy course.

A very elderly man with a limp was faster than me today and i just feel like giving up
A man with a fridge on his back beat me in my first marathon.

We have a 85 year old who used to walk with me as I tail walked, after a few weeks he said "would you mind if I leave you and walk a bit faster just I've got to get home to walk the dog". After you've been at parkrun a little while you realise you absolutely can't judge anyone based on their age or body shape or the expensive kit they have etc. I've given up trying to predict who the fast ones or slower ones will be.

You're still faster than everyone not doing parkrun.

I did a 6 mile charity run once and despite lots of practise beforehand, I was overtaken by a six year old. 😅😅

So the first one you did was flat and on tarmac. Then you’ve done one involving hills and mud and you’re only three minutes slower. You’re also a minute quicker than you were at the same one last week. You’re doing absolutely fine.

I rotate around three local parkruns and all of them have people coming in after an hour.

Oh well done you! Threads like this inspire me to try park run... One day I will, and I promise I'll be slower than you!

I was lucky that outside school I did dancing (badly), and I got into DoE. That lead me to hiking and yoga, plus functional brisk walking in early adulthood. Then that lead to other classes at the leisure centre.

Running and strength came in in my 30s when I had babies and needed to squeeze something in and the most practical options were C25k and a circuits class. Fortunately the C25k podcasts (I hadn't quite got to smartphone stage for apps) and parkrun were gaining momentum. It was MP3 players and social media that turned me into a runner and undid the damage of physical "education".

But so many girls/ women have been totally discouraged from being fit and active for the fun of it and the health benefits by the way PE was "taught". It never even occured to me at school that running was something you could learn; I thought it was just something that I instrinsically couldn't do (something also reinforced at home by a mum who'd had similar experiences decades earlier)

I think you are brilliant.

@BogRollBOGOFyes absolutely ageee with your point about not being taught. At my secondary school, we were just told to do the sport, without any instruction as to
how to do it and assumptions made that we already knew how.

i went to a tiny primary where we didn’t play netball, then i went to secondary and was just told to play a netball match. I didn’t have a clue what was going on and then got screamed at. No other subject made those sort of assumptions. I hated it and really feel it has had lasting effects for me.

Don’t focus on how slow you are compared to everyone there. Find some smugness in the fact that you completed it compared to the hundreds of people that sat on their sofa instead!