# parkrun



## ChrisSamsDad (Jan 7, 2017)

Anyone else do Park Runs? They're 5k runs in a local park, at the weekends, totally free, and they'll time you and publish results later that day. I've just done my first and it was a great experience. I've been going to the gym for over 6 months and running on the treadmill and mostly can manage a 5k run, depending on injuries - I've had shin splints in one leg and tendon problems in the opposite foot, as well as a broken rib 3 weeks ago, but if I have to give up on the treadmill I switch to the cross trainer and do the same amount of calories keeping up the same heart rate on that. 

Well, I finished it all, albeit limping for the last kilometre or so. It was a bleak, cold and misty morning and a bit soggy underfoot, but I wasn't too cold, in fact, with long compression tights and a T-shirt and long sleeved baselayer, I was actually a bit too warm in the end. 

I was exactly midway in the finishing list - they publish the list a few hours after the run - coming in 219 out of 437, and my time was 28:24, which is 53.23% Age Grade. I'm not sure how good it is, except for it means someone my age has done the same distance in around 15 mins at some point. Still I'm very happy with that and it was really great. Far more enjoyable than running the same distance at the gym, the time flew by in comparison, and it was great to see how many people I overtook who were younger than me. 

I would heartily recommend it to anyone. I'll definitely be going back and hopefully moving up the ranks a bit each time.


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## Chris Hobson (Jan 7, 2017)

I'm a big fan of the Parkrun too. It was how I got into running in the first place. I did my first Parkrun at East Park in Hull in February 2014 at the age of 55. My time was 30:02. I did find these quite hard to do to begin with, but they became easier each week. From that first Parkrun I managed to make fairly consistent progress, scoring one, two or sometimes even three new personal bests every month. I peaked in August with a PB of 23:05. My times worsened again during the winter and I couldn't better that time until the following summer with a PB of 22:06 which still stands. Now 58, I managed a new PB of 24:00 At the Humber Bridge parkrun. Today's time was 25:20, The East Park course is a two lap affair  and, as the resolutionaries were out in force today, I managed to lap a few people. Just over two and a half years after that first Parkrun, I ran the Hull Marathon.


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## HOBIE (Jan 7, 2017)

ChrisSamsDad said:


> Anyone else do Park Runs? They're 5k runs in a local park, at the weekends, totally free, and they'll time you and publish results later that day. I've just done my first and it was a great experience. I've been going to the gym for over 6 months and running on the treadmill and mostly can manage a 5k run, depending on injuries - I've had shin splints in one leg and tendon problems in the opposite foot, as well as a broken rib 3 weeks ago, but if I have to give up on the treadmill I switch to the cross trainer and do the same amount of calories keeping up the same heart rate on that.
> 
> Well, I finished it all, albeit limping for the last kilometre or so. It was a bleak, cold and misty morning and a bit soggy underfoot, but I wasn't too cold, in fact, with long compression tights and a T-shirt and long sleeved baselayer, I was actually a bit too warm in the end.
> 
> ...


Pleased you enjoyed Chris


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## Copepod (Jan 7, 2017)

Yes, but the correct term is parkrun (one word, no initial capital letter). I've done about 75 in England and one in South Africa.


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## ChrisSamsDad (Jan 7, 2017)

Chris Hobson said:


> I'm a big fan of the Parkrun too. It was how I got into running in the first place. I did my first Parkrun at East Park in Hull in February 2014 at the age of 55. My time was 30:02. I did find these quite hard to do to begin with, but they became easier each week. From that first Parkrun I managed to make fairly consistent progress, scoring one, two or sometimes even three new personal bests every month. I peaked in August with a PB of 23:05. My times worsened again during the winter and I couldn't better that time until the following summer with a PB of 22:06 which still stands. Now 58, I managed a new PB of 24:00 At the Humber Bridge parkrun. Today's time was 25:20, The East Park course is a two lap affair  and, as the resolutionaries were out in force today, I managed to lap a few people. Just over two and a half years after that first Parkrun, I ran the Hull Marathon.


22:06, wow! I've got my work cut out to beat that.


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## Chris Hobson (Jan 7, 2017)

"22:06, wow! I've got my work cut out to beat that."

I can't get anywhere near it either at the moment. My fitness level goes up quite a bit when I start cycling to work and that helps. Still, your debut time was better than mine so you never know.


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## ChrisSamsDad (Jan 7, 2017)

Chris Hobson said:


> "22:06, wow! I've got my work cut out to beat that."
> 
> I can't get anywhere near it either at the moment. My fitness level goes up quite a bit when I start cycling to work and that helps. Still, your debut time was better than mine so you never know.


Well, it was only the debut on the open road, been running on a treadmill for a few months, and have done one 25 min run, but of course, that's completely flat, and it hurt afterwards.


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## ChrisSamsDad (Jan 8, 2017)

Wow, so I spent most of yesterday aching all over - turns out running in the real world is a bit more of a shock to the system than a treadmill, and I've got 'jogger's toe' on one foot, where your toe bangs against your trainer and the nail bed gets inflamed, classic neuropathy issue really. 

I'm still aching this morning, but I'm off to the gym to do some more gentle walking/rowing as moving seems to help the stiffness. Turns out also quite a few of my Facebook and Twitter friends are Parkrunners too - I'm amazed I've never heard of it before - I only came across it because my friend from Uni (who had non-Hodgkins Lymphoma and decided as part of her recuperation to challenge herself to having a go at all the Olympic events open to women) wrote about it on her blog.


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## Chris Hobson (Jan 11, 2017)

The reason for feeling stiff might be because you were running faster than you are used to. When you are running with a bunch of other people they tend to sweep you along with them. My times for the 5k distance are much worse when I run on my own.


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## ChrisSamsDad (Jan 11, 2017)

Chris Hobson said:


> The reason for feeling stiff might be because you were running faster than you are used to. When you are running with a bunch of other people they tend to sweep you along with them. My times for the 5k distance are much worse when I run on my own.


Yes, I must admit my competitive streak did come out a bit, it felt quite good to be overtaking people - about 200 of them as it turns out as I started basically at the back. Also, I read a good article which described how different the muscle profile is when you're running on a treadmill than in the real world, basically, your back foot is used to lift you off the ground while the treadmills rolls underneath you, whereas when you're really running, you're using that back foot to push yourself forward. Also the treadmill is quite an easy landing compared to the road, and then there's the ups and downs.


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## ChrisSamsDad (Jan 21, 2017)

Well, on the 2nd one I did I came home in 25:37 and I've VERY pleased with that. It was about 2 degrees this morning, with ice all over the cars, but not quite enough to freeze up the mud. I'm finding the cold is actually welcome, because I don't get all sweaty and overheated.


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## Matt Cycle (Jan 22, 2017)

ChrisSamsDad said:


> Well, on the 2nd one I did I came home in 25:37 and I've VERY pleased with that. It was about 2 degrees this morning, with ice all over the cars, but not quite enough to freeze up the mud. I'm finding the cold is actually welcome, because I don't get all sweaty and overheated.



Great result Chris.


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## HOBIE (Jan 22, 2017)

ChrisSamsDad said:


> Well, on the 2nd one I did I came home in 25:37 and I've VERY pleased with that. It was about 2 degrees this morning, with ice all over the cars, but not quite enough to freeze up the mud. I'm finding the cold is actually welcome, because I don't get all sweaty and overheated.


It does not say what type of diabetic you are Chris ?  Well done.


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## ChrisSamsDad (Jan 22, 2017)

HOBIE said:


> It does not say what type of diabetic you are Chris ?  Well done.


I'm the argumentative type mostly, but yeah, you're right, I thought I had filled in my details, but apparently not. Fixed now. Thanks


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## ChrisSamsDad (Jan 23, 2017)

If anyone's interested - I've got parkrun to set up a 'Diabetes UK' group. If you're not a member of another running club, I thought it would be nice to have our own - you just go to your profile and choose it from the list.


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## PhoebeC (Jan 26, 2017)

These parks runs are great. Me and my daughter go the the junior one near us on a Sunday sometimes. Its 2K and she only just runs it all now, so its easy for me. Some of the kids are like rockets. I think its such a brilliant idea, a safe, fun way of running, its not a race but you get to track your times so you can improve as much as you like. There's no pressure with them so its fab!

Well done, sounds like a good time.

I love running and can just about do 5K, but I run with my dog. I like it as its me time, its my treat


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## ChrisSamsDad (Jan 26, 2017)

PhoebeC said:


> These parks runs are great. Me and my daughter go the the junior one near us on a Sunday sometimes. Its 2K and she only just runs it all now, so its easy for me. Some of the kids are like rockets. I think its such a brilliant idea, a safe, fun way of running, its not a race but you get to track your times so you can improve as much as you like. There's no pressure with them so its fab!
> 
> Well done, sounds like a good time.
> 
> I love running and can just about do 5K, but I run with my dog. I like it as its me time, its my treat



No, it's not a race, but I still check my position and enjoy overtaking younger people.


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## Chris Hobson (Mar 11, 2017)

I'm happy as I did my 97th parkrun at the Humber Bridge Park and set a course PB of 23:05 beating my previous course PB by 55 seconds. My position was 30th out of about 145 so I was well pleased.


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## Matt Cycle (Mar 11, 2017)

Chris Hobson said:


> I'm happy as I did my 97th parkrun at the Humber Bridge Park and set a course PB of 23:05 beating my previous course PB by 55 seconds. My position was 30th out of about 145 so I was well pleased.



Well done on the course PB Chris.


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## Chris Hobson (Mar 25, 2017)

I've just done it again, parkrun number 99 at the Humber Bridge Park, time 22:29 shaving off another 36 seconds and getting close to my East Park best time of 22:06. The East Park course is two laps around the boating lake on tarmac paths and is almost completely flat. The Humber Bridge course is three laps of a woodland walk that involves much more basic paths. It undulates and has a certain amount of mud. Position this time was 22 out of 174 which is inside the top 15%, not bad for a 58 year old. Sorry to be hogging the thread just to blow my own trumpet but I'm just so pleased with the result. Also I've just had my check up and my blood test reading has gone down again so I don't need any pills for another six months.


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