Another Saturday at home = another parkrun. A few pictures here just to keep Dot happy.
Above, Cary fails to outsprint Charlotte to finish in 30.47 in position 178 out of the 287 participants.
Also over 30 minutes, the ‘Breathless in under 32 Minutes’ chatty trio of Sue, Kate and Diana. “We didn’t want to be in the first 200 to finish” they admitted.
However, around the last corner only Diana seemed to be focused on finishing in anything other than an undignified blur.
A little later, in 53.33, Mark (aka Syd), and ‘Tail Walker’ Neil, strolled home in position 286 in search of the last brownie. Luckily for Syd (and as he had placed the order) there was one left for him.
With no root canal treatment scheduled this week, I was able to enjoy a warm down mile with ‘Fast Michael’ and ‘Even Faster Jackie’ whilst my coffee (thanks Paul) cooled down in the Courtyard.
As always, a great way to start the weekend. Full results here.
4 comments:
These park runs seem to be a bit more competitive (perhaps on the sly) than I thought. I did a lot of running on my own on the hills years ago, but only entered one short fell race. That brought me to a whole new mental dimension - I was terrified of being last. I was pushing myself harder than ever before and actually ended up vomiting. Competition was not for me and it was back to the freedom and enjoyment of moving relatively quickly, but at my own pace, and unburdened, over wild terrain.
Gah! Just typed an epic reply on the subject of the non-competitive nature of ParkRuns (unless you're a sub-20 5km runner who's battling it out at the front) only to fumble my phone and lose it.
I won't try to recreate it, because I'm not sure I was managing to convey what I was trying to, but would suggest, Conrad, that you pop along to your local ParkRun one Saturday morning and take part. You won't come last - that's the job of the Tail Walkers - and if you look at the bottom end of last week's results, you'll likely find that you're capable of walking at the same speed as those people. Or, just go along and observe.
There's a lady at our local-to-home run who walks with two sticks and is always near the back - but she puts in more effort than most each week and is tremendously well respected for it - an excellent illustration of the non-competitive founding principle of ParkRun (or 'Time Trial' as it was originally) that it's each individual against the clock.
Hmmm. I've still conveyed myself badly. This is clearly a topic on which I am incapable of being succinct!
That's a shame you lost the original message, Gayle. I know exactly where you are coming from though.
Parkrun is NOT a race. Though awards are sometimes presented - to long suffering volunteers, and for the best garb on fancy dress days, for example.
Participants range from international athletes wanting a bit of non-competitive training, to people like the two young ladies with whom I recently tail walked. They told me they were abuse victims with mental health problems, and they found parkrun, albeit in over an hour, therapeutic. They came along as it was free. I tried to persuade them to join some of the regulars for coffee afterwards, but they couldn't afford the £1.40.
For Sue and me it's primarily a social event. We have a 20 minute bike ride to get there soon after 8.30 for a pre run chat that sometimes continues during the run, which we finish by around 9.30. We usually adjourn from the cafe at around 11 am.
Whilst the run is not a race, it can be competitive, but in a supportive sort of way, with people in the same age group sometimes vying for first spot, but on other occasions just trying to help others return from injury.
I have a target age related percentage by which I judge my performance.
Some of the club runners are naturally more competitive, but that still doesn't make it a race.
It's just what you feel like on the day.
Like you, Gayle, succinctness is not one of my virtues today...
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