Parkrunners, assemble!

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Notworthy said:
I must be lucky. My parkrun is well run and pleasant. Volunteers don't have to do the whole shift.
Usually done in about an hour as we have 1 regular who has physical difficulties. Then off to cafe for a coffee. Some kind of cake about once a month as there are some keen bakers that must be bored Friday nights
Usually around 130 take part so not too busy.
My pet peeve though is people sprinting past in the last 50m when their time is still only going to be 35mins On a good day 😀
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Meh, I was always taught you finish strong. I did my first one back post baby today, 40 minutes and you damn well bet I sprinted that last 100m! So what if your time is over 35 minutes?

instaclowns said:
I’ve volunteered a few times at mine but I absolutely lost my tit as a tail walker once when there were a couple in their 50s I’d guess, decided mid way through the walk of 3 laps to go into the cafe that had opened at 9:30 and grab some breakfast and a hot drink. The we’re not fluent in English and I was trying to speak to them about it and told them that they’ve kind of counted themselves out of the event now and I continued. When we’d finished and packed the course up we always go into the cafe for breakfast and a cuppa but later on this couple came steaming in asking why we’d packed up and they actually reported up and we had to have a full investigation on us and our behaviour which was appalling from HQ! We were cleared and the situation was explained to them but these people or those who take 1hr 15 to walk it are reasons why volunteering sometimes declines as people have lives outside of Parkrun and it turns into a 2.5hr shift
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That is ridiculous, we have a local at ours (who I think might have been politely asked to reconsider whether it was for them) who took over an hour and a half to walk the route, 2 laps and barely any hills or tricky terrain. But then equally like they say there's no advertised finish time and now parkrun HQ wants it to be as inclusive as possible... You can't have that and say people need to be finished in under an hour 🤷‍♀️
 
Now I love parkrun. I love that there’s a place I can go and run 5k with a few other people without really needing to think about it, get it done in a Saturday morning. When I cant or don’t want to run, I often volunteer. I’m a member of a local running club, and there’s usually a good number of club runners there so nice to see a few friends.
What I hate is the people who do all these challenges. It’s madness! There’s a few at my local parkrun who I swear all they talk about is the 5k app.

I’ve had a few hilariously awful tailwalking experiences too. My slowest was 1h 15, and honest to god it was horrific
 
Millennial Pink said:
Argh, we've had a few occasions where people drop out after lap 1 then the tail walker has to leg it up to the next set of finishers. We also had an odd situation where someone dropped out mid way through and we managed to lose a tail walker, so it took about 1 hr 45 to wrap the event up.

I'm sure the website used to say something like 'you must make sure you're fit enough to walk or run 5k' but it doesn't say that now. You'd think not taking a break to stuff your face would be a given, but there we are...

Was barcode scanning this morning, no one threw up in the finish funnel, which is a nice change 😂
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I did my first ever today, our website does say you have to be fit enough to walk or run 5k. Glad to hear people have thrown up, I didn’t but crikey the last little bit was a push for me (I’m a beginner jogger)
 
I'm a parkrun convert. Started years ago, but never really got into it until last year. I think volunteering a couple of times at my local parkrun has really helped as I now recognise lots of the regular volunteers/runners (pick a role that's not marshall if you want to get to know people as the rest are usually close together so allow for chatting before helping). I can understand why it's perceived as cliquey, but it's more to do with regulars greeting each other and the more I go, the more I feel confident enough to chat to other people.

I went to a new one today as we're on holiday near my parents and it was somewhere I had never been before and wouldn't have discovered otherwise. I sometimes try to take my husband and children along to places too as they're often near play areas so it makes for a fun morning.

I understand why it's not for everyone, but love how inclusive most of the ones I've visited have been and personally enjoy trying to beat my own 5k PB. The thing that most bothers me is when really slow regular runners insist on starting near the front. My local parkrun is reasonably narrow so encourages people to start in terms of ability so noone gets held up, but there are a few people I recognise who presumably don't want to get held up and decide to start right at the front, only for everyone to have to try and squeeze past them. Oh well!
 
Ooh I'm loving this thread. Great to read through everyone's views. I have mixed views about parkrun. Like many others have said I love the idea of it, the community it has given a lot of people and the free opportunity to run / walk 5k in all sorts of places. I went along sporadically before the lockdowns but have only been back a few times since they reopened. Mainly because I am totally not a morning person and am happy with a lie in and a 10.30am jog on a Saturday. My slight gripes with it:

- As above, the cult of parkrunday and that if you go jogging on any other day its a 'freedom run'. No, its a 'run'.

- I've helped at the juniors sometimes and now again there are parents who bark at their kids to go faster as they run round and the kid is running along in tears next to them. 😪

- I got an email on my last birthday which basically said Happy Birthday, why not celebrate by buying yourself something from our online shop. Thanks. Maybe just say Happy Birthday!

- My sister in law does a lot of weird parkrun challenges. E.g. she's spent months trying to finish in the exact same time to the second to get something like her 'groundhog day' badge. When did jogging round the park with friends turn into Hey Duggie!?
 
Matisse182 said:
- I've helped at the juniors sometimes and now again there are parents who bark at their kids to go faster as they run round and the kid is running along in tears next to them. 😪
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this is the worst thing with juniors (and most competitive sports for children tbh) parents who push their kids to the point of tears, it’s supposed to be fun.

Also regarding sprinting the end of the run,I do as well apart from when I’ve volunteered as a pacer but then I’m usually encouraging anyone who was trying to stick with me to sprint ahead
 
Notworthy said:
My pet peeve though is people sprinting past in the last 50m when their time is still only going to be 35mins On a good day 😀
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I think perhaps the nature of parkrun and their strive for inclusivity has passed you by?

So what if someone sprints in the last 50m.
If their 5k pbs are all 36 minutes or high 35 minutes and they sprint to a pb in the lower 35s, they’re perfectly entitled to sprint. parkrun gives them a structured route, other runners that they can ‘race’ against and a supportive finish.

Sprint finishers aren’t exclusively for those finishing in a “fast” time.
 
Northernscumpet said:
this is the worst thing with juniors (and most competitive sports for children tbh) parents who push their kids to the point of tears, it’s supposed to be fun.
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One of the reasons I dislike my local parkrun and tend to volunteer there but run at others is the pushy parents. The event team have tried to stop parents pushing kids round to the point of tears, but it's still happening.

Surely a great way to make your kid hate exercise is to drag them round a park kicking and screaming?
 
Notworthy said:
My pet peeve though is people sprinting past in the last 50m when their time is still only going to be 35mins On a good day 😀
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Blimey, hope you don’t mean it like this sounds, when I first started running 35 mins was a pretty unobtainable time so to get to that with a last push was something that made me feel great. Hearing somebody tell me that it was ridiculous doing I that for a time they didn’t deem worth chasing would have really upset me. Not sure why you would be peeved by it anyway.
 
Baby Giraffe said:
Blimey, hope you don’t mean it like this sounds, when I first started running 35 mins was a pretty unobtainable time so to get to that with a last push was something that made me feel great. Hearing somebody tell me that it was ridiculous doing I that for a time they didn’t deem worth chasing would have really upset me. Not sure why you would be peeved by it anyway.
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Surely everyone wants to finish strong don’t they? My time yesterday was terrible as it was my first but I still pushed myself to speed up at the finish line just for the sense that I’d achieved it. I’m not comparing times to anyone, I don’t care about that.
 
Millennial Pink said:
Argh, we've had a few occasions where people drop out after lap 1 then the tail walker has to leg it up to the next set of finishers. We also had an odd situation where someone dropped out mid way through and we managed to lose a tail walker, so it took about 1 hr 45 to wrap the event up.

I'm sure the website used to say something like 'you must make sure you're fit enough to walk or run 5k' but it doesn't say that now. You'd think not taking a break to stuff your face would be a given, but there we are...

Was barcode scanning this morning, no one threw up in the finish funnel, which is a nice change 😂
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My local one is pretty big, over 400 every week and generally ranges from 18 min - 55min. The website still says,
  • Please ensure that you are fit enough to walk, jog, run 5k (3.1 miles) with us

but you have to click through to the course description for it.
 
I love my local Parkrun. But it’s very addictive isn’t it? And yes I agree a bit cultish with the people who travel miles and the ‘thank you Marshall‘ stuff. I’m not fast and always near the back somewhere, but I don’t really care. It’s in a really nice country park and I just like the scenery there, it’s quite hilly though so I couldn’t do it every week. I’ve just found out about a new one a fifteen-twenty minute drive away and got really excited about it. People looked at me like I was mad 😂
 
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