Park run

Does anyone here do the Park Run?

I had a significant health scare starting in December, and had to have two rounds of surgery and became a regular customer at all the local hospitals.

I'm not out of the woods yet, but a couple of weeks ago I was cleared by the consultant to resume all my normal activities. Except I lost my fitness so am working hard to build it back.

I'm coming on, and am now close to where I was before it all went pear shaped. I've registered for the park run. I've never done it before. Like with anything new I'm a bit nervous, especially because I don't bond quickly with strangers (I'm a bit of an introvert until I get going).

Anyone done it? Got any tips?

 

No sorry @Clueless 1 v2 but I wish you
all the best. I'm sure you'll do well .

 

I struggle with a park walk these days, let alone a run.

 

As you say "(I'm a bit of an introvert until I get going)." once you get there you will be fine !

Don't know what your medical problems were or what your fitness regime is, but do not give it up once you think your are fully fit, keep it going as long as you can.
We used a treadmill in a spare room for many years as going for walks/jogs on cold dark evenings after work was not the safest thing to do.

 

I won't be running the full 5 kilometers. I can't. I will be running a bit, walking a bit. I struggle with kilometres, I think in miles. But I worked out how many kilometres a recent 5 mile walk was, and that took an hour and a half walking at a fairly leisurely pace. According to my calculations and a bit of estimation, I reckon I should be able to complete the parkrun in under an hour. According to the parkrun results page, a few people took nearly an hour, so by my reckoning I'll be able to get to the finish line before the time keepers get bored and go home.

My teenage son has agreed to do it with me. By 'agreed', I mean I told him we're doing it. The wife and younger son have volunteered to come along and walk some of it with us, so at least I'll have people I know around me to get me started.

 

I did it. Came in at 37 minutes and 43 seconds. Quicker than I expected and I certainly couldn't have done it any quicker. I was cream crackered. I even struggled a bit to walk home afterwards.

There were loads of people there. 345 of us in fact. This meant the run started slow as the crowd gradually expanded as the faster people started to get away from the slower ones, making a sort of weird stretching crowd.

One lady did herself in. I passed her at one point and I heard her tell her friend she felt hot but had stopped sweating. I knew this was bad, but who am I to tell a stranger what to do. And there are volunteers everywhere watching out for problems. A few yards further on I took one of my walking breaks and she overtook me, ultimately finishing ahead of me, but it had clearly taken its toll. When I passed she was laid out receiving first aid. My missus, who came to watch but didn't take part, told me afterwards she'd crossed the finish line, crouched down, then just switched off and fell flat. I think she was ok though. After a few minutes of marshalls dabbing cold water all over her she was able to stand up and walk unaided.

 

Well done, just need to repeat again next week.

 

Junior park run today with the younger son. I can't get a time for that one because it's for kids upto 14 only. It's only 2k. I couldn't do it. I had to tell my son to run ahead at his own pace without me.

I felt fine walking to the event. I felt fine when we started running. But about a hundred metres in I was really struggling. I ran some of it with him. As I told him to run on ahead, I cheated (it's not cheating because I wasn't officially participating, just accompanying the boy) and took a short cut to meet him further round the route.

I don't know why I could barely run today when I managed the 5k yesterday. Yes, obviously my muscles were still fatigued from yesterday, but I felt fine when we set off.

 

I was a bit quicker today. 34 minutes exactly compared to 37:43 last week. I was proper done in though.

An interesting thought struck me about half way round. There's no ego there (well maybe apart from the handful of elite runners). Young, old, fat, thin, nobody seems to be in competition with anyone except themselves, which I think is the whole point of park run. I realised this during one of my walking rests when a haggered, exhausted, unfit looking older man with a sizeable belly and spindly legs overtook me. Instead of feeling bad about it and bursting back into a run to avoid being outdone by someone who looked less fit than me, my immediate thought was to the effect of 'go on lad, well done you'. Of course I didn't say it out loud. I don't know if I ended up overtaking him later when I was back on with running, or not. I don't care. I doubt he did either. It's just nice that everyone is doing what they can for their own reasons.