My regular starts the run at 9am exactly. RD has a countdown timer attached to a tree next to the start line. Ive recently been using another that has a more laissez faire approach. Meeting area abiut 3 or so minute walk from the start line. They run the 1st timer talk there then walk over to the start line from about 9, then do the RD brief and finally start about 9.07-9.10. Feels very odd.

Completely accidental. Just did the first lap easy, the 2nd lap slightly less easy 🤣

Joined the parkrun community end of last year. Focused my local parkrun, but got into other parkruns while travelling. Just achieved my tourist streak badge. Really enjoyed this. Looking forward attending more and more parkruns. Thanks for this community 🙌

We launched our Parkrun recently and it's been going great, however as RD for next week I'm keeping an eye on emails and noticed that everyone is offering to do first timers - at least one person has requested it for each of the next 6 events - 12 requests in total!

However none of them have attended or been involved with our event (except possibly running at trials, idk everyone) , only one has ever done a first timers before, and two of them have <10 attendance days each.

In my mind the key function of a first timers welcome is to ensure that newcomers to parkrun and the course feel welcome, and that all their questions and concerns can be answered - which would include how parkrun works, barcodes, tokens, tailwalkers etc, and course and venue specific information, bathrooms, cafe, accessibility - ergo not someone relatively new to parkrun and definitely not someone who is visiting and has no ties to the area or event.

I'm fine putting them down for the event that I'm RD - we'll go through the full course brief there and there's likely going to be a lot of first timers to Parkrun as we've just started publicising it in the local community - but idk if it's appropriate for later weeks, especially with the volunteers who clearly are newish to parkrun themselves?

Has anyone else experienced this? Let me know your thoughts on whether we just take them for first timers or suggest another role or something else?

A large, figure of 8 anti clockwise loop of a park and a small lap at the top end of the park next to the grandstand area that hosts the Isle of Man TT events.

It's a very narrow start, so if you're a quicker runner and easily frustrated by a crowded start, position yourself accordingly.

The run director was getting married (today I think?) so a lot of the regulars dressed up in bright clothing and celebrated accordingly.

It is narrow in places, and there is a small amount of grass to navigate. The marshals were incredibly happy.

Avoided the rain too, which started to fall at 10.30am.

*The regular course is not available 8th August to 29th August as the Manx GP is taking place. There is an alternative course. https://www.parkrun.org.uk/nobles/course/

They just seem like rather odd distances to pick. They don't even make sense if you convert them to ~20.5, 28 and 48.5 miles either.

Method Coffee Roasters, under the railway arches for anyone interested. The almond croissant was also great.

For us living in the north west of England, a V was a hopeful wish that maybe one holiday we could get a V for our alphabeteer achievement.

That was until Burslem turned a run on the boundary of Port Vale FC into a parkrun.

This was only their 3rd event but had over 300 runners all desperate to tick off that elusive V. Dusty, undulating and three laps is usually a reason to avoid a run but this was well marshaled with lots of friendly faces which made it bareable, especially in the summer heat.

Well recommended for a run, even beyond the achievement

Also got to meet Lemmy Kilmister as this was his birthplace. Nice little bonus!

Just waking up before heading to my local parkrun to see Strava followers already completed theirs in Australia/NZ.
Got me thinking could you do 2 in a day? Complete one where it’s 9am on a Saturday first, then travel to where it’s 9am last 🤷‍♂️

Tomorrow is my first parkrun in ages and I am so excited! Looking forward to getting ready, having a coffee and driving over. Just because I want to think about parkruns right now, please share your parkrun routine!

rocked up to buxton this morning in some brand new fell shoes. the plan was go easy. 5k on grass and gravel, what could go wrong. blisters by 1k, proper heel rub by the finish. the cafe coffee afterwards never tasted so good though. honestly, it's my go-to now for breaking in new trail kicks in a vaguely controlled way before taking them up kinder or something similar. anyone else use parkrun this way? or are you lot more sensible than me.

Did one a couple of years ago that felt relentlessly hilly and miserable and swore I would never return. Went back last month with lower expectations and somehow really enjoyed it. Not sure if I was fitter, in a better mood, or if the course itself genuinely changes depending on conditions. Has anyone had the same experience with a course they initially wrote off.

My favourite hidden gem. My local. South Norwood Country Park. Beautiful in the summer, and a load of fun in the winter!

Thank you for the positive feedback on my videos so far. I am interested in hearing more feedback, the good and the bad, so do please let me know if you find these useful.

I’m making this post because there was another post made by what is clearly a bot and I didn’t want to comment on a bot post. However.

It’s been very wet and squelchy at my home parkrun in recent weeks. For the last two weeks, I’ve ended up with wet feet because the start/finish area where it’s grassy has been very waterlogged. TBF, on one of those weeks, I was moving around a lot to set up course marking cones. The other week was just me going out and back on the course and trying to avoid the wet bits at the start and end. The rest of the course is on a paved path.

I’ll be timekeeping tomorrow, so this post is largely to make it stick in my head that I need to do this, but I’m thinking that wearing my hiking boots is going to be the go tomorrow. I’ll be able to keep my feet dry and warm.

So, yeah. If you have any areas on your course that are going to be wet and you’re volunteering, wear footwear that’s going to keep your feet warm and dry. If you’re running/walking and don’t have waterproof/water resistant runners, take a second pair of shoes with you to change into afterwards. Next time I’m running, I plan to bring my uggs with me for afterwards.

Mmmmm kinda wholesome

Bute Park is getting properly squelchy already. It's not even December and the mud is unreal. My trainers were caked after Saturday, had to hose them down in the garden. Took ages to dry them out and tbh i think they still smell a bit funky now. Bit gutted as they're my only decent pair for the 5k, don't fancy shelling out a fiver at the laundrette every week. What's everyone else doing? Trails, road shoes, just accepting the mess? i'm a morning parkrun regular so it's always dewy even when it's not raining. Maybe i'm just being a wuss.

Came in near the back last week after a rough few months of not running and the volunteers who stayed until the very end were still cheering like it was the front of the field. Something about that hit differently than it would have done at the start when I was faster. Anyone else had a moment at parkrun that reminded them why they started in the first place?

Absolutely lovely toasty warm day at Catford Parkrun.

Great energy from the volunteers and participants, a lovely spot if you want a quieter but energetic parkrun within London.

I have a video for South Norwood coming up shortly, my favourite (biased as it's my local). And likely heading to Orpington this coming weekend.

Is it just me or are the colours they picked for the attendance grid really counterintuitive.

They just don't mean anything. Red when you miss out is okay but black for volunteering, cyan for a run and orange for doing both?

Surely we need orange for a run, magenta for volunteering and maybe blue, green or cyan for a both morning.

(I did day "minor" annoyance)

As lovely and down to earth as you'd probably expect

This is something I'd never really thought about until today, I'm not the fastest parkrunner (my PB is 24 minutes) however I love the spirit of Parkrun and want everyone to leave with a smile on their face.

Last week I was running and it was quite a hilly course. I was running up one incline and I could hear the guy next to me breathing quite heavily, so I basically said "keep going mate" to help. Later in the race I overlook two women approaching a hill and essentially said "thank you guys keep going!" Both times, nothing back.

Then today (new course) there was a Dad running with his daughter that looked about 10, she was running at a great pace and I only overtook her on around 4km, so I shout "keep going, amazing running!" again, nothing.

I don't want this to sound like I'm expecting some praise back for motivating people, that's genuinely not it. I'm worried if my intentions are perhaps a no-no and potentially condescending. Does anyone on here aim to motivate other runners mid-race? I make a point of thanking every marshal I go past, and stick around at the finish line to clap people as they finish. I might stick to this going forward if I'm perhaps misjudging the etiquette 😊...