The FastDay Forum

Kasia - welcome to the parkrun thread! Firstly, do not worry about 35 minutes for 5km, we have several runners/walkers who take up to 50 minutes to complete the course. It is not supposed to be a race and it is supposed to be very inclusive, everybody is welcome and the volunteers will wait for anyone no matter how slow. I don't think it will take you long to make your 35 minute target anyway, especially if you are running/walking most days. Get yourself a barcode and give it a go - we will all be cheering for you!

Thank you Pete. I know and love the idea behind parkruns - nonetheless it seems to be somewhat more "race like" here in Poland when consider the results (from the point of view of a beginner) Last Saturday there was 53 runners: 50 were below 29 min, 3 persons about 36 min.But I will be only happy to shift that "sportive" trend to more recreation

Melanie – yours progress in parkrun is very inspirational to me Thank you for encouragement.
And whole thread is great, and motivating.

I do not know how does it work for veteran runners, but for me its two steps forward and one step back – one day I feel great and run with pleasure, another day it’s opposite Today was mostly hard struggle So I am mentally prepared for very sloooow improvements, and must be careful about my knees (Chondromalacia, but not giving any pain recently)

By the way – curious thing is polish name for age category 40+, it is not veteran, but “older senior” – quite depressing Thinking about special T-shirt for running with a smiling tortoise

parkrun 96 today - a good 2 miles but a slow last half-mile so just a bit slower than last week at 23:53.
Considering how I felt all week this is pretty acceptable, almost exactly my average time over the last couple of years, but I do worry a bit about the lack of energy in the last mile despite more carbs on Thursday/Friday. There again, I had a relatively fast 20 miles on the bike yesterday so perhaps I did not replace all my muscle glycogen overnight?
Anyway, enough moaning - how did you all get on today?

Update - just seen Melanie Cheeks result from Wallace parkrun - another PB in 28:16! Well done Linda, it won't be long before you are beating me...

Thanks Pete! It was a very enjoyable run - had my little dog Mini with me again, she's very well behaved at ParkRuns. And I could have been faster - I'm running these days without my jacket, so I have a little pouch to carry keys, tissues, phone, plastic bag etc. And after I'd pressed "start" on MapMyRun, it took me a while to fiddle with getting my phone into the pouch and zipped up properly, so I spent the first lap getting past all the tail enders! And to be honest, I was a little hungover, having been out for dinner with husband the night before (tucked into my bowl of pasta in anticipation of the run, but had rather too much wine....)

Good Morning runners
I haven't been online for a while so I have been catching up with everyone's news and times.
I went to Madrid for a 5 day break and took my running things, thinking our hotel was much closer to the Parc del Retiro than it actually turned out to be lots and lots of walking though (23,000 steps on one day).
Away last weekend in Pembrokeshire at my Mum's house I ran on Saturday and Sunday mornings, not especially fast times but it was good to be running again, and I found a new route at the foot of the cliffs from Wiseman's Bridge to Saundersfoot harbour and back
Fasting tomorrow and aiming for a parkrun on Saturday

SianS, in response to your queries elsewhere about the clock time:

The forum clock is set to UTC, which is effectively GMT, so does not reflect BST (daylight saving) in the UK but does allow all the different timezones around the world to fit together in some sort of sequence.

Aviation/air traffic control uses the concept of Zulu (= UTC) time for flights wherever in the world you are and this saves having to keep track of local zone peculiarities...

Edit: Moogie put a comment near the bottom of every thread to say 'all times are UTC', but I didn't see it for ages!

Thanks I am easily confused, especially when hungry

Who's up for a parkrun tomorrow?
I've missed 3 through illness then holiday, so looking forward to tomorrow

I'm ready! Less than 2 weeks to my first half-marathon, so it'll be a parkrun for speed, and then a 12 mile run on Sunday for distance. Looks like a sunny weekend here in Norn Irn, so sunglasses and sunscreen at the ready!

Hi Linda, Sian, Mark et al - hope you have had good runs today. I managed my best time since March 2012, 23:09 by my watch, so am dead chuffed. Ran in a pair of racing shoes which I bought 2 years ago but don't wear usually because they gave me heel blisters - they were OK today but the lack of padding has hurt my hips more than usual. Worth it for the few seconds they seem to have saved!
OH did well, 27:56, but not quite a PB due to getting stitch in the last mile.
Beautiful conditions for running so no excuses from the rest of you please!

Hi runners
I had a good run this morning, it felt very smooth, but I was obviously enjoying myself too much as I was 2 secs slower than my last outing at 32:16 so no PB for me. On a happier note we had 114 runners today a new record for the run, there were a lot of children running today too, which would be fine if they didn't run so fast.
I found a pic of me on the Flickr stream on my last run in the rain if I can work out a way to share it I will, it is probably the least flattering photo I have ever seen

I think I've managed about the same as last week, will be surprised if its better. I had no music, as my shuffle was dead, and the heat made it more difficult too. But I really had to battle with that voice in my head - it's astonishing how that negativity is still there.

I have that negative voice in my head too Linda. Well done for keeping going with no music I would find that very hard

no parkrun for me yet. After I've wrote that do not have any knee problem - pain started. So I stick to 3K runs, 3 times a week, and hope for improvement. Good thing is - yesterday I've managed to do all the distance running, no walking and it is a step forward
as for the music - I listen to audiobooks, its even better and I strongly recommend Audible. That's where my English came from (as bad as it is )

I had a bit of a fall at Parkrun last week, managed to knock myself out and got rushed to casualtywith a large gash on my head. All this happened before the run while I was helping with the set-up. Tripped while walking (yes...walking) along carrying a bunch of metal posts. I haven't done any training runs since because of the infection and anti-biotics I have been taking but I did run on Saturday and have now pulled a muscle in my hip It looks like I'm going to have to nurse my injuries and build up again to get back in contention for a PB.