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Not a race - yet you're given times, in order of speed. There's marshals, and they call it a "time trial".
So what's the difference between a time trial with other people, and a race?
Wearing a number? Paying to enter? Getting prizes?
Not all proper races have all that stuff anyway.
The idea that "everyone" who pays and does a "Proper" race is racing, whereas in a parkrun they're not isn't even a totally clear line in the sand either?
Is it the "right of way" aspect the Mudfather mentions? Not really, we all have done "proper" races where you don't actually have right of way and are warned that "the park is used by other peeps"
Is it simply an insurance/cost thing? Call it a race and the man in the council will want some wad. Call it a "parkrun" and make a lot of soundbites about how great exercise is, and how it'll cut health costs down the line, and basically doing the council's job for free for them - suddenly no wad needed...
One big question I have, is why do parkruns even go on PO10 then?
They're so fussy with other stuff - proper measurements, has to have a "proper" UKA license etc, yet they let parkruns, that your dad's mate might be marking the course out slightly differently every week on there.
(ps i'm glad they do, as my 5k pb is from one - one of the ones that properly held certification luckily...not like my clubmate, whose pb is quicker than another one he did around the same time that is marked "short", so there's no way it's legitimate, so he'll always have an impossible to beat pb!
I guess if you can get more bums off seats by labeling something a certain way then that's what counts.
I fell victim to the Liverpool half last year! Though looking on strava this year, back to it's normal route it looks on the short side of accurate!
Yes, SG, I have done many races on open road sand in open parks. It is odd that po10 and RB take a parkrun. My local 10k is a race and doesn't have a UKA licence. They won't take that.
Yet anything after then, has to have the UKA license.
Back a decade or so ago, you actually had to hit certain times to even get your time on PO10!
I remember those days, as the times were pretty trim (for men anyway).
28.00 needed for a 5miler for instance, 58.00 for a 10miler!
The 16.45 for 5k I still haven't achieved.
(1hr 20 for a half and 3.00 for a marathon surely much easier than the other times)
Sod's law was well in action too.
Two examples...
I researched parkruns that were flat and certfied about 6 years ago. Found Dulwich, did Dulwich, got my 16.53, and for 2 glorious weeks I had a "5k" pb of 16.53
THEN, they decided to lump all parkruns in as "parkrun", whether they were the above sort of standard course set up or MT, NAD, "Your dad measuring it", dodgy adjusted courses due to some pride festival being on (long story!) or any other gub.
Doing 28.05 at Victory 5 one year, just missing the 28.00 qualification.
Next year, 27.56 - but they'd loosened the 28 being the barrier, in their attempt to be more inclusive! Couldn't make it up!
So from a position of needing to hit pretty tight times at properly certified races, they're now allowing parkruns. What a turnaround.
Parkruns are a great cheat code to improve your RB handicap though. Splash a few of those in, and jobs a goodun.
My RB handicap has dropped from 11.4 to 7.6 in 5 weeks simply because of the above pretty average run outs.
Meanwhile my RB has sunk, as I've only done a couple of 5.03 miles in the last 2 months, and a non counting XC.
I have a lower RB than some local guy who i've probably beaten 20-0, but he's turned out more.
Either something unusual was going on, or one of you or the marshals misunderstood the situation
Perhaps. Who knows. We're all becoming far too soft these days I think.
And on the other side of the can - finishing some gruesome XC, on some fair old hill.
Our captain was a legend - telling me I had about a min lead on the guy behind, so told me to ease down.
Unlucky to those who had do the opposite - not where you want to have to up the effort!
There are races bundled under HM MT or 10k MT, 10k XC that are as varied iin distamce, terrain and profile as parkruns. It's just a label. Hardly worth losing sleep over.
At that point I was only about 5 yards back myself and had time to consider making a charge for the lead before they got going again.
I recall briefly leading a parkrun, which is odd because i'm usually about 25th after 300m so I was looking around along with a few other guys I knew at my level wondering where all the speedsters were. Eventually a lad that is about a minute faster than me who was there as a tempo sniffed an opportunity for glory so took the responsibility.
Yes, parkrunning every week has a huge RB boost. I know plenty that are well behind me on every distance but parkrun every weekend at circa 19.30 and so have a lower handicap.
As otherwise the fastest geezer can just smack a good time or 2 a year and hang about at the top of the cheese.
Mud- in my recent PO10 updating spree, it's probably a good thing they didn't add the local summer series ones for last summer (although they did without worry up to 2010)
If they let my 16.51 stand, for what had to be somewhere in the 15-20 secs or so short mixer, I'd have had a real world of pain trying to beat that!
I even sent it over with a "can you add NAD on"
When I won/finished first at Evesham parkrun, I got sent the wrong way by marshals numerous times as there was some confusion as to which way round we were running the course that week?! The first time the guy behind called me back but after that I was too far ahead and was just following the instructions which turned out to be incorrect. At one point the faster runners ended up running in opposite directions to the slower runners on a fairly narrow path which was fun. It was a bit stressful but fortunately there the course involved a couple of 180 degree turns each lap so I could see how far ahead I was.
9 miles this afternoon to go and fetch my car from the garage, which as luck would have it, meant running west and therefore into the wind. Lovely
Skinny, yes 2 x 20 so far, probably room for another
Ground to a bit of a halt this week as the PF was really playing up after Monday's 5 miler ( wasn't great on Sunday either ) and I was limping about on Tuesday. I felt like it was ok this morning but it was pissing down and blowing a gale so CNBA fairy paid a visit.
Ho-hum
Hi Madbee
2003
Keep wearing the shades Skinny!
Mini session for me yesterday, 4 miles progressive on the treadmill (av 6.20-ish) as it was raining at lunch . After being rained on all of last week and some of this week, I wound up with some blistering so while it was nice to stretch the legs out, it wasn't totally frictionless. The weeks only other 'efforts' came on Monday. But DT's 10x1k@10k totally trumps my 7x1k@mp from then.
Planning 7 miles or so today to bring me to 50 for the week, 6 tomorrow, then Gloucester 20 on Sunday morning. That'll be interesting jumping in at the deep end with my first 20 mile run, and in fact my first 20m race. I will look to match the effort I put in to the 19m trail race I did before Hull last year and see what comes out. It could be a sufferfest with the blistering so going out to buy some toe johnnies protectors.
So will this be a 76 mile week, Muddy?
Gloucester, if it is the same route as 3 years ago, it's a 3 lap course and each lap ends with quite a nice long sweeping downhill for a good couple of miles. Weather at least looks better Sunday compared to tomorrows mess.
Off out to tempo over lunch.