Parkrun..

Evel Knievel

Hi. New poster & new to Parkrun (even though I've had the barcode for a year or two).
So Im finally doing my first run on Saturday, either Malahide, Donabate or Ardgillan.

I'd like to go for a spin on my bike before the run and was wondering is there a safe place to leave bikes at any of these locations?

Singer

Evel Knievel wrote: »

Hi. New poster & new to Parkrun (even though I've had the barcode for a year or two).
So Im finally doing my first run on Saturday, either Malahide, Donabate or Ardgillan.

I'd like to go for a spin on my bike before the run and was wondering is there a safe place to leave bikes at any of these locations?

I'm pretty sure there are bike racks in Malahide Castle, beside the entrance to Avoca. Malahide's a good place to do your first one, it was the first ever parkrun in Ireland

Seannew1

KJ wrote: »

It's a really nice setting. One pretty big hill at the start which you do twice as it's 2 laps buts it's still nice. Completely in forest surrounded by a lake.
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2665302624

I was there about 3 weeks ago and they have since changed the route. You do that hill 3 times now. Toughest Parkrun I have ever done. Enjoy.

actuar90

Thinking of heading to down to Poolbeg Parkrun this weekend, are there any people who just walk the whole route or is it all runners?

RayCun

actuar90 wrote: »

Thinking of heading to down to Poolbeg Parkrun this weekend, are there any people who just walk the whole route or is it all runners?

With any parkrun you can check the recent results page to see what times people are completing it in.
http://www.parkrun.ie/poolbeg/results/latestresults/
http://www.parkrun.ie/poolbeg/results/weeklyresults/?runSeqNumber=70
There are usually people finishing in 35-40 minutes, so maybe a mix of walking and jogging.
The last finisher in every parkrun is a volunteer who is happy to walk around at whatever pace.

Pawwed Rig

actuar90 wrote: »

Thinking of heading to down to Poolbeg Parkrun this weekend, are there any people who just walk the whole route or is it all runners?

You could volunteer as tail walker

Diablo Verde

Singer wrote: »

I'm pretty sure there are bike racks in Malahide Castle, beside the entrance to Avoca. Malahide's a good place to do your first one, it was the first ever parkrun in Ireland

Yep definitely have some racks down by Avoca. I've also left my bike at the start/finish area a few times too.

Diablo Verde

diego_b wrote: »

Double this morning, first in Listowel at 9am where I took my course pb there from 23:55 (it was pretty soft) down to 22:16 (was aiming for sub 23). Then to Tralee where my wife and I escorted our 6.5 year old around her first parkrun in 44:41. She did great but she’ll only be doing these a few times a year as I think the junior parkrun is plenty at her age. Attendance record broken in Tralee today, 350...up from 334.

Was down there in Listowel for this on New Years day too. I've done it a few times and the third time up that hill doesn't get any easier. Well done on the double.

vargoo

Any sign of setting up a midweek one for those of us that work every Saturday?

quickbeam

vargoo wrote: »

Any sign of setting up a midweek one for those of us that work every Saturday?

Unlikely. The only times the 5km isn't on a Saturday is Christmas Day and New Year's Day for those runs that decide to host them. Since the inception of parkrun, it's always been run on a Saturday.

robinph

quickbeam wrote: »

Unlikely. The only times the 5km isn't on a Saturday is Christmas Day and New Year's Day for those runs that decide to host them. Since the inception of parkrun, it's always been run on a Saturday.

Except for when it hasn't.

http://www.blog7t.com/2012/07/bespoke-parkrun-3-olympic-special-at.html

There have been a handful of parkruns on other days, but this was many years ago when they were trying out some other things. It won't come back to being on other days now though.

If you want a midweek extra parkrun you could fly over to the US for thanksgiving later in the year though.

opus

Diablo Verde wrote: »

Was down there in Listowel for this on New Years day too. I've done it a few times and the third time up that hill doesn't get any easier. Well done on the double.

Lots of people in Listowel that day, was my first time taking part there & then followed the crowd to Tralee.

Pawwed Rig

robinph wrote: »

Except for when it hasn't.

http://www.blog7t.com/2012/07/bespoke-parkrun-3-olympic-special-at.html

There have been a handful of parkruns on other days, but this was many years ago when they were trying out some other things. It won't come back to being on other days now though.

If you want a midweek extra parkrun you could fly over to the US for thanksgiving later in the year though.

We need a Paddy's day parkrun

robinph

Pawwed Rig wrote: »

We need a Paddy's day parkrun

Unfortunately to do that Ireland would need to give up the Christmas Day parkrun as their extra day.

vargoo

robinph wrote: »

Unfortunately to do that Ireland would need to give up the Christmas Day parkrun as their extra day.

What sort of rule is that?

quickbeam

robinph wrote: »

Unfortunately to do that Ireland would need to give up the Christmas Day parkrun as their extra day.

Didn’t know that. Are each country only allowed so many?

Maybe when Christmas is on a Saturday anyway we’d get a Patrick’s one?

robinph

vargoo wrote: »

What sort of rule is that?

It's just the way parkrun global have thing setup now that each country is only permitted one extra non-saturday-parkrunday per year, and also the only day when double parkruns are permitted is New Years day.

There have previously been some countries running multiple extra days, or until last year in Copenhagen they got away with a semi official double parkrun day when they had another event in the park so ran one of the events an hour early and people then made it across to another event and two were recorded. It's mostly to try and keep things as simple as possible worldwide.

There are extra days around the world with Chinese New Year (not certain if they get 1st January double as well though), Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, 26th December, New Years Eve and New Years Day. If they let too much freedom in creating extra days and doubles etc then the brand would loose it's focus and simplicity. It's complicated enough with the multiple start times in some countries, and even different start times for the same event depending on the time of year.

robinph

quickbeam wrote: »

Didn’t know that. Are each country only allowed so many?

Maybe when Christmas is on a Saturday anyway we’d get a Patrick’s one?

Have to wait until December 2021 for that, but do they then add the extra in 2021 or 2022?

AliasME

Someone came up with a very interesting map of the New Years doubles, which gives an idea of how many did what combination. Father Collins/St Annes had the most doubles in Dublin

Burkie1203

Whenever there is an event on in Dublin midweek there is usually a load of groups from offices etc. Safety in numbers etc

A pop up parkrun here and there might take away the fear factor for a lot of people to then go along on saturdays

Bravestaar

Evel Knievel wrote: »

Hi. New poster & new to Parkrun (even though I've had the barcode for a year or two).
So Im finally doing my first run on Saturday, either Malahide, Donabate or Ardgillan.

I'd like to go for a spin on my bike before the run and was wondering is there a safe place to leave bikes at any of these locations?

I would say don't do Ardgillan. It's one of the hardest ones unless you're really used to running on hills. It's lovely but definitely the hardest one I've done. Malahide is great.

You can always just lock your bike near the start. There's always a load of people around.

St. Anne's is the best for bikes. Half the people that go there seem to cycle and all leave their bikes together

Bravestaar

Another idea rather than have one in midweek if that isn't possible is to have on or two a week changed to a different time, say 11am.

That would give some people the opportunity to do 2 parkruns a week.

I thought it was great being able to do two parkruns on both Xmas day and new years day.

Bravestaar

Has anyone done Carlanstown Parkrun? What's the course like?

Bravestaar

AliasME wrote: »

Someone came up with a very interesting map of the New Years doubles, which gives an idea of how many did what combination. Father Collins/St Annes had the most doubles in Dublin

Being able to do two a day would be fantastic.

robinph

Bravestaar wrote: »

I would say don't do Ardgillan. It's one of the hardest ones unless you're really used to running on hills. It's lovely but definitely the hardest one I've done.

What we as experienced runners consider hard doesn't actually make much difference to new runners/ parkrunners a lot of the time. We might only consider a course hard because it's hilly/ muddy/ crowded so we can't get a PB, but the PB is irrelevant to someone just starting out where the challenge is covering the distance and it doesn't really matter the how they cover it. It makes it hard to get a fast time, but it doesn't make completing it any harder. Despite that I'm still amazed that one of my local runs which is one of the hilliest in the UK is still the most popular of the local events and gets loads of complete beginners so I have to keep reminding myself that I'm looking at things from the wrong perspective.

Once the event is enjoyable, welcoming and accessible for them then the amount of hills and mud don't make much of a difference to if someone can be hooked on parkrun by doing it.

RayCun

There's a lot of value in the fact that parkrun is always on at Saturday at 9.30 (in Ireland). It adds to the informality of the event - no booking, no checking the time or place, just turn up by 9.30 and bring your barcode.

Tymon parkrun changed it's starting location two or three years ago, one end of the park to the other. I've marshalled at the point nearest the old start a few times since then, and people are still turning up at the old start point.

Sunny Dayz

robinph wrote: »

There are extra days around the world with Chinese New Year (not certain if they get 1st January double as well though), Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, 26th December, New Years Eve and New Years Day. If they let too much freedom in creating extra days and doubles etc then the brand would loose it's focus and simplicity. It's complicated enough with the multiple start times in some countries, and even different start times for the same event depending on the time of year.

If you start doing a extra parkrun for every "special day" then where do you draw the line? It puts extra work on the parkrun organisers and core teams. Fair play to the parkruns that hosted a Christmas Day run and a New Years run as well as the Saturdays either side. That's a lot of organising, a lot of volunteers.

Bravestaar

robinph wrote: »

What we as experienced runners consider hard doesn't actually make much difference to new runners/ parkrunners a lot of the time. We might only consider a course hard because it's hilly/ muddy/ crowded so we can't get a PB, but the PB is irrelevant to someone just starting out where the challenge is covering the distance and it doesn't really matter the how they cover it. It makes it hard to get a fast time, but it doesn't make completing it any harder. Despite that I'm still amazed that one of my local runs which is one of the hilliest in the UK is still the most popular of the local events and gets loads of complete beginners so I have to keep reminding myself that I'm looking at things from the wrong perspective.

Once the event is enjoyable, welcoming and accessible for them then the amount of hills and mud don't make much of a difference to if someone can be hooked on parkrun by doing it.

Ok.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Looks like I'm going to be doing a lot more volunteering over the next month of two.

I've been suffering a lot of pain in the last 4-6 weeks in my lower left leg. Coming off a night shift last night and I was in cruel pain all day and night so took myself off to the physio this morning.

I've to get it confirmed with X-rays but she suspects I've a lower fibula stress fracture so I'm off my feet for 4-6 weeks before my she'll even consider letting me return to running. And walking is out for a minimum 2 weeks.

I'm ok to swim & cycle at least, and I'm waiting for my physio to ring me in regards to training on elliptical cross trainer.

I'm bummed.

Butterbeans

AliasME wrote: »

Someone came up with a very interesting map of the New Years doubles, which gives an idea of how many did what combination. Father Collins/St Annes had the most doubles in Dublin

Fair play to them, I love that kinda stuff.
Drilling into it, just from a Dublin perspective, Hartstown comes out on top (percentage-wise) for people who completed a 9.30am (or 9am in the case of Poolbeg) Parkrun and went on to complete an 11am one.

Hartstown - 63%
Poolbeg - 61%
Bushy - 54%
Griffeen - 52%
St. Annes - 43%

With only Griffeen and Poolbeg having representatives also take part in each of the 5 11am Parkruns.

Anyway.....

robinph

Jamir Warm Hamstring wrote: »

I'm bummed.

I highly recommend getting into the volunteering now as a way of keeping your running motivation up and not falling into finding something else to fill what would otherwise have been running time, like sitting on the sofa watching telly. It will be annoying to not be participating, but it will keep you motivated to want to get back.

The Black Oil

I looked up Bushy park UK, they had over 1,100 finishers on New Year's. http://www.parkrun.org.uk/bushy/results/latestresults/

And their volunteer roster* is huge. http://www.parkrun.org.uk/bushy/futureroster/

*I misread funnel manager and thought it said funeral manager.

robinph

The Black Oil wrote: »

I looked up Bushy park UK, they had over 1,100 finishers on New Year's. http://www.parkrun.org.uk/bushy/results/latestresults/

And their volunteer roster* is huge. http://www.parkrun.org.uk/bushy/futureroster/

*I misread funnel manager and thought it said funeral manager.

They had 2100+ on Christmas Day and ran out of tokens!!!

If you are ever over in London it is well worth going to see the spectacle of it, and the finish funnel really does need that many people to manage it. They have people to make sure you don't disturb the timers and token giverouters, more people to make sure you don't funnel duck, people to run back and forth with laminated A4 pages with big letters on so they know when to switch from one funnel to another, people to make sure everyone keeps moving forward and isn't shy about squishing closer together in the funnel.

It's a well oiled machine and impressive to see happening...and then all disappears again without a trace other than the occasional muddy footprint.

arybvtcw0eolkf

robinph wrote: »

I highly recommend getting into the volunteering now as a way of keeping your running motivation up and not falling into finding something else to fill what would otherwise have been running time, like sitting on the sofa watching telly. It will be annoying to not be participating, but it will keep you motivated to want to get back.

Oh I get you. I give the same advice, and use it to Judoka who are out injured and can't train Judo. Its very easy to lose time you give to something and very hard to get it back.

Time keeping in Father Collins this weekend, and for the next while I think.

I've got a few volunteer roles covered already.

Thankfully I love cycling and swimming too but I don't get the same buzz from them as I do running.

plodder

AliasME wrote: »

Someone came up with a very interesting map of the New Years doubles, which gives an idea of how many did what combination. Father Collins/St Annes had the most doubles in Dublin

If you zoom out you can see the other doubles in this country and other countries too. Afaik, the only double in two different countries was between Copenhagen (Denmark) and Malmo (Sweden). I was talking to a lady who was going to do it as there's a direct train link between the two cities. Apparently, 141 people did both.

<edit> I hadn't noticed Buncrana to Derry city. So, to be accurate there were two doubles that cross an international border. To say they are different countries or not, I won't go down that rat hole.

quickbeam

Bravestaar wrote: »

I thought it was great being able to do two parkruns on both Xmas day and new years day.

How'd you manage two on Christmas day?

quickbeam

robinph wrote: »

They had 2100+ on Christmas Day and ran out of tokens!!!

What happens then?? :eek:

ISOP

quickbeam wrote: »

What happens then?? :eek:

it was actually 2011 people, and they had barcoded stickers which they gave out after running out of tokens

robinph

ISOP wrote: »

quickbeam wrote: »

What happens then?? :eek:

it was actually 2011 people, and they had barcoded stickers which they gave out after running out of tokens

Other events which also ran out of tokens have resorted to handing out raffle tickets or writing position numbers on the back of people's hands. I heard of another event over the last week that not only ran out of position tokens, but their timers were old ones that could only record 450ish times and they had 500+ runners so then faked the times based on knowing the tail marshal time and a couple of others in between.

Big Bag of Chips

Jamir Warm Hamstring wrote: »

Then report back here and lets us know what you thought of it all

OK then!

What a lovely event. So relaxed. So welcoming. We walked and jogged. There were people who walked it all, and there were people back sitting in their cars when we were only passing 2.5km!! I really enjoyed it. We pottered along at my daughter's pace, but I pushed her a little bit picking a tree in the distance to get to before stopping. We walked more than jogged but I told her we will keep working on building it up during the week and every week we'll be more comfortable to jog more.

Thoroughly enjoyed it. And enjoyed the one-on-one time with her too! Looking forward to next week, and I can highly recommend it to anyone who is on the fence.

Swashbuckler

Big Bag of Chips wrote:

Thoroughly enjoyed it. And enjoyed the one-on-one time with her too! Looking forward to next week, and I can highly recommend it to anyone who is on the fence.

Well done and welcome to the club. Nice to have time with the little one too.

Ted_YNWA

Well done BBoC.

Glad you enjoyed it. You will be hooked now.

Slowly the walk/run ratio will swing to a majority of running. No rush in getting it to all. Go at your own pace.

Don't mind those that are finished ahead of you. Most of them were where you are now when they started out.

Big Bag of Chips

A few years ago I was running 10kms, handy enough (slow, but handy!). I'm happy to slowly build this up. My daughter struggled a little bit at one point and I explained to her that when I first started jogging that I would feel exactly like that, but that over time (and quickly enough really) it becomes easier.

I thought during it she would give up and not want to go back but we persevered, and when she got to the finish, and got the cheers and encouragement (and a little bar to reenergise!) she said that she was surprised at how quickly she recovered from being exhausted. She's talking of doing the junior one next week as well as the other one!

rainbow kirby

plodder wrote: »

If you zoom out you can see the other doubles in this country and other countries too. Afaik, the only double in two different countries was between Copenhagen (Denmark) and Malmo (Sweden). I was talking to a lady who was going to do it as there's a direct train link between the two cities. Apparently, 141 people did both.

<edit> I hadn't noticed Buncrana to Derry city. So, to be accurate there were two doubles that cross an international border. To say they are different countries or not, I won't go down that rat hole.

Wepre and Chester was international-lite too, Wepre being just over the border into Wales.

Paced 31 minutes at South Manchester parkrun with the buggy this morning. Good fun and a big field!

Prospector1989

Big Bag of Chips wrote: »

Thoroughly enjoyed it. And enjoyed the one-on-one time with her too! Looking forward to next week, and I can highly recommend it to anyone who is on the fence.

Well done and welcome to the club! Once you've been bitten by the bug you'll find it hard to stop!

Diablo Verde

Back to my "home" run (Malahide) this week and enjoyed it. Would have been very close to stealing a PB if I hadn't had to stop to tie my lace after 2k. Ah well, there's always next time.

robinph

Went back to do "Curly Wurly" parkrun again this morning. Was expecting it to be muddy and a slog to complete, ended up being frozen solid so actually a bit faster than our last visit with the buggy despite still being incredibly hard work pushing as you are constantly going round corners.

Turned out that I got a two minute pb, which was surprising. But cheered us up.

Then checked Strava and it seems that one of the Wurly bits were missed by everyone on the first lap so the course was a bit short. Masses of first timers with times they will never beat now, everyone else running got a big pb as well, except for the tail marshal.

DeepBlue

With all the extra parkruns of the last couple of weeks it's going to be a bit of an adjustment to have to wait a full week for the next one. :pac:

opus

2nd ever highest turnout at Ballincollig (430) & Glen River (131) in Cork city.

arybvtcw0eolkf

I see Malahide hit another record high today, something in the region of 580.

Fr.Collins done 111, which is good for a PR which normally numbers around the 70 mark.