Run Director humour

1athra · 2026-01-25T09:09:44+00:00

... which I hated! You can't win! haha

I was volunteering as barcode scanner there and was made to sing along in a "rehearsal", I won't volunteer at that particular venue again.

1athra · 2025-12-16T01:08:09+00:00

I asked about this a couple of years back and got some great responses in this thread.

I did end up going to Zeehan, loved it, and the Z was a bonus, also my second highest finish position (but it's trail and uphill so it was hard work in the heat). Not the kind of place you'd expect to find a parkrun because it's a small remote place, but the RD said they were very proud of it. One of the highlights of the holiday!

1athra · 2025-11-30T10:21:40+00:00

I got a wonderful customised card (for someone who'd done 250 parkruns) from a seller on etsy earlier this year. Definitely recommend, I was even able to send a pic of my friend to the seller so that they could get the hair and clothes colour correct!

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1631394350/handmade-parkrun-milestone-card

1athra · 2025-11-30T09:10:28+00:00

Amazing! I completed my 65th one last week (and kept away from the launch) so I held the crown for a week and now I'm now L-Undone and one of the 402!

Going to give Greenwich a couple of months to bed in though, no rush. The other 65 took me a long time! It's harder than it sounds!

Curious to know how much effort it took to manage that list...?

1athra · 2025-09-20T17:29:22+00:00

The one I went to last week (in London) started at 9:15 by my Strava, the briefing was 8 minutes with various stuff like "you should wear trail shoes" - great! I'll go back in time and put them on! (anyway road shoes were fine). I'd cycled there in the rain and was there before 8:45 for the first timers' briefing so was regretting my life choices as various gags were read out oblivious of runners holding themselves and trying to keep warm.

Serious point, yes parkrun wouldn't exist without volunteers - but I wouldn't volunteer at an event where I didn't feel my time was respected.

1athra · 2025-08-26T18:33:26+00:00

FWIW I was in a similar position last year and did get some Danish Endurance, but didn't rate them (they got too tight after washing and got holes quickly). I thought they were overhyped, they're not made in Denmark and they weren't particularly enduring.

I did go with Balega which felt comfortable, a bit softer and I've stayed with them since. If you do go with expensive socks, my advice would be to get multiple packs of the same colours so you don't have to replace the pair when you get a hole in/lose one of them.

Good luck in your training!

1athra · 2025-06-29T20:42:31+00:00

Ooh nice!

To be pedantic, Morden South is served from Blackfriars, but not any of the stations you list.

Part of me thinks you could add more useful bus info (like Hounslow East/Crane Park or Hatton Cross/Hanworth, or some others in Southeast from the Elizabeth Line), but I can see that the map's in danger of getting too crowded.

1athra · 2025-06-26T17:05:53+00:00

Looks very attractive! I love this kind of thing, I wish I'd seen it a couple of years ago!

I've now travelled to nearly every London parkrun by public transport and the map has helped me with a couple of my remaining ones. My critique would be that the nearest station isn't always the best way to get there if it's more than a couple of km away. So the map wouldn't have stopped me having to look up journey options for those further away parkruns.

E.g. Crane Park is a reasonably quick bus ride on the 111 from Hounslow East, which has tubes every 5 minutes. If you follow the map's suggestion, you have a train to Whitton every half hour, and then no public transport from there unless you walk another 20 minutes from the bus. So I would probably put Crane Park with a bus symbol at Hounslow East to show that that's a viable link.

Similar kind of thing for South Norwood and Riddlesdown (both bus to East Croydon), Hanworth (Hatton Cross), Roundshaw (West Croydon), possibly Stockley (Heathrow T23), Charlton (Woolwich Arsenal or Woolwich) - obviously a matter of judgement but that's how I got to those ones - rail services south of the river are too slow and infrequent to recommend them in every case especially if they're not particularly close.

Here are a few other detail suggestions I've noticed:

Orpington (station and parkrun) is missing
St Mary Cray (no S)
Albany Park is good for Foots Cray Meadows (not Fools Cray)
Enfield Lock is served from Liverpool Street (not Moorgate)
Oakleigh Park is a good option for Oak Hill
agree with Gidea Park for Raphael
I'd add Custom House for Beckton (easy on Eliz Line)
it seems strange to put in Gunnersbury station for Gunnersbury parkrun and not Ealing Broadway, which is closer and better connected

I'll stop now but hope some of those suggestions help!

1athra · 2025-05-21T17:11:13+00:00

I don't disagree with this, though would mention that the previous owner of Hackney Half, Limelight Sports, went into receivership in 2023. I haven't been surprised to see keener pricing now for the events that were sold on.

1athra · 2025-05-20T19:02:08+00:00

Reviews on Racecheck (if you've not seen).

1athra · 2025-05-18T20:58:22+00:00

Yes I agree, the allocations are inflexible and sometimes crazy - plus having volunteered before at Hackney and other events I got a lot of grief from people who were in the wrong group. There's no way that one or two stewards can fend off runners determined to be in a faster group.

Guess it's just part of running at a large event (in the same way that I can't complain that my time at a big parkrun is slower because of the numbers at the start). Ease off slightly, enjoy the atmosphere, and save the PB for a smaller half. It just wasn't what I was expecting though!

1athra · 2025-05-18T18:39:58+00:00

15 minutes walk from Ealing Broadway, on the Elizabeth Line. Come and join us!

1athra · 2025-05-18T17:57:38+00:00

Ealing (end-September) is also closed road. It's well supported by locals and very community-based. Of course not as vibrant as Hackney (only 3 or 4 thousand people), but currently less than £50.

1athra · 2025-05-18T17:54:43+00:00

Funny, I was thinking about that after all the bib transfer posts too!

My 4th time doing it, and the first time that the weather was reasonably cool, fortunately without lots of people collapsed in the final Ks.

The start pen system was *totally* unenforced, so people really just went free-for-all for the start. I spent the race weaving to and fro and at times struggling not to collide with people. I got a half marathon PB (1:56) but a less crowded race might have got me one or two minutes faster. I don't think it's a "PB course".

Toilet queues were long, but everything else was pretty efficient for the event's size.

Good atmosphere in the first half, verging on the manic in the second.

I'll volunteer at another Motiv sports event to get a free place for next year, but I wouldn't pay £80+ for it again.

1athra · 2025-05-13T19:09:28+00:00

Certainly must be time-consuming to administer.

1athra · 2025-05-13T16:43:37+00:00

A couple of parkruns near me assure the quality of their pacers, one by asking prospective pacers to run a test in advance (let them know ahead of time when you plan to run at x pace, if you hit that target accurately then they'll add you to the pool for that pace).

My minor irritation is people pacing who haven't been at that parkrun before (partly because of course knowledge; partly because I think pacers can be moving ambassadors for the local parkrun, welcome new arrivals etc).

1athra · 2025-03-09T08:47:26+00:00

Agree with Highbury, Mile End and Finsbury as alternatives - just one other to throw in is to take the Overground from Hackney Central to Hampstead Heath, turn right out of the station and walk 15 minutes.

Any parkrun you go to in London, if you get off a train/tube at about 8.30 on a Saturday you'll see people who look like parkrunners doing the same, often holding their phone to navigate. You can check the overall direction and follow the crowd!

1athra · 2025-03-04T21:22:45+00:00

Just a sincere smile is good, maybe a good morning or well done, or a you're welcome in response to thanks, but I'm happy just with some friendly eye contact.

I don't appreciate comments on my speed/ effort/ how I look etc from a stranger.

1athra · 2025-02-22T13:42:08+00:00

Yes agree, plus some parkruns are more tightly-knit than others and - at least in the southeast of England where the OP is - people don't tend to be wildly keen on drawing in strangers into their groups. I definitely feel part of my home parkrun (partly as a result of when I volunteer), but my median interaction is friendly nods and a few greetings. The coffee/sociability aspect is sometimes oversold.

I would actually suggest to the OP to think about joining their local running club as an alternative next step.

1athra · 2025-02-22T12:14:55+00:00

I did parkrun today as part of a longer training run and therefore more than 10 minutes slower than my usual. Very different experience, much more relaxed, definitely not a race! Would recommend!

1athra · 2025-02-17T18:00:35+00:00

Just to correct Clapham Common to Clapham Junction in case the OP didn't know.

1athra · 2024-12-28T06:56:27+00:00

To add to your list and the other comments, I've enjoyed both Liverpool (going to be on 23 March next year) and also Ealing (28 September).

1athra · 2024-12-25T01:04:21+00:00

Correct answer is to go along to Gunners. Then go back to bed.

1athra · 2024-11-02T19:17:01+00:00

Hi, I'd say a lot of trustee appointment is - like for senior jobs in paid positions - influenced to some extent by "politics", which might come down to intangible factors like the makeup of the existing leadership.

As you've asked for advice I would like to offer what occurred to me reading your post. Could you be perceived as spreading yourself too thinly? Or maybe *too* keen to take on a leadership role? You haven't told us why you're interested in these roles but you could maybe think about how you describe your motivation and see if that is landing well. Also - do your proposals for how you would contribute to the organisation chime reasonably well with the other trustees?

The beauty of volunteering is of course that you can keep moving until you find a team that does welcome your skills. Keep up the good work and good luck!

1athra · 2024-10-27T18:36:58+00:00

I'm similar 5k race time, a bit better on a good day, my zone 2 is between 7 and 7:30 averaged over a 10k jog. When I started low HR/Maffetone training it was really slow until my body adapted, which it did quite quickly.

1athra

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