This weekend it was a whopping 50 weeks since parkrun was paused worldwide due to the Coronavirus pandemic. I don’t think that back in March 2020 any of us would have guessed that the pause would last for quite so long as it has. Back in the summer of 2020, Walthamstow parkrunners – and some virtual tourists from other parkruns – came together virtually to create a rainbow of hope by wearing the colours of the rainbow when out running, a different colour each week. We hoped that parkrun would return by the time we had reached ‘violet’ week and this was our rainbow wave of hope, but alas this was not to be.

So this week, to mark the 50 weeks of parkrun pause, we again asked Walthamstow parkrunners to come together again and wear red – the colour of the milestone t-shirt awarded once a parkrunner has completed 50 parkruns. And once again you rose to the occasion and turned Walthamstow red. We also had virtual tourists from Newbury, South and North Wales and our first international virtual tourist from Schwanenteich parkrun in Germany!

Lots of you chose to run in Lloyd Park on parkrunday, where the weather looked beautiful. Forming the Lloyd Park Posse we have Penny Wiles, Rachel Emmett, Tom and Emma Hardy, Clare Laine, Gail Seal, Dermot Hughes, Janine Durrant and Steve Peacock, the latter who marked the occasion by getting a shiny new (not)parkrun PB!

Janine Durrant might have run at Lloyd Park, but she was not deserted by other members of the family as Lynne Durrant, Darren Lamb, and Jamie Lamb were also out and about in red at the weekend – Jamie, I hope you wore shoes for your 5k! Jamie appears to have grown even taller during lockdown too!

There were other places to run other than Lloyd Park – I missed the sunny weather as was working night shifts but managed to get out at sunset to Hollow Ponds, meanwhile at another watery destination a shy Ruby Daly was running on Walthamstow Wetlands. Richard and Lance Selby took their ‘red’ picture of themselves outside the locked gates of the Peter May Centre. Meanwhile, Steve Bywater made a rare appearance before noon on a Saturday – he’s going to need to practice getting back into the habit of early starts on parkrunday soon we hope!

Being injured didn’t stop the indomitable Liz Worrall from getting out for a walk in her milestone tee – Liz, we hope you’re back running strong soon. And if we’re talking indomitable, you can’t beat Ellis Sharman for fighting spirit, as only a couple of days after being in hospital he made it out for his first run in 3 weeks and smashed it in a time of 27:19. Onwards and upwards, Ellis.

And finally to our virtual tourists: Karen Spackman from Newbury with her two four-legged friends, Elizabeth Czaban from Penallta in South Wales, Anthony Howe from Conway in North Wales, and Janina Rüht all the way from Schwanenteich parkrun in Germany – lovely to see you all, and thank you for joining in.

Over the whole week 20 parkrunners ran 35 (not)parkruns in an average time of 30:52 minutes. For the 9^th week running, Patrick Brown logged the fastest time overall in a time of 18:03 minutes, whilst the fastest female was Anna Morgan in a time of 23:17 which is a new (not)parkrun PB for her – well done, Anna. Also getting shiny new (not)parkrun PBs this week were Simon Ormerod, Steve Peacock and Anne-Marie Kennedy – congratulations all. Here are all our red runners on a collage:

So although we were marking 50 weeks since parkrun paused, on Friday came the announcement that we have all been waiting for – a proposed date for parkrun to return of Saturday 5^th June. This is, of course, all being well and things progressing with the ‘roadmap’ out of lockdown restrictions. Read all about it here: Restarting parkrun in England | parkrun UK Blog and also listen to the latest episode of the Free Weekly Timed podcast – a link to which is in the blog.

So hopefully ‘our’ tree at the Peter May, visited by Andrew Howard who posted this picture to our facebook page, won’t be lonely for much longer!

See the full results for the week here: results | Walthamstow parkrun

Stay safe everyone – we’ll get through this together.

Ali Sheppard

Walthamstow (not)parkrun history

The female (not)parkrun record is held by Corinna O’Sullivan who recorded a time of 20:09 at event #15.

The male (not)parkrun record is held by Patrick Brown who recorded a time of 17:32 at event #34.

The age grade (not)parkrun record is held by Gail Hennessy who recorded an amazing 86.96% (24:03) at event #3.

(not)parkrun is a temporary replacement for parkrun which will start again when it is safe to do so.

For more information about (not)parkrun go to http://parkrun.me/ywtjv

 

What a difference a week makes! Last week I wrote about the ‘mini Beast from the East’ and how lots of hardcore Walthamstow parkrunners still made it out to run their (not)parkruns, despite the snow and ice on the ground. This week it could hardly be different, with warm temperatures, and runners discarding their gloves, hats, and layers to go out in short-sleeved tops and even vests. Everywhere there seems to be evidence of Spring being on its way, with snowdrops, crocuses and daffodils making their annual appearance on our running/walking routes.

Even the Prime Minister mentioned the “crocus of hope poking through the frost” when he laid out his ‘roadmap’ out of lockdown and the coronavirus pandemic. I’m sure lots of you, like me, will have wondered when listening to this, what it means for parkrun and whether there is light at the end of the tunnel for parkruns resuming. parkrun HQ have been very good at keeping us informed as to progress on this front, putting out weekly bulletins every Tuesday on their blog and social media, but this week because the Government announcement was made on Monday, parkrun have delayed their weekly update and will be publishing a detailed UK-specific position on Friday this week - so keep an eye on the parkrun UK pages on social media or the parkrun blog on their website: COVID-19 (Coronavirus) update 23 February | parkrun UK Blog

Globally this week we reached a very big milestone – across the world one million (not)parkruns have been completed and logged since the (not)parkrun scheme started in June. We’re proud at Walthamstow to have played a very small part in achieving this milestone!

This week 20 parkrunners logged 32 (not)parkruns representing Walthamstow parkrun with an average time of 32:52 minutes for their 5km run/walk. Despite the good weather, we had no first timers and no-one got a PB this week. Just lots of strong regular running by our (not)parkrun regulars, which included Steve Peacock who broke through the 50 (not)parkrun milestone – well done, Steve.

But there were lots of Walthamstow parkrunners out enjoying the weather, none more so that Gail Seal, seen here jumping for joy at the coming of Spring and matching her With Me Now parkrun podcast top to the daffodils.

Also out enjoying the weather on the Walthamstow Wetlands was Run Director Richard Selby who bumped into  fellow Run Director Steve and Janet Bywater – anyone would think Richard and Janet had coordinated beforehand over the colour of their running tops!

However, none of these regular parkrunners logged a (not)parkrun this week, so perhaps it’s a good chance to remind you that if you’re going for a longer run than 5k, you can still log a (not)parkrun for the time of the first 5k on your run, or if you have Strava or Garmin or similar that gives you a breakdown of your run, just take a consecutive 5k section and add up the times for a 5k chunk of your run. I have the alerts on my Garmin set up to beep on the mile, so after the third mile beep I just look at my watch and mentally clock the time that I hit 3.11 miles (5k) and then log that as my (not)parkrun. It’s equivalent to those people who use a parkrun in the middle of a longer run when training for marathons/half marathons and who run to parkrun, do the parkrun and then run home.

See the full results for the week here: results | Walthamstow parkrun

Stay safe everyone – we’ll get through this together.

Ali Sheppard

Walthamstow (not)parkrun history

The female (not)parkrun record is held by Corinna O’Sullivan who recorded a time of 20:09 at event #15.

The male (not)parkrun record is held by Patrick Brown who recorded a time of 17:32 at event #34.

The age grade (not)parkrun record is held by Gail Hennessy who recorded an amazing 86.96% (24:03) at event #3.

(not)parkrun is a temporary replacement for parkrun which will start again when it is safe to do so.

For more information about (not)parkrun go to http://parkrun.me/ywtjv

It was a freezing cold week as the mini “beast from the East” hit London, bringing snow and icy weather and enabling some people with Garmins to earn their “Frosty” badge for running in under -2 degrees! With snow and ice on the pavements, I thought that maybe everyone would stay indoors and do workouts with Joe Wickes instead, but Walthamstow parkrunners are made of hardy stuff with 20 parkrunners getting out and logging 33 (not)parkruns this week in an average time of 30:56. And not only did people get out and run/walk/jog a 5k this week, but 6 of you managed to get PBs – were you running extra fast to keep warm or get home quicker? Congratulations to Anna Morgan (who was also fastest female), David Watson, Simon Ormerod, Robin Roberts, Spencer Reynolds and Clare Laine on your super-speedy new PBs.

Patrick Brown was fastest (not)parkrunner overall, in a time of 17:45 minutes, but only 10 seconds behind him was Sam Jackson who logged his first (not)parkrun – welcome Sam. Sam might be a first timer to (not)parkrun, but he has run 77 out of his total of 133 parkruns at Walthamstow, and was first finisher on 5 of those occasions. We hope to see you giving Patrick a run for his money in the (not)parkrun results table in future!

We also welcomed Anne-Marie Kennedy this week, who ran her first (not)parkrun in a time of 30:18. Anne-Marie has previously run 17 of her total of 23 parkruns at Walthamstow, and has been a Run Director twice. Lovely to see you in the (not)parkrun results table, Anne-Marie.

See the full results for the week here: results | Walthamstow parkrun

Stay safe everyone – we’ll get through this together.

Ali Sheppard

Walthamstow (not)parkrun history

The female record is held by Corinna O’Sullivan who recorded a time of 20:09 at event #15.

The male record is held by Patrick Brown who recorded a time of 17:32 at event #34.

The age grade record is held by Gail Hennessy who recorded an amazing 86.96% (24:03) at event #3.

(not)parkrun is a temporary replacement for parkrun which will start again when it is safe to do so.

For more information about (not)parkrun go to http://parkrun.me/ywtjv

 

Well, he’s done it again! Since Patrick Brown started logging his (not)parkruns at the beginning of the year, he has been the fastest overall each week, and for the last two weeks has got a PB each week. And this week was no exception, as he knocked another 25 seconds off his PB whilst running on Hackney Marshes to set another ‘fastest male’ record of 17:32. Congratulations, Patrick!

Snapping at Patrick’s heels each week is Alex Pickering, who also got a PB this week, in a time of 18:26. Alex also takes the highest age grade this week with an age grading of 75.77%. Fastest female was Anna Morgan, in a time of 26:30 – well done, both!

We welcomed another first timer this week – Simon Ormerod, who is no newcomer to parkrun but who logged his first (not)parkrun in a time of 26:04. Meanwhile, smashing his way through the 50 (not)parkrun barrier was Mo Allen who logged a spectacular 6 (not)parkruns this week. Those of us who were present when Mo ran his 50^th parkrun at Walthamstow on 28 December 2019 will remember his spectacular muddy dive across the finish line – did you do the same thing for your 50^th (not)parkrun, Mo?

Also getting a (not)parkrun PB this week was Steve Peacock in a time of 29:34 – congratulations Steve. Today I was reminded of a race in the Olympic park that a number of Walthamstow parkrunners took part in this time last year, in which Steve was wearing a vest despite it being freezing! Did you wear a vest for your (not)parkrun PB Steve?

It certainly looked a lovely day for Walthamstow parkrun on 1 February 2020 – here are a few photos from that day for a trip down memory lane:

See the full results for the week here: results | Walthamstow parkrun

Stay safe everyone – we’ll get through this together.

Ali Sheppard

Walthamstow (not)parkrun history

The female record is held by Corinna O’Sullivan who recorded a time of 20:09 at event #15.

The male record is held by Patrick Brown who recorded a time of 17:32 at event #34.

The age grade record is held by Gail Hennessy who recorded an amazing 86.96% (24:03) at event #3.

(not)parkrun is a temporary replacement for parkrun which will start again when it is safe to do so.

For more information about (not)parkrun go to http://parkrun.me/ywtjv

 

This was a special and emotive week for Walthamstow parkrun, as 26^th January was our 8^th Anniversary. It's hard to imagine back to the beginning of 2013 when Walthamstow parkrun was just a twinkle in Sharron Rooney’s eye, which must have had a little tear in it when it all came to fruition and the first Walthamstow parkrun was run. Looking at the results for that very first parkrun, I notice a number of familiar names, as this was in the days when members of the parkrun ‘tourist’ community would turn up en masse at the inaugural event to lend support! There were 63 runners at Walthamstow on 26 January 2013, with first finisher being Danny Norman in a time of 17:48. Danny now presents a podcast all about parkrun called “With Me Now” which amazingly has kept going throughout the time that parkrun has not been running, and has actually built up a strong, supportive community throughout the lockdowns, running daily ‘live’ feeds on facebook and youtube as well as the weekly podcast.

Finishing in 6^th place back in 2013 was parkrun’s founder, Paul Sinton-Hewitt, in a very respectable time of 20:52, whilst Paul’s wife Jo Sinton-Hewitt was a volunteer. Sharron Rooney, Walthamstow’s founder, was volunteering of course, to make sure her baby went well on its first outing, but another familiar name caught my eye amongst the volunteers – Gerry Trill. Gerry has been a stalwart of Walthamstow parkrun throughout the last 8 years and we are very grateful for his support. If you would like a trip down memory lane, you can see the results for the very first Walthamstow parkrun here: results | Walthamstow parkrun

In previous years we have celebrated the anniversary, with a bit of a ‘do’ after our anniversary parkrun which has involved some wonderful cake, of course! Sadly we have not been able to do that this year due to the Coronavirus pandemic, but I’m sure we’ll be able to make up for it at some point. When parkrun does return it will seem like a huge celebration anyway, and the light at the end of the tunnel!

In the meantime, although parkrun may not be on, we can continue to take exercise and enjoy our parkrun community, albeit that it has to be virtually at the moment. Last week 20 different Walthamstow parkrunners logged 42 (not)parkruns, in an average time of 32:49 minutes. Over the last few weeks super-speedy Patrick Brown has been running a 5k and getting faster and faster, breaking our (not)parkrun male record each week, and this was no exception as he got another new (not)parkrun PB and smashed through the 18 minute barrier to finish in a time of 17:57 – so only 9 seconds slower than Danny Norman’s time on the first Walthamstow parkrun! Patrick ran this week on the site of Hackney Marshes parkrun course, so he didn’t have to stop to cross any roads. If he does this route again, who knows if he’ll smash it again?

Fastest female this week was Anna Morgan, in a time of 25:00 minutes, whilst Liz Worrall also had a speedy week and got a new PB in a time of 28:57 – well done, ladies! Congratulations are also due to David Watson who ran 2 (not)parkruns this week to take his total number of (not)parkruns to 50 – red tee shirt territory! David had run 305 parkruns before they stopped, with 83 of them being at Walthamstow.

See the full results for the week here: results | Walthamstow parkrun

Stay safe everyone – we’ll get through this together.

Ali Sheppard

Walthamstow (not)parkrun history

The female record is held by Corinna O’Sullivan who recorded a time of 20:09 at event #15.

The male record is held by Patrick Brown who recorded a time of 17:57 at event #33.

The age grade record is held by Gail Hennessy who recorded an amazing 86.96% (24:03) at event #3.

(not)parkrun is a temporary replacement for parkrun which will start again when it is safe to do so.

For more information about (not)parkrun go to http://parkrun.me/ywtjv