Established in 2004 in the UK by a small group of people, ParkRun is a timed event that is free to enter and entirely operated by volunteers.
Following an online registration the athlete obtains a unique barcode to be used when taking part; kind of like a racing Bib Number.
At the end of each event the participant's results are uploaded online by the volunteers. The athlete's ongoing results are catalogued on an individual page detailing each event they participated in.
Very popular in the UK and Australia, ParkRun eventually reached the shores of Singapore in 2014. A relatively young event, it draws an average of 80 runners each week down to East Coast Park, a 15km beachside stretch of running and cycling paths.
Starting at Fort Road, the group takes an eastbound approach past a couple of Starbucks' (just to dream about that post run coffee) for half the distance and then return.
It starts early enough to not be hindered by the rising sun although you generally can't escape the humidity but if you live in Singapore long enough you learn to overlook it even, if you never get used to it.
Besides being located near my home the highlights are the seriousness of the athletes. With a huge running races culture (you can find a race pretty much each weekend) many of the 5km categories are filled with walkers. A runner's results never shows a true reflection of their effort. Reaching top 10% when your average pace is 7min/km doesn't have the same statistical reflection when your time is compared with only runners.
ParkRun certainly makes that starkly clear. There are no accolades, no race tees, no finisher medals. When you run you race against yourself and your own personal best (PB). There are no walkers or large quantities of meandering individuals.
So when your pace is 7min/km and find yourself at the bottom of the results table, you know that is a more appropriate benchmark. You know there's a long way to go and you know you are completely ok with that because you know the only way is up with ongoing training.
On that note, let me take you to Saturday, 13 February's ParkRun event.
My first participation was about a month ago and I managed to finish fourth last. Undeterred by the sub-15 minutes runners, I was more than happy to join my friends and Team Costa members for another 5km jaunt.
Together with Stan, Michelle, Steve, Caitriona, Cindy and Wizzy, we flagged-off at 7.30am on a very humid morning with a pair of very tired legs, having done a very fast (by my standards) indoor run the night before.
Bringing up the rear as usual, I had hoped I would survive the run and the thought of 5km with tired legs just seemed eternal.
Not even 2km into my run, I come across Stan on his return leg. Fighting fit and given that he doesn't run much these days but cycles a heck of a lot he finished in 22:50min at a respectable pace of 4.35/km. I think those cycling quads of his are helping a lot. Duly impressed.
A few minutes later, I gave Michelle a wave. Another cyclist with awesome quads and strong legs and a very strong and driven mindset she finished with a terrific pace of 5:20/km.
I missed seeing Steve (probably buried in my own thoughts whilst staring at the ground) but he came in only a few seconds before Caitriona. Steve is another who prefers cycling over running but the ParkRun activities are something that he shares with his lovely wife Wizzy.
Lengthy overseas holidays have a tendency to mess with routine and fitness typically is the first one to go. For Caitriona that meant a harder time to get back to running and re-establishing the routine. The upcoming Aquathlon certainly kicked the training motivation in. With a slow start to the year the old adage "the body will remember" certainly rang true bringing her pace to a nice 5:40/km average in a short period of time.
Finally I'm nearing the turning point and I came across Cindy, who tells me she burnt herself out taking off too fast getting enveloped in the wave of speedsters.
That's half the trouble with paces, being energized by those around you who take-off like Looney Tunes' Tasmanian Devil character and forgetting that your own pace doesn't match. I've lost count how many times I've gone too fast to then burn out too soon. I eventually figured it out and now I set myself at the back of the pack and start from there. If I overtake people great, if I don't I have more training to do.
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| Looney Tunes' Tasmanian Devil Img credit: looneytunes.wikia.com |
Wizzy is an easy-going runner. She's not about speed, she's about consistency. As a teacher by trade, Wizzy knows "slow and steady, win's the race" and not in the true sense of the quote because we all know in running speed eventually gets you to first place. However, Wizzy understands the need to know herself, know her natural pace and then just nice and steadily works her way to the end.
I've certainly seen this in action at the Great Eastern Women's Run race last year where she took off nice and steady and I took off like an Energizer battery. Overtaking Wizzy, I went and went and went and then no more went. Legs were dead and I had to walk. Nice and steady Wizzy overtakes me and carries on. We went through this scenario twice more until I really had nothing left and I walked more towards the end whereas "nice and steady" Wizzy gets to the end well ahead of me. Yep lesson learnt.
However, don't get Wizzy wrong. Whilst she's all about a steady pace she still has her own targets. One of them was a sub-35min run which she accomplished at this ParkRun. Although later she found out that was four seconds off her all-time PB. No worries, she beat that at the next ParkRun.
As for myself it was a pleasant surprise. After a hard interval run the night before and insufficient rest my legs felt like lead. I winced and groaned in my head but thankfully the pumping music kept the legs going forth. Nothing like a bit of Black Eyed Peas' "Pump It" in my head.
For the first 2km I was following a couple who matched my pace until my need to overtake. Throughout the run they were like shadows, never too far behind.
The further we ran the greater the distance between the couple and myself until I reached the last 300m and realised they were right behind me again. No way was I going to be overtaken. I picked up those lead legs and pummeled it to the end, grateful that the sprint was only a short distance.
It was a great way to start the morning. Even better when four of us made the high achievers list for breaking previous ParkRun PBs. Being together as a group of friends would have provided us with great incentive to do our very best. And so we did.
Parkrun is awesome.
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