Marshalled my first Parkrun NYD and realised I'm a terrible human being

i made a thread like this a while back about running with a friend at not much more than fast walking pace and their watch showing a heartrate of 170 whereas mine was under 100. everybody shot me down for being patronising but I was genuinely surprised that they were working so hard for such a slow pace, it really opened my eyes.

Letsrunners discovers thing that is obvious to everyone else on earth. Most people cannot run a 7 minute mile, let alone multiple in a row. If you can run a 7 minute mile you are in the top 1 percent of people with regard to fitness, and once you get faster than that, the rest of the world can’t tell the difference until you are under 5, and once you get there, 4:00-4:59 is the same time: fast, and once you get under 4 they don’t care if you are an Olympian or a conference champ, you are a god.

Great post and good insight, that's why I always say running is an honorable endeavor and we should all respect each other no matter what pace you are running at. If you are giving it your all and pushing through the pain, then the respect should be there across the board. It hurts just as bad, or maybe even worse, for people who are running at that slower pace.

In the same regard, I think it would be interesting and fun if running has weight divisions, so you are competing against people with a similar body-type. It might help to dispell some of the eating disorder problems that are deeply rooted in running culture.

Post of the week! accurate and well said

no, I read on here that the average person can run a 6 minute mile if they just train

Next time you volunteer i found it interesting to look at footwear on runners. Normally the winner is not wearing a supershoe because its ParkRun and they are only there to push some threshold training, The next 15 after are wearing inexplicably large Super shoes and pushing sub 18 PB's but then as we fall down the places the 19 - 20 min times are a mix of hoka and Asics with seasoned untalented club runners (add a bonus point for any hourglass shaped women in multi-couloured leggings like Mr Motivator).

FInally Karimor Brookes and any number of off the shelf Adidas or Nike trainers brought for normal gym wear.

Props for anyone who goes out and does a Park Run in this weather but i wonder if everyone sees this at there own runs

I am surprised since I always read here that the average young male can run a 18 min 5k with no problems.

If most people who are fat were 60 lbs lighter, their 5k time would reflect that, yeah.

I ran half of a parkrun with 50lbs extra and struggled to complete a 17’ split; in fact, my final 2.5k took 18 minutes because I was so exhausted from the first 2.5k

Man, you nailed it. The thing is, on this site, probably just about everyone could run sub-7 the first time they ran a mile at like age 10, and with very little effort. It just makes it impossible to understand how difficult this is for the average person, especially over 30.

When I was first starting out, I was part of a modest run club (~50 people) at my gym. While others here may not agree, they would consider themselves serious runners who train with dedication, and were far more fit than my non-runner friends. In the time I was there, there were two girls who could break 7, and 4-5 guys who could break 6. Outside of two people, all of their 5k times were 22-30+.

Did some of them have more potential if they dedicated themselves to running 60 mpw with more speed work? Sure. But even with more modest training (30-50 mpw), that was just their reality.

How can you judge someone’s form when they’re running 13:00 pace? Don’t they all look the same? It’s barely faster than walking.

When I was a kid no 10-year-old ever ran anything close to a mile. I was 14 the first time anyone asked me to run a mile for time, and no one in my PE class (girls) could come even remotely close to 7 minutes. I started at about 8 minutes and was the champion of my class. It took me a whole school year (of running a mile once a week) to break 7 minutes for the mile.

At age 33, I averaged better than 6 min/mile for a half-marathon.

People on this site have an exaggerated idea of the ability of normal, untrained people to run.

In the 90s, we ran it in gym in 6th grade, which was common in my area. 🤷‍♂️ Maybe 11 y.o. is more accurate.

Still, my point is that a 16 min 5k is a nothing burger here. But it’s a damn impressive accomplishment in reality. Running comes so easy to those who are talented that they can’t understand how it could be hard for anyone to do sub-7, because it didn’t take most people here any effort until they were running sub-5.

Good for you on your improvement— that’s an impressive feat.

I've marshalled at parkrun 9 times in total (I think). Did the finish tokens as well which was a disaster as they were all held together on a string and I couldn't undo the knot.

For me it was all a complete waste of time, like most volunteering.

The same people volunteer all the time, mostly non runners, so it was a clique and I was left to my own devices.

Also the presence of a marshal is awkward for many parkrunners who want to get on with it without having to say thank you or otherwise. Then if you say "well done" to one of the slow runners it sounds patronising, or just awkward... I know because people have told me.

I just felt completely alienated but I'm an introvert so maybe it's different for others.

I run around 17:40-18:20 and the breathing of myself and those around me gets very laboured... definitely a hard workout for people of this ability which is why I rarely do parkrun in addition to a workout in one week.

sorry you had a bad experience. I wonder if it's that one parkrun and might be different for you at others (if you live somewhere with a choice of parkruns, that is).

I've volunteered at parkrun a bunch of times, as well as at other races, and I'm as introverted as they come, yet I've always found it a great experience and by no means a waste of time. The runners and event director/volunteer coordinator etc. are invariably gracious and appreciative of anyone's putting in the time to help out.

to be sure, course marshal can get boring at times, or uncomfortable if it's a windy/rainy cold day or what not, but if you're dressed for the weather and try to have fun with it (encouraging runners etc.) it's fine. I hope you'll give it another go -- parkrun and road races need all of us.

happy new year,

Dave

I had this revelation after college when I was an assistant coach at a small D3 school. I had just graduated from a decent D1 school (not national caliber, but top 10 in the region in XC) and I had a very warped perspective on talent. I ran around 31 flat for 10k and there were so many guys running way faster than me off less mileage/dedication, so I just didn't consider myself that talented. I also kind of assumed college age guys who couldn't even break 16 minutes for 5k must not be working very hard.

But then I was coaching at this D3 school and several guys were super dedicated and into the sport (even got up to 100 miles for a week), but they couldn't break 16 minutes for a 5k. Coaching them and seeing their training every day made me realize that I actually did have quite a bit of talent (even if I wasn't as talented as my college teammates running 30:00) and that there were plenty of runners out there who were training their ass off to run times I considered pretty slow. Was eye opening for sure.

I share the same sentiments. I volunteered once then never again.

Ok. We root for everyone to be healthier. But if they really are capable of working this hard, demonstrating this much discipline, and suffering this much pain for 38 minutes, then it is strange they are fat in the first place. I'm not saying your observations are wrong. It just seems incongruent.

One explanation would be that these are the people who have hit bottom and are turning their lives around - a year from now they will be 50 pounds lighter and 10 minutes faster. But if they aren't, then what is going on with them at this moment in time where they are exerting all this effort for little/no health benefits?

Yes hobby joggers are people too.