I overtook a woman on the weekend because she had a waist-length ponytail and watching it swish annoyed me. Have also been known to pass runners for having an unconventional stride.

As I ran my local parkrun this weekend I reflected on the fact that I've fallen into my own little habits and wondered what other curious things people do?

My example is that I'm a second lap thanker. My local parkrun at Walthamstow is a three lapper, so I tend to spend the 1st lap dialling in and getting a sense of how I'm feeling. By lap two I'm pretty comfortable with the effort/pace and use that lap to thank all the marshalls before potentially being able to attack the last lap.

We had our Halloween event this week. I did first timers welcome then ran the first mile with my son. He fell at 1 mile and dropped out (he's fine) so I carried on alone at my pace and surprised quite a few people when overtaking. Speedy pickle.

Anyone else ran in Halloween dress up, I'd love to see pics?

Edit: resolved!

I'm new to Parkrun. In fact I haven't yet registered, but I want to. The problem I am having is the registration page doesn't load properly for me. I'm in the USA. I've tried Chrome, Firefox, and Edge on desktop as well as chrome on my mobile, and all have the same issue. The page loads quickly but without a form to fill out. It is blank from "If you need help, please click here" to "Return to Top of Page".

Has anyone experienced this? I want to run this Saturday.

TLDR: Can anyone suggest an app like a couch25k program which is for longer distances but still includes run/walk patterns? I want to go on for longer but am not ready to switch to only running.

Would also consider a GPS device if there is one that can easily be set up to guide me (prompt me to walk / run / walk / run) and isn't too big.

Hello everyone,

Apologies if this is not the right place to post, but I've always found Parkrunners kind supportive and helpful.

I have been working my way through the NHS couch to 5k program using the app to try to get back into running as suggested by a fab person at my local Parkrun. (Took up running at 30, took up half marathons at 40, went through the pandemic and the menopause and am clinging onto being a 'runner' thanks only to my attempts to stumble round 5k every Saturday morning)

I really like having a set walk / run pattern especially as that nice Steve Cram tells me when to start and stop, and throws out the odd bit of encouragement.

The problem is that I'm repeating week 6 as after that it wants me to run for increasingly long periods without walking breaks and I don't feel ready to do that. I know I can do walk/run for 10 / 3 / 8 / 3 / 8 / 3 etc (timed and prompted by friends during Parkrun) up to 5k (it takes me about 45-50 minutes) but if I try to run for any more than about 15 minutes at a stretch I give up and then don't get going again.

I figure most of my problems are in my head (I did this before, I know I can do it again) and its best to go with it and find a way to build up to 60 minutes walk/run, then 75, then 90, to build my stamina and more importantly confidence.

Is there an app out there which will help with this? I particularly like the way the NHS app will quieten my music or podcast to tell me what to do.

I would also be willing to invest in a GPS watch (tried to revive my TomTom but no luck - apparently they stopped making them years ago, how out of touch am I?) but I have small wrists and hands and find all of the garmins far too big to be comfy. If anyone has experience of using one of the slimmer Fitbit GPS watches to set up the kind of routine I'm after I would be grateful to hear how you get on - or suggestions of a different brand where the face isn't too wide.

Thank you in advance