I love streaks and find that they are an excellent way to keep
motivated, and where better to use them than at a parkrun. Here are a
few ideas for streaks at parkrun:
Standard parkrun streak:
With this
streak you are only focusing on the number of continuous parkruns you
run without missing a week. The advantage with this is that you can
vary the venue that you run at and still maintain your weekly streak.
Single event streak:
This
is the streak that I am currently focused on. I started this streak
with Riddlesdown parkrun event 1 and have run every single event since.
My streak now stands at 43. I know that the maximum number I can reach
is 55, because at that point I will be forced to miss a week as I will
be out of the country.
Monthly streak:
The
monthly streak is good for those of you that can't make it to a parkrun
every single weekend. All you need to do is make sure you run at least
one parkrun every calendar month. I am currently on 12 consecutive
calendar months.
Personal best streak:
How
many personal bests can you run in a streak. Adjust it to suit your own
needs. Maybe this is best measured on a monthly basis to avoid
overdoing it. For example, you could aim to get a new personal best
each calendar month or even just every year.
Volunteering streak:
As
you will all know, volunteering is a huge part of parkrun. So why not
make a volunteering streak one of your goals. If you are a committed
runner then you may not want to give up too many runs. The great thing
is that you don't have to! You could volunteer each week to set up the
course, or you could even write the event report. For me, I think a
monthly streak is the way to go, and I would like to volunteer once per
month, for now it will be focused on report writing, but once my
running streak has been broken (see above) I am going to try out a few
of the different on-the-day roles on offer.
Attendance streak:
Where you mix running and volunteering and both are valid as part of the streak.
The 50 run streak
You
participate in 50 parkruns in the shortest number of days possible.
Technically this doesn't have to be a streak, but I like the idea so
stick with me on this one. On the surface, this looks like a simple case of 351
days (50 weeks), but it is usually possible in less than that as many venues put on extra events over Christmas and
New Year. If you took part in the New Year's day trifecta you can make
this streak even shorter. From my calculations, if you had run all of
the extra events it would have been possible to have done this in 309
days (44 weeks). My calculation does not include any of the bespoke
parkruns so mathematically it probably could be done in less
days. I am working on this one and I think I can complete it in 323
days (46 weeks).
The 'remembering your barcode' streak
You
remember to bring your barcode. See how many events you can run without
forgetting it. This one could have some comedy value to it, especially
for serial offenders!
-----------
So, there you have it. A
few ideas for parkrun streaks. If you have any of your own ideas be
sure to share them in the comments section (or even write a parkrunfans
blog post about it).
If you want to see how I get on with my streaks just pop over to my blog.
The parkrunfans blog allows parkrunners from the UK and around the world to share their views and experiences with the rest of the parkrun community. Everyone has their own parkrun experiences and stories and this is the place to share yours. If you would like to contribute, please take a look at the Contributors page.
Thursday, 12 April 2012
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You know, I read the title of this - yes, and even the first paragraph - and I was just thinking, "But where do you keep your barcode?"
ReplyDeleteI think that's a completely different blog post! But now you've got me thinking - if you do a parkrun streak (wink,wink), does that mean you just run out in front of all the other runners, end up being chased by a policeman, then escorted out of the park with a huge grin on your face?
DeleteNo, you get five yards before being clotheslined by a bloke in hi-viz, throw up your liquid lunch on his shoes and, after being summarily cautioned, end up trying to blame your apparent paucity in the pub to the same crew of grinning jackals who got you drunk and dared you to do it in the first place.
Delete...or so I've heard.
...blame your apparent paucity on the weather, that should have read. Seriously, the above has never happened to me but, given that most streakers have a job covering 50 yards, surely managing a full 5k would be some kind of record?
DeleteWas that your first win I saw you get 2 weekends ago Dan? When will we next see you back at Coventry parkrun? Paul Blanche has shifted up a gear the last few weeks - he's a sub 18er now!
DeleteFabulous blog post. Lovin' your work! Like Daniel, I was waiting for the 'Streak Streak'!
ReplyDelete