Running

q: is it frowned upon to run with music/headphones/not make small talk?

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Can I run with my headphones and listen to music?

We would rather you didn't - it makes it difficult for our marshals to communicate with you.
Our events have a special community feel, which you cut yourself off from when wearing headphones.

However, we appreciate that some runners do feel naked without their music, so they are not banned.

We do ask that as a courtesy to the volunteers, you remove headphones from your ears during the safety briefing before the start, and on approaching the finish area.
Finally please keep the volume at a suitable level to be able to hear any marshals instructions out on the course too.
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https://support.parkrun.com/hc/en-us/articles/200566393-Can-I-run-with-my-headphones-and-listen-to-music-

I see plenty of people running with headphones at the parkrun I usually do.

I've avoided all small talk at parkrun, the only people I've ever talked to are people I already know, or saying thanks to the volunteers doing the various jobs (time keeper, finish marshal, barcode scanners, etc).

Good luck, enjoy the parkrun, remember that your first run will be a PB so it doesn't matter what happens.

Heyaaa! I've run with headphones before but only at Dulwich where it's really wide, otherwise I prefer to be able to hear my own wheezing and the oncoming footsteps of children lapping me. Loads of people run with music though. In terms of being sociable, I tend to wander about before and after saying "can I pet your dog?" to people (mainly dog owners) and sometimes I congratulate the children who've overtaken me. I volunteered a few times at Dulwich so I knew a few people there and would chat to them a bit but I've moved away and don't know anyone at my new one. #foreveralone

Big drama at my local parkrun last week as one (or maybe more) runner pushed someone out of the way when lapping them. The route is on paths around a lake and although it's not the widest it's really not that narrow - plenty of space for overtaking, as long as slower runners keep to the left. It's gone wild on facebook as the fast runners say that the slow runners don't keep left and the slow runners object to being pushed about. There's going to be a special announcement tomorrow, I'm gutted I'm going to miss it.