Lillie parkrunners (+friends) WHAT an amazing start to our new series titled: Virtual parkrunning! While we can't physically parkrun together, sharing our Saturday morning 5k's with each other was delightfully reminiscent of different times. Results can be found here.

Forty six parkrunners from all around the country came together and bonus participation: SIX barkrunners got their weekly 5k in. Special mention: Rucifee was an excellent treadmill course marshal representing cats all over the world with his amazing skills.

We had THREE personal bests this week, with many parkrunners thriving without the triple hill we have to endure week after week. Shoutout to Joy, John P, and Laury G for crushing it!!! Can't wait to see what you have in store when we're all back in action! Even more noteworthy: John P is ONE parkrun away from the exciting 50 milestone t-shirt - that's bound to be an epic celebration when we're back.

This week's first finisher Ben Williams was *also* a first timer! Until this week I have been unable to convince him to an actual parkrun but alas, endless persistent texts are the way to go. This is a public act of peer pressure to get him to an actual parkrun when we're back up and running!! Expect to see Ben at a parkrun as soon as physically possible (whether at Lillie or Durham parkrun, it's happening, you're all witnesses).

Pulling up the rear as our tailwalker was Tim Keer as he combined his virtual parkrun with mowing the lawn! Clocking in at 1 hour and 23 minutes, Tim ensured that all parkrunners were accounted for, and all blades of grass were the perfect length.

As for the four legged participants this week, Baxter was our canine first finisher, successfully supervising his human's Saturday morning 5k. Our *literal* tailwalkers were Jasper and Whistler Keer as they took their mom on a pre-Mother's day walk around the neighborhood! Jasper has been to a handful of Lillie parkruns, but Whistler marches more to the beat of his own drum and the only pup he likes is his brother, so Jasper parkruns for the both of them!

Another honorably pup mention: Cooper, from Livonia, who is almost certainly the most seasoned USA barkrunner as he's run most (if not all) of his human's 316 parkruns. Wow! While his favorite dog park is still closed, Cooper took the time to send a message to his friends on his mid run pit stop. Dog social media?

We had THREE out-of-state tourists:

Joyce Adams (supervised by previously mentioned expert parkrun volunteer Rucifee) is one of the event directors at Roosevelt Island parkrun in the DC area! She joined us at Lillie back in November so we're very happy to *virtually* welcome her back. Fun fact about Joyce: she's been parkrunning for so long that her barcode only has 6 digits! Whoa!

Also joining us from the DC area was Colin Phillips, a well known name in the parkrun universe, as one of the College Park parkrun event directors in DC. Thanks to Colin's extremely thorough creation of their virtual parkrun these past two weeks, setting up the rules for ours was essentially a piece of cake. Thanks Colin!

Our third and final out of state tourist is really Lillie parkrun regular, Brooke Wolford! She's with her parents in North Carolina where her mother has started a parkrun herself because of Lillie! Check out their recent feature on parkrun USA HERE.

In terms of absolute time of the day, our legitimate first finishers is a toss up between Barbara/Gabe and Kranthi, both parties clocking in their 5ks before we even gave the run briefing! You heard that right, a pre 9am 5k (not required) just for fun. Woo!

Our absolute tailwalker (based on time of submission within the window) was Tim Gallagher from Livonia, posting his results promptly at 7:59pm which definitely deserves a tailwalker mention. Here he is pictured with our founder Steph back in what looks like some very very cold parkrun weather!

We also had many virtual tourists from Livonia parkrun, our big sister just up the road, so hopefully we'll see more virtual tourism as the weeks go on.

Additionally, Amanda S and Kristine spent some time exploring the other trails at Lillie, which may be in our future if the bridge continues to "blend in" with the lake. Love the social distancing!

THANK YOU to everyone who participated today, it was a great way to see what you are all up to. Please continue to share your activities with us during the week and we will see you back for our next virtual #Lillienotaparkrun next Saturday, May 16th!

Anyone is welcome to volunteer to write a run report like this, monitor the social medias for results coming in, literally anything you could possibly think of to do and we'll give you a volunteer shoutout! No task too big or small to be appreciated in the parkrun world.

While this may be what our Saturdays are going to look like for the foreseeable future, all of us at Lillie parkrun can guarantee the same welcoming and encouraging community. If you need anything, don't hesitate to reach out to your fellow parkrun family! We're here for you all... Keep up the parkrunning!

Lots of virtual high fives,
-Emma

Great turnout today for event 76i (i for imaginary, still). 11 teams of parkrunners joined our livestream! The quiz questions were even more difficult this week. The average score fell to 9.5/18, or a mere 53% (SD: 15%). Rumor has it that the run director Adam H went to Lillie park with a tape measure in devising the questions. We admire his dedication. But somebody should tell him that Google Earth is a thing...

Here are the questions if you missed the quiz, and you can try it yourself here.

How well do you REALLY know Lillie park
1) What is the diameter of the roundabout?
2) How many pavillions are there in Lillie park?
3) How many parking spaces are there at Lillie park south?
4) When soccer is on, where do I ask you all to park?
5) Name of the North course lake?

parkrun
6) Which is not a sponsor of Lillie parkrun?
7) What is the wording on the sign placed on the roundabout?
8) How many gallons is the new storage tote?
9) How many orange cones form the finish chute?
10) What brand is on the side of the yellow equipment bucket?

Coffee
11) If you look up while entering Biggby, what can you see in the biggby sign?
12) Number of parking spaces at Biggby parking lot?
13) Biggby overflow parking lot name?
14) and 15) Count the parkrunners in the photos.
16) Only person in both pictures?

BONUS (2 pts)
17) Math: how many laps around the roundabout, given the diameter (Q1), do you do to run a 5k?

So? Did you do better than our livestreamers?

Having been the run director for the past two weeks, Emma finished first as a first-timer. Answering Q10 and Q14 correctly when nobody else did definitely put her over the top! Yet, do we REALLY know the right answer for Q14 and Q15?

While still under quarantine, the virtual parkrun this week went ahead with 10 teams of parkrunner joining us in real-time. Our run director Emma changed the virtual course and made it a lot more difficult (with metaphorical hills). Last week the average *time* was 73.2% (14.6/20), and this week the average *time* was 64.7% (9.7/15). Nobody PB'd, but team Emily did a groundhog day for 60% (12/20 and 9/15)! Congrats! The percentage drop for everyone else ranges from 6.6% (Tim K) to 26.7% (Kranthi). Thanks Emma.

We have 15 quiz questions this week. The first part (Q1-9) focuses on our Lillie junior parkrunners, while Q10-15 asks you to name the barkrunner with a picture. Again, if you've missed the event, you can relive if here (Q below):

Q1: How many kid volunteers did we have on our kids takeover day?
Q2: What is the average finish time for female junior park runners?
Q3: Who was our FIRST homegrown junior 10 shirt?
Q4: Which junior parkrunner has volunteered the most?
Q5: Which junior parkrunner is closest to their next milestone?
Q6: Which junior parkrunner has the most PBs?
Q7: Which parkrunner set an age category record as a junior parkrunner, and then as a proper adult parkrunner?
Q8: How many female junior parkrunners are registered for Lillie? (89 boys)
Q9: What is the fastest Lillie parkrun completed by a junior?
Q10: Which female junior parkrunner has the most Lillie parkruns?

Now, let's look at how everyone did this week (black block = correct answer):

As suspected, dogs definitely get more attention than kids. Look forward to next week's quiz! Huge thanks to Emma (not sarcastically this time).

In a parallel virtual world, instead of putting on running gear and heading to Lillie park this morning, some of us plugged in our devices for a fun online Lillie parkrun trivia! Inspired by the quizzes from parkrun HQ, Emma came up with 19 multiple choice questions about Lillie parkrun and invited everyone to join in via Google Meet. We got to see many familiar faces and a healthy dose of social contact.

The quizzes can be accessed here and can still be completed if you missed the main event. And here are the list of questions:

Q1 - What date was the first Lillie parkrun?
Q2 - Who are the two current event directors?
Q3 - What road is Lillie parkrun located on?
Q4 - Which parkrunner has completed the most Lillie parkruns?
Q5 - Which of the following is NOT a regular Lillie barkrunner
Q6 - How many parkrunners were at our first event?
Q7 - How many events have we had?
Q8 - What is our record for number of volunteers?
Q9 - What is the Lillie parkrun average time?
Q10 - What is the total distance (in miles) run by Lillie parkrun?
Q11 - What is the most popular age category at Lillie?
Q12 - Who has completed the most parkrun at Lillie (without parkrunning elsewhere!)
Q13 - Who was the mastermind behind creating Lillie parkrun?
Q14 - Who has the largest volunteer to run ratio?
Q15 - How many parkruns has Rajiv completed?
Q16 - Which “last name team” has the most collective runs?
Q17 - Which “first name team” has the most collective runs?
Q18 - What is the name of the lake we run around?
Q19 - Who of the following are fast approaching a milestone??

A total of 14 teams have joined in to complete the quiz in real time. Team “Livonia parkrun RULES!” (note: it does not) submitted first with a finish time of 15:27, and the tailwalker “Gralie” with a finish time of 16:32. Except for Q2, which is 2 points, we get 1 point for each question, totaling 20 points. Now let’s see how each team did:

team awesome: 19
Adam H: 18
Jonski Farms: 18
Gralie: 17
Livonia parkrun RULES!: 16
DragonHeart: 16
OG ED: 15
Amanda S: 15
Rich: 14
Josh: 13
Team Yun: 13
Emily E: 12
2020 toilet roll wars: 12
Swan squad: 7

First of all, "2020 toilet roll wars" obvious gets the best team name. And to “Swan squad" - don't fret! Based on probability, 4.8/20 is the score for random chance [1/4*18 + 1/6*2], a score 7 is well above random chance and suggests rational decision making!

Now, let’s look at how easy/difficult were the questions? Everybody got the correct answers on Q3, Q13, and Q19:

Thanks Emma for making it happen! I’m sure we’re all excited to see what we'll get next week! Hope more of you can join us. Have a good week everyone. Stay isolated!

45 parkrunners came out during the coldest parkrunday this winter yet (-12ºC/10ºF). To escape windchill, we finally moved to Lillie north, where the paths are mostly de-iced and everyone could be seen on the 6-lap course. We had 2 first-timers and 6 PB's, and as usual, an Adam finished first, a barkrunner tail-walked.

In the pre-event email (reminder: please subscribe!), referring to event #70, Adam mentioned that “we've had 12 different runners in their 70's join us at lillie, but never anyone in their 80's!” Well, what about other age groups? Then, I proceeded to create age-gender distribution plots for all US parkruns:

The x-axis is the number of parkrunners (you're counted only once even if you've done it 70 times ->winks at Scott), and the y-axis is age (discretized by age categories). The color of the lines, left females and right males, blatantly conforms to gender stereotype. The age category with the most runners is indicated by a dot for each parkrun. For example, W25-29 dominates at Lillie. Here are some interesting observations:

• Across all parkruns, M45-49 is the most populous age category, followed by W40-44.
• Livonia is overrun (pun unintended) by kids: JM10 and JW10 are the largest age categories.
• McAllister has the lowest proportion of U18 parkrunners: 6% compared to 27% at Livonia (Lillie: 17%).
• James W. from College Park retains the record of the oldest US parkrunner: VM100-104.
• Charleston, WV has the most unequal gender ratio with almost 60% female!
• Crissy Field is the most-visited parkrun: 9666 (Lillie: 766), thanks to tourism and Karl.

Since many parkruns have been going on for several years and some parkrunners have switched age category in the mean time, the plot only counted the age category as a first-timer. It must also be acknowledged that I'm committing demographic malpractice by omitting parkrunners who opted for "another gender identity" or "prefer not to say" in their registration profile.

Stay warm and hope you enjoyed these info on demographics. 2020 is census year, after all.

23 intrepid/insane parkrunners forged a track through the snow this week. Times were slower -no PBs, runs/expeditions took 5-10 minutes longer than usual- but we were able to run the regular course through the beautiful woods and across the pond (and up the hill…). And oh, what a workout our thighs got! (Our reflexes were also sharpened as we got to dodge the sledders coming down the dreaded incline as we toiled our way up!)

There was one tourist, who was also a volunteer and promised to return

Frosty the Snowman
Is a fairy tale they say
He was made of snow
But parkrunners know
How he came to life one day

There must have been some magic in
That hi-vis vest they found
For once they placed it on his chest
They began to run around…….

There was one first-timer this week -Eric from north Chicago- who really enjoyed the beauty of the Lillie woods, and afterwards at coffee, he proved a fount of foresty knowledge. He noted that Lillie is typical of Eastern Deciduous Forest, full of hardwoods: Maple, Oak, Shagbark and Bitternut Hickories, Black Walnut, and a huge Black Cherry. There are also the evergreen Juniper, Sumac, and the invasive Buckthorn.

I researched forest types a little further and learned from the National Park Services website that Southern Michigan is an area of beech-maple-basswood forest. I delved deeper and found that beech-maple forests are preceded by oak-hickory forests, which in turn are preceded by coniferous trees such as Juniper. Eric didn’t mention Beeches, but I remember noticing them in the fall, alongside one lonely Horse Chestnut. We finished our lovely conversation with us Brits trying to explain “Conkers” – a vicious playground game involving the fruits of the horse chestnut tree. I will leave further explanation of that for another run report, if they ever let me near it again.

And just to make sure they don’t, I will leave you with some of my terrible “poetry” for which I am notorious in other facets of my life (Vogons watch out…)

"It never rains at parkrun." Once again this statement is proven correct. Because it was too dry, we first had to cancel "pacer day," and then forced to initiate a last minute emergency maneuver to change the course into an untested "4 laps of the soccer field and a bit plus semi circle." According to a few of the 35 undeterred parkrunners (and happy barkrunners), the new course was exactly 5 km. Excellent job, Adam.

So now Lillie has used several iterations of courses: the regular lake course (shown above), the 6-lap north course, the 4-lap soccer field that starts in the trees, or the 4-lap soccer field with semi circle (from today). This gives our Lillie passionistas (like Amanda S and Joe L) some taste for variety. But for the Styron boys, having sampled 10+ other parkruns across the US, there are many ways to run a 5k.

41 ways, to be exact:

This figure that looks like a metro map is a composite of all 41 US parkrun courses overlaid with their start/finish point at the center. The out-and-back courses pop out like tentacles, while our Lillie course and others with laps are retracted to the center. Some are complicated, like figure 8 (Joe Creason) or out-and-back with incomplete loops (Perrigo). Fun fact: Eagan is the only US parkrun with a different start and finish point.

In order to categorize the 41 parkrun courses into distinct types, I extracted features from the shapes and routes of each: how many out and back sections? How many loops? How many repeats? For example, Lillie is shaped by two loops: the lake loop and the soccer field loop, connected by an out-and-back portion in the middle. Our neighbor, Livonia (figure above), starts with an out-and-back portion, followed by a small loop before tracing the same path back. The results are shown here (click to magnify small texts):

The left panel assigns all 41 courses (as well as Lillie and Livonia winter courses) by shapes, counting how many circles (where you return to the same point without turnaround) and lines (where you reverse direction at some point). The right assigns them by the route a parkrunner takes along the course: how many times (N) one goes through either out-and-back or loop sections. For example, Lillie has 4 loops (3 lake + 1 soccer field) and 1 out-and-back (between the roundabout and the gazebo).

By far, the most popular course is either a simple out-and-back with start/finish at one end, or 2-part out-and-back course with start/finish somewhere in between. The second most popular course is a 1-part out-and-back plus a small loop before reversing direction (like Livonia, Crissy Field...etc). On the other end of the spectrum, there is Weedon Island Preserve with perhaps the most convoluted 5k (aside from our winter contingency plans). We shall ask Tricia and Matthew about it next week.

I hope this report piques your interest in parkrun tourism. Are there other ways to categorize the courses? Of course (here for the data and code)! Will we come up with yet another Lillie course? Maybe! Meanwhile... happy parkrunning, and stay dry!

"A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker parkrunner can have."

For the first Saturday run of the year, the clouds didn't part, but the snow and ice from Wednesday's New Year's Day Double left little trace, making for a minimally muddy morning! Returning to the normal 9 am start from Wednesday, there 75 humans (as correctly predicted by our ever helpful guest, Andrea from College Park!) and 5 canine companion finishers.

Brandon Finn lead the pack with an impressive finish and three personal bests were achieved, as well as an aesthetically pleasing 1-hour-exactly tailwalking time! Meanwhile, Calvin finished his 50th run (below)!

Afterwards, some graciously provided hot apple cider and cookies were adored by all, excluding our intrepid barkrunners (despite their best efforts. Starting the first Saturday of the decade off with such gusto at Lillie Park bodes well for what 2020 will hold, as we continue to grow and learn!

Happy New Year from Lillie parkrun!

On a chill, Wednesday morning we held a special New Years Day double with our neighbor parkrun, the OG United States parkrun in Livonia. This is the only day of the year where you can run two parkruns and have both count toward your total runs. At 10:30am, 120 runners (and our lovely non-running volunteers) gathered for the first Lillie parkrun of 2020. We welcomed ~35 visitors Livonia who contributed to this record attendance.

There was a thin layer of snow covering the course but that didn’t deter our parkrunners. Kranthi Bandaru wore the pink vest of power (run director) and a festive Scott Revord brought up the rear as our tail walker.

There are great things in store for Lillie parkrun in the coming year as we continue to grow and welcome new parkrunners and volunteers and build a community here in Ann Arbor.