Parkrun has become an institution world-wide. It’s there to give people a reason to run 5k (just over three miles) on any Saturday almost anywhere.
Certainly, in this country you are never far from a park run venue at which you can just turn up at 9am (with your barcode) and run. It takes me about 30 minutes to complete a 5k parkrun now but it was only about four years ago that I couldn’t even run for 30 seconds without collapsing in a heap.
After enviously watching other people of all ages and sizes on their Saturday morning runs I finally decided to give it a go.
Running has never been my thing and I was not hopeful. How was I going to do it? Step up the Couch to 5k programme.
I downloaded this app to my phone, after reading about it on the NHS website.
Three sessions a week of steadily longer runs and nine weeks later I was running for 30 minutes. Not fast, but running continuously for 30 minutes.
I ran my first parkrun at Hexham in 35 minutes, and most of them after that at Penrith, a very welcoming venue. I’m still not sure how much I enjoy running, it’s hard work, but the feeling on finishing is wonderful and that makes it worth the effort.
If you’re reading this and thinking about giving it a go, download the app, get yourself down to Frenchfield in Penrith, and start running.
If you don’t succeed first time, wait a bit and then give it another go. It really is worth it.
And remember: it’s not about how fast you go or how long it takes, it’s about turning up on a Saturday morning, running a park run and feeling great afterwards.
There were 228 runners in this parkrun with times ranging from 18:27 minutes to 51:04 minutes and ages from 10 to 79.
