Before the start of Penrith parkrun I met Terry Burke and Gethin Ellis in fancy dress and their friends Steven Crawford and Gwion Ellis, who are spending the weekend at Center Parcs for Terry’s stag do.
They started their Saturday at Penrith parkrun. Hope you have a great time, gents.
I wanted to talk a little about my reasons for coming to parkrun, especially my recent journey to improved health and fitness.
I have been volunteering at Penrith parkrun for over three years with occasional volunteers at other parkruns if I am away.
I really enjoy volunteering at parkrun. I love the sense of community, the banter with other parkrunners, both volunteers, runners and walkers and I really enjoy encouraging the participants, it’s a great start to my Saturday morning.
This week, I actually participated in Penrith parkrun for the first time by walking it as well as volunteering. I fulfilled the role of parkwalker.
Why did I decide to walk parkrun rather than my usual marshalling or barcode scanning duties you may ask?
I used to be a recreational cyclist and did a bit of running in my late 20s and early 30s, I was always quite slow but enjoyed it.
Over the last 15 years or so my fitness has gradually declined and my weight has increased following some injury problems and more recently some stressful times.
Earlier this year I decided I wanted to try and become fitter and healthier. I have gradually increased my exercise and improved my diet.
My weight has decreased and my fitness has increased. I have had lots encouragement from members of the Penrith parkrun community and many people have been encouraging me to try walking parkrun.
I have been inspired by many participants and as I’m feeling much fitter and more confident than at the beginning of the year I decided to do so.
I enjoyed the experience despite the rain, I mostly walked with a little bit of jogging as I’m quite a slow walker due to being quite short.
Six months ago I wouldn’t have been able to do this. I was pleased with my time of just under 50 minutes. Thank you to all the volunteers and all who encouraged me.
Will I continue volunteering or will I start walking or maybe walk running regularly? The answer is a bit of both. I love volunteering and encouraging the participants so I will continue volunteering most weeks and participate in the event about once a month or so and see where my journey to improved health and fitness takes me.
This week I was one of 229 participants and 38 volunteers who make the event possible. There were five other runners and walkers participating in their first parkrun.
The first runner to finish was Luka Labram and the first female was Heather Guy. Well done to both. There was one milestone this morning Alexander Evans was running his 200th parkrun. Congratulations Alexander.
After parkrun there was CPR and Defibrillator training for regular volunteers and runners, which was run by community first responders linked to the North West Ambulance Service.
On June 1 last year Penrith Parkrun regular runner Aaron Baglee collapsed and had a cardiac arrest after finishing parkrun.
Aaron’s life was saved that day using a defibrillator. Aaron is passionate about raising awareness and education about CPR and defibrillation.
If you would like to take part in Penrith parkrun either as runner, jogger, walker or a volunteer it takes place every Saturday morning at Frenchfield. There are also parkruns all round the UK and in other countries.
For a full list of participants, results and volunteers, visit
https://www.parkrun.org.uk/penrith/results/latestresults/
