Park Run

In the last post I mentioned 'Parkrun'. When I met the badminton massif for their Christmas walk and lunch (sadly, I only turned up for the lunch.......I know, I know), I bumped into an ex badminton team-mate of mine (before he went off to Liverpool University) and all round good egg; Thomas Lau. A terrific fella, and also a very fit one. He did the Manchester 10k last year, and since then has done a raft of half marathons; definitely a guy to talk to about training.
It was Thomas who put me on to parkrun (amazing isn't it? the unexpected sources from which one hears about these things); since then I have done some more research, and what a brilliant concept it is. Parkrun is a scheme to get everybody running (mainly in parks, surprisingly). In just shy of 100 venues, Britain-wide; a 5km run is staged on a Saturday morning at 9am; a run which anyone can enter. All you have to do is put your name down on the website before 6pm on the evening before, and show up at between half eight and a quarter to nine. You are given a 'token' to put in your pocket, which senses the time you pass through the starting gate, and if (let's be confident here, WHEN) you reach the finish. You hand your tokens back to the officials, and the following week you can log on to the parkrun website to get your time! It does not matter how fast you are (bloody good job in my case), everybody is welcome. On some of the pictures there are even people running while pushing prams (with babies in them I hasten to add!)!.......

I think this is such a simple idea, and like so many things; the simplest of concepts are often the most ingenious. Although I have not done one yet, I can't see it being particularly expensive to arrange. Once the website has been set up, and the tokens bought (and I believe, depending on volunteers to officiate), the rest is all computerised. As a result, for participants; running is absolutely, 100% free. How great is that?!!!
Not only is parkrun set up in Britain, it is also happening in Australia, South Africa, Poland, Iceland and Denmark; even at Camp Bastion British Military Base in Afghanistan!! I don't know about you, but I love the idea of so many people sharing this common interest; having the guts and the motivation to get out of their lazy beds on a Saturday morning; taking their health seriously, and doing something about it.
For a guy with ambitions about distance running, it is an ideal start. To be honest, my first plan was to do my first parkrun a week on Saturday, but with a bit of fiddling I might well be able to do one this Saturday; what I have written above has persuaded me to bring it forward and have a go! Wish me luck............