Parkrun walking

I love the whole concept of Parkrun. If you're not familiar with the initiative, it started in 2004 by a guy called Paul Sinton-Hewitt when he set up a regular 5k Saturday morning timed run in Bushy Park, London.  The run was open to anyone, it was free and organised by volunteers. The idea was such a good one that it soon spread, and one event became many all around the UK. Within a few years, Parkruns were being set up all over the world and now there are over two million registered global Parkrunners.

The events are still all set up and organised by volunteers, and still free. As long as you're registered on the Parkrun site and you've been given your own unique barcode, you can turn up at any Parkrun in the world on a Saturday morning and run. And, usually within an hour or so of your run, your 5k time is available either by text or by logging on to the Parkrun website.

There's a degree of friendly competitiveness between some of the runners, but these events are for anyone, at all levels of fitness. Some people take under 16 minutes to finish, some take over 40. It really doesn't matter. It's all about your own goals, your own challenge - and simply being out in a park in all weathers on a Saturday morning with a bunch of like-minded folk. And, it's all about feeling like you're part of the global Parkrun family - whether it's your first or fifty first run. We've been to a fair few parks on a Saturday morning over the course of the past few years, all over the UK, and we've always found the people to be friendly, welcoming and encouraging - whether we're in Scotland in a park close to home, or a wee bit further afield.

I'm not a registered Parkrunner because I don't run. I usually tag along just to be out in the fresh air, have a wee wander, watch the running fraternity in my family and give the runners a wee cheer on. But, these past few weeks I've been getting a bit more involved and I've been briskly walking while the runners run. I've been logging my distance and time on Strava and trying to push myself on to be a little bit faster each week (no, I'm not serious about stats, honest...!). Yesterday morning in Perth I even found myself pushing on with a little jog towards the end of my walk (I'm not really supposed to run but sometimes it's just too tempting!!) - and it's the first time in all the years of going along to the Parkruns that I've actually felt like a bit of a Parkrunner.

So, the next step in my training plan might just be to register for a barcode and actually join in with the Parkrunners on a Saturday morning! We'll see. First, I'll need to check that the volunteers wouldn't mind hanging on a bit longer for their well deserved coffee and cake at the end of the event while they wait for a newbie Parkrun walker to cross the finish line...