I was inspired to start running again by an older colleague who said that running was her happy place. I followed the Couch to 5K programme and then tried Parkrun as a natural progression. It definitely gives me a sense of achievement and sets me up for the weekend. There is a lovely community feel to it. I catch up with friends, but also share jokes and have a chat with people I’ve never met before. My times don’t really matter. It’s being out there and sharing the experience that has such a positive effect on my wellbeing.

I started at Parkrun just after Covid, as being a gardener you don’t tend to meet lots of people at work especially spend a lot of it with ear defenders on pushing some sort of loud machinery around

also I am autistic so socialising enlarge groups or going out for drinks isn’t really for me so when lockdown restrictions were finally released and decided to look for something that was more outdoors where I could meet people but not get overwhelmed and Parkrun ticked all of those boxes

With Lots of friendly people to volunteer with lots of different roles to be carried out giving you good selection to choose from.
I’m very fond of doing pre-event set up and very particular about the finish funnel. Properly to the annoyance of some of the other volunteers. 😅
When I first started, I was never going to run or walk it as I do quite a physical job but after a few months, and after doing a few tail walks
I realised it was a handy way resetting everything mentally and physically to just have a walk and a chat with interesting people which overtime has helped improve my social skills and reduced stress

I have participated in a number of different volunteer roles such as pre-event setup marshaling, Park Walker, tail Walker and occasionally thanks to my A-level photography, Parkrun photographer

One of the biggest inspirations for me starting Parkrun was my mum who encouraged me to give it a go
which is definitely very poignant as sadly she passed away at the end of last year very suddenly and too young
but Parkrun has helped so much with me dealing with everything that happens when you lose a parent and has kept me on track
I would definitely encourage anybody to give Parkrun a go even if you don’t like running

This is not just my story, this is a story of how one person’s running journey has affected the whole family.

I’ve always been quite an active, restless person, at odds with the rest of my sedentary family as I grew up.  I enjoyed running during primary school, but secondary school soon put pay to that as I couldn’t compete with the bigger, stronger children.  Years passed and I used cycling and walking as an outlet for my energies, deciding I had become the wrong shape for running.

Once children came along the longer-distance cycling and walking for miles also went on the back burner.  I had the occasional reminder of what I could do when I escaped to the gym, but it wasn’t often enough and I put on weight and lost fitness.  Then, my youngest son took up cross country running with his junior school but was moving on to secondary school.  From my experience with his brother, the school sports culture hadn’t changed since I went to school, and I knew he would struggle.  I didn’t want him to end up like me, missing out on what he enjoyed because he couldn’t compete.  I got him involved with Stratford upon Avon Athletics Club and he tried his best, but he was having severe growing pains in his feet and kept being sent home from track practice.  So, two stone overweight after enjoying Christmas a little too much, but on a mission, I started doing Couch 2 5k.  I would make sure he kept on running even if I had to do it myself!  And it would have the bonus of me losing weight and getting some level of fitness back.

It’s traditional that C25k ‘graduates’ at parkrun once you reach the last run of the nine week course.  So the week before I was due to ‘graduate’ I walked down to my local parkrun at the Stratford upon Avon Rec and sat on the side to watch it take place.  It all looked quite scary running with all those people, and I didn’t know anyone!  As it turned out, I didn’t graduate at parkrun as I developed hip bursitis and had to rest up for a few days, but I kept myself accountable by joining an online running group, HealthUnlocked.  I told them I would run at my local parkrun on 12th May 2018, and Sam, my youngest son, joined me.  That is now our parkrun anniversary.  It was event 114 and I was 300 out of 374, Sam was faster of course!  I was also two stone lighter than when I started in the January.

As the saying goes, ‘your Saturdays will never be the same again!’, and that has become very true.  My attendance was a little hit and miss to begin with due to the hip bursitis, but I started to attend more regularly in a bid to achieve the sub-30 minute 5k.  I also spoke to someone who turned out to be on the core team, and she persuaded me to start volunteering – regularly doing the pre-setup so I could also run.  I had no excuse really as we didn’t live far away.  Then it spread to the rest of my family…

My husband Chris was occasionally cycling to work, 16 miles in total, there and back.  However, he’d suffered an attack of exertional rhabdomyolysis, endangering his kidneys, and had been advised to avoid cycling long distances.  I’d always thought he had the shape of a good runner so suggested he did C25k.  After a nine-week course with Stratford upon Avon Athletics Club, he graduated at parkrun and became a fully fledged runner!  It didn’t take long for him to start volunteering either.

That just left our eldest son, Alex.  I couldn’t persuade him to run much.  He did do C25k but he’d won prizes at school for all the volunteering he did.  So Alex became a regular, occasionally running but mainly volunteering.

Covid came in 2020 and we kept our fitness up by having a regular routine of 3 runs a week together with Joe Wicks exercise routines, but we also had a (not) parkrun on a Saturday morning, running the same route and finishing with bacon rolls, as we had done before Covid.  We all finished Covid fitter than we were before, and I was incredibly happy to get my parkrun PB at the first parkrun back after the restrictions lifted.

As regular attendees and regular volunteers, Simon (joint Event Director) asked Chris and I to join the core team, and it wasn’t long before Alex was also asked.  Sam wasn’t so much a volunteer but still ran regularly.  So three of us became Run Directors.  I was happier doing behind the scenes organising, so I do the volunteer organising and leave the briefings to Chris.  We play to each other’s strengths.  Alex is much braver and takes it all on single handedly.

So, eight years on, parkrun is now a massive thing for the whole family.  I am now organising a triple 250 milestone day for Chris and I (250 runs and volunteers for me, 250 runs for Chris).  Our attendance has occasionally been hit and miss due to marathon training, but we’ve still been regularly (I’ve now fixed this by making it part of my long runs).  We have attended parkruns all over the country and all over the world.  As part of my club, Fordy Runs, we have even tried to visit a parkrun in a different country in a day.  Our visits to family and friends usually involve a parkrun as a part of the journey, and a marathon or other race weekend usually involves a parkrun ‘shake out’ the day before or a recovery jog shortly after.  parkrun has also helped Alex through some very dark times – it has been a constant and a focus when everything else is in flux, and is now helping him focus on his future.  Sam, meanwhile, is still running, has completed his first marathon, and his university accommodation always seems to be within easy walking distance of his local parkrun.  Funny that…

parkrun is an amazing thing and, like many other people, I don’t know what we’d do without it now.