Still Running (weakly). Issue 73

PAST – inspiration – “Surname, please,” asked the bloke under the tree with the laptop, as he took my metal disk with ‘35’ stamped into it.

This was parkrun 2007, when Bushy Park was the only event – and it was called the Bushy Park Time Trial back then – there were no barcodes, so some poor soul had to find your name on their database to record your result.

Of course, parkrun had started in 2004 (so we are celebrating its 20th anniversary here), but Bushy was the only event for quite a few years, necessitating a long drive into London for people like me. Then Banstead Woods launched – beautiful at bluebell time! – and then Basingstoke, before Alice Holt came along in 2012.

PRESENT – perspiration – “When I was going through my divorce, on Christmas Day parkrun was the only thing for me because I couldn’t see my children,” admitted Darren Wood, world-leading parkrunner with 916 as I write this, in a brave interview with Runner’s World.

He added that that the weekly gathering had helped him after a suicide attempt. “I knew I had to go to parkrun to put the signs out. I felt ashamed, but I went and I opened up to people. I was never judged…… and people would always try to help.”

Whilst I am lucky not to have experienced the same mental health struggles as Darren, I certainly credit parkrun with saving my running life, as it were. It came along at a time when personal bests were definitely a thing of the past, and it gave me a new focus – on quantity rather than quality admittedly, but I would rather see it as an emphasis on consistency, on loyalty, on keeping the faith, on celebrating present continuance rather than bemoaning past comparison.

“A lot of people owe their lives to parkrun, including me,” said Darren. Many people would agree.

FUTURE – suggestion – parkrun is a peg in the sand, a constant in your week, a fixed point around which to build your exercise diary.

If you are struggling for running motivation – and you are not currently a parkrunner – then why not give it a try? You know when and where it is, so there’s no excuse for missing it. It will give your week a focus – you’re more likely to go out during the week if you have that 5kim coming up on a Saturday morning. Even if you’re racing on Sunday, you can still parkrun, taking it easy, and be ready for the next day’s test. And, you never know, you might meet future training companions, or at least like-minded individuals who inspire you to get out there a bit more often!