Well I went to my first parkrun today. I set out at 08:10 and walked the half mile to the start line. It was pouring with rain and I was soaked to the skin. There was no-one around and I was feeling a bit worried. Eventually a chap turns up with fluorescent trainers, and stands under shelter.
"You here for the parkrun"
"No mate - I'm waiting for my GF"
"OH ok"
"They probably postponed it in this weather"
"Oh OK"
I walks away embarrassed, and head back to the car park. I see a guy get out of his car and go to the boot, again fluorescent trainers and headphones - he must be a runner.
"You here for the parkrun"
"Yeah - gotta warm up" - goes jogging off across the field
It's still raining, I'm soaked and cold and feeling very sorry for myself. I walk home.
NO. I/m being stupid. I didn't get up at stupid o'clock to get soaked and walk back home with my tail between my legs.
I get a dry jacket and drive back this time. The race has just started so I watch about 100 people from 6 to 70 start jogging round the lake. I chatted to the guys at the start and they told me how to join, and gave me some encouragement to join in. I then went to the lake and watched the leaders come round after the first lap, then the rest of the field.
I left before the end and went back to my car to drive home. I was a bit surprised when I heard the chap who started parkrun on the radio. He was saying why he started it and how he set it up etc. I was astonished at the coincidence of me watching my first parkrun and him on the radio talking about it. good omen.
When I got back home and had a nice hot cup of coffee I realized I had forgotten to ask about dogs. The main thing that has stopped me from doing this c25k in the past is that I'm phobic about dogs, and doing a parkrun terrifies me. I was going to ask if there was any problem with dogs on the run, But now I realize that running in a pack will probably be OK. I'll be able to hide behind other people when I come across a dog, and anyway the dog owners will know to keep their charges under control.
So that was my first experience of parkrun. I'm not that impressed to be honest, but I still feel that after completing c25k, doing a parkrun successfully will be my graduation run. And I still want to complete 5K in less than 30 minutes. I suspect that I'll stay in the gym rather than do parkrun every week, but i need to do at least the one to graduate.