Hi everyone, hope your having a great start to the weekend, I sure am 
I went to bed quite late last night, I went to bed at just gone 10, usually try to go to bed at about 9, I got my bag sorted the night before so didn't have my bag or spare clothes to sort out this morning, I got my barcode, bus pass and anything else I needed for today, I then went to sleep and didn't know if I would get up at 5 as yesterday I didn't wake up until 6, I then turned over and had another couple of hours sleep, but I got up today at 5, I panicked at about 3:10 thinking I was late for parkrun but luckily wasn't and then went back to sleep and woke up to my first alarm
I got up and double checked I had everything in my bag because I wasn't sure if I did put everything I needed in to my bag but I had, so I hoped in to the shower after putting 2 eggs on to boil, I got changed and turned up the eggs to make the water boil properly since I leave it on a low heat whilst I'm in the shower just keeps my mind at rest knowing it won't boil so bad that the water will make the flames go out, I then had breakfast and got my jacket and my coat on, I went and won a £10 voucher and a brand new jacket from sports direct for saying newcastle would beat who they was playing last week, can't remember who but newcastle won so I won £10 voucher and a new coat, £5 of the voucher went on delivery and the other half went on to some reusable hand warmers for when it's a bit colder as my hands are the only things that get cold since I basically have me own oven inside of me and it helps me stay warmer in cold weather, I bought a new gym bag, a bum bag and some energy drinks for 50p each just to give them a try, the coat couldn't have come at a better time since the coat I've got, that I've had for 10 years this august has just gone and broke at the zip, well the zip still works but the thing that you use to pull the zip up and down that has broke off so I can still use the zip but this way I've got a new coat and can use the coat I have as a spare one, can't be more pleased with that, and the icing on the cake is, it didn't cost me a single thing to enter the competition saying i think newcastle will win
Anyway back to parkrun, so I pack in my writing book and the tips/suggestions that my creative writing course tutor sent me through e-mail so I set off a little bit later than I would usually and still managed to get to the bus stop for 7:30 so had just over 10 minutes to wait for the bus to turn up so I took my writing book out and used the suggestions that the tutor gave me, I reworded a couple of lines in the first 2 stanza's and rewrote the 3rd stanza but still used some of what I had wrote, I'm glad someone else had come to get the 471 as it came about 3 minutes early whilst I was busy writing, the tutor also said I have a real talent for writing, I think because of the poem I wrote but I don't really enjoy writing poems, much prefer to write short stories and build them up to hopefully write novels in the future
So anyway back to parkrun now that I've waffled enough about my writing course, I manage to put my book and pen in my bag in time to stick my hand out for the bus, I hop on to the bus and sit down, I then wonder since it's 10 minute bus journey if I should take my book out and re-read what I have wrote but decide not to just in case I miss the stop I need to get off, I get to the start for 8am, there is already 3 other volunteers there so I say morning to them and we just chat and wait for the person with the keys to turn up, they turn up and I have the duty of carrying the most heaviest item ever, it felt like my arm was going to drop off it was ................ a pint of milk lol, since everyone else had their arms filled I carried the milk, I dropped off the milk with the tea and coffee containers and went to pick up some cones to place them around the course, I pick up all the cones but they wasn't enough so I went back for some more and I should've took more with me than I had so I had to go back and pick up some more luckily I had picked up just enough for the rest of the track and then some cones to direct people off the track and the starting 2 cones as well, I was pretty pleased with what I do there, whilst placing the cones around the track but who should turn up but hussainboltz it was great to finally meet someone off healthunlocked and I'm sorry if I seemed a little bit off, I was just trying to concentrate with the counting to place the cones down at an equal distance and I can't really do more than 1 thing at a time, and my head was getting bombarded with information I didn't mean to seem ignorant just my brain can't cope somedays with all the information people try to give to me,
I then have sorted all the cones out so me and hussain have a proper chat, I explain how the course goes,I then introduce hussain to david, and we all have a chat about the parkruns, or should I say I just stand and say a few things every now and then if I got asked a question as I have only ever been to 2 parkruns since june and that is bolton and heaton park parkruns, then hussain went to see his friend (I can't remember who he had come down with but I did get to meet him after the parkrun edit: hussain's friend is called Paul) I then see my friends bill and julie and then later kerri, we then go to the start and listen to everything the run director has to say and then we go to the start, and then we are off, I introduce kerri with hussain at the start of the run and then I spot tom, a guy that I met through a sports programme part of bury council called I Will If You Will, I then also spot liz a runner who volunteers and we was tail runners and I talked her ears off that day, I did apologize but she said she didn't mind, I then spot another volunteer from great run local bernadette as well, it was like everyone had come out all at once, so I ended up asking kerri if she didn't mind if I ran around with bernadette and she said she didn't mind since I wasn't feeling 100% and kerri does tend to run a tad bit quicker than me, she starts off quite quick for me so by the time I get off the track my legs are hurting a lot, I think kerri managed to find a few people she knew and ran around with them, so I didn't feel as guilty, next week I will run with kerri, was just nice to see bernadette there, leanne didn't turn up today because she had hurt her knee so I don't blame her for not turning up and I think her sister jasmine was working today, I ran past volunteers and thanked them and said morning or hi to them, I did my usual star jumps to the camera's and then me and bernadette ran the last bit of the parkrun on the track,
we came in with a time roughly 43:33, but I had started my watch a little bit after the time keepers had set theirs off, so just waiting for my time to come through now, I spoke to this mum and daughter who have been coming for a while, I asked them how they thought they did, I also spoke to alan a friend of julie and gave him some pointers at where to start because he wants to lose some weight, but has health problems so I advised him a while back to go see his GP which he told me that he had and they said he could do a bit of walking and swimming but he said because of his size he doesn't want to go swimming so I just suggested doing like 2 minutes of walking at an easy pace and then for 30 seconds or even 10 seconds just up the speed of his walking a little bit, and I said if he does like 5-10 minutes every over day he will soon notice an improvement so he said he would love to do another parkrun as he's already done one but do his next parkrun in around 40 minutes, I suggested if he gets to a weight he's happy with and wants to start running then he could start couch to 5k, I told him you don't need to be an experienced runner to complete the programme, I even mentioned it took me just over 11 months to graduate so he just takes the programme at his own pace obviously with his dr's go ahead,
Today has been quite an eventful, exciting and enjoyable day for me, I didn't think I'd be able to say morning to so many people at 1 parkrun, I thought when I started going to parkrun that I may be able to make 1 or 2 new friends since I don't have many anymore, but to have what I like to call a parkrun family is so much more than I could have even wished for 
Just got my time me and bernadette crossed the finish line at 43:35, she thanked me and we both hugged because she ran quite a bit of the course when she thought she wouldn't be capable of doing, I think that's why I enjoy running at the back because I can motivate people to do something they thought impossible e.g. running up half the hill, or running all the way down the down hill part etc,
I managed to say bye to hussain at the end, I'm sure he was freezing because I wasn't that quick but recovering from another concussion from football and a slightly sore knee, I don't think I did to bad with 43:35, I would much prefer to have a slow time at parkrun and help other people achieve something they didn't think they ever could than get a PB each week, obviously I'm training for the 10k but I see the parkrun as a recovery run so I like to help people achieve a small milestone no matter how silly or minute it sounds, it could be as simple as running from one bench to the next instead of walking that part like in previous week, just to see people smiles on their faces because they have achieved something is worth it
I'm sorry for the length of the post, I just couldn't seem to stop myself once I'd started (I've been writing this for about 30-45 minutes), I had to change a few spelling mistakes but thankfully spell check tells me I've got something wrong, I have had an awesome day today, I really truly enjoyed myself and I can't wait for next week either, next week will my 31st parkrun and my 30th consecutive bolton parkrun
I hope everyone has had a great day today and the rest of the day is just as great, I hope if your having a rest day you still have a great day, I hope everyone on the injury couch heals soon and can get back to running and has a great day today as well even if you can't manage to go for a run today, and anyone who is still hesitant about going to their first parkrun, it's an amazing thing you can do, I waited about 3 months to go to my first one and I felt like I was accepted in to the parkrun family from the moment I got there, I don't know why I waited so long til I went, I'm so glad I went that warm summer day in june or maybe it was spring, I never know when one season finishes and the next one starts, it is one of the best things I do in my week and I couldn't imagine not seeing my parkrun family each week,
Take care everyone, I wish you all the best and I think I deserve some soup and/or a nice warm cuppa,
Siobhan xx
P.S. I've included a picture of hussainboltz (on the left of the pic), me (middle of the pic) and hussainboltz friend (for the life of me I can't honestly remember your friend's name, so I do apologise on the right of the pic edit: the guy on the left is hussain's friend called paul he also met through parkrun)
The history of parkrun 
First Parkrun today - in the rain! 
Parkrun - the back of the pack is where it's at :-)
