Hi everyone, I'm sorry this is a day late, been pretty busy volunteering today and yesterday and then after parkrun yesterday I went and met up with my sister (not biologically my sister, as the saying goes family ain't always blood) and my nephew (my sister's son) and didn't get home until around 5/6pm and was pretty tired but I had a great time, me and my nephew had a full blown conversation again when I was holding him, sure he was telling me I looked weird and think he was telling me he likes his new vests lol, I had a great time and then today I went volunteering as tail runner (not to do with the title) at junior parkrun (as it would be inappropriate to hug a child that I don't know)
I woke up yesterday at 4:30 and couldn't sleep for a little bit longer so ended up getting up and hopped in the shower, got changed, made something different for my breakfast I had a banana which I chopped up, then put some yoghurt on top and some muesli, I thought I'd give it a try since it was only 59p for a large bag 
I made sure I had everything in my bag and then about 10minutes before leaving I forgot I hadn't put my barcode in my bag *phew* wipes sweat off my forehead when I put my barcode in my bag, then in 5 minutes left I double and triple checked I had my barcode yes in 5 minutes before I left I checked I'd just put my barcode in my bag,
I then leave the house at about 7 and manage to get to the bus stop by 7:30, I wait and listen to some les brown whilst I'm sat down, then the bus comes so I hop on it and get to parkrun by 8am, I stand there with other volunteers chatting and having a laugh trying not to yawn so much, I just can't help but yawn, it's down to the fatigue I suffer from but some people will get the wrong end of the stick if they see someone yawning at 9 in the morning so anyway we wait for the person to arrive that has the keys as it can be different run director's each week, they arrive and then we all get to work, I do my usual job of putting out all the cones around the track this week was slightly different I had 2 helpers, I had berny a fellow volunteer and parkrunner who has recently had surgery on his shoulder so he was volunteering yesterday til he was allowed to run again and Bill who was also volunteering because he had the manchester 10k today to run, so we all made a great team, I put out the 2 cones for the start as I was shown how to do it, I showed both Bill and Berny how to put the starting cones out but not sure if they heard me, then me and bill went and put the cones down to help direct runners off the track,
We finish off doing the cones and everything else has been completed, so we go and see if anything else needs to be done that has been forgot about but everything has been done and dusted so Bill and Berny get a lovely addition to make them more fashionable, more commonly known as the hi-vis jackets we stand around and chat, then I realise what time it is and I'm still wearing my thick coat so rush to where my bag was and I swapped my coat for my running coat and rush back without my running bottle oops, I then see the lad that I tail ran a few weeks back and I saw hi and I hope he's ok, he told me that he got another PB last week, told him he'll soon be too fast for me to keep up and I'll be asking him to slow down, and then he laughed, we listened to the briefing and then once the briefing was completed we all went to the start,
3,2,1 and then we are off, I start way too fast as I forgot to take off the pacer or at least change it from 7min/km to something slower like 8min/km, so by the time I come to the first hill I have to walk, I just think my head wasn't in it this week, not sure why because everyone is so great and I love going there, I then do a run/walk around the rest of the track, have some pictures took and even manage to do a star jump whilst attempting to run up a hill, it probably looked more like I was either like a strawberry or like I was falling backwards down the hill but yet wasn't thankfully
I then get on to the out and back which is basically what it says on the tin, you run up the last hill that you run down after getting off the track, then you turn left and you run up this path, run around some cones and then run back up the path you just ran down, to go back through the 2 gates you run through after the track and run back on the track, I even managed a sort of sprint finish, I didn't feel to good, started way to fast which next week I will learn to start off a bit slower,
Now on to why I titled this post the way I did, well I tail ran with this lovely guy a few weeks ago, I think you might remember me telling you about tail running with this guy it was his 2nd parkrun, well I remember his name is andy, so he spots me after he's finished and I congratulate him on another really good parkrun to which he thanks me and then gives me a hug, all the pain, the mental pain, all the worries, self-doubts, confidence and self-esteem issues etc, all went away in that one moment because I knew why I was doing what I was doing, I may not be the fastest, slimmest, tallest person but this is why I volunteer each week just to get that huge hug and a massive thank you from people like andy that you help around the course, chat to, don't make them feel like they are any different than the next person this is what parkrun is all about,
I couldn't care if I got a million medals for volunteering because I'd give them all up for a hug off a grateful parkrunner after a run like I got Andy yesterday, that is what I live for, I don't care about praise it's the small little things that make volunteering especially tail running worth while, the thank yous, the hugs, the 'I couldn't do it without you' but do you know what with that last bit, you can do it, you know you can do it, I have faith in you, but I know where they are coming from just to have someone with them so they aren't on their own, they have someone to chat to when things get hard during the parkrun or any run it makes it so much easier and that is why I love tail running, that is why I tail ran today at junior parkrun,
I hope everyone has had a great weekend, I hope you all have a great run or if you entered in to a race I hope your race went great, I hope you all have a great rest now that you have run in whether a parkrun or in a race, I hope everyone on the injury couch heals up soon, and you are back on your feet running again,
Take care,
Siobhan xx
