This morning was one of sheer delight and magic. In November 2019 I did my first ever parkrun, today I did my 100th parkrun. An event worthy of celebration, and to help make it special, I was very happy to be joined by friends from far and wide. Katnap and TailChaser are my Stratford parkrun buddies and partners in crime for running events and local training. They are always there when I lose motivation, have queries about kit and when it’s cold, dark and dreary but a training run has to be done. I know that Tailchaser particularly suffers some very slow runs so we can run together and I know I would not be at this milestone without their support.
Dexy5 , UpTheStanley , Oldgirlruns and cheekychipmunks became VRBs during Covid and we have met up in person at a few events over the years. They kindly drove up from the ‘deep south’ to be with me today and remembered to dress up as black cats (something that is becoming a bit of a tradition for our milestone meet ups). I feel particularly honoured that they took the time and made the effort to be part of my special day.
Also present was a lady, her husband and two dogs who were part of the support group for my very first parkrun, my nephew who had driven down from the outskirts of Birmingham and only started running a year ago but has clocked up 45 parkruns already, and my hubby whose first parkrun was just before Christmas.
Missing was my bestie and the person who got me into running in the first place, sadly Sandie1961 has been drawn away to distant lands with snow capped mountains, her absence with her cat ears and tail was very much lamented.
Tailchaser and I had decided to Tailwalk (saving energy for a 10k tomorrow and it meant I didn’t have to attempt to run with a balloon, walking was tricky enough) and it was fabulous to be cheered on by Black Cats and other runners as they lapped us, although it was a particularly cool morning to be walking for just over an hour at a very steady pace. Hats off to those amazing volunteers who stood out in the cold all that time!!
My running club were also celebrating at Parkrun and I had been persuaded to bring my party to a local branch of a well known chain of restaurants famous for cheap breakfasts to join them. Not my best move, the place was very crowded and there was no room for us to sit together, the running club had been in for a while (them being much quicker than tailwalkers) and it was difficult to join in with them as they had already eaten. Consequently my party ended up sat at two tables some distance apart. The breakfast was ‘adequate’ even if the hot drinks were unlimited.
So to return to the quote from Polonius (above), Parkrun friends are the best and worth hanging on to ‘with hoops of steel’ (just don’t try it in Wetherspoons!).
2 weeks to go: Manchester HM
Army Selection Deferral ☹️
London Landmarks HM – The culmination of over 2 years of running (v. long post)
