Eight reasons to do your first parkrun this Saturday
Having completed around 50 parkruns, I’m now seemingly possessed by a mysterious and powerful force which drives me to convert others. My sales pitch, usually delivered in full to cornered targets or those too polite to scarper, is captured below.
I used to see running as a joyless activity, a means to an end. The necessary but less interesting preamble to some more “skilful” and stimulating sporting endeavour.
Don’t get me wrong, it had its plus points.
Top of the list – basking in that self-satisfied post-run afterglow. And in purely practical terms, there are no barriers to entry. You don’t need to book a squash court or rely on the questionable attendance of another team. With only a pair of trainers, you are (literally) up and running.
But this internal conflict would resurface as my running inevitably took me through busy, noisy roads that filled my lungs with lorry smoke. And the length of time I spent at pelican crossings alone was enough to make me openly weep.
Then on 6 August 2016, something changed. At just before 09:00, I rocked up to my first parkrun. But what is a parkrun exactly? Well, it’s a run in a park — but you guessed that. Its deeper selling points can be found within a number of simple yet brilliant features, some of which are listed below.
1. It’s 5 km in length
And thus neither a marathon nor a sprint but, in my view, that Goldilocks distance that’s both meaningful yet accessible to lots of people. The recent proliferation of “Couch to 5k” apps serves to widen the gates. Plus this distance is not going to take a great chunk out of your day. The average completion time is around 28 minutes.
2. It’s local to you
Find your nearest via the parkrun website.
3. It’s completely free
An organised event, put on by volunteers. You can volunteer yourself of course (and I can testify that it is rewarding to do so, cheering on those you normally run alongside) but one view is that you don’t have to volunteer with it being, errrr…you know, voluntary.
4. It’s a proper course
Rather than frantically swerve through urban streets hoping that nothing emerges from what is locally known as “THE DANGEROUS BLIND CORNER OF DEATH” whilst also praying that, unlike yesterday, next-door’s mahoosive dog is uninterested in launching a close and sustained pursuit – imagine something else.
Imagine a ready-made course that is beautifully laid out in advance. Imagine a well-defined start line and a finish funnel. Imagine a generous sprinkling of high-vis marshals pointing the way – whilst offering applause and encouragement. Imagine almost “forest bathing” in a large park. Imagine the route being punctuated by distance markers including halfway – where a diligent volunteer dutifully shouts out 2.5 km splits to all that pass. Imagine a-a-a-a-a-llllllll the peo-ple, liv-ing life in peace yoo-hooo.
No lorry smoke.
This is in fact the reality of a parkrun. Go see for yourself.
5. It’s on every week
The appointed time is Saturday at 09:00. Rain, shine, snow, fog, fire and ice. Ok, maybe not fire but I can personally vouch for “gale force winds that can viciously redirect an attempted spit straight back towards your face”. A prescribed start time helps to remove the ambiguity from the vague intention to “go for a run today” which, as we all know, can easily be derailed by life’s distractions. Equally, it’s on each week so you don’t need to gear up for a particular date in the calendar or be too concerned if you miss one.
6. You’ll receive an official run time
Via an email dispatched later that morning! For me, and many others, this is a game changer. There’s something quite visceral about an official time and place number. A tangible recorded result for your Saturday morning effort. This is all based upon you simply bringing along a personalised barcode which undergoes a post-race scan.
Depending upon your mindset, this automatically provides you with a framework for self-improvement – almost forcing the question: “Could I do better than that?”. For many, though, it’s more of a social run and completion of the race itself is enough. Incredibly, some have notched up in excess of 500 Saturday morning efforts.
7. It’s inclusive and welcoming
Open to all is the underlying philosophy. From the very decent runners at the front to those running with pushchairs and dogs towards the back. There’s a collective spirit of encouragement fostered through the pre-race gathering where various announcements are made including bits of housekeeping. And without wishing to generalise or be accused of “sport-ism”, runners are a friendly bunch.
8. It’s a great start to the weekend
I’ve found the parkrun to be quite meditative. What I mean by that is it pretty much demands your undivided focus. Running on your own is one thing. Running with many others along a pre-defined route is quite another. Once the starter says “go”, it’s difficult not to be fully invested in the task at hand at that precise moment.
In my experience, this helps to flick the mental switch from the “weekday world” of office work and commuting (some would say “the rat race”) to the “weekend world” of whatever that means to you – such as increased family time or other more relaxing pursuits. And this is all completed well before 10:00 on Saturday morning.
I’ll never forget a brief conversation I had with another runner (a busy city exec) after one parkrun that took place in heavy rain. Despite the conditions, he was smiling broadly as he remarked: “That’s washed away the battlescars of a tough week”.
So there you have it.
“A free, local, timed, weekly, mindful, friendly, accessible, recorded, healthy, organised activity.”
Why not give it one attempt? As a species that generally learns by doing, I believe there’s huge value to be had in a single try. You have nothing to lose and immense potential for a variety of gains. It can become something for the whole family (including under tens) to enjoy and a great launchpad for “better running” – but each of those is an altogether different story.
