September 9th 2017 saw me complete my first parkrun - Winchester Parkrun #227 where completed my 5km with a mixture of walking and running, posting a time of 40:12 as the 309th person to finish from a total of 318 participants.
Somewhat to my surprise I discovered I liked it and returned, steadily reducing the amount of walking and seeing my times get faster as the weeks went by. In the last year I have done a further 46 Parkruns to leave me just 3 short of qualifying for my 50 t-shirt 😄.
I've run in the sun, rain, wind, snow and plenty of mud over the winter - always with a supportive and friendly group of people.
I was there for the 250th Winchester event and, by finishing behind someone photogenic, made it to the front page of the Hampshire Chronicle ( all be it blurred in the background).
Most of my runs (38) have been at Winchester but I have also visited the following park runs..
- Southampton - amazing to be part of a group of over 800 participants
- Cardiff - conveniently placed near drop off point for a university interview
- Queen Elizabeth - beautiful setting in the forest if a tad hilly
- Eastleigh - memorable for being the only one with a water jump!
- Gorleston Cliffs - not as hilly as the name might imply to a non Norfolk resident
- Shelton Mallet - memorable for youngest run director
- Basingstoke - another big event and Tennis Court Hill
- Durham - great finish by river with Cathedral in background also furthest walk from finish back to the car
I've posted 15 Personal Best times and have a current PB of 27:40 - with a goal of getting below 25 next spring.
Along the way I have also achieved my "Groundhog day" badge by completing the same course in 2 consecutive weeks in exactly the same time ( 32:10 at Winchester on 17/3/18 and 24/3/18 ).
The seconds in my finish times have included 36 of the possible 60 different readings, getting the remaining ones to complete the set will get increasingly hard.
(Thanks are due to RunningChallenges and their browser extension for some of the stats quoted above)
More significantly, I've also discovered the joys of running more generally and will soon be completing my first 10k race and in October the Great South Run.
I wonder what the next 12 months will bring?
