My 50th parkrun

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On Saturday the 10th of August 2013, I ran my 50th parkrun. As far as my running achievements go, this has to be right up there.

 

For those of you who don’t know what a parkrun is, they’re a free weekly timed 5k run. I have Gateshead, Riverside and Durham all near me.

 

I’d like to thank everyone who came on Saturday to either run with me, support me, cheer me, text me, tweet me, message me and email me. It really means a lot. It’s funny that when I did my first parkrun I wasn’t even sure if I would finish it. Now here I am, having completed my 50th. If I can do it, you can do it. Trust me.

My 50th parkrun

Here are some stats. You might find these boring but for me, it shows my progression. I ran my first ever parkrun at Durham on the 3rd of March 2012 and my time was 31:29. My parkrun PB is currently at Riverside and stands at 21:59. That’s a difference of 9 minutes and 30 seconds! Obviously I’m delighted with that and there’s even something inside of me saying I need to get that figure into double figures! Basically that means I’d need to run a parkrun in 21.29. Possible? We’ll see. One things for sure, I’m in no rush. That’s the beauty about my journey, I have no time limits.

 

I’d like to thank parkrun and especially Gateshead parkrun for having me for my 50th. I haven’t been back to parkrun yet to pick up my free red t-shirt! No doubt I’ll share a pic on social media as soon as I have it.

 

parkrun is a fantastic idea and one which has inspired thousands of people around the world to put on a pair of trainers and run. For this I can only applaud and help spread the word.

Paul

About The Author

Following the birth of his son in 2009, Paul was unfit and sluggish. Since then he's been training using a range of exercise techniques and gained some valuable information over the years. Events he has completed to date are Total Warrior, Pier To Pier, Bamburgh 10k, Hamsterley 10k, Blaydon Races, Newcastle Stampede and over 50 parkruns. In 2012 he created his own challenge called the '12 Days of Christmas.' He raised over £1000 for Percy Hedley by running 60 miles to celebrate their 60 years. In 2013 he ran the '12 parkruns of Christmas' with friend Lee Nyland. The pair raised over £1400 for the Tiny Lives Fund.

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