Name: Chris Rann
Home parkrun: Medina I.O.W.
First parkrun: 12/11/2011
Total parkruns to date: 6
Different parkruns to date: 1
Number of times volunteered to date: 1
Total parkruns to date: 6
Different parkruns to date: 1
Number of times volunteered to date: 1
My parkrun stats: click here
Twitter: @crstig
Community was something that I believed only existed in pre-1970 television dramas, but actually it is alive and well and meets on Saturday mornings at nine am for a run.....
I have had an interesting relationship with running. Having served in the British Army, running was something that I always considered as a chore rather than an act of pleasure.
I left the forces in 2008 and dropped into a life of very little exercise, in April last year I decided that I needed a lifestyle change. I had put on a considerable amount of weight and I needed to shed some pounds!
I did something that might be considered drastic for someone that didn't "like" to run, I signed myself up for the Great South Run in Southsea. I have always been somebody that is motivated by targets and initially this would be a one off challenge.
Having achieved that target, I found that I had quite the taste for it. It turns out that running out of choice is somewhat more pleasurable than being forced to, and being shouted at during.
It was at this point that I discovered parkrun. I was looking for more challenges and the regular test over the same course, and the online correlation of times was right up my street!
What I found on that first cold morning that I headed to the course, was not just a group of likeminded people who wanted to improve their fitness, but also a nice friendly, sociable bunch of the Islands finest!
Through parkrun, I have met and joined a proper running club, and am now a much more confident runner, setting myself several event targets for the coming year.
The beauty of parkrun is that it lives and breathes because of the people that want to run it. Volunteers are prepared to give up their time so that others can get their running fix, and that is something that I find fascinating. I volunteered myself last Saturday and then went on to achieve a Personal Best.
parkrun is making me both a fitter person and perhaps even a better one.
Nicely put, Chris!
ReplyDeleteI feel very privileged to be part of something as special as the Medina IOW parkrun, and you're spot on about community spirit. You only needed to glance at our Christmas Eve run to realise it's not all about the fast times and PB's but the chance to catch up with such genuinely nice people.
Long live parkrun!