Name: Louise Ayling
Home parkrun: Wimbledon
Date of first parkrun: 8 Jan 2011
Total Number of parkruns: 60
Number of other parkrun locations run: 54
Number of times volunteered: 0 (hangs head in shame and promises to do better)
My parkrun history: is here
In January 2011, I found out about parkrun. Now I’m hooked. A lot of my weekday running is from home to work and work to home, so I have decided to tour as many parkruns as I can to add variety and spice and to satisfy my inner collector.
So far, these are the ones that I've been to:
England
East Midlands
Braunstone
East of England
Bedford
Cambridge
Kings Lynn*
St Albans*
Greater London
Ally Pally*
Bedfont Lakes
Brockwell
Bromley
Bushy Park
Crystal Palace
Finsbury Park
Greenwich
Grovelands
Gunnersbury
Gunpowder*
Hackney Marshes
Hampstead Heath*
Highbury Fields
Kingston
Lloyd
Mile End*
Nonsuch
Oak Hill*
Old Deer Park
Pymmes**
Richmond Park
Riddlesdown*
Roundshaw Downs
Valentines
Wanstead Flats*
Wimbledon Common
Wormwood Scrubs
North West
Bolton
Heaton Park
South East
Abingdon
Andover
Banstead Woods
Basingstoke
Black Park
Brighton & Hove
Eastbourne*
Eastleigh
Frimley Lodge
Milton Keynes
Newbury*
Reading
Whitstable
South West
Ashton Court
Poole
Southwick Country Park*
West Midlands
Cannon Hill
Yorkshire and the Humber
Bradford
Wales
Cardiff
Iceland
Elliðaárdalur*
*inaugural event
**my inaugural inaugural event
Saturday, 18 February 2012
My morning devoted to parkrun
It was a morning completely devoted to parkrun - perfect!
I was volunteering today so no run for me, but if we all do our bit then that means I can enjoy my weekly parkrun fix for weeks and months to come until its comes round to my turn again.
Our fantastic parkrun event and race director, Jason Douglas, was taking a very well deserved week off this week. As soon as I had heard about this a few weeks ago I was happy to put myself forward to volunteer this week, not as Race Director, but to help this week's Race Director out on Numbers and the Website results upload.
This morning started early compared to my normal parkrun weekend start time, I suppose it does each week for every parkrun Race Director. I was in the park just before 8am ready to help with the course set-up process. Direction and kilometer markers were put out (one of which it turns out I didn't hammer in enough!) and the course was checked to ensure there were no obstacles. Thankfully the course was in tip-top condition, with none of the snow and ice of recent weeks.
There were several tables and some other signs to be put up. But mostly milling around looking for other small jobs and saying hello to people as the runners started to appear ready for their run.
I was lucky enough to meet up with Richard Hill, a Brueton parkrunner and regular contributor to this blog, on a parkrun tourist trip to Coventry. I hope to do the return trip to Bruteon parkrun in the spring or summer if possible. It was really nice to meet you Richard.
The parkrun went off after a 5 minute delay due to toilets not being open, and then I just had to cheer people through for the next 18 minutes waiting to start my next role, handing out the numbered barcodes at the end of the finishing funnel. I am so glad that it was warmer today than recently. The hand that I was giving out the barcodes with was numb with cold by the end. What must this have been like when it was 20 degrees colder last weekend?
Then onto my third role of the day, the website results upload. Three of us have been doing this each week for the last month or so, each time under the watchful eye of the usual Race Director, but this time we were on our own. Thankfully, between myself, the timer and the number checker there hadn't been a single mistake, so the results upload was pretty straightforward. There was the oddity of three people finishing in 4th position, but once we realised that 2 of them were the person scanned in testing prior to the start, this was soon resolved and the results upload was completed. It was still a relief when my brother confirmed that he had received his text and all the information was correct. Fingers crossed that was the same for everyone.
So you would think that this was the end of my parkrun day, but no. After heading home and a very quick change, I couldn't resist popping back out for a parkrun freedom run. And one parkrun freedom run became two, as tends to happen for me and my brother. We ran at a pretty comfortable pace for 2 back-to-back parkrun freedom runs at a little over 24 minutes each, finishing at exactly midday to complete a very satisfying and enjoyable morning devoted to parkrun.
I was volunteering today so no run for me, but if we all do our bit then that means I can enjoy my weekly parkrun fix for weeks and months to come until its comes round to my turn again.
Our fantastic parkrun event and race director, Jason Douglas, was taking a very well deserved week off this week. As soon as I had heard about this a few weeks ago I was happy to put myself forward to volunteer this week, not as Race Director, but to help this week's Race Director out on Numbers and the Website results upload.
This morning started early compared to my normal parkrun weekend start time, I suppose it does each week for every parkrun Race Director. I was in the park just before 8am ready to help with the course set-up process. Direction and kilometer markers were put out (one of which it turns out I didn't hammer in enough!) and the course was checked to ensure there were no obstacles. Thankfully the course was in tip-top condition, with none of the snow and ice of recent weeks.
There were several tables and some other signs to be put up. But mostly milling around looking for other small jobs and saying hello to people as the runners started to appear ready for their run.
I was lucky enough to meet up with Richard Hill, a Brueton parkrunner and regular contributor to this blog, on a parkrun tourist trip to Coventry. I hope to do the return trip to Bruteon parkrun in the spring or summer if possible. It was really nice to meet you Richard.
The parkrun went off after a 5 minute delay due to toilets not being open, and then I just had to cheer people through for the next 18 minutes waiting to start my next role, handing out the numbered barcodes at the end of the finishing funnel. I am so glad that it was warmer today than recently. The hand that I was giving out the barcodes with was numb with cold by the end. What must this have been like when it was 20 degrees colder last weekend?
Then onto my third role of the day, the website results upload. Three of us have been doing this each week for the last month or so, each time under the watchful eye of the usual Race Director, but this time we were on our own. Thankfully, between myself, the timer and the number checker there hadn't been a single mistake, so the results upload was pretty straightforward. There was the oddity of three people finishing in 4th position, but once we realised that 2 of them were the person scanned in testing prior to the start, this was soon resolved and the results upload was completed. It was still a relief when my brother confirmed that he had received his text and all the information was correct. Fingers crossed that was the same for everyone.
So you would think that this was the end of my parkrun day, but no. After heading home and a very quick change, I couldn't resist popping back out for a parkrun freedom run. And one parkrun freedom run became two, as tends to happen for me and my brother. We ran at a pretty comfortable pace for 2 back-to-back parkrun freedom runs at a little over 24 minutes each, finishing at exactly midday to complete a very satisfying and enjoyable morning devoted to parkrun.
Would you like to write about your parkrun experiences?
Have you been reading what others have been writing about their parkrun experiences (and their parkrun course descriptions) recently on the parkrunfans blog?
Would you like to have a go? You don't need to be a great runner or a great writter, just enthusiastic and willing to share your parkrun experiences or course description on the blog for other parkrunners to read.
The main aims are to allow everyone to share their parkrun stories and to help spread the word about parkrun in a positive light. Everyone is welcome, so please feel free to tell your friends about this blog.
If you would like to contribute then please contact me in one of the following ways:
Twitter: @parkrunfan
Facebook: parkrunfans blog page
Alternatively add a comment against this post leaving your email address.
If you are unsure about contributin,g please feel free to contact me by any of the means above and I will explain more. I can assure you that you will not be committing yourself and you can contribute as much or as little as you like.
Would you like to have a go? You don't need to be a great runner or a great writter, just enthusiastic and willing to share your parkrun experiences or course description on the blog for other parkrunners to read.
The main aims are to allow everyone to share their parkrun stories and to help spread the word about parkrun in a positive light. Everyone is welcome, so please feel free to tell your friends about this blog.
If you would like to contribute then please contact me in one of the following ways:
Twitter: @parkrunfan
Facebook: parkrunfans blog page
Alternatively add a comment against this post leaving your email address.
If you are unsure about contributin,g please feel free to contact me by any of the means above and I will explain more. I can assure you that you will not be committing yourself and you can contribute as much or as little as you like.
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