The sun rises over the plain as the band of volunteers trek resolutely to the gathering place. They have an hour to prepare before the invasion; at which time a horde of combatants will descend upon them, not quite as scary as the peasants outside Frankenstein’s castle but descend they surely will.
These volunteers who choose to awake from their slumber in the early hours of Saturday morning, after, in some cases, a decadent Friday night are all sizes, all ages (and I mean all ages), all genders and share a common goal – to prepare. They take what is basically a field with hills and convert it into a five kilometer, challenging arena for the horde. Two hundred to four hundred combatants face the challenge every Saturday morning at 9 am.
This is the phenomenon known as Parkrun of which there are now 585 in the UK, each one set up and run by 12,527 volunteers every Saturday morning at 9am. I am one and love my Saturdays, be it a fast hard run or volunteering it’s just a feelgood factor that is now part of my life.
The recent rain has taken its toll but we still like a laugh and after all its just a 5k run round a field, isn’t it? 😂
👏👏👏🙂
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Respect!
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Thank you Pete 👍
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It really looks like a lot of fun!! Glad you enjoyed your time!!
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Thank you Beckie I certainly did 😘
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Look at you!
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Haha thank you, is it all about me? 😘😀
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Lol
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Happy Weekend ❤
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Thank you, and you too ❤️
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I am too, a parkrun member.. 😉
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Hey, well done you (sister 😉)
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Which Parkrun is it?
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It is complicated because we don’t have one close by in France but I joined it anyways. I had run a few over time on visits to South Africa so finally joined and have 1 official run in Durban. On my travels now I will always see if there is one in the area.. 😉 Love the concept..
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It’s very gracious of you to give a shout out to those very kind volunteers as I feel they can get overlooked somewhat with events like this. Well done on your efforts – not sure I could run to the end of the road these days let alone 5k in a muddy field. I used to run before I got sick, seems like another lifetime. Love the photos! Are you not able to run that darkness out of you? I see you turned the comments off your recent post, which is a shame because I was about to come up with some brilliant erection-based pun for it 😉
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Thank you Caz I appreciate your comments as always, it’s a real pity you can’t run anymore I think it’s the only thing that keeps me sane lol. I’m okay in the daylight and my last day as a full time lecturer is next Friday woohoo, so I’ll have to sleep through or find new demons lol. Thank you for telling me about the comments I wasn’t aware, they are back on now 😘
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Eyyyy!! Love it!!
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Thank you 😀
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I was thinking about my time volunteering at rugby clubs with the kids – I really enjoy not doing it! Good on yuo all for continuing. 🙂
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It does have it’s bonuses, like the Christmas party last night for instance, although sat here at 7:15 waiting for my running partner to turn up, is starting to feel like a step too far 😂
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A great test of moral fibre. 🙂
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