…it was a massive global phenomenon.
Parkrun started back in the early 2000s in London. It quickly became a global phenomenon. By the time it really caught my attention in the Rushcliffe parkrun in Nottingham, by 2015, I was 'too good' to run Parkrun. I had my head up my arse and my compression socks on, I was an alpha triathlete, trying to go to long distance, too good to run poxy little 5km runs on a Saturday morning with a bunch of normal people.
How wrong I was, how arrogant I was, how terrible that makes me feel now.
Since the time that my knee was diagnosed, as I wrote about in Bionic, I've gone back to parkrun and watched other people run, I've watched Tom Reason get to 20 minutes for the 5K (that's incredible), I've watched Louis Dunne head off to win parkrun eventually.
I've seen my Callum run it, trying to be a more competitive footballer, and I've watched Rosie progress in her running to be a really good 5K park runner. I watched Mike and Kath, our friends, volunteer, help, and run nearly every single one, and Mike get his t-shirt for 30,000 park runs or something else.
I've watched people run with dogs, I've watched people walk, I've watched all people - except me.
I went from being 'too good' to run parkrun to being unable to run 10 steps; you never know when it's your last one, very rarely do you ever get the chance to tell.
Trying to harness, if you possibly can, the mentality of this might be my last one, just makes everything that little bit nicer, and that little bit more special, and makes you that little bit less of a pr*ck.
Blog Post Number - 4161
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