Parkrun

[Prof. Amy Lupin]

After months of hearing about parkrun on social media, I finally decided to participate in my very first one this morning. I loved the ambience and how friendly people were, and, in fact, joined an older couple who were also attending their first event. It was great seeing people of all ages and fitness levels take part.

What was fascinating for me, was that it was my first time being in this particular park, despite having lived 15 minutes away for most of my life. It was exhilarating walking with such beautiful surroundings (as opposed to walking on the more familiar pavements) and, for a moment, when passing a lake with ducks aplenty, I felt like I was back in London strolling in Hyde Park.

I wasn't too concerned about my time, as, for me, it was more about completing the 5 km, but in spite of that I was still happy with my result. For me, it was more an achievement of walking longer than my usual 20-40 minutes and at a brisker pace.

I'll definitely be back again, and I look forward to building up my fitness levels to the point where I can comfortably run the full way - but, in the meantime, I'm going to enjoy each step. In due course, I'm also hoping to explore different parkruns as a way of seeing more of South Africa (and hopefully even other countries when travelling).

Have you done any parkruns? Do you usually stick to the same ones or try explore different ones?